Last night's rain and hail, did you hear and see it?

I remember exactly one thing from all the millions of standardized tests I took in elementary school: a multiple choice question on how to combine two sentences. "Did you see the rain last night? Did you hear the hail?" By far the most outstanding choice was "Last night's rain and hail, did you hear and see it?" Can you just imagine some test-writer, after a long night of re-writes, coming up with that stellar option? It boggles the mind. My friend Rachael and I spent the entire mid-test break giggling over it, and we have never stopped quoting it to each other since.

Anyway. I just love all the rain we've been having. I wonder if people on the East Coast run outside on their porches excitedly every time it rains? :) It's especially nice in the summer when it's not cold. And the lightning has been beautiful!

There was, in fact, also hail. Junie held it in her markery hand.

Marigold was very pleased and a bit baffled about being in the rain. She kept putting her hand up onto her head wonderingly. 

A few other random tidbits:

Many a baby has climbed into this cupboard. Never before, however, has a baby successfully wedged itself into this top shelf and then allowed the cupboard door to swing shut. We heard indignant sounds and rattling coming from the cupboard and went to investigate; otherwise she might have stayed in here for hours. She looked at Sam accusingly as he took her out. As if it were all his fault!

Goldie again, in the open air this time.

Daisy, pleased to be matching Sebby.

Malachi was so proud of this tiny breakfast burrito he made for his Birdie. It was quite a masterpiece.

Here is everyone waving to Sam as he left for his last day of work at Disney. He was sad to say goodbye to the good friends he's made there, but we're excited for what's to come!

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The CRT

Seb turned 9, and he's the best nine-year-old anyone could want! I love his bright little mind and all his varied and absorbing interests. For the last while, he's been poring over electronics books and telling me all sorts of things about them. It definitely is a challenge trying to keep up with him; I'm being forced into reading schematic diagrams and looking up articles online, and learning more about electronics than (frankly) I ever really wanted to. And I still find myself just shrugging and saying, "Hmm, we'll have to look for a book about that," more often than not. 

For Seb's birthday, we got him a set of screwdrivers and this old TV (or "CRT" as he insists on calling it, for "cathode ray tube," which is its more accurate name, apparently) at D.I. for $5. I think the big "WARNING: DO NOT OPEN: HIGH VOLTAGE! RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK!" sign on the back added to the appeal, honestly. Seb figured out how to ground the high-voltage plate using a screwdriver before opening it up, and later he assured me that he also "broke the vacuum tube inside so it wouldn't implode. Don't worry, I was really careful." Um, okay. Good thing he reads up on stuff like that. He's been happily working away at it ever since, like a mad scientist.

We sure love this guy!

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Daisy in kindergarten!

The first-day-of-kindergarten picture is one of my favorite things. Our door has changed colors since Malachi and Seb started school, but there's still a little cutie in front of it! Daisy is such a bright, sweet, smart little kindergartener. She loves everything, and we love her!

New penguin backpack

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Daisy's (tiny) birthday

For her birthday, Daisy got a bunch of tiny things. She always points the "babies" out wistfully at the store (small-sized sugar bags, small-size mayonnaise, etc) so I figured she'd be happy to have some of her own. And she was! She squealed and hugged them (did you know it's possible to hug a tiny jar of mayonnaise? It is.) and before the smoke from the birthday candles had died away, she had run all over the house gathering up the regular-sized versions of everything so she could match them. Then she insisted we take a picture (and she and Sebby had to be in the picture too, since they were big-and-little matching people). 

Let's see. Tiny baby Daisy, tiny baby Nutella, tiny baby ice cream, tiny baby vaseline, tiny baby lotion, tiny baby sugar, tiny baby nail polish remover, tiny baby mayonnaise, tiny baby sour cream, tiny baby mouthwash, tiny baby ketchup, tiny baby cups, tiny baby hair clips, and tiny baby brush. All with their big Daddies. 

Every time I've cooked anything since her birthday, Daisy comes running in to the kitchen saying, "Can we use one of MY tiny things?" She's so delighted when I say yes. Funny, cute, little girl.

And we almost forgot the tiny baby notebooks!

Happy birthday, dear sweet Daisy!

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Temple, etc.

We loved seeing the remodeled Ogden Temple at the Open House. It's so beautiful!

The older girls insisted that Goldie should have a ponytail. It was pretty difficult to get one, but we did it!

Tired Nutmeg (after a lot of playing and running around!)

Daisy turned 5!

And Sebby turned 9!

Everyone waving goodbye to Daddy on his last day working at Disney!

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Wildflowers, Redcoats, Yellow Blanket

Some of the wildflowers in Little Cottonwood Canyon right now---they are absolutely stunning!

Daisy and Seb playing "Resolutionary War" (Daisy's word for it) soldier. Soldiers are very serious and NEVER smile!

I finished crocheting this yellow bubble blanket (although it's still too hot outside to really use it!). It took me a few months to make. Usually I stick to making baby things that can be done in a session or two of General Conference!

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Yellow blanket

I liked the pattern for these baby blankets so much, I wanted to make a big one for myself. It's really only impressive in size---it's not any harder to make than the little ones. I changed the pattern slightly, so the bobbles are offset vertically instead of in vertical and horizontal rows, but other than that it was just mindless row after mindless row. It's almost the biggest thing I've ever made, as my usual métier is the realm of baby things, or at least tiny things that can be finished in a week or two. :) It didn't take as long as I thought it might (a few months, though---I think I started at the end of April?). It's still too hot, really, to have it on the bed, but I put it on there just to see how it looked.

I used my favorite colors of yellow (that browner-looking one is, in fact, more of a wheat color) and made random-sized stripes across the blanket. I love how soft and snuggly, and yet heavy, the little bubble stitches make it!

It's pretty on the back, too.

I wonder what I should make next?

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Snowbird Wildflowers

After hiking to Catherine Pass, we stopped at Snowbird on the way down because we had tickets to ride the tram with our Connect Passes. (We bought these on a Groupon sale for field trips last year and we have loved them! So many fun things to do.) And we, especially Sebastian, love trams! We were not sure what to do, because we could also have chosen to ride the chairlift, which we'd never done, but it was going to be hard to give up the tram for it.

On our way to get our tickets, we saw this cute little guy. He wasn't scared of us at all.

It turned out we didn't have to choose, because the chairlift was closed for "weather" (clouds? I guess?), so up we went on the tram.

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