Harry Potter World

This one's for you, Mariah. I don't know all of the details (refer to Jared for that), but here's a look at the wonderful world of Harry Potter, courtesy of Universal Studios Orlando. Jared took these pictures on Sept. 24, I believe, as he was there visiting for a couple of hours.

Hog's Head

Honeydukes

Potages

Zonko's

Ear Infection and The Middle

Sept. 22, last Wednesday, the night before Jared flew out for Florida, was also the day that we found out that Luke had an ear infection after he'd screamed his lungs out for two days, Kimball spent a majority of the day in timeout, Koria spent a majority of the day trying to get Kimball into further trouble while he was in timeout, and Layne started pushing through two new teeth. Oh yeah, Luke pushed through another molar too. Here's some pictures that show Luke and Layne interacting while I was trying to take their pictures.

The good news? Sept. 22 also marked the return of "The Middle." Here's a picture of ..... uh ..... what's her name again?

Crazy shot (my favorite)

More

Bates Family September 2010 (times 4)

Same thing. Choose which one, if any, you want.

Michael and Sharon (times 3)

Here's three different edits of the picture that I took of Mom and Dad at the cabin. You should be able to print this one off of this site too, if you are interested in it, just like you can the pictures of all the Bates grandkids off of our other blog. I like this first version the best.

Some more of K&K

First day of preschool, Sept. 7th, 2010. This one's for you, Dad. This machine happens to be right outside the house of the preschool that the kids attend. Doesn't it make you jealous?

This one? It's from last year right before Thanksgiving. I decided to teach the kids about the pilgrims and the indians, and naturally, they wanted to BE the indians themselves. Can't say I blame them. That would have been my choice too. And, yeah, they are the wild kind.

Layneboozelle

That title equals one of Jared many nicknames for the kids, this time for Layne. Here's a couple of pictures, taken about one year apart, that show she's not to be underestimated. I think she's caught up weight wise, huh?

Lance, Becky, and Wendy

Shout out to the three eldest siblings in the family. How cool is that pic?

Retro Dad and Wendy Plus Kimb

This first shot is one of Dad and Wendy at the Denver Zoo. I just think it's great. Hope you both enjoy it too.

And the next two? They're just some shots of Kimball that I dug up, one from when he was just about the same age as Luke and Layne are right now (so when is Luke going to catch up in the hair growth department?), and the next one is just a couple of months ago. As you can see, he hasn't changed that much. If anything, he's just more Kimballesque and we love him that much more. By the way, this is also proof that he was just born to be how he is. I didn't have to teach him how to be crazy. That came with the package.

Sister Schiess

Yeah, next time anyone asks me where I get redheads with a diva fashion sense, I'm going to show them this picture. Proof positive, it's genetic.

Mud in Your Eyes

Jared is currently flying over some part of the United States on his way to a national business conference in Orlando, Florida, and I volunteered my favorite toy, the camera, to send with him. Hence, I'm going to end up using photos on the blog for the next week that are a bit older, but yet unseen. This one was taken of Koria, right after she fell off of the retaining wall at the cabin. You know, either it's that I'm a delinquent mom, or it's that she's accident prone, but this morning, as I was curling her hair, Koria turned fast and caught the curling iron on her eye lid. Ouch doesn't even begin to explain it. That was a few minutes before three professional child development specialists showed up to work with Layne and her special needs .... which was right after I gave Luke his medicine to clear up an ear infection that we found out he has ... which was during Kimball's comeapart while cleaning up a disaster of a room that he created last night. Fun, huh? Yeah, add on top of that the now assigned list of skills that I currently need to work with Layne on that I'm pretty sure I'm not going to get to anytime soon, and it all adds up to mud in your eyes.

Ahhh .... take a deep breath.

Close your eyes.

You can do this.

You can do this.

You can do this.

I'm A Donor

So tonight I officially became a donor ... of hair, that is. I went to get my haircut, and the hairstylist looked at my hair and said, "Oh, you have enough hair here to donate to Locks of Love if you want to." So I said, "Sure, that'd be great!" She explained then that she'd need to take off a couple more inches than I originally had planned on, but whatever.

Nine inches later, here I am, with one of the shortest haircuts this body has seen since the 5th grade.

I also spent some time today making homemade oreos (Shantell's recipe, if anyone asks, HA, HA!) today for our FHE treat. Wow. Talk about a lot of cookies. Here's a look at some before they were assembled.

Me and The Rear View Mirror

Took this one on the way home today too. Kinda liked it.

Huntington Canyon

Today we found ourselves making a quick trip over to the town of Nephi to help out Jana and her kids. Yeah, towns pop up like that here in Utah. We also passed through Moroni, almost made it to Ephriam, which is bordered on the south by Manti, all of which are within two hours driving distance of Lehi, where Wendy and Scott lived at one time. Straight out of my favorite book. The scenes we saw along the wayside could have been out of a book as well. Here's a few pictures we took along the drive home.

