Creative Cookies

This is one of those posts where I wasn't present. I found the photos on the girls phones after the fact. I know they were at a Young Women's activity and they were decorating cookies and that's about all I know.

Oh, I also know the cookies are super cool. I don't even know who did what, but I wanted to share these pictures anyway. Looks delicious.

Almost looks too good to eat. 

Scorpion Hunting

Today, we have another guest blogger. This post was written by Ivory:

"For biology I had to do a bug collection. My teacher had mentioned how spiders are only extra credit because they're arachnids and she also said that scorpions would only be extra credit as well. That was when I made up my mind to go scorpion hunting, with no idea if it would work or not. After class I asked my teacher how to find scorpions and she said that they glow in UV light. Supposedly star gazers that were in an area with scorpions would shine their light on the ground first to make sure there were no scorpions. 

I didn't really know if any of it was true but I told Dad that I wanted to go. We got it set up and decided to take Pearl along even though it was going to be a late night. I did some research on how to catch them, which by the way, isn't a thing that people do, and I also researched where to find them in Utah. Apparently down in Saint George seemed to be a good idea so that's where we were headed.

Halfway through the drive we got pretty hungry so we stopped at Sizzler's for dinner. It was super yummy and Pearl really liked the steak too.

Scorpions are usually out at dusk and fortunately enough, we finished dinner with almost perfect timing to arrive at dusk and find the scorpions. When we did arrive we bundled up, grabbed our UV flashlights and we were off. It took a little while to find one but in the end we found three. They do, in fact, glow in the UV light—a bright green. One got a little mutilated while we were trying to catch it. The other two were fine though, and we even caught a little baby one. And no one got hurt while we were catching.

After catching three we sat down to star gaze. Just as we were getting up to head home, something big landed in the bushes next to us. Dad thought it was a bat but I knew what it was cause I had heard the buzzing before hand. It was a bug. A big bug. Also a nice bug. It walked right into our jar. 

We stopped at a gas station before going home. I saw a Palm Tree and was super excited (and maybe a little tired.) I asked if I could go touch it. Dad said yes and even better, we got a hug. 

I wanted to stay up on the ride home to talk to Dad and make sure he didn't fall asleep so I kept asking for Mountain Dew and in the end, even Pearl joined my case. He never gave in though and we both ended up falling asleep.

It was a very successful trip with good food and good memories and cool bugs. I might even want to go again sometime. I guess Daisy will need a bug collection in a couple years..."

The 'First' Ballroom Performance

Ivory missed the first ballroom performance. The week before school started, Ivory got a small cold, but as you are probably aware, if you have ANY symptoms of anything, you can't go ANYWHERE for fear of people thinking you have Covid. So Ivory stayed home from a few practices and was therefore not allowed to dance in the first performance. It was just the first assembly, so she didn't miss much, but it was still a little sad.

So Ivory was very excited for their second performance, which was at the halftime show at the Homecoming football game. Ivory loves the costumes and makeup and she looks so stinkin' cute. 

The ballroom coach also teaches a special dance group called Orchesis, so the performance was a combination of both groups. Both groups did a great job. Here are some pictures of the dance. It is hard to catch clear pictures when they move around so much.

I feel like this year, each show or performance we get to attend is special, because so many things are canceled. Sure we have to wear masks to most things, but that is a small thing to be able to see the talents of my kids. And June even ran into Christina and got to sit with her for the Homecoming game.

Ivory was partners with Gabriel. She is not always partners with Gabriel, but often. I didn't really know Gabe before this school year, but it is fun to go back and see they were partners at BYU in the Spring. They work really well together and are patient with each other. They are good friends.

It is so fun to watch Ivory dance and although it is not a typical year, I'll enjoy every performance that comes along.

Art Theme: Dad Jokes

Wow, what a joke that I completely forgot about this category. I didn't have any pictures of the art and when I did the large Art Show post, I couldn't link to anything, because I never did this post.  

Although it is late, it needs to get on the blog. Because it is November now and the art show was way back when, some people couldn't find their art. So we have some very sad pictures of a couple pieces. Sorry.

Dad jokes was a weird topic and we didn't have a lot of art for it anyway. The funniest thing to me was that my mom didn't realize that 'Dad jokes' is just another way to say 'Cheesy jokes'. She thought they actually had to be about dads. So we'll start with hers. Classic 'Dad' joke...

