Good News!

What was lost is now found! Yesterday at the same time Dallin was getting off the bus, our neighbor came bringing a box containing our little Lexi! She had wandered from our backyard over to the next-door-neighbor's front yard and they happened to see her walking near their flowers. So she must be a hardy little tortoise who can fend for herself in freezing temperatures. We were so happy to see her again!

Pet problems.

We've been a little sad lately. Remember we have two baby tortoises? Well Dallin went on my Kindle and looked up a book about taking care of them and so I bought it. I was reading the book and learned that for optimal health, they should get some time in the natural sunlight. Even though we have a lamp for them, it can't give them every nutrient they need for a strong shell and good health, so they still need to go outside once in a while. I suggested to Dallin that he "take them for a walk" to bask in the afternoon sun a couple of weeks ago. So Dallin set them in the rocks in our backyard where it was the warmest. He went back to check on them but could only find one of them (Stumpy Jr. is what Dallin named him). Lexi, the other one, was missing! We looked and looked and couldn't find her anywhere. (We don't really know the genders, but the bigger one we call "him" and the smaller one we call "her".) We usually can find them after looking for a minute or so. They have their favorite hiding spots. The day was kind of warm, but we knew the temp would drop at night and we were really worried. We set out the heating lamp aimed under the shed in case she was hiding there. That's the only place we couldn't look really well. We set out food to lure her out, but we have never seen her since. We really hope that she was able to dig a burrow for herself, but she's just a baby, so I don't know if she would. Dallin is so upset at her disappearance. I feel so bad for him. He really takes extra good care of Stumpy now--or "Stump" as he's come to be known.

Notice the plants on top of the tortoise shelter. Dallin finds seeds that I have put away and plants things all the time. He can grow almost anything. You can see the cilantro leaves that are already growing. Plus he has roma tomatoes, jalapenos and cucumbers. He's a do-it-yourself-er. He likes to make things from materials he finds around the yard also. He made a tomahawk from a branch off a neighbor's tree, a stone from the neighbor's yard, and my shoelace :)  It was awesome.

Christmas

It has taken me a long time to write about Christmas. While the kids are home from school it seems like there is no time to get anything done. I kept singing the line from the Christmas song, "...and Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again!..."  Then when the kids went back to school it took me 2 1/2 days to clean the house into semi-decent shape :)


We did manage to have a fun Christmas, and we did lots of playing with friends and cousins! We stayed home this year, but we got to spend time with both sides of our family. We spent Christmas Eve at my parents' house where we ate green chili burros, acted out the Nativity, and then Santa surprised us with a visit. I turned my parents' garage into a kids' party space with giant helium balloons, a table set for making crafts and plenty of space for them to run around. It was a huge hit and the adults enjoyed having a little bit quieter evening.

On Christmas Day we opened gifts and played and then Jarom's family came to our house for Christmas dinner. So we had a whole new group of cousins to play with that night.

The next day was purely dedicated to sleeping in, playing with our new toys and relaxing.

Dallin was a wise man in the Nativity. It was a pretty wild bunch!

Dallin was playing it cool and not rushing to give Santa a hug.

He was a little embarrassed to sit on his lap.

The whole family (but not a good picture)

Going through his stocking Christmas morning!

Just what he asked for -- a new skateboard!

And here is a video of the day after Christmas playing with his new Stomp Rockets.