Arm Wrestling

Jamisons like to arm wrestle.  Lander looks forward to the day that he can beat his dad.

Of course, his dad is way too competitive to allow that.

But Lander still tries.
And tries.
And tries.

Alonso wanted his turn to try too and realized that Josh is pretty tough.

But Alonso was nice enough to let Lander win

look at the size of that thang!

Our drive home includes passing these amazing animals

Birthday Surprise

Josh unveils his birthday surprise for Dixie, 

a new bench for the front porch that he made.

Happy Birthday to Dixie

Happy birthday to me, 

Happy birthday to me,

Happy birthday to Dixie,

Happy birthday to me.

The boys are funny. They think that a birthday means no chores or responsibility. Silly kids! Dixie's birthday wish was to clear out some of her overgrown flowers. 

It's hard to believe that we are already to the "get rid of them" stage after working so hard to get the flower beds filled! This is one shasta daisy plant that Dixie dug up. Another plant was over 5 feet tall! There is a large wheel barrow under the load. She promises!

gathering Shoes for Love

After several months of preparation, Jake was able to finally complete his Eagle Project, a shoe drive for the Dando Amor charity. He gathered used and donated shoes that were delivered to orphanages around the world.

Here is a Video of Jake's Eagle Project. Even after watching it zillions of times, Dixie still cries each time she watches it. 

friends and neighbors donated their time to sort and organize the shoes

Riding the Firetruck

We heard a strange sound, like an old siren, and wondered what was going on. When we opened our front door, this is what we saw:

(Lander is wearing black making a peace sign)

 Brett Bagley driving an old firetruck with most of the neighborhood kids piled on. 

 Around and around and around they went, sirens blaring. Kids waving. Everybody smiling.

Absolutely one of THE BEST memories that we will ever have of living in our neighborhood!
(see Lander hanging off the back!)

What happens when...

...Lander finally deep cleans his room? You get this:

Slumber Party!

slumber party with dad

It doesn't get any better than this

Rasberries & the Dilemma

We had a bit of a dilemma....what to do with the enormous piles of old raspberry canes? In the past we had placed them in the garbage can, but Dixie wanted to try something different. Josh was sure that it would end in an epic failure, and melting of the fence. So we made a few smaller piles and Lander readied himself with the hose while we waited for a wind-free day. 

Our plan worked!

just a normal spring day in Idaho

Beautiful, isn't it?

Composting = Happy Wife

Good Hubby Award goes to Josh when he helps Dixie build a compost bin

Airsoft Wars

Spring and warmer weather means that little warriors emerge at our house

Little Snow Blowers

It was with great sadness (seriously!) that Dixie realized she couldn't blow the snow thanks to her recent surgery. This meant that it was time to teach the boys.

They insisted on shoveling snow at first, but then realized that it would take several hours to do the entire driveway and consented to learning how to use the big, scary snowblower.

They did great! And now mom actually kind of likes sending them out to do her old chore!

School's in Session

Lander and Jake

a day of firsts: first day of middle school and first day of junior high 

No matter how hard we fight it, summer always ends. So in an attempt to avoid the inevitable, I thought we could relive some of our best summer memories.

1. That time the boys turned rap stars. Made chores a lot more fun

 even if the financial rewards weren't Hollywood-sized.  

 2. That time that Lander turned ninja/knight. 

 Unfortanately, his battles didn't end well. 

 3. That lesson on buyers remorse. Those bare bottoms seemed so funny at the store, 

but the longer they sat on the counter, the more and more 

(and more if your name is Lander) uncomfortable they made us feel. 

 4. That time we learned we are part Italian. At least Dad's pizza-making and 

Mom's mozarella-making skills make us think we might be. 

Now if we can just get that olive colored skin...

 5. The death of a few beloved toys. May their plastic hearts rest in peace...

 6. That time we had to fight off the entire town to hang out with our friends. 

Apparently we are popular like that. 

Kaitlyn W., Chase W., Jake, Lander

7. That time we came to terms with living in the Arctic Tundra and 

learned that it really can snow 12 months out of the year.

just a "little" yard work

Josh bought a new toy, a vintage Silver Streak Clipper.

But then we had a problem, 

where would we put it?

What about that parking pad that we meant to put in, oh, about 7 years ago?

Great idea. "Why don't you get on it, Dix?"

It started out looking like this. 

Correction: this was after Dixie had already spent 40 hours cutting sod. 

Well, give or take a bit.

 The boys helped some too.

 eventually the ground looked like this: 

 And then Josh got to work!

our drive home

We love turning into our neighborhood to be greeted by these magnificent beasts:

the new piano

Grandma Nala and Grandpa Farnsworth gave us the piano that they bought and used while they lived in Illinois.  We are super-dooper excited. 

Notable piano quote from Lander:

"You know what I realized yesterday when I practiced the piano? I love music more than anything. More than school, more than playing, even more than going to the bathroom."

Well-then...

Is that why Mom and Dad have to remind him to practice?

Just a little food for thought

Josh has even got in to the piano playing obsession.  Obsession meaning, I think that he's tried playing it once, but it was a mean rendition of Chop Sticks.

828 South Greenridge Avenue

Jake checks out his first home in Payson, Utah

Superhero Dinner

This is what happens when Dixie gets bored while making dinner. 

No judging!

fire rainbows

This little gift greeted us when we got home today. 

Fire rainbows are supposedly rare (if you happen to believe claims by Nasa), but we seem to find at least one every year. Some claim that the average person only sees these once or twice in their lifetime. Maybe it is a message? Or an omen? If so, we think it's a good one!