I'm supposed to tag someone else?

Considering my title query, I guess that it makes sense or tag would be a really boring game. So I tag Heather!

I actually got tagged by my one consistent reader!

My sister-in-law, Katherine tagged me! I feel honored. She and my brother Lee are generally the only people who leave comments on our blog, and they often make me laugh out loud. (I know that there are several of you who read what I post regularly and I'm not judging you if you don't comment. NO WORRIES!)

Tag #1

1. Where is your cell phone? recharging

2. Where is your significant other? home depot

3. Your hair color? blonde

4. Your mother? creative and wise

5. Your father? patient and faithful

6. Your favorite thing? reading

7. Your dream last night? rarely do I remember

8. Your dream/goal? peace

9. The room you're in? great room

10. Your hobby? writing

11. Your fear? death of loved one

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? happy where I am, then

13. Where were you last night? visiting friends

14. What you're not? contentious

15. One of your wish-list items? new running shoes

16. Where you grew up? Arizona

17. The last thing you did? cleaned up dinner

18. What are you wearing? jeans and a t-shirt

19. Your TV? don't watch it much

20. Your pet? does a dead fish buried in the back yard count?

21. Your computer? usually my friend

22. Your mood? pensive

23. Missing someone? not at the moment

24. Your car? 4Runner

25. Something you're not wearing? shoes

26. Favorite store? Anthropologie

27. Your summer? stinkin' hot

28. Love someone? indeed

29. Your favorite color? lavender

30. When is the last time you laughed? today

31. Last time you cried? not sure


Tag #2
4 random things I like about my husband
1. He can fix anything
2. He loves to learn
3. He's as gregarious as they come
4. He's interesting to talk to

4 jobs I've had
1. video store clerk

2. floor manager at Grady Gammage auditorium

3. English Teacher (high school and college)

4. copy editor for author

4 movies I've watched more than once
1. Harry Potter (any of the series)

2. Enchanted

3. Cars

4. High School Musical, High School Musical 2

4 TV shows I watch
1. Smallville
2. Heroes
3. Charlie Rose
4. Curious George

4 people who email me regularly
1. Evan
2. Book club friends
3. no one else at the moment--regular emails are once in a while in fits and spurts

4 favorite foods
1. green salad of any kind
2. salmon
3. white peaches
4. pizza

4 places I'd like to visit
1. England
2. Argentina
3. Hawaii
4. Concord, MA

4 things I'm looking forward to this year
1. cooler weather
2. holidays
3. bike rides
4. historic election results (whoever wins)

Annoyed

So we just spent a few days in Dana Point, CA camping on the beach--not my favorite thing, but I managed. While there I took what would potentially be some great photographs with my 35mm, which takes great sunset photos on the beach especially. I took the rolls of film into Target to get them developed as I always do and then showed up two days later to pick up my glorious sunset photos.

They clerk said that the rolls of film were blank and wondered if I got my film mixed up.

Mixed up?

Me?

Never.

Well, more than I'd like to admit, but that's not the point.

I didn't mix them up. I am exceedingly careful about keeping track of film; I consider it a small treasure, if you want to know the truth. So now, I am annoyed. I have two precious little rolls of film, outside of their safe little plastic containers in Target envelopes that say, "Film was blank" on the outside.

And the film is not blank.

This hinders my blogging habits. I have no family photos for you.

But here are a few that might make you chuckle. They're probably copyrighted--that'd be my luck.

This is Dylan's favorite. He says, "Mama, whey kitty? Meow." Then he laughs.

Is this one too much?

(Poor really-buffed lady, whoever she is.)

Early September in Arizona

September is certainly not the cruelest month--that would be August in Arizona. But it is one that represents settling into a new school year, adjusting to new routines, a lament of the need to still wear shorts and t-shirts, and a longing for jeans and light jackets.

Or in our children's experience, it means trying on Dad's shoes,

Making precariously dangerous pipe sculptures in the garage,

Reading books naked with your cousin,

Or keeping a pacifier that you're too old for in your mouth while the emergency pacifier that you're too old for is next to you--just in case.

Oh, September.

Labor Day Weekend Update

Over Labor Day weekend we made a sojourn to Tucson to visit Elizabeth and Josh and their new little son, Clark. In their development in Sahuarita (actually south of Tucson) they have a water park where we spent the afternoon reveling in the cooler Southern Arizona breeze and the gorgeous monsoon sky.

Darling Dylan was fairly cautious in the water, mostly staying out of it.

Amelia's fish gene kicked right in and she had a blast.

Here, Evan was as photogenic as ever, Dylan didn't like being in the water, and Amelia was annoyed that we made her stop playing to pose for a picture.

Elizabeth, my younger sister, took this next picture. This way, for once, I'm actually depicted in our blog. (I highlighted the photo so I wouldn't look so pasty next to Evan's bronze skin.)

And here Dylan and Evan watch some skateboarders while I snapped this candid shot. (Thirty-five doesn't look so bad on Evan.)

Actually, there were a few other candid shots of me. Yeah, apparently, I'm either cleaning my teeth or squinting when I'm not actually smiling for a camera.

Nice.

So the man of the hour was this little dude, Clark Joshua Gibson. The purpose of the trip was to meet him for the first time and participate in his baby blessing on Sunday.

And here are his proud parents and grandparents outside the church after his blessing.

And the whole crew who came to participate in the blessing event.

What follows is a preview of what might be our Christmas card photos if we don't find the time to have more photographs taken.






And this video just might make you smile. My dad recorded it Sunday afternoon after the blessing. Deb, my older sister, is making her youngest son, Marcus, laugh.



