We Hereby Lay Claim to Jupiter

There's a planet you may have heard of; it’s called Jupiter. It’s sort of a huge cloud globule between 483 million and 576 million miles away. It’s fascinating to look at in books, what with the big red zit (some mundanely refer to it as a “spot”) and the clouds and what not.

Some guy calling himself, Galileo Galilei, claims to have seen it back in 1610, but we all know that’s bunk. On the other hand, I have seen Jupiter and its four largest moons.

June, turning 6 last Tuesday, received a telescope for her birthday. We eagerly assembled the equipment then waited for evening to arrive. How I kicked myself that evening when I futiley searched the sky far and wide for any sign of our closest celestial body—the moon. New moon started on Monday. If you’re planning on getting one of these optical delights, make sure you open it on a day the moon is not new—full preferably.

Absent the big cheese, we decided to point our lens at other things instead. We found a beautiful binary star (that’s “two stars in love” as my astronomy teacher used to say—they actually ‘orbit’ one another) that looks like a single star to the unaided eye.

We also found this chunky blob in the eastern sky—bright as can be. So, we pointed our telescope at it and this is what we saw:



See those little dots? Those are moons. June and I observed Jupiter for nearly an hour before we decided to call it a night and return to our beds. After June was tucked in, I could only think of Alma 30:44.

If any of you want to see my June’s cool telescope, come on over, I’ll show you Jupiter…it’s in my backyard. I officially claim it for Cazier.

Get Your Spook On!

I can't tell you how much I love Halloween and decorating at this time of year. None of my decorations match, mind you. I have this kooky mix of spooky decorations and cutesy stuff. So I just put up everything and laugh at the interesting combinations. This year I took some stuff down to Tyler's work. I have been wanting to make my spider hatchlings since I saw them on FamilyFun last year. It was quite a messy project, but I think it turned out quite nicely (well, creepy is probably a better word). I bought the spiders online and they came in a huge pack of 144 (I looked around at stores but they only have the ring spiders). I have to admit that my arachnophobia did not help in assembling this project. June was playing with the spiders all afternoon and that was okay until she threw a whole bunch down the stairs. Seeing all those spiders cascading down at me did nothing for my fear. And later when Ivory found a basket and dumped out about a hundred of these spiders on the floor, I was seriously grossed out (Ewww!).
Anyway, here is the final result.



Then since I already had the webs and spiders out, I thought I could do a little decorating at home.



My favorite is the first presidency in cobwebs.



I love Halloween and all the fun ideas. You need to go check out littleantdesigns. It has a ton of great Halloween and party ideas. Plus, she is doing a giveaway right now where you could win one of these scary portraits. I think I need one. It would fit well with my spooky collection--I really have too much cutesy right now. Happy Haunting all you guys.

Mr. Right on Target

I know I sing Tyler's praises all the time and you may be sick of it, but I adore the man and he obviously loves me too.
This evening he went out for a treat; as he often does after Elder's Quorum. He usually brings something back for me. Tonight it was Starbuck's for a hot chocolate or apple cider. I personally do NOT like their Caramel Apple Cider but I know plenty of people who love it (too sweet for me). When he came home, I figured he brought me some kind of hot chocolate and I was right, sort of. He told me not to read the label, but to take a sip...
Holy heaven batman, I tasted pumpkin hot chocolate!!! It was delicious.
I exclaimed, "PUMPKIN!" Kari, who happened to be over, said, "They make pumpkin hot chocolate?"
"No," Tyler said nonchalantly.
Um, I had living proof in my hand that they DO. Turns out they have something like Pumpkin Tea, but Tyler didn't want that for me, so he specially requested for them to take whatever pumpkin mixture they had and add it to hot chocolate...just for me.

Wow, he is so wonderful. And I totally recommend that you try it as well. It was like Disneyland for my taste buds. There is no doubt that I will be getting me some more of that in the future.

Hex-a-June

My first baby turned six today. I love her more every day. Here are ten reasons I love June at age six:

1. She does things to make people happy (like giving spontaneous foot massages).
2. She asks really interesting questions that make me think.
3. She is beautiful, but not conceited at all.
4. She has her own sense of style (the stripes, prints, and polka dots are starting to look good together).
5. She always helps me when I ask her for something.
6. She is starting to understand when I am teasing her, and she plays along.
7. She is kind to her sisters and shares everything.
8. She still sleeps with her bear, Foot.
9. She likes fruit, but not chocolate chips (I wish that were true for me).
10. I can't imagine life without her; she made me a mommy first.

Her birthday was great. We had the whole day planned out. I made her a cup of fresh fruit this morning and I loved how she picked out all the grapes first, then the strawberries and finally the bananas. I asked if she ate the grapes first because they were her favorite, or least favorite; they were her favorite.
When she got home from school we had her cake all ready to eat after lunch and then she opened gifts.



The flower cake is in honor of her deep abiding love of les fleurs. Today I didn't take pictures of gift opening, I just sat back and enjoyed it. The biggest gift was a telescope from Dad. They are outside right now (it's 10:19 pm and they have been out there for over an hour) looking at stars. Tyler really likes Astronomy so he has been planting the seeds of star gazing in June so he could justify the gift. I don't mind because Daddy/daughter time is precious no matter how you pay for it.
In the evening we went to Jump On It, a huge trampoline play area. The girls all really enjoyed it (except maybe Robyn who got hurt a few times). As we were walking in, they were carrying out a girl with her ankle wrapped in ice; certainly not a good omen. Luckily, we all exited with no serious injuries. There is a trampoline area just for kids under 4 feet and there are several big blow-up jumping toys that are just for the younger children so the girls were well entertained.



