Lights on Temple Square

Nothing says Christmas like seeing the lights on Temple Square, but taking the family to see the lights is always an event. We went tonight for Family Home Evening.
Check out this once in a lifetime picture I got of the twins running past some lit trees. It's straight out of the camera.

Pretty cool huh?

It was also fun trying to get my camera to take some of these night photos. Unfortunately it didn't do such a good job. One day I'd love to have a nice camera that can take clear shots at night, but until then my kids just need to learn to hold still.

What part of hold still don't they understand?

The burning bush--Thankfully it's just covered in orange-red lights. And when I say covered I mean COVERED.!

This was another attempt at a cool moving shot of the family walking between all the lit up trees. But I'd need a tripod to really get it right, and no one is going to wait around for that. There are just way too many things to see.
We could have spent another two hours there just going through all the visitor centers and displays, so we promised the kids we'll come back soon and spend more time seeing all those great things.

So pretty!

Dave and Ashton on YouTube

A friend of Dave's just emailed him saying he saw Dave on YouTube. Not knowing what he was talking about, we had to check it out.

We don't know who took the footage or who created the video, but we can't deny the facts. That is Dave and Ashton on BYU's field at last year's BYU vs UTAH game.

Link to Dave and Ashton in YouTube video.

Check them out around minute 3:34 to 3:40. Ashton's the little boy dutifully running next to his crazy, radio waving, open mouth yelling, tongue wagging father on the left hand side of the screen.

It was an exciting game. What more can we say? There's no defense for evidence like this.

Sunday Pictures

Two weeks ago we took the family on a Sunday afternoon to the Timpanogos Temple grounds. Here are a few pictures from our excursion.

Sweet Loryn

Silly Ashton

'Uber Personality Kristen

Confident Hunter

Glamorous Allison
(Actually this picture was taken in front of our house right before we left.)

Here are some of the other pictures from our adventure. The out-takes you might say.

Allison has the posing-for-pictures thing down.

That's our new van in the parking lot behind Ashton. Baby number six is turning out to be one expensive baby. We had to get a new van because our old one only had seven seats and now we will need eight. We ended up buying a used Toyota Sienna from the KSL ads.
Say "cheese" Ashton.

Loryn giving us another sweet smile. She would be a happy wood sprite it they were real. She flits around our home pretending to be a princess one minute and a puppy the next. She makes a very good puppy.

Hunter is a bit of a ham if you couldn't tell. He is also very self assured and happy to tell those around him, particularly his brother and sisters that he is "Awesome". This drives Allison completely bonkers and he loves it. It is usually very hard to take pictures of Kristen. She often shows every range of emotion on her face in the course of a minute or two. She doesn't hold anything back. You know just how she feels every second. The hard part is her emotions change about every two seconds. She's smiling one second and making a face the next. I can't ever seem to snap the picture fast enough to keep up. She is 100% princess. Note that she is the only one in a dress. She insisted on wearing this dress which is a size too big. She would probably be wearing her plastic princess high heels too if they hadn't broken.

ACL Injury: Not Recommended

Friday Dave had surgery on his knee. He injured it twice in the last few months playing soccer, and after a lot of not-playing-soccer and hobbling around he had it looked at and went in for surgery. Dr. Cooley of TOSH was right: torn ACL and torn miniscus.

Dr. Cooley was able to use a tendon from Dave's hamstring as a new ACL and stitch the miniscus. He says Dave will completely recover, but for now he is hooked up to an ice-pack machine and can't put any weight on the leg.

Theoretically Dave would love to be able to sit and watch as much sports TV as he would like, but even he is admitting it is getting old. Thank goodness college football started this weekend though.

Jumping In the Sprinklers

The day our tree came down we enjoyed the show while jumping on the trampoline with a sprinkler underneath.

Allison and Loryn taking their turn

Loryn giving us the evil eye for taking her picture AGAIN!

Hunter bouncing away.

Allison once again making us laugh with her own sense of fashion.

Hunter “Total Sweetness” and the shivering smile.

 

Kristen refusing to have her picture taken AGAIN!

Hahaa…I caught you Kristen.

Kristen Behind the Camera Again

Kristen loves taking pictures and these were just too funny not to post.

Loryn is often her subject material since she’s the one on the camera.  “Are you serious Kristen?  I think I just hit my head.”

Body parts seem to be a running theme for Kristen.  For instance how about an elbow shot.

 

Her own foot is also a favorite.  We have lots of foot pictures.  It’s a pretty cute foot.

And what photo album is whole without a a bellybutton shot.

 

These were even mostly in focus.  I think she’s getting better.  Just wait.  She’ll be a great photographer one day.  Until then I just hope she doesn’t break my camera one of these times.

If James was a happy leprechaun…

If James was a happy leprechaun with super long eyelashes, rosy cheeks, and stormy-sky blue eyes in a pink onesie…

…And a giant, toothless, I’m-going-to-eat-you smile… …Need I say more?

So what put Lannie in this kick-your-legs, flap-your-arms, and belly-laugh-better-than-Santa mood? The talking Einstein bobble head from the Air and Space Smithsonian of course.  It must be a sign of good things to come.

Pictures that Randomly Appear on my Camera

Kristen and Loryn thinks it’s really fun to take pictures with mommy’s camera.  If I’m not paying attention it is usually returned to me completely full of pictures and the batteries almost dead.  Here is a sampling of some of their photography.  It’s kind of fun to see what’s important to them and what they think is neat.   

The Mall...No I Mean "THE MALL"

The day after we arrived in NC we left the kids with Grammy and took off to Washington, DC with Dave's brother Darren and his wife Ruthenia. The first thing we did was visit the monuments along The Mall. We happened to be there during a huge inter-congressional-office softball tournament. There were dozens of games going on everywhere. Almost every playable lawn was being used. Needless to say it was really hard to find parking.

But random soft-balls (which aren't that soft) flying though the air, didn't stop us from stepping out into the made-up field and taking our glamor shots. (We ran out between innings.) We are standing near Washington's Monument and you can barely see the Lincoln Memorial in the background.
It was the magic hour, that perfect time of day when the light is just right for taking pictures. It makes everyone glow. Now if only I'd opened my eyes...

Not the best shot of either of us, but I guess that's what happens after thirty. Even the "magic hour" can only do so much.Next on to the WWII Memorial the was just recently dedicated. That is to say it's new since I was at The Mall last--twelve years ago. It was pretty amazing. It made me think of my grandpa who fought in WWII and feel proud of his service to our country. War is never pretty, but some wars have to be fought and that was one of them. Thank goodness for brave men like my grandpa, who in their youth, were willing to serve their country.
Not to disrespect the memorial in any way, or the importance of D-Day, but we couldn't help taking a picture of the two D. Day brothers with the inscription in the background.