Up on the Housetop/FHE with Dora

Since Jared and I hardly ever watch t.v., we decided to just buy a digital receiver, through which we can still get all of the local stations plus a few others, and save ourselves over $600 a year. Jared put up the signal receiver on the roof yesterday (which had me freaked out). This is him in action.

While running in and out of the house to get needed supplies to set up the receiver, Jared stumbled across Kimball and Koria playing in her room with Dora's Magical House. When he noticed this setting, Jared asked them what Dora, Diego, Baby Jaguar, Boots, and Mami were doing. "They're having Family Home Evening, Daddy!" Like it wasn't obvious already. We had to get a picture.

Artist in Training

Fridays mean one thing these days -- Mommy gets to endlessly entertain four kids ages four and under. No preschool. No playtime outside due to smoke fires. No end to energy -- theirs, not mine.

Thankfully, Koria loves a good art project. She shows a lot of potential, actually, which if she's ever interested in, I'll be more than willing to help her pursue. Watercolors saved the day ... well, at least an hour of it anyway. I always loved painting with these as a kid. They're cheap, easy to clean and use, non-toxic, and they really do lend to kids' creativity. I recommend them for all ages, though. I suggest that you all whip out a pair of watercolor paints for a family activity in the near future. You could paint portraits of each other, or capture the essence of fall that's brilliant in the canyon leaves right now.

I do have to add one more thing though. Koria came of her room, dressed for the day in all white, and annouced to me that she was officially making those her "paint clothes." Oh dear.

Busy Ball Bopper

Who: Layne and Luke Black, age 1, respectively

What: The Busy Baby Ball Bopper

When: Sept. 16, 2010 ... during what was supposed to be Layne and Luke's naptime

Where: Our house, front room

Why: They looked so cute; Luke's first faux-hawk

Darth Dressula

To quote Kimball from last night:

"You'll pay for this, Darth Dressula!"

It eventually evolved into Darth Blackula.

House Sign

Mariah, if you're reading this, I'm sure that you recognize the wording on this sign that hangs on the front of our house. For those of you unaware, this is a phrase from the Harry Potter series. By the way, I was in SLC all day today with Layne at her opthamologist's office for a checkup. She's looking great and healing well.

Hornet and Dragonfly

I took this picture of a hornet and dragonfly today in some fields about a half of a mile from our home. It was right after I picked up Koria and Kimball from preschool, so the five of us set out on a quick drive so that I could get my picture of the day.

When we returned from the drive, K&K wanted to play outside and I agreed since the weather has been great the last few days. I pointed out a hornet resting underneath the car and made sure that the kids would not get near it or touch, explaining what would happen if they did.

I really shouldn't be shocked. My advice these days goes in one ear and .... well, maybe it never even enters at all. About a half an hour later, Kimball and Koria came running into the house, screaming that Kimball had been "bitting by one of those bugs you told us to stay away from!" I couldn't see a stinger, so I cleaned up the kids from all the dirt and grime they'd found outside with a bath, iced the swelling finger, and gave Kimball a good dose of Benadryl. Before I knew it, he'd fallen asleep with an icepack on his hand while sitting up at the table, waiting for dinner.

He's doing great now. We distracted them with family home evening and peach cobbler with icecream to follow. Now I just hope they start to listen. At least in one ear.

Old Trees, Sunsets, and The Moon

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, about how life throws us twists and turns along the way that often leave us in places, physically or otherwise, that we didn't plan on, and that we may not always enjoy. My next door neighbor and friend was just put in as the Relief Society President here in our ward, replacing us. She's a spunky lady, not originally from this area, and she's often told me that when she first moved here, she hated it. Loathed it. Cried herself to sleep each night for over four years. Then one day she woke up for an early morning walk and noticed a beautiful sunset strewn across the sky. That same night, she walked out her front door to find that the evening was lit up with vivid colors, a masterpiece above. She thought to herself, "You know, I've been wasting the last few years looking around me and seeing only the ugliness when I've been missing the beauty that there IS."

Guess you could say that I catch myself thinking the same thing from time to time, not just regarding the landscape either. Beauty is where we find it, in what we value most. I need to hunt a lot more, I guess. Here's a few of those beautiful sunsets my neighbor admires so much. I just took these a few minutes ago. The first one is of the same neighbor's tree, once an old tree house for their boys when they were young. I added a touch of vintage to it.

This last one was too great of a shot to pass up. I loved that little sliver of the moon that popped out of the clouds, kind of like a tiny treasure just waiting to be discovered.

Just gotta look hard enough and you'll find it ...