My Early Christmas Present

Here is a picture of my early Christmas present from Andrew & his parents.
As many of you know. . . Andrew’s mom, Jan, is pianist extraordinaire. She has taught piano lessons for many years, even while her children were growing up, and she continues to teach twice a week. She has inspired thousands of children with her musical ability as she was the elementary music instructor for the entire school district in Rexburg for years. She also taught at Ricks College (Now BYU-Idaho) the music for elementary teacher’s course. Then as she and my father in law, Kim, served their second mission they were called to serve in the Madagascar mission on the island of Maritus. They were called there so that Jan, with her higher degree in Music Education, could teach music at the Chopin Conservatory. So as you can see music was a very high priority in the Black household.
Therefore, Jan is determined to provide each individual family with the opportunity to the same musically rich environment that was provided in the Black home. She wants every one of the families to have a piano of their own. Andrew did the research and found the piano that would be a perfect, and Jan provided the money. So in short this is my Christmas present from my wonderful in laws, Jan and Kim, and my sneaky husband, Andrew.

Now I just have to learn how to play!

Christmas Cards

Hello All,

We are working on getting updated addresses to get Christmas cards in the mail. If you would like to be added to our mailing list please drop us an email with your address.

Thanks,
The Blacks
mrsbeckyblack@hotmail.com

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

Monday for family home evening we put up our Christmas Tree. This may not look like much of a Christmas Tree to the average person, but after all that this little tree went through we are just happy that it is standing in our living room decorated.

A Black family tradition is going to the hills to pick out a tree of your own. Well lets just say that this year the act of picking out the tree was a bit difficult. It seemed to take an extra long time to find a tree that was suitable for everyone.

After we finally selected our tree we had to deal with how to get our Christmas tree from Idaho to our home in Utah. We really should have taken a picture of our journey home, but we just didn't think about it. We looked a bit like the Grizwalds from Christmas Vacation. We tied the tree to the top of our car and drove all the way back to Salt Lake with it that way. What a sight!!! The kids were so concerned that the tree was going to fall off the top of the car. Kimball even fell asleep with his head looking out the back window to make sure the tree was still in place.

We were successful on Monday afternoon in getting the tree to stand up nice and straight in the tree stand. This was after Andrew showered the living room with branches and sawdust from sawing the tree trunk with his saw right in the house. But, hey the tree was standing up tall and straight we such little fuss I didn't complain. Andrew put on the lights while the kids and I ate McDonald's hamburgers for dinner. Then Kimball found the star for the top. We decided that we should get the star on before adding the decorations. Well I stood up on my trusty oak stool that Andrew's Dad made me so many years ago. (I couldn't reach anything without it.) As I was attempting to put the star on the top and plug it into the other cords so that it would glow I started to loose my balance. It all happened so fast that all I remember was that I tried to steady myself by grabbing the top of the tree. (I know that Christmas trees are not sturdy, but when you are falling logic just doesn't work.) Then I opened my eyes. There were Andrew, Kimball, and Hazel staring at me with huge eyes. Our once straight tree was laying on top of me on the floor. After I got up Hazel said, "Mom what happened?"

Well after my delicately choreographed tree ballet we were able to salvage the thing and get the whole tree decorated. I know that this will be a Christmas Tree to remember.

Kids Say the Darndest Things!

Sometimes my kids say the funniest things and I often write them down in their journals, but I know that these little comments will allow others to laugh as well, so I am going to start sharing. I saw on another friends blog funny things that her kids had said on the side of her blog, so I will start doing that too. Here is a bit of an introduction of Kids Say the Darndest Things.



The other day when I was running errands with Hazel she said something that sure has made me giggle the last couple of days. We had just finished shopping at Wal-mart and she was sitting in the back of the car in her car seat. This is how the conversation went.
Mom: “Hazel we have just one more store to go to and then we are going to go pick up Kimball from preschool. “
Hazel: “Go to store with elevator”
Mom: “No we are not going to the store with the elevator today.”
Hazel: (Mumbles almost under her breath) “Little Poop”
I giggled to myself and quickly called my Mom. I recognize that this is a direct quote from Grandma Connie and I had to let her know that her granddaughter was sharing her new vocabulary with me.



