Fancy

RING RING... RING RING


Hello...?

Food Nanny

Have you seen this show? It's on BYU TV. I've seen one episode and it totally cracked me up but it is great. Here's a website. http://thefoodnanny.org/

What would you do if...?

Do you play the "What would you do if...?" game at your house?

I guess it's not really a game - but it is something we hear a lot here. Evan has been asking these questions since he was a little boy. It's the worrier in him coming out. One of the most memorable questions when he was little - he and I were riding a ski lift up snowy slopes and he asked "What would you do if I fell off...?" he was serious, he needed an answer. I told him he'd probably be OK since it really wasn't very high and the snow would cushion him and as soon as I could I would alert ski patrol what had happened and we'd go get him and pick him up. I answered in the most calm of voices. Questions like that continued for years and years. Now they have just turned absurd and usually with some gruesome detail. My answers are usually something like "I'd start screaming?" or "We'd take you to a psychologist."

So - here are some of the questions of late (Claire likes to get in on the act as well, and I guess I do it too now)

What would you do if...
Claire while at the airport - "...you saw two dogs and a cat running across the tarmac?" (we'd just seen Homeward Bound a few days before)
Claire - "...I sang a solo in church and did horrible? Would I get the special plate?"
Evan - "...I cut my finger and started chewing on it and I *liked* it?" (that has been a running theme - appendages coming off, Evan eating them and liking it)
Evan - "...I had built a stargate and kept it under my bed and while you were watching Stargate I popped out of the stargate on screen?"

The other day, Evan and I went to Office Depot and the car we pulled up to had two flat tires on the right side of the car. Big Bummer! Evan saw that and said "Do you think someone slashed their tires?" We didn't know, we didn't inspect. But there was a note on the windshield. Evan wanted to look at it. I said we should not touch the car. So we went on our way.

Evan - "What would you do if the note was a chain letter saying you have to slash two tires of a car or you'll die? Pass the note along."

Now he's saying "What would you do if I had Alzheimer's?" and he has asked me 4 times.

Yah - the fun never stops!

Easter Egg?

Look what we found in our backyard!

Whoever left it didn't do a very good job of hiding it.

Isn't that weird?

The Annual Snomobile Trip

Every year around this time, for the past 6 years or so, Greg and his brothers have gone snowmobiling around Island Park, Idaho. It's a guys trip - only guys old enough to drive go. Extended family and friends go as well. This year it was Greg's brother Grant (they stay at the brothers' cabin in Island Park) Greg's dad Wally, nephews Blair and Dane, cousin Scott Howlett and friend from Middletown, Duane. Eric picked Greg and Evan and Duane up at the Salt Lake airport on Friday afternoon. Evan missed little school for this, he had a half day on Friday - nice. They made it to Island Park in the late evening. They snowmobiled on Saturday. Went to church in Island Park then part of the group left to head down to Tremonton. Greg, Eric and Evan stayed Sunday night in Tremonton and then left early, early in the morning to get Evan and Greg on a first flight out back to CA. Evan missed a tad of his first period class Monday morning.

Did they have fun? Of course.

The group stopping for a rest.

Eric kickin' back.

hmmmm, is that Evan?


Yep, that's Evan!

A little bit of news -

Claire finally had her first drive with the behind the wheel instructor. That was on Monday. For several days before she had been freaking out at random times saying "I have to drive in so and so many days!" On Sunday, on the way home from church she was in freak out mode and I told her we could call the teacher and tell him she's not ready. Claire didn't like that idea. She kept the appointment. The instructor picks the kids up from their various schools (usually three students each time) and off they go for three hours. Evan and I waited in the parking lot of the school just to make sure she made it off OK. I invited Evan to come and sit since he'd be able to say if she was waiting in the right place or not. He was a little peeved saying "You didn't have Ryan do this for me when I drove!" As it turned out there were some friends waiting it out with Claire. I assumed they were going to drive too but nope - as soon as the instructor showed up we could hear them wish her luck then left. It was nearly a half hour after school! Back at home - we waited the 3 hours for her to come home. I expected stories and laughing and maybe some tears. She got home - no tears but lots of excitement and laughing - "I drove on the road! I drove on the road!" over and over "It was so scary!" But she quickly asked if she could drive to one of the girl's homes we carpool with for dance. So - good sign. No driving on Tuesday, it was too wet (nice out for me). And yesterday she wanted to drive so we just went round and round the block practicing right hand turns. I wonder what she'll want to do today?

The next bit of news -

Evan is going to BYU Idaho! How cool is that? Checkout this video on besmart.com Click on BYU I then "video" and then "I came to BYU Idaho". besmart.com
Evan will probably study a lotta this or that.
How beautiful is this?
Is this place still there? Maybe Joslyn has helped maintain it.
Are they still the Vikings? How perfect is that? Time to bring out the Viking in everyone!
And how wonderful is this?
He's so relieved to have been accepted and is hoping for a Fall Winter track so he can get in as much school as he can before he leaves on HIS mission (Oh my goodness, my little boys....) in June of 2011. Yeah Julie, I can totally understand a cartoon bringing a person to tears!

