The Abominable Monstrocity!

Last year we let a pumpkin (that we grew in our garden) die on the side of the porch. When the snow came, it was out of sight, out of mind! Well, it was until our front flower bed started sprouting little plants and then we put two and two together and voila! We now have pumpkin plants growing in our front flowerbed. The have been slowly creeping out further and further- but I was shocked after being gone for a week- now the pumpkin plants are taking over the lawn and the flowerbed AND the porch! Ah!!!
So, I took pictures. I only have the icamera on the laptop but there is it.
There are even a few baby pumpkins growing that I can see so hopefully we'll have some when Halloween rolls around again!

Uhm. . . I changed my hair a bit. . .

Ok, I've been threatening to do it ever since I dyed Hil's hair this color last summer. Yes, I am now the proud owner of Cinnaberry-colored hair.
It all started last night when I was reviewing pictures to make a blog entry for the 24th of July- and I looked at a picture of me and my hair was HIDEOUS!!! (See above photo) I don't know if it was because of the many hours I had driven that day with subsequent fatigue- whatever it was, I decided that the minute Hilary got home from work we were going to dye our hair! Oh yes, we both did it- we've been planning to- but not until the school year started so I jumped the gun a bit- but I don't care, I hate two-tone hair! So, here it is. I think I look like Hilary, which is a good thing 'cause she's a babe.

The Belated Party

We were going to go to WA for Esther's birthday (the actual one) but we ended up not being able to come at that time and the poor little thing's birthday passed without a birthday cake SO when we went up this week we had a belated party for the Esther-loo- with a long-anticipated LADYBUG CAKE. Ok, so the cake is pretty much the center of the party. Here are pictures of its production and being devoured!Esther getting a taste of frosting

Grandma frosting the cake- hurry up!
Ah, the finished product!
Eve helps Esther blow out the candles- yes, I know there are only two- but it's more of a design element than an indication of accumulate years!
Lighting the candles.
Waiting so very patiently
Eve is ready
The cake in its natural element
I think Esther looks more delicious than the cake!

Three Years of Esther-Loo-Who!

Esther looking at an ant.

Esther at the 4th of July parade





Ok, so I've been a little on the belated posting side lately. . . . So I thought to myself, "Hey, it's been two months, let's celebrate!"

Three years (and some change) ago, a tiny person came into this world. Nobody knew if the baby was going to be pink or blue- but the parents were ready for all contingencies. If the person was a girl her name would be Esther- a boy would be called Shaddrach. Luckily, Heavenly Father didn't want to curse a manchild with such a name so he blessed us with our tiny Esther.

She was born with a TON of hair which her mother enjoyed styling in various creative ways- which led to her being called Esther-Loo-Who. (Well, the stripey outfits helped with her Who-ification as well.)

Esther Loo was such a happy little baby- always smiling. . . and drooling. hee hee
She is still quite the happy little camper- very enthusiastic and with a great sense of humor! Our faithful readers my have noticed references to "monkies" on this blog- but if you know Esther you know that I do not say it wrongly. Esther is a climber, and explorer. She has a great sense of curiosity coupled with great intelligence- a very dangerous combination! You can't hide anything from her and I am constantly answering her questions. She learned to walk and speak with lightening speed- trying to keep up with her big brother and sister. Ah, there's just so much about Esther that is wonderful. She loves her big siblings and follows them around like a faithful puppy. She loves her parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. . . and, well you get the idea!
I am so thankful to have such a special, precious daughter!
Happy Birthday, Esther-Loo!

Proof that Darbys CAN dance!

Ok, yes, we all know that Emily can dance. That's why I married her. We needed some musical/dancer blood in the family.

Here is proof that I, Patrick, can also dance. I competed in the BYU Summer Dancesport competition on saturday. I danced in Bronze Quickstep & Samba and Silver Waltz and Rhumba. I had three different partners and basically danced for two hours straight.

Rhumba didn't go so well as we didn't make it past the first round. 

Waltz was a horrible mess. Even though I thought that my partner and I were competitive, during the first round we got cut off and ran into so many times that I was sure that we weren't going to be called back. To my surprise, we made it to the semi-finals.

Samba & Quickstep ended up being the best as we placed fifth for Samba and fourth for Quickstep. Yeah for me. Here's the proof.

p.s. Emily's show on Friday was awesome. She finally got the chance to do some solos and she blew everyone away. If you haven't seen her dance yet turn off the computer right now. Go get in your car and drive to UVU. Wait outside the theater until her next show. Yes, I know her next show isn't for several months but you don't want to miss it.

Recipe: Two drops sunshine and a little bit o' rain

Hot summer days made for a little bit of family bonding as our apricot tree and our plum tree both had ripe fruit ready to pick. We decided to try our hand at making some jam. Emily's first batch was combination apricot-plum...and it was so good! But our little apricot tree doesn't pack on the fruit yet but luckily our neighbor's tree was loaded. On our way we decided ask our other neighbor if we could pillage their plum tree. (last year they just let all the fruit fall to the ground.) We got a huge bucket and didn't even make a dent in the amount of plums still hanging.

Then we attacked the apricot tree. The apricots were so ripe that every time I reached for one, two would fall off. Luckily, Isaac had brought the butterfly net so we held the net under and caught the little apricots that were trying to get away.

Isaac was a trooper. He was a willing picker. Esther made a token attempt on the plums but Eve had better things to do.

Emily became the master jam maker. All the jars were beautiful and set quickly. (unlike last year's grape jelly which is still very sweet juice.)

And the masterpiece!

Tall Tales

Patrick says:

Eve can be a little tattle-tale once in a while and she definitely will pass the buck if given the chance. So, tonight when she came to me with a giant bowl filled with graham crackers and corn chips and said that Isaac did it, I was a little suspicious. But I gave her the benefit of the doubt and called Isaac. When he came into the room I asked him if he did it. He immediately looked sheepish and I expected him to pull a politician and deny everything. What I wasn't prepared for was his answer.
"Isaac, did you do this?" I asked.
"Yes," he replied. "It came out of my ear."
I was sure I didn't hear him right.
"What?" I said.
"It came out of my ear."
"Are you telling me that this bowl of chips bigger than your head came out of your ear?"
"Yes." He timidly responded.
I was too boggled at this outlandish tale to even begin to be mad, so I decided to play along. "How did it get there?"
"I was born with it." He said without pausing.
At this point I had to call his bluff, but man, do I really look that stupid?