Hazel: “Kimball my foot hurts, my foot hurts Kimball.”
Kimball: “What, your toe hurts?”
Hazel: “Yah”
Kimball: “But I’m not a foot doctor yet Hazel. . . I don’t know how to fix it.”





One day we got a babysitter to stay with the kids while Andrew and I went out on a date. I called to see how things were going. The babysitter said that everything was fine, but wanted to know what “Curious Georges” were. She said that Kimball asked, “How many Curious Georges before my Mom and Dad get home?” I had to laugh. We measure time for Kimball in ways that he can relate so we use “Curious Georges” as measurements of time. We explain that we will be to Idaho in 8 Curious Georges, or to Costco in only 1 Curious George. It works great for us, but it sure confused the babysitter.

BFFs...sometimes

I have been collecting pictures of my two kiddos the last few weeks of times that they are Best Buddies. These moments sometimes seem to be few and far between. When they are playing together nicely I smile and laugh at every funny thing that they do. I LOVE being a Mom!

One night while visiting with company in our living room, the kids disappeared downstairs for awhile. I began to get a little nervous about what was going on because they were being quiet. Next thing I knew they were giggling all the way up the stairs as they slid across the hardwood floor to reveal their mischeivious ways. True partners in crime. . .The Underpants Kids. Kimball got Hazel and himself all dressed up for the occassion.

Watching the garbage truck...the weekly ritual. (Sorry about the backlighting)

Kimball: "Alright Hazel I have 3 moneys how much do you have?"

Hazel: "One, Two"

Trying out the snow for the first time this year. Yes . . . they are wearing their pajamas under their boot and jackets.

Santa Clause Bubble Bath Beards!!!

BEST BUDDIES enjoying some popcorn and a movie together.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Last Wednesday we woke up to snow all over the ground, and after snowing the rest of the day by evening there was enough powdery white to hit the Sugar House Park hills with the 4 snow saucers I bought at a garage sale a couple of weeks ago for a few bucks. (Usually I just pass something like that by and wish that I hadn't a few days or weeks later.)



I called my good friend Christie to see if she wanted to pack up her two boys, Josh and Neil (they are the same age as Kimball and Hazel) and come sledding with us.

Kimball was on the move the whole time and here is the picture to prove it. He was especially proud of his "awesome trick" on the hill. One of the times down the hill he did a complete forward flip off the saucer, just as I was holding my breath waiting for the crash to come to an end, he landed facing backwards on his knees on his saucer. He finished going down the hill in "true Warren Miller style".

Josh and Neil had a good time sledding too. Josh told Christie that he didn't want to go down the big hill because it would be scary. As Christie was helping Neil up the hill I put Josh on a sled at the very top and told him to hang on. . . I don't think that he even had a chance to tell me no. He ended up having a great time even going down the big hill. Neil especially loved tasting the snow as you can see from the picture. Hey, but I couldn't blame him I wanted to lay down on my stomach in the fluffy powder and have a few tastes of my own.

Hazel LOVED her first sledding experience!!!

Just when we would get to the bottom of the hill she would jump off and say, "go again". She talked my into staying a little bit too long as you can see from the pictures it was dark by the time we left. Alright I didn't need much talking into because I was having just as much fun as the kids and I know that I laughed even more than they did.

By the time I got the camera out it was dark and the kids were cold and hungry. Next time we will have to start earlier and take pictures when it is still light outside.

I can hardly wait for more snow after a day like that!

Lions & Tigers & Bears Oh My!

We went to our ward Tunk-or-Treat lastnight. First we had a potluck soup dinner and then "trunk-or-treated" until the kids had more candy than we wanted them to have. After that I locked the keys in the car so we had to walk home trick-or-treating on our way. It's a good thing we don't live too far from the church! When we got there Andrew was lifting Kimball through a window, meanwhile, Hazel reached up and turned the doorknob and opened the door (oops! forgot to lock the house!) The kids had a great time, and if I do say so myslef, we had the best costumes of all!