Tyler really got into it and was doing several flips in a row (I wish I had gotten some pictures but there was too much movement and they all turned out blurry). Daisy was nice enough to sleep for almost the whole time so that Mom and Dad were able to jump around together.



Here is June saying, "I'm six!!"



Then we went to IHOP, where advantageously kids eat free on Tuesdays after 4pm. That was a great ending to a great day. June is almost asleep as I write this; a year older and just as sweet as can be.

Autumn in the Canyon

I can see from my house that the mountains are starting to get those beautiful fall colors. So it was time to take the family into the canyon. A lot of times I just think about doing these things, but tonight we were spontaneous and we jumped in the car and headed for Bridal Veil Falls with 40 minutes to sunset. Don't worry, we made it with plenty of time to spare; so much in fact that Dad thought it would be a good idea to hike up to the falls.
Good thing I wore my hiking shoes.



Yep, and it didn't help that I was carrying the baby in the sling so my balance was a little tricky. But Tyler was quite the knight. He helped the girls and me across every risky rock slide and slippery slope and yes, I was glad that we hiked up to the falls. June was especially excited that we got to hike (apparently we need to do stuff like this more often). We took a more treacherous path up, but found the right one on the way down. There were a lot of people out for a quiet Sunday evening because they were doing the Bridal Veil Film Festival. I had not heard of this event until just this afternoon, but it didn't slow down our hiking at all; on the contrary, we slowed down young spry couples who were hiking behind us. I took a picture of the big blow up screen where they watch the movies.



I wonder how many people try to watch from covert places without paying?
The main reason we hiked in the first place is right here folks; look at those lovely autumn colors splattered on the hillside.



And like I said, we made it all the way up to the falls where that young spry couple who was following us was nice enough to take a picture for us.



Sorry you can't see Daisy. The blanket I brought to keep her warm basically covers the papoose, but she's in there somewhere.
It was a really beautiful evening and I have to admit that we should do it more often.



Next time, better shoes.

The Spice of Life

I have a spice drawer. I have a spice rack too, which holds the most used spices (such as pepper, salt, garlic, etc.) right next to the stove. The spice drawer is for those less-used spices such as Cumin, Dill Weed (that one makes me laugh), and Pumpkin-Pie Spice. The girls love that drawer. They organize the spices, shake the sprinkles, and find the candles hidden in the corners. My mother had spices, but they were all alphabetized and I was not allowed to play with them. Mine are far from alphabetized and it probably takes me 30-90 seconds longer to find anything in that drawer, but it is worth it. Check out this masterpiece:



You never know what your kids will remember and love about your home. My friend says her mother had a jar full of buttons that she loved to play with. Gotta get me one of those.

Kids Say the Darnedest Things

When I left for my mission to Brazil, my Father warned me that he was to receive a letter once a week—no less. In great fear and trepidation of what might happen if I did not delivery a weekly letter, I wrote like Thoreau lest some great misfortune befall me. My father, somewhat old school in his absolute abhorrence of computer-produced letters, would scribe a letter to me on his Levenger stationary with his black-ink alloy fountain pen. “Letters,” he would say, “should come with some emotion, and you just don’t get that on a computer.”

Now that I have returned, the necessity for letter writing seems to have diminished. This is odd to me as I sit here because although I am closer, I see my Idaho family only slightly more than I did on my mission! Perhaps letter writing is more necessary than previously supposed!

Nevertheless, I received a letter from my father just yesterday. In the grand tradition of my father, it was written in his own hand on premium paper. Without disclosing the entire contents of the letter, I wish to share a portion: “We were cleaning our drawers the other day and I found an assignment from you about why I should buy you a computer. I thought you might find it amusing now.”

Enclosed with the letter was another hand-written document, in penmanship I haven’t seen in years—my own. The document titled, “10 Reasons to have a Computer,” is meticulously labeled with “Tyler” as the preparer, and is dated, “9-16-91.” That’s 17 years ago almost to the day. It reads as follows:

1. To do my homework.
2. IF we got a computer for the family, either Kolby or J.R. will ruin it like the one downstairs.
3. To store my scientific refr information.
4. To keep my schedules on.
5. To keep my diary gernal on.
6. In 5/6 of my classes, I get extra Credit for computer printed assignments.
7. To Index, my Index words for My English class.
8. To make an index of my books.
9. To help the earth. Lined paper that has been written on with ink or lead can’t be recycled, computer paper can.
10. To aid myself and others in scouts.
11. To help J.R. & Kolby with their homework.
12. To keep personal thoughts I wan to remember on.

Notice the list of ten reasons actually has 12.

It’s not often that we obtain smoking-gun evidence that were just as funny as our children are now. For now, this letter serves as a reminder of days gone by that I only see now…in my children. Write a few of those moments down, for perchance you may find them in about 20 years and you can send them to your children.

By the way, yes, I did get the computer, and no, neither Kolby nor J.R. ruined it like the one downstairs.

My dad also noted, "I know I enjoy remembering these events in our lives. Who would know that you'd go on to use a computer to provide for your family." Maybe when June asks me for a telescope she's really telling me she's going to grow up to be a rocket scientist?