The Whittles

Adam and I were in the same district in the MTC. In fact, we were briefly "companions" during some practicing time. No really, we were literally without our companions teaching a practice investigator, just us and that guy. Don't worry it was allowed and appropriate.

We are fortunate enough to live close to each other now and I was lucky enough to get to take some family pictures. Admittedly, it is a little hard to call him "Adam" and not "Whittle."

Way cute family. Each child has such a unique fun personality! I mean, look at those adorable faces! You can just see their individuality shining forth! And they were true champs as it as pretty cold out this Saturday.

(And I'm now in love with this bridge and love the way they fit into it!)

And one last, individual picture, because you HAVE to love his eyes!

Growing Kitty

As Fui gets older and bigger, I thought I'd share some more about our life with him (though he's no longer "officially" a boy since he recently visited the doctor).

Fui still sleeps with us. He'll start off the night by nuzzling up in my neck. Eventually he'll move around, but if we stir at all during the night, he'll come right back. Before good ol' Daylight Savings time, it was so funny how Fui knew when it was time to wake up. His internal clock knew that 6:30 is the time (Jeremy gets up then), and he was usually awake and ready to go by then. He'd move around some, but the second an alarm went off, he'd meow constantly and persistently until someone got up with him. If we waited past 7:00 on the weekends and no alarm went off, that was WAY too late! He'd let us know. Sometimes by biting my face.  All that changed with the time change. Fui still thinks that the 6:30 time IN HIS MIND is correct. Unfortunately that means 5:30 our time. His favorite thing to do when we won't get up with him yet is to bat at the blinds in the room. We have unsuccessfully tried to train him proper behavior in the morning for us to sleep longer.

Fui not only catches the flies in the house, but he kills them and eats them too. I love the easy, no clean-up! Fui is also a mouser! He's caught and killed THREE! I'm so happy knowing we've got mouse insurance. And as fun as the real cat toys are, Fui loves a good tin foil ball best. We clip his front claws about once a month. This just seems to make Fui more aware of the power of his teeth. They are pretty strong. (Apparently cats lose some of their teeth like humans. We noticed some fall out and better, sharper ones grow back in.)

He always wants to go outside. It's his favorite spot during the day. He'll usually play out there after dark too.  Children don't seem to be Fui's favorite, but he's fairly tolerant of them. He'll put up with the playing, tugging, and carrying around for a bit, and then he will go find a quiet place to hide.   Jeremy thinks maybe we should have thought differently about naming our white kitty after a Polynesian football player.

Down By the Railroad Tracks Part 2

I'm lucky enough to have a "regular client". She's pretty young so I'm sure I'll be taking her pictures for years to come.

At least until she starts complaining that she sees more of the camera than her Aunt Holly.

But for now, she doesn't mind.

Her mom requested the railroad tracks and so even though I had just been there, we went back again. This time I had the morning light to work with. It was lovely! We didn't spend long as Abigail was hungry and tired (proven when I picked a wild sunflower for her to hold, but she wanted nothing to do with it). But she loves taking walks, hearing her parents sing songs to her, and she loves Fui.  But then who doesn't?

Without further ado, Baby Abigail!

Down by the Railroad Tracks

I've taken pictures of these boys before, but this time I got to do the whole family! These guys kept ME smiling the whole time. I thought it was my job to get them to smile. They're just so much fun and I hope that one day I have such cute and well behaved boys! (Jeremy says he wants some girls too, though.)

Let me share some things about these three adorable boys.

Carson is a very good brother. When asked to smile, sometimes it can be a little fake, but then he blows you away with the real thing! He tells THE BEST jokes (Why do flowers have forks? --No pause-- Because they have spoons.) I asked him if all the girls loved him at school. He easily answered yes.

Ian is a good kid. He gets excited about the simple things. That's when his smile comes out that will just kill ya!  He thought "hiding" in the tall weeds was the best game ever! I love all the silly expressions he makes. And he's a great jumper!

 Last of all there's Braxton. Such an adorable little boy. He has the cutest run! His parents trick him into going places by telling him he'll find a puppy when he gets there. (I wonder how they can sleep at night!)  All he was interested in during our time together were non-existent puppies, not looking at the camera, and rocks.