Happy Halloween!

Lion and Tin Man had to try on the costumes to make sure that they fit just right for the big ward party tomorrow. They also got to wear them to preschool Wednesday for a Halloween party. I cannot get Kimball to go anywhere without wearing his Tin Man boots.

There are only 3 pumpkins here because I was so busy helping Hazel with her pumpkin that I only got the inside of my pumpkin cleaned out. It still sits by the rest of the pumpkin family as a faceless member. I will try to finish it up tonight so that our pumpkin crew can be out on the steps all day tomorrow.

Kimball of course was great at cleaning all the seeds out of his pumpkin. We gave him a big spoon and put him to work on the kitchen floor. Although, he had such a hard time with the fact that he was not allowed to use the sharp knife to carve the pumpkin himself.

Hazel had to draw her face on her pumpkin, but there was no way to cut out what she had drawn.

Hazel had a hard time with getting all of the pumpkin insides on her hands. She doesn't like her hands messy, but she was not about to miss all the fun either.

A pregnant pumpkin! You've got to see this to believe it.

When we cut the top off of Hazel's pumpkin this little green leaf curled out. It is a pumpkin seed that sprouted within the pumpkin. It even had roots already on it. I wonder if it would have been left long enough if another pumpkin would have grown inside of it. HAHAHA

Here is a picture that Andrew took of the kids while they were cleaning up the leaves. They had leaves everywhere.

Warren Miller's Children of Winter

Friday night Andrew and I went on a date with some of his co-residents to the premiere of the new Warren Miller movie. I have skiied a number of times in my life, but I am by no means a snowboarder or skier. This movie however made me wish that I was a ski bum. For those of you who may not be familiar with Warren Miller movies they are kind of like a documentary for the hard core extreme skiers and snowboarders.

Thanks to Andrew's sister, Janine, for watching the kids we were able to have a fun night. One of those nights that makes you feel like you are young and don't have the responsibilities of parents. The kids stayed over night with their cousins and had a great time at the Syracuse pumpkin walk. We went to dinner at Litza's Pizza and then to Abravanel Hall in down town Salt Lake City for the show. (It is just kitty corner from Temple Square.) We didn't even get out of the movie until after midnight. We enjoyed getting to know some of Andrew's fellow residents and their wives. Because we went to the premiere we also get free passes to ski at the Canyons, maybe we will be able to go on another outing this winter for a day of skiing. You can check out the preview for the movie on the side bar of the blog, it is the top YouTube video.

Grandpa Anderson

Last Thursday, October 16, my Grandpa Anderson passed away. He was 82 years old.

While outside working on Wednesday morning he had a tragic fall which led to a hemorrhage in his brain. He was kept on life support until all his children could make it to the hospital. On Thursday evening he was taken off of the machines and quietly passed from this life. My Grandma, Parents, and Aunts and Uncles where able to be by his side during his tender last moments here on Earth.

Having grown up in the same town as both sets of Grandparents I have been fortunate enough to have a relationship with all four of them. Having grown up and just down the road from my Grandma and Grandpa Anderson I have had the opportunity to see them on a very regular basis. I also count it was quite the blessing that my kids have also had the chance to know their Great-Grandparents. They were both so worried about Grandpa Great on Wednesday night. Hazel kept walking over to the fridge were there is a family picture hanging up. She would point up and say, "Grandpa Great fall down." Kimball was very up set and shed many tears as he asked, "Why can't the doctors fix Grandpa Great?"

My Grandpa has always been very active, and even though age and health had slowed him down in more recent years he was still able to get around and continued to work outside everyday. Grandpa loved nature and enjoyed being anywhere outdoors. He is a talented artist and has painted thousands of paintings. I have a few of his paintings hanging in my house and will cherish them always.

I have millions of memories of my Grandpa. As I would drive down the road to our house Grandpa was always working in the yard or on one of his rental houses just about every time I went past. I love how his face would light up with joy as I would honk and wave. I knew he loved me.