We spent Labor Day morning on Mount Lemon picnicking in the back of my parents' truck because we didn't stop earlier at one of many picnic tables along the way and because there was abundant poison ivy all over the grassier areas.

Dylan was in an affectionate mood hugging everyone who was near him.

At the top of the mountain, we partook of the ski lift ride. The monsoon sky burst in full force as we were trapped in the rickety chairs with only white plastic ponchos protecting us from the down pour. Needless to say, our shoes sloshed and our shorts were soaked through, but Amelia, Abby and Jacob laughed about it-- once they were dry.

And that concludes the Labor Day weekend update. Thanks for watching.

Dylan is two, and he knows it.

Dylan Ansel Rogers turned two on September 7th, 2008. His parents threw him a back yard birthday party equipped with air rockets, a pinata, cupcakes, a giant bouncer, a slip n' slide, and a basketball-hooped kiddie pool. All the day before he officially marked his second year.

Dylan lost his pants early on in the festivities, as pictured below, so we, his parents, changed him into a pair of swim trunks. We eventually found the pants.

The giant bouncer did not follow the birthday party theme, which was Elmo (Dylan chose this himself). But rather, the bouncer displayed giant faces of the Incredibles characters and read "Los Increibles" over the entrance. We got a kick out of this and figured that our eleventh hour rental of the bouncer meant that having an English title wasn't a priority.

Jared found the bouncer a great release for his abundant energy and a pants-less Dylan and Hyrum thought it was a great place to play with the air pump rockets.

Giant bubbles seemed to also be a hit. Abby and Jake brandished the giant wands and the Bowles neighbor girls were deemed the Bubble Princesses by party guests.

Dylan's friend Davis watched the bubbles through a mashed face print on the window.

And Davis' older brother Drew sampled the basketball hooped kiddie pool while experimenting with the air pump rocket and water. I think he determined that the air propelled the rocket farther than did the water.

Baby Wyatt (Aileen & Jaron's newest little dude) made his birthday party debut. One of many, dear Wyatt. One of many.

Here are Grandma Phillis, Wyatt and Hyrum.

Once again, a pinata met its end as a result of many feisty whacks from a stick. This fish shaped pinata (we couldn't bear to kill Elmo), was durable. A little too durable for my taste. We had to get some of the big kids to beat it and beat it before it gave up its belly full of candy.

After a few parties, Dylan completely understands the pinata game. He gave it a few whacks without any help this time. Go Dylan!

This was our pinata line. We had to remind kids to stay back about a thousand times, but luckily there were no casualties.

We sang "Happy Birthday" to Dylan and apparently, Jared determined that Dylan didn't really want to blow out his two candles, so Jared did it for him.

Dylan cooed to his cupcake, though. Candles, schmandles. The sugar was the goal.

Amelia was a great party hostess making sure that all of the kids had bags to put the pinata candy in. This was after she had her own bag, of course.

A note: there are no photographs of Dylan opening his presents because he didn't actually open them. Evan did. Dylan ran around the room, down the hall, and occasionally made a circle back to where the gifts were to check out what his dad had opened. He is soooo two.

On the actual day of Dylan's birthday, Grandpa Ed (who couldn't make it to the party) and Grandma Brenda (who did come to the party) visited.

Here Grandma Brenda is helping Dylan hold up two fingers.

The official day of his birthday, a normally mellow Dylan was pretty ornery. He's very likely figured out what two typically means.

But hopefully he won't be too terrible.

Where did August go?

I cannot believe that this month of August has nearly ended. The old cliche, "time flies when you're having fun" partially applies here. Were we having fun, exactly? Yes. Sometimes.

Here is an update:

As a diversion from the oppressive summer heat and the inability to play much outside, Dylan and Amelia spent time with some markers. Notice where Dylan stored his when he couldn't find the cap (it was on the back of his marker, by the way).

And Amelia decided that coloring on paper just isn't that interesting.

For much of the summer, post swimming lessons, Amelia and Dylan would agree to change from their pajamas by about lunch time. Sometimes, when the lounging was really good, it was later.

The Richardson cousins visited. Kassie is pictured here with Amelia and Abby. Tommy, Marcus, and Jared were napping when I actually managed to pull out my camera and snap a few. Katherine and my mom helped to watch all of these crazy kids during the last week of July--I echo Katherine's sentiment: were there really just eight children or 20?

Kassie and Abby were both wearing Amelia's swimming suits. We had to roll the bottom portion of Kassie's suit to keep it over her barely-there bum. If she moved wrong, the bottoms just slipped right off.

And Jacob, with his usual theatrics, and a size 24-month swimming suit that also miraculously fit his barely-there bum, played Darth-Vader-Poseidon and sprayed the girls with water from the slip-n-slide.

Dylan thought this was all very funny, but abstained from his sister's and cousins' antics.

And here's Abby, with her typical fashion model pose.

So, then the first day of kindergarten arrived for Amelia. She was so excited to wear the outfit she chose and use her new back pack. She has since worn two pony tails of varying heights and lengths to school every single day.

When asked what her favorite part of Mrs. Giroux's kindergarten is, she replies, "the homework." She has very little, and it often consists of the pages she scribbled on rather than finished during class. But her teacher assures me that when Amelia is focused and attentive, she really does know a great deal. This is comforting. Something is getting through those pony tails.

Dylan really wanted to go to school with his sister. He kept asking for her the first few days that she was gone.

And this is what Evan did to make himself Dylan's favorite parent. I just cannot play horsie with the same gusto or jostling as Evan provides. Now Dylan constantly wants to "Go fo wide?"

And how can we refuse?