And because this isn't a long enough post yet, here was our culminating activity. We were just trying to tie Kevin up on the tracks, but the boys got themselves into a knot.



Pretty Sunflowers

We live near empty fields....for now. Gradually those empty lots are disappearing as homes are built, but for now there's still some empty space. In this empty space of tumbleweeds and the dreaded monster weeds (they truly are evil and scary!=monster), we also have a scattering of wild sunflowers. I love when these sunflowers come out to play. They're so pretty. I needed to share.



The Coolest Thing I've Done This Week

Today I would like to share the coolest thing I've done this week. Inspired by The Office.

Some background.

There's this episode of the office where there is a newly installed police radar gun outside the Dunder-Mifflin building complex. It seems drivers were going a little too fast for Angela (surprise, surprise!). So, after many 911 phone calls by Miss Martin, the police finally installed a radar gun. But, as Pam explains, “it’s probably caused more traffic problems”. Why you ask? It seems the staff has found a new way to kill time. Racing, on foot, past the radar gun to see how fast they are running. Michael clocks in at 12 miles an hour. He screams, “beat that Carl Lewis!” Then we see Dwight take his turn. He clocks in at 13 miles an hour. Now Michael is peeved! It’s Oscar’s turn next, but Michael jumps in front of him to steal his turn and try to beat Dwight. Just then a car goes by and the radar gun clocks it at 31 miles an hour. Of course, Michael claims this speed as his own. And because he’s the boss and  because he is Michael, game over!

I've always loved this clip. When I recently discovered a radar gun in my own neighborhood, I knew my chance had come! I took Jeremy up with my camera and we commenced. We ran down the street. We weren't prepared to run while cars actually passed by. If we had been, our speeds would have been much higher than what follows.

Maybe next time.

And there will be a next time.

Beat THAT Michael Scott!

Kyson

Here are just a couple of the individual pictures of Kyson (part of the three kids). It seems my focus that day was "parts." Hands, feet, ears, close-up face.  Babies are so cute because they're such tiny people, so why not look at their tiny parts?

And then there was this photo. Maybe it isn't the type of photo you would make a huge print of and  put up next to all your family pictures, but COME ON! This facial expression is HILARIOUS! I love it. Just love it.

Three Kids

Three kids. 3 kids. THREE KIDS.

Needless to say, it was somewhat difficult to maintain the attention on me and my camera. They did what they wanted. And when I got the eyes of one child on me, the other two inevitably would not be looking my way. I mean I wasn't really too concerned about the smallest of the three, but why bring that up? That means that I couldn't control just TWO children! Yes, let's remember it as three so I can maintain my excuses.

I know none of them are looking at me here, but I'm a sucker for sun spots, so you get to see it anyway. Oh lovely sun! It was looking at me!



Like

I like Kara and Cory.

Kara and I decided that to like someone is better than loving because you HAVE to love others, but you can choose to like them.

Now Jack is part of their family.

I like Jack too. 

Previews

When you go to the movies you get to see short snipits of other movies coming out soon. I like watching the movie best, but I must say, I'd be pretty disappointed if I didn't get to see the previews too! It's usually a pretty good indication of the quality of the movie coming out....sometimes not.

I got to take pictures with my friends Kara and Cory and their baby boy, Jack. Here's hoping that the preview IS an indication of quality and that the other results pan out well too!

The Third Annual Art Show

Last Friday I hosted the Third Annual Art Show. (We may have missed doing one of these years, but it's the third time doing it and deserves having the title.) The "Art Show" is the day when we, my fellow artists, invite others to meet in a central location and appreciate art while snacking on yummy food. I meant to take more pictures this year, but my memory card was full.

Here are a few photos (SOOC p&s) of the event and the fun!

Holly's display (that's me)

Jackson's

Jenny's on the window, Adam's on the table

More of Adam's

Kelli's (using some amazing technical method of transferring her photos to metal shingles)

And the pictures I didn't get :( I'm borrowing some previously taken photos. While everyone is amazing and had their own excellent displays, most comments I heard were about his. And they were amazing so why not?  These are just some of the things he showed.