It was a Sabbath day ritual at my house to play cards with Grandpa. There were countless Sunday evenings that our family spent around the card table in the living room as we played a hand of cards with Grandpa. Even as a teenager this was something that I looked forward to. We had discussions about politics, nature, the problems in the world, and religion. I would dare say that we even had some pretty important testimony building experience with a handful of face cards around that table with Grandpa.

Then there were the cookouts around the fire ring. Sometimes the fire was at Grandpa's "pool hall" and other times it was in our yard. Oh how those cookouts are be burned into my memory forever, and they just wouldn't be complete without my Grandpa there with a smile on his face. Again there were many discussions about life, love, and the pursuit of happiness, but more importantly I recall the faith building discussions as we gazed at the stars and talked about our existence in this great universe.

Grandpa, I love you and thank you for the foundation of faith that you helped to build.

I will miss you!!!

(Grandpa's response, "I love you dear. Bye-Dee-Bye.")

A Post for the Men

Everyone knows that I will only post on the blog if it is important. Well, this is important. Ladies, go get your husbands and tell them this is something to blog about! I had nearly given up on the elk hunt years ago just after my mission because it became much harder to draw a big bull elk tag. I went a long for the company and time spent with family for several years after that on the general spike hunt with my brothers, brother-in-law, and dad but due to a lack of time and a more devoted fly-fishing hobby, the hunt took a back seat. I am proud to say that this year, I got my spike! And though at one point in my life I would have rather slayed a huge bull, we are actually pretty happy with the good meat that this will provide through the winter.

I am supposed to add, for my dad's sake, that I killed it late saturday night, and Sunday--with the ox in the mire--we had to retrieve it almost as close to the top of the world you can get.....200 yards from the Idaho/Montana border/continental divide at 9000 feet above sea level. Thanks to my dad and 2 trusty steeds, we got it off the mountain just as it got dark Sunday night. Also, credit has to go to my brother for helping me clean the thing out as I haven't done it since I was 17 or 18. So with me, my brother Randy, my brother-in-law Jared, and my dad successfully harvesting elk, we had quite the meat processing party butchering and freezing 4 elk.



When we got home late Tuesday night from Idaho, we had to run to Sears and buy a chest freezer to accomodate our winter food supply!

When life hands you grapes...

This summer while out on walks, we would frequently pass our neighbors house who has beautiful grape vines climbing his fence. The other day, while my parents were visiting we rang the doorbell and asked if we could pick some grapes. He told us to have as many as we wanted and that every year most of them go to waste. So, I decided when life gives you grapes, make grape juice. Andrew was giving me a hard time that it was going to cost more in materials to by jars, lids, hot water bath, etc. to make the juice than it would be to just buy it off the shelf. After a quick trip to D.I. and a couple of calls around the ward I had a $5 hot water bath and 36+ quart jars for free. So Kimball, Hazel and I went down the street and started picking until our hands were blue!

Kimball helped quite a bit, but as you can see, Hazel sampled a few more than she ended up putting in the box!

After batch one of 28 quarts, a great result and more than half of a fence line of grapes to pick, I'm on round two today! Andrew had the day off so he helped me pick some more. We've already taken some of the juice to the neighbors. I have to do a lot of the work while the kids are napping or during quiet time because the kitchen is already nearly painted in grape purple and that is without 2 little ones smooshing grapes all over the place.

Before and After Shot

Post within a Post: Praying Mantis

While we were sorting grapes today, Hazel reached into the box to grab a handful to eat, suddenly jumped back and said "I sced." I said of what? She said and pointed to a big praying mantis down inside the box "Of that!" So when Kimball came home from preschool, he reached right inside and pulled it out all the meanwhile saying, "This is so cool." We played around with it in the kitchen for a while and then told Kimball we needed to turn it loose. He broke down sobbing, "but I want to keep him as a pet!" We finally talked him into turning it loose in the garden. After that, Andrew found a web page on the internet that Praying Mantids (as we came to found is the plural) make great pets! So, we went back out to the garden where Kimball had turned him loose-- found him, caught him, and now we have a pet praying mantis in the house! This place is turning into a zoo!!! We already fed him a hornet a little while ago. Charlotte is still living in a jar on the computer desk, but she isn't eating like she used to, so we think we are going to turn her loose a long ways from our house! One pet insect is enough!!!

