I'll give it a try as well

One of my friends did this on her blog today and she didn't tag anyone but challenged us if we wanted to. I've never done a tag before, but decided that since I don't have anything facinating to blog about lately, I'll just do this instead. So here goes.....

8 TV shows I love to watch
1. NCIS
2. JAG - only on reruns
3. Dirty Jobs
4. Jon & Kate plus 8 (if she can do it with 8, then I should be able to handle my 3)
5. Food Network (Paula Deen)
6. Dancing with the Stars
7. Let's make a Deal
8. Are you smarter than a 5th grader? The answer to that is....."NO"

8 Favorite Restaurants
1. Red Robin
2. Texas Roadhouse
3. MaCayo's
4. Panda Express
5. Cheesecake Factory
6. Guayo's El Rey
7. Chipotle
8. Black Angus

8 Things that happened yesterday
1. Took kidos to school
2. Took myself to school
3. Meet and did a food order (RS Pres gone out of town, she's got to get home SOON!)
4. Did an emergency food order
5. Met a friend for lunch at Panda Express (Orange Chicken RULES)
6. Picked up kidos from school
7. Fixed dinner
8. Surprise visit from our Bishop at 9:00 p.m. (yes, I was already in my PJ's and had to run and get redressed. How embarasing. He needed to drop off more work for me to do in the absence of our dear RS Pres. She really has to come home NOW!)

8 Things I'm looking forward to
I'm not even going there. The last two days I've looked forward to finally having some "down" time. HA HA HA.....Heavenly Father has a sense of humor. He's making sure I have plenty to do. So I'm not sure exactly what I have to look forward to, only that it will be rewarding when I get it done.

8 Things on my wishlist
1. A healthy family
2. Do well in my photography class
3. New lenses for my camera
4. A personal tutor to teach me more photography
5. Christmas was 8 or 9 months away instead of only 3
6. Clouds - yes clouds. I need them to take a sunset shot for my assignment next week. Pray for clouds.


Okay so there's only 6 things on my wishlist............I'm still thinking. If I think of something else I'll add it later.


Enjoy.

What's up lately

Okay, I'm sure you all are just like me in that I check the blogs often to see what's new in the life on my friends and family. Often am dissapointed that no new post exist. So here I am.....posting about what's new in my life.

Last week was a very hard and busy week. I had that BOKEH assignment that weighed very heavily on my shoulders. I was so glad when last Wednesday came and I could move on. I turned in my assignment, it was critiqued in class and then I was like a free bird. Felt so good just to have that over with. I'm still not going to post any pictures of it though. NO WAY !!

So then immediately to take it's place was my upcoming SUPER SATURDAY at our ward. Yes it's not until November 15th, but I've got to get orders placed and in by October 13th. The orders have to be in one month prior to the super saturday so the lady doing these kits has plenty of time to get them together.

So instead of posting my awful BOKEH pictures.....I will post the pictures of what we're making for our Super Saturday. I think they're really cute. Besides, that's about all I have to post for now. It's all I've been doing since last Thursday morning. SUPER SATURDAY, SUPER SATURDAY, SUPER SATURDAY, SUPER SATURDAY. It's just all I can concentrate on for now. However, today I returned to school to start learning about a new technique for my photography class. I am so excited about this one. I'm actually anxious to get started on it, although we still have one more day of lecture until we get our assignment on Wednesday.

So here are the pictures of Super Saturday.


This is a magnetic memo/note board that can hang on the wall.


Letter blocks done with scrapbook paper


Just plain black and white blocks


Just a cute saying. It's done on a 2 X 6. It just stands by itself.



This is a 6 X 6 Tile. Lots of ladies in our ward are doing this for their daughters to put in their rooms. Cute idea.

BOKEH....none for me thanks :)

So Sorry eveyone.....I've had yet another assignment in my photography class. However this one I had an extremely difficult time with. Our Theme for this one was Bokeh. Yeah....what.....it's pronounced like Boka. It basically means the picture needs to be out of focus. For some reason I had a really hard time with this one and am just glad that it's over. I'm not even going to post any pictures from it, 'cause they're just junk. It was more of an artsy kind of assignment, and I'm not very artsy. Wish I had been for this though. So needless to say I've literally spent the last week photographing nothing but junk. When class was over today I was so relieved. Now I finally have time to sit down at the computer and catch up on my blogging buddies.

Okay....here is an example of Bokeh.




However, here is just a random shot of Kayla at school the other day. She just brings a smile to my face. She loves for me to come in and help in her classroom. It is a lot of fun and I have really enjoyed being able to do it.

Still Life Assignment

Well....after about 2.5 hours and 150 shots later, I think I finally have my two required pictures for my class tomorrow. Tell me what you think. I'm so glad that is over. I've dreaded this assignment ever since I started taking my first class last semester. I told my friend about the 1st week of class last semester....."I hope we don't have to do one of those pictures where we have to arrange fruit in a bowl." This was that assignment. I just couldn't bring myself to do fruit in a bowl. Well....actually I tried several times, but I'm just not cut out for that. It's probably a mental block or something. This is my version of a Still Life Photo.