Go Vikings! Go Evan!!!!
I think I'm going to start calling him Thor.

To listen or not to listen? That is the question.

We chose to listen. We spent the winter break on a very fun trip. We had to agree to listen to a timeshare sales pitch but we had fun too.
MONDAY - Feb. 15
We left in the morning - checked into the Hilton Grand Vacation Club Tuscany around 6pm - had dinner in a food court of the fabulous outlets that are right across the street from the hotel. Claire finally found some Converse that fit her! And we watched Olympics to way too late into the night.
TUESDAY - Feb. 16
Do you know where you're going to?

Seems miles of parked cars - but not to worry - there's always a catchy sign to help you remember where you parked.

One of our favorite rides all week - the trams that bring you back and forth to your car.

First park of the trip - we're excited!

Talk about a gathering place. Maybe the ten tribes are gathering already - at Disney World.

Shout out to Eric and his fedora.

The big fake tree.

Kali River Rapids - that's Claire and me braving the water and the cold. We got lucky - not too wet - it was fun.

We wish we were on that side.

Look at those furry feet! There's a baby all tucked away under her arms.

Claire loves the Disney characters. She even likes to get their signatures in her Disneyland autograph book.

Hungry hungry hippos. I heard a dad say that to his daughter when they were watching. But these hippos - they disappeared so that was disappointing but then they came back with vengeance and started yawning at each other and then jumping out of the water and flopping back down like they were performing killer whales. I'm not kidding. They really did that and everyone in this little viewing area started screaming with excitement. I'm sure everyone who left when it was "boring" was feeling bad for having missed it. And I felt bad for the people who rushed in afterward but the hippos had disappeared again. It really was quite exciting - and bizarre and funny.



We think Rafiki brings out the blue in Claire's eyes.

Let your conscience be your guide! We sent this picture to Eric - not that he really needs any help in that area.

Pocahontas called Claire "Princess". Unfortunately, Pocahontas was Claire's last signature for her autograph book - it flew out of her pocket on some wild dino-land ride. We couldn't find it nor did it end up in lost and found. Sad.

A great way to end a day full of animals - have your dinner with them.
WEDNESDAY - Feb. 17
How do I talk about this day without sounding ungrateful. I guess the best way to do it is just say - we are so glad Greg said yes to the telemarketer who offered the sales package to us because had he not, we wouldn't have been here and we had so much fun. But - the timeshare spiel was what we expected - inconvenient, long and ridiculous. Greg gave me a pep talk before we made it to our sales pitch talk, reminding me what a great deal we were getting staying where we were staying. We could have gotten up and out the door early to make more time in a park but we didn't. We offered to take Claire and Evan to a park while we were doing our duty - but they opted not to do that. The pitch was at 1pm. Yeah, right smack in the middle of the day. We tried to change the time but no go. We got back to the room near 4. Claire and Evan were ready to head out - we made it to a park by 4:30 - but oh what a park!
Epcot!

They wanted these glasses really bad - but two could not have them. At least Claire said she wouldn't wear them if Evan wore them.

We do not have pictures of Future World - but this is where most of the rides are. I must say that Mission Space was one of the most uncomfortable feeling rides I've ever been on. I don't know how to explain it. I would love to see what is actually going on with the mechanics of the ride for it to cause me to think "When's it going to end!" Besides hearing over and over again "if you don't like spinning maybe you shouldn't ride this ride..." there was another hint of warning to those boarding the ride - barf bags provided in the ride compartment. We rode the more intense version of the ride. I don't think I'd ever ride it again. I'm curious about the less intense side. Evan said he'd never go on it again. Claire thought it was stupid because once into space she thought it was boring. I guess we won't ever be astronauts.


Onto World Showcase
Mexico Pavilion - WHAT IT DO!!!

A shout out to our Norwegian heritage.


The Mexico Pavilion in the background, the lights went down all around World Showcase for the firework show. Becky says they put one on every night. We think it lasted 15 minutes. It was exciting and beautiful.

This was very hot...
We could feel the heat on our faces.


The End

Show over - the lights came back on.

We don't know what this really is - but turned out kind of cool.

A silly family pic - Evan tried several times to get us all in one using the camera's timer. Too bad you'd never know where we are but where ever it is, we're having fun!
THURSDAY - Feb. 18
We have left the Hilton - thank goodness for 10 o'clock check out or else we probably would have slept all morning. We head to Disney's Hollywood Studios.
Our fruits and vegetables for the week.

We really didn't know anything about this park except that Tower of Terror is there. It was very crowded though. I over heard someone talking about a park and I think they were talking about this one - that it is the smallest land mass of the parks. Is this true? So that might explain some of that. But they also said you could see it in 2 hours. With the lines? I have no idea how someone would do that unless they were just going to walk around. Maybe I was mistaken. It also was the earliest we made it into any park - and that really does make a difference. People tended to clear out in the early evening so earlier there, the more people to deal with.

Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. No, we didn't ride on the strings of the guitar but wouldn't that be cool?! I think they need to consider that idea. This was our first very long line. We picked up fast passes for Tower of Terror and had to wait a couple hours before we could try for fast passes again. We'd heard that the passes run out quickly so we decided to just go for it. We went single rider.

Single rider ended up being a very long wait but was faster than the regular "stand by" line. It was the best roller coaster ride all week - an awesome ride. AND, by the time we got off sure enough fast passes for the ride were gone so we're glad we stood in that line. ROCK ON!

Greg, hard at work, while we were hard at waiting our turn. He's sitting on the wall, head down, baseball cap...

I had to take this shot. We saw seas of strollers everywhere.

The next long line, no single rider option. Was so cute and all...It's Toy Story Mania.

Still in line. More cuteness.

Still in line. We listened to the Mr. Potato Head program for an hour - it got a *little* old after awhile. Claire's expression is quite telling. "One potata, two potata, three potata, four..." BAH
Leo from Little Einsteins. Claire's a big fan. "To Rocket!"

People, people everywhere means lines that last forever... We're outta here!
We'd had our fill of Disney Hollywood so we moved onto The Magic Kingdom.

Isn't this everyone's first picture in the park?

Our first look at Cinderella's Castle - we loved it.

I think Evan, deep down inside, wants to be in one of the light parades.

View of some of the park from atop The Swiss Family Robinson Tree House.

This castle changed color all night long.

Killing time we visited Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe.

Greg with his favorite president. His favorite pictured in the Hall of Presidents anyway. What an amazing show that was. Per the Disney website "This 23-minute stage show features every American president, past and present, in a fascinating tribute that combines film, Audio-Animatronics® characters and storytelling to honor their legacies." The Animatronics were so life like - they continued moving even when it wasn't their turn to talk. Anyway, we were impressed.

We were lucky the park stayed open until 11 this night and we took advantage. It was wonderful, just walking onto some of the most popular rides. Way to go Claire for suggesting it. After closing we headed to a Marriott where we spent the next two nights.
FRIDAY - Feb. 19
We never really adjusted to Orlando time - very much on CA time all week. It made for late mornings and late nights. So - this is a picture of sleeping Claire - but you can barely see her - very good blackout curtains - I didn't want to use the flash and wake her up - but close look at the clock it says 10:40-something am. Yeah, a little slow on the get up and go - all of us. Well, all but Greg. He was up by 8 to get breakfast. Us bed bugs were OK with cold cereal again.


Into The Magic Kingdom again -a favorite park - we spent the most time there - but we have very few pictures. Go figure. Too busy riding rides and watching shows I guess.
Love the castles.

Monster's Inc Laugh Floor gives you the opportunity to text a joke and maybe it will be used in the show. So, this is Evan and Claire texting their joke. "Why did the cactus cross the road?" I'll let you all take a guess at the answer. Didn't get used in the show though. But - that show - very very funny. Laugh out loud comedy show. Might have been Greg's favorite of the week.

OH - and here's Greg texting his joke. "How did the meeting go with so and so?"

There were several parades every night at The Magic Kingdom. Of those parades, they do one at closing time, kind of helps close down the park. And after the character parade is over - along comes the clean up parade. They came down main street in V-formation - a guy behind them with one of those long "pick stuff up pinching things" and he was waving it like a baton - I kid you not - he was really doing that! with a little bit of march in his step. Was so funny. Didn't quite get the cameras out in time for that but you can kind of get the idea.
SATURDAY - Feb. 20
Our last day. All of us tired but still excited (Even Evan though it will appear we just cut and paste the same photo of him into the following pictures). We checked out early so we could spend as much time as possible finishing up the World Showcase at Epcot. The park opens at 9 and we thought the World Showcase opened at 10 but once there we saw that it opened at 11. That was OK though, there was stuff to do in Future World we hadn't taken time to see yet. Was all good. But we did end up kind of doing an "Around the World in 60 minutes" type tour in those last pavilions we hadn't seen yet. Was all good.
Beautiful grounds - everywhere. I noticed signs that said "Pardon our dust..." but there was no dust. They were just preparing for the flower show in May so there were plants and bushes lined up, being stored, very neatly in places where they normally wouldn't be. Ah, to be there in May.

Shout out to England.

Been to Paris lately?

In the back ground we have the Mexico and the Norway Pavilions. Evan is getting ready to do a back flip and cheer "Let's hear it for Ryan and Garry!"

"Is there any money in there?"

Shout out to Germany.

Another shout out to Norway.

One of the few attractions we visited twice - the one with almonds. It is sold in the Norway Pavilion's Kringla Bakeri Og Kafe.

I have no idea where this "land" is, it's not really near The Magic Kingdom; but it was so fun to spot it from the air. Good-bye Disney World.
OH yeah - "Why did the cactus cross the road?"