Pictures of the event:

The kids kept trying to feed it grapes, but obviously it was a little angry about that!

Obituary

Stewart Themouse gave up the ghost late Wednesday night in the home of the Black Family in Salt Lake City, Utah. He died doing what he loved best, eating food from a trap. You see, Stewart had licked a total of SIX TRAPS CLEAN before meeting his fateful doom. For several nights, traps with peunut butter and oats were placed near his comfortable little home in the wall, and each night he would sneak out, lick the peanut butter and oats right up and retreat without nery even setting any of the varioius traps off. Some of his hobbies included chewing up the corner piece of carpet in the hall closet, chewing dry plaster to aid in construction on the entry of his home, and running across the foot of a paranoid lady. Stewart is survived in life by Charlotte the spider who currently sits in a jar on the desk right next to the computer that this is being typed on. He was preceded in death by the multiple insects including flies, hornets, other spiders and firebugs that we have fed to Charlotte to keep ourselves entertained around here.

Stewart's remains are currently being held in a large receptacle outside the back door until Wednesday morning when they will be transported to the Salt Lake City landfill, which will serve as his final burial place. And for all of you Lebowski fans out there....."good night sweet prince." and in Becky's words......HOORRRRAYYYY!!!!!

Acknowlegdments: Credit goes to Becky's Dad who David-rigged the trap to hair-pin sensitivity.

Tunes

FYI: To the readers of our fine blog. It took some convincing, but I finally talked becky into blogging...and now I have created a monster. Now I have to come forth with something. Being the overbearing domineering husband that you all know me to be, I had to set a ground rule down for this blogging thing. Becky can post whatever embarassing thing she wants about our family and send it out to the world, but the one thing that I have to put my foot down on is the background music. My family's blog will not have some cheesy Martina McBride or Kenny Chestnut music playing in the background. So, If you have a problem with this, turn your volume down....otherwise sit back, relax and enjoy the tunes!
sincerely,
APB
PS: More good music to come!

Happy Birthday Hazel Nut!

Hazel just turned 2 years old. She has grown up so much, it is amazing to think that just two years ago this little princess joined our family. She is my little doll, the apple of her Daddy's eye, and the number one fan of her older brother. Not to mention that she has both of her Gwampas wrapped around her finger. Hazel is a very affectionate little girl. She is willing to give hugs and kisses to anyone. She is also quite the little talker. She has such a large vocabulary it is almost astounding to hear some of the words that come out of her mouth. She has just about learned all of her colors now and gets really upset when I give her the wrong color of straw or bowl. "No no no no. . . I want the pink bowl." She is quite the little artist and loves to color and draw all the time. Every time she sees a pen or piece of paper she quickly lays down on the floor on her tummy to draw. We are so blessed to have Hazel in our family. Here is how we celebrated her birthday.

As soon as she woke up we put on her Happy Birthday hat. She didn't take any encouragement to open present. She jumped right in and started ripping paper off. When she finished with one present she would put it aside and jump to her next one. After all the presents were opened she came right over to me, put her face right next to mine and said, "Want more presents Mommy."

Here she is with all of her birthday loot.

While Daddy went to the Priesthood session of conference we got a pizza and ate it in the basement while we watched The Wizard of Oz.

Andrew started a tradition last year when she turned one. He said that he thought he should be the first person to ever give her flowers. So he decided that every year on her birthday he was going to give her roses for the age that she is. So here he is when he came home from the meeting with two roses for her second birthday.

Since Andrew is allergic to milk and eggs it makes birthday cakes kind of tricky. So here Hazel's rice crispy treat castle birthday cake. I know it is not all that cute, but hey Daddy could actually enjoy it with us.

Last weekend when we went to Rexburg we did a little bit of a celebration with all the family up there. Hazel had requested a "monkey cake" for her birthday. I made her a birthday cake while we where there to share with the rest of the family.