Forgetting His Birthday by Megan Dargan

Here are my sad photos. Maggie drew a polar bear because her Dad (Jonny) is asked to tell a polar bear joke when he visits family. Ironically, no one in Maggie's family thinks it is very funny, but it is the joke Dad tells. (Sorry, I'm not including the joke because it is a little long, and I'm not sure I could do the delivery right.)

Freezing by Maggie Hulse

Annalise had this great joke, but I can't read it now because of the poor photo quality. I'll give you the cliff notes. "If an asteroid were coming to earth, no need to worry. Thanks to COVID, people have been hoarding toilet paper and paper beats rock!" 

COVID 19 by Annalise Kinsey

Okay, I think you can figure out the rest. None of these are amazing jokes and some are not even jokes, but we tried.

Amazon Woman by Maleen Cazier

Cookie Monster by Ivory Cazier

Gender Bender by Robyn Cazier

Dad Jokes by Pearl Cazier

Funny Dad Jokes by Pearl Cazier

Tick Tock by Daisy Cazier

What Lies On Its Back by Maleen Cazier

Possibly not our best art theme of the summer, but it still deserves a look. 

Happy Appendectomy Day

I like getting current posts on here as well as catching up. I'm feeling pretty good about the blogging right now. Dare I say that I could get caught up this year? I won't say it though. I've counted my chickens too many times before they have hatched. But I can still be grotesquely optimistic.

I didn't have big plans for Thanksgiving this year. I actually wanted to do it early...on Tuesday, but school and work schedules got in the way. Not a problem. There wasn't too much going on, or so I thought...

Pie day was excellent and something I want to try again in the future. But Wednesday night Daisy was in a lot of pain. It seemed to be in her abdomen somewhere. We weren't sure if it was gas, cramps, or a stomachache. (After all, pie all day may not be the best for everyone.) I mentioned appendicitis, but how can you know? She started to shake in the evening which was a sure sign something was not right.

An uncomfortable night with some vomiting led to a miserable morning. It was Thanksgiving, but it was also clear that Daisy needed to go see a doctor. We called the phone nurse and after a 'hop' test, they said it was probably appendicitis and she needed to head in. 

The day went pretty much as planned except that Tyler and Daisy spent most of the day at the hospital and we prepared food at home while receiving updates. Daisy got bloodwork done and got an ultrasound. Yep, it was the appendix. 

Meanwhile back on the farm, Robyn and Pearl were in charge of the turkey. They took their job very seriously. 

The turkey hadn't been thawing quite long enough so the neck was frozen inside. Robyn didn't let that slow her down.

They chopped and seasoned and worked hard and the end result looked pretty spectacular.

At the hospital, Daisy was getting ready for surgery. Because it was a holiday, it wasn't crowded and they were able to get her in right away. They just needed to wait for the surgeon to arrive from Salt Lake. So they made Daisy comfortable while she waited. 

We played some games at home, watched a little of the Grinch and kept cooking. Ivory made potatoes, June made sweet potato rolls, I made stuffing, gravy, and cranberry sauce. (Okay, I opened a can of cranberry sauce.) About the time we were sabering bottles, Daisy was coming out of surgery.

Everything went very well. It was a routine surgery with no complications. Daisy had three little incision sights one of which is her belly button. Her button looked a little bloody and sad and she called it the Belly Button of death. Her job was to wake up and drink, eat, and walk around on her own. Check, check, check.

Robyn and Pearl's turkey turned out amazing! It looked like a stock photo. She, Robyn, carved the roast  beast. All the goods were accounted for (minus Dad and Daisy) and we dug in. 

It wasn't too much later and our surgery girl came home. She wasn't too hungry (after ice cream and slushies at the hospital) so she sat and snacked on rolls while reading Madeline. (Yep, we pulled that book out since it was appropriate for the day.)

The rest of the evening was cleaning up and enjoying time ALL TOGETHER as a family. Nova was very attentive during the clean up process. She didn't want to miss anything.

We ended the evening with some Thanksgiving gifts. I got the girls some body wash and Christmas masks. Tis the season. Although it was not the Thanksgiving Day we expected, it was full of blessings and we are happy to all be healthy at the end of the day. 

Daisy was so brave and amazing. Many thanks to Tyler who stayed by her side for the whole thing so that I could be at home. We are all a team.