Haircut

Connor was sooo in need of a haircut. I finally got up the courage to fight the battle and did it this week. Actually, we were drawing pictures the morning I cut his hair. I drew a picture of him..but with long hair. He said it was a nice picture of me. I told him it was him and that's when he agreed to let me cut his hair. Was that a little too manipulative?? Yikes, I better work on that.

Before.

During.

After.

This is a common site- Connor reaching for paper from the printer to draw yet another picture. He's very artistic.

New glasses

So I just got some new glasses. When Connor saw them he said "mommy, you painted your glasses! Now we have to go home and paint daddys'." What a cutie.

So, this style of glasses is so different from what I had before. Ammon said it will take him awhile to get used to them. I'm still undecided...that's why I need your help! Please take my poll and let me know what you think!!

Family pics

Some pics we took together as my dad was leaving today. Not our best but it's the fact that we're together, right?!

Cousins together again

My dad has been out here visiting this week and last night we went to his brother's house on the other side of Tucson. (We live in the same city but it takes nearly an hour to get there because you have to drive through town.)

Ready, set,...

Jump!!

Cute Cooper having fun splashing.

Connor had a great time playing with his second cousins, Aidan and Cooper. They played in the pool and in the backyard "raking" the ground. They got along just fine.
My uncle Stan and his wife have been doing a huge renovation project to their home. They added a vaulted ceiling (you can see the back of the house in this pool picture), a totally new floorplan inside, expanded the kitchen and made it state-of-the art, changed the entrance to the garage and added a courtyard in the front. It's taken 9 months but this has been an enormous project. It looks so worth; just beautiful. I unfortunately didn't think to take any other pictures! Sorry mom!

Snakes and lizards and tortoises, oh my!

For our playgroup this past week, we went to the Tohono Chul Park's "Reptile Ramble." It was a fun activity because they had snake handlers who brought out, and let everyone touch, real live snakes. Yikes! Connor was brave and touched all of them..but not his mom. A few of us young moms with kids were a little hesitant but all the others seemed to really be into it, even holding some of the tamer snakes.

After the snake demo, we went on a nature hike through the gorgeous botanical garden-like grounds in search of lizards and other desert dwellers. We found quite a few and then ended up in a pavillion where they brought out a large tortoise and a small box turtle. The kids enjoyed laying around looking at them and touching their hard shells.

After the presentation, we went to the children's garden to race "boats" in the sculptured streambed. This being our first time here, we didn't know what the wooden tokens were that they gave us at the gate so I let Connor play with them- and he promptly lost them. So, we made an impromptu boat out of leaves. They unfortunately didn't float as well as the wooden ones and I saw Connor "sharing" (or taking) boats from other kids.

Also in the children's garden were these windchimes that Connor enjoyed playing.

"Peek-a-boo, I see you."

Connor and I had lunch on this spider table.

Entrance to the "secret garden." Isn't this beautiful?! There's Connor at the end.

A leak turns into a new ceiling fan

A few weeks ago, the ceiling in our downstairs family room started leaking. I called various plumbers and talked to one that convinced me that it must be my air conditioner leaking (it's on the roof on this same side of the house). I had seen water running off the roof on several occasions so that made sense. So, I had the A/C guy come out. The line was blocked and a piece was broken to keep it from draining properly. I figured even if that wasn't the source of the leak, that needed to be fixed anyway.

But sadly, the next day the ceiling was leaking again. It being Saturday I really feared absorbent plumbing fees for a weekend. Fortunately I found a company that charges the same fee any day of the week (half the cost of the other guys). So, I had him come out. He cut a hole in the ceiling (see pic) and determined the leak wasn't coming from there. There's a shower just above where this leak is. Since it wasn't in the ceiling, he had to check behind the shower wall cutting into the drywall of an upstairs bedroom. Four test holes and $300 later, the leak was found and repaired. To prevent mold growth, he told me to spray ammonia in the openings twice a day for two days and let it air out for at least a week. That has worked.

With the hole already cut in the ceiling downstairs, I told Ammon I wanted to put a ceiling fan in the family room before he closed up the hole. There wasn't previously a ceiling fan or light fixture there, so I wired and installed a ceiling fan. That was no easy feat. Thankfully I had already practiced in the living and dining rooms where I changed out 3 fixtures. I just had never run bare wire before. But look, it works!

If you look behind the fan, you can see the hole in the ceiling that I used as an access hole to pull the wire. Pretty handy actually.

I opened up the switchbox in the wall and put in 2 switches instead of the one that was there before that runs a spotlight over our fireplace.Here I am putting the finishing touches on this project.

This has been good practice so that I can now run ceiling fans in the upstairs bedrooms. That's my next project. Wish me luck!

First Talk

Connor gave his first talk in Primary last Sunday (Aug 31)! He's only 4; I can't believe he's already giving talks. He and Ammon prepared it together. It was on "Heavenly Father forgives all those who repent." That's a pretty big topic for such a little guy. But, he and Ammon broke it down sharing some of the Parables of Jesus-- The Lost Coin, The Lost Sheep and The Prodigal Son. Connor knows these parables from the Living Scriptures New Testament DVD's he watches and loves. Ammon practiced with him all morning before Church so that he pretty much repeated it from memory when it was time to deliver it.

At first, Connor spoke too loudly and the microphone echoed causing many of the children to laugh and others to cover their ears. Connor seemed to like the attention so he giggled as he continued to talk. A leader turned down the volume and Ammon told Connor to speak a little more softly so that the echoing went away. At the end of his talk, he recited the primary scripture for the month from memory. We have been practicing that each day throughout the month at morning and evening family prayers. Some of the older children, realizing that that was quite a feat for such a young one, said "he can read." Yes he can (small words) but not those big words and not that fluid; he had it memorized. The August scripture he recited was:

"And their children shall be baptized for the remission of their sins when eight years old, and receive the laying on of the hands" (Doctrine & Covenants 68:27).

(By the way, he also knows it in Spanish.)

Connor holding up his talk after he gave it.

Beautiful desert

I love Tucson. It is so beautiful here. Almost everything blooms. That surprised me at first but as I have witnessed the transformation of prickly cactus into lovely flowering plants I have fallen in love. The rock formations are awesome as are the many kinds of cactus. We have huge saguaro, small prickly pear, cholla, ocotillo, and lots of others I don't know the name of.

Unfortunately none of these pictures show the flowering cactus but it does show the awesome landscape. I'm entranced. And the sunsets...

Don't get me going on the sunsets...I'll have to do a post about those complete with pictures.

Caterpillars

A few Saturdays ago Connor and I went out to the desert to learn more about insects at the SASI (Sonoran Anthropod Studies Institute) within the Sahuaro National Forest. They had a display of caterpillars. We talked about one of his favorite books, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Connor enjoyed seeing live caterpillars upclose. He was amazed.

This is the such a colorful pretty butterfly.

Another one, red with black legs. Very stunning as well.

Connor enjoyed coloring various bug pictures and coloring sheets too.

Dress-up

Connor, all dressed up, pretending to be someone else. "I'm a pirate, Arrrr!"
This reminds me of a funny story. At Church one Sunday, Connor saw an older white-haired man coming down the hall in a wheelchair. He had an eye patch over one eye and Connor yelled "Look mom, he's a pirate!" Thankfully, the guy laughed but, needless to say, Ammon and I were horrified and hurried to apologize.

Pirate boy with a "knife" in his teeth.
I love the combination of the pajamas, galoshes and pirate attire.

Connor the knight king. Doesn't he look adorable?! I love his smile. :)
Again, in the boots (a favorite dress-up staple).