monday music 12.14.09

A little Irie Christmas music...




And one of Anna's LEAST favorite Christmas songs (so she says)- At least I was able to find a "cool" version...




Tra-la-la-la-la la-la la la!

friday flashback(s) 12.11.09

I must be in the "giving" mood I guess, because I've got a handful of pictures to share this week...

'Tis the season!



Here's one of the best homemade fireplaces I ever made as a kid/youth for Christmas. Written on the back is the date- 1988.


This picture too, has the date of 1988 on the back. I would have been a junior in HS, Kristi a freshman, Kevin in 7th, and so on. This must have been taken with a 110 film camera because it's so grainy. (Same with the fireplace picture.)

Yet, this picture is from 1984(?), and it's MUCH clearer? So it must have been taken with a 35mm film camera. Weird that the clarity is in opposite order from the years they were taken. Anyhow, Kelly isn't in the picture, but she would have been born. Don't know what's up with that, but there's the rest of us. Kevin looks so much like Aidan to me there.

Seems I only ever have "vintage" or "old" pictures from my side of the family. I dug a little deeper recently and found a whole lot of gems I'll be sharing in the future. But seeing as how this is a Christmas picture post, I decided to put these up.

Here's Anna one Christmas morning a year or two before I made her mine. Is that a pair of "chones" on her head? Yep, she's a keeper!

Here's Anna in front of the Christmas tree in 1982. (There's a "developed" date on the back that says- Jan 83.) That would make Anna 6 years old when this was taken. That's how old Liam will be this Christmas. Fun stuff.

That was a fun trip down memory lane. So fun to look at old Christmas pictures. Looking forward to making some more Christmas memories this year as well.

Gar-done

Since there hasn't been anything different this week than last week as far as garden progress- and assuming that there won't be many changes in the near future- I think I'm going to suspend my garden posts for a while. Not sure when I'll resume them, but probably closer to spring. I'll probably post a random garden update now and again when there's something to tell you about, but nothing weekly.

With that being said, I might need to come up with another idea for regular Wednesday posts. Any suggestions? I'm drawing a blank.

monday music 12.07.09

Two selections today...


First is a song the kids have continued to ask to listen too since Thanksgiving...


Ever since singing and playing it from uncle Kyle's Beatles Rock Band game Thanksgiving weekend, they've become big Beatles fans.


Second is a song that fits the season...

I wouldn't call it a "traditional" Christmas song, but it's one that I like anytime of the year, and isn't that a sign of a good holiday song? Anyway, here it is...

The Pogues have so many great songs. This one is one of my favorites.

Good stuff.

friday flashback 12.04.09

In the picture below, taken in 1999(?), during some Christmas present opening, Kyle is having a good laugh. Why is Kyle having a good laugh? Because as Anna opened this present from me, and saw the Cocomotion box, she got REALLY excited about the Cocomotion, except, that's not what was in the box. She was so confused. But her reactions to it all were so over the top and fantastic, that we all had a good laugh about it. A classic moment. One of the few times dad had some good timing with snapping a quick picture.




And since I didn't get a chance to post a friday flashback last week, I thought I'd put up TWO pictures today!



This was taken at the Los Angeles Temple at their Christmas tree lighting way back in 1997. (At least that's what it says on the back.) We went with Claron and Carla and Catrina. I also think we met up with some other friends there too- Bryce and Heidi, and maybe Scotty. I remember Claron (and I believe Bryce?) taking running starts to shoe slide down the wet grassy hill in the front of the temple. It was a fun night. I know we have other pictures somewhere from this night too. But I think I kind of like this one best.

Happy December!

old news

I titled this "old news" but none of it is more than a week old. Just seems like it was a while ago already. Plus, a lot of this is stuff many of you already know/knew... what ever.


Looks like the only picture from Thanksgiving is the one below. We didn't take any of us at the cabin, or at the compound. None of the food or family. Oh well. Thursday night, instead of drive all the way home, we stayed at G-ma and G-pa McAlister's house. The kids all knocked out on the drive up. We packed them all into one bed. They slept fine.


The next day. Most of us from the Foutz side went and played some softball/baseball/teeball. It was fun. Everyone got a chance to bat, run, catch, and throw.

Saturday, most of the Foutz side also went on a hike up at Eaton Canyon. Anna knew how to get to the waterfall, so we all followed her. It was a pretty fun hike. Not nearly as tough as the one we did a few weeks before.

Also Saturday evening, Kristi put on her apron and started cutting hair. Only one person wasn't as keen as the others about the hair cut... that was Tegan. I ended up holding her so Kristi could work her magic. Luckily Tegan held still for the most part. She was not happy about it at all.

She got over it.

On Sunday, in the early evening, Liam was riding his scooter and wiped out, slicing his cheek in the process. We're not talking about a scratch, we're talking about a deep cut. Anna took him in to urgent care, and they glued it closed. We're really hoping that the scaring is minimal.

Part of our family night on Monday was putting out the outdoor Christmas decorations. It's turned into Anna's job because she's the one that wants all that lawn decor. You can't see the 3 trees and 2 deer she also has out there. You can see some of the candy canes along the walkway.

So yeah, it's been a crazy week. Mostly fun. Always good to see and hang out with each side of the family. We're looking forward to doing more of that during Christmas.

Disney Day

Yesterday we had a chance to run out to Disneyland for most of the day. How did we get to do that? Well, Anna had a jury duty summons. She tried calling the night before, but could never get through. She made substitute plans and went in on Wednesday morning. Once there, she was excused (along with everyone else for that day) because the phones were down the day before. So...

Instead of going back to school, we went to Disneyland!

California has an F, and so does Foutz...



L is for Liam.

Having lunch in the plaza/quad of Ca. Ad.

Lucky day! Santa was there!

Duncan made sure to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas. It was important for him to know.

Mission accomplished!

Tegan is learning to sign "I Love You".

We checked to see if Liam was tall enough to go on California Screamin', and he BARELY makes the height requirement. He was a little nervous about it, but once it was over, he said it was awesome!

Another first! Tegan was tall enough to go on the roller coaster in Toon Town! No more baby swapping for that ride! She was a bit nervous at first but she was beaming with happiness when it was done. We even went twice.

We decided to get Duncan a birthday button because this was probably the last time the kids would be at Disneyland this year, and it was his Birthday month.

Once you have your birthday button, you have to go to the tortilla factory and get your pack of fresh tortillas. Turns out kids only get a pack of 3. Lame.

We went twice.

We had a fun day. Anna said it was her best jury duty ever. The crowds weren't bad at all. It did get pretty cold though. Good times.