Yes...we're all still alive

For anyone who cares enough to read this poor blog entry, it's just to let you know we're all still alive and doing well. It's been a very busy start of the school year. The kids have finally all adjusted to school and the routine and mom is getting adjusted to it as well....well kind of. I started school again myself this semester taking another photography course. I'm really excited and am anxious to start taking pictures once again. I haven't picked up my camera much here lately, but I'm sure that is about to change. I just got my first assignment....a Still Life photo. I've got to give some time to it tomorrow and maybe if something works out I'll post the pictures on the blog. We'll see......

The other problem to my blogging disapperance was our internet has been touch a mostly GO (like in gone) for the past week. Every time I get the computer up and running the internet has stopped working. Then it would come on and I could get the home page up and then.....yep....you guessed it, it was gone. So frustrating. So tonight I think I might make it to actually get a post on, catch up on my favorite people and see what else is going on.

3 - 1 = 2 .....well kind of

Well it had to happen sometime....Today we.....well I should say just me, said my goodbye to Kayla's dear beloved pet goldfish, Nemo. I went in her room this morning to get her clothes for the day and turned around to find Nemo belly up at the top of the bowl. I gasped, turned off the light and left the room. Yes....I'm one of those moms now who replaced the dead goldfish without Kayla finding out. For some odd reason today she didn't ask to feed Nemo this morning. That I'm thankful for. Kayla has been having a hard time going to school each morning with lots of tears and anxiety about doing math. So the mornings have been a little stressful and today I just couldn't bring myself to tell her that Nemo died. Yesterday was the first day that Kayla went to school with no tears and I didn't want to backtrack and send her in crying today because of the fish. So I got the kids off to school, disposed of the remains, cleaned the bowl, went to Petsmart to get an identical fish and here I am. I've debated about blogging about it, because I don't want the kids to find out what I've done. I'll repent later.

So as for my science experiment with my friend Wendy, the count now stands at Branch's 2 original fish and Sorensen's 1 original fish.

Aug. 6, 2008 - First Day of School

Well here it is again. Time for the pitter, patter of little feet heading off to school. The sound of complete silence in the house. The house staying clean all day after I've cleaned it.....well at least until 3:30. That's good enough for now. I'll take what I can get.

Kyle hasn't allowed me to take a picture of him yet....you know...he's too cool now. He's in Junior High. Whatever.......well I've managed to get Nathan and Kayla so far. Nathan has started 4th grade and Kayla is in 1st grade. They both love their teachers and love being back with their friends.

No news = good news

Well I guess the old saying goes.... No news is good news. I haven't heard anything from Wendy's household on the remaining goldfish so I suppose it's still alive. As for our three goldfish....well all is still well. However Kyle's fish is developing a spot on it's head. I don't think that could be that good, but it's still alive today. We just keep taking one day at a time.

A FISHY UPDATE

Well, I'm sorry to report that my friends family has lost another goldfish this evening. Goldfish #2 as they refer to it has since passed away. They will be holding a family funeral tonight and saying their final goodbyes.

And the race is on.........

Well if you've read any comments on my post about the goldfish, you'll know that a dear friend and old roommate of mine from my Tucson days has also come into possession of three goldfish. We've been e-mailing back and forth today and this is what we've got.

My friend posted:
My sweet roommate from my single days has offered up a challenge. Or did I suggest it? Anyways.... After 12 years of being an animal free household she broke down and brought home three fish with accessories to her loving children.
We have never denied our children anything mind you....OK...yes we have....daily...We have had dogs, (not inside dogs) and a frog. Then on Thursday our family increased by three. Three fish that is. Free from a city carnival for Pioneer Day. (Yeah, whose dumb idea was that?) The kids were so excited to come home with their winnings. We couldn't find a fish bowl fast enough for them. In fact, before we could properly enter them into their new surroundings the kids had dumped them in...to cold water from the tap. No tempering our poor fishies in this family. Needless to say, I didn't think they'd last the day. The kids constantly touch them and then on Sunday they changed the water all by themselves. Neither Ricardo or I witnessed this and no one can explain exactly how they did it, but the water was clean and all three fish were swimming happily.
So my sweet OLD roommate and I have entered into a friendly competition. Or rather a Science experiment. Will free fish live longer than store bought fish? If I win she will send our family of six to Disneyland. If she wins I'll send her a gift certificate to the Dollar Store. I feel that is more than fair.

As of this post the score is 3 to 2. We lost one orange fish yesterday right after I left a comment on her blog that all three of ours were still alive after four days. We are already down by one. So stay tuned to see who wins. The race is on!



Okay so I just finished working on their family photo at Disneyland just in case she wins. I've got a little more work to do, but so far so good. what do you think Wendy?

The Cost of Happiness

1 Fish Bowl Kit $ 7.98
1 Goldfish named Nemo $ 2.88
1 Goldfish named Swimmy $ 4.68
1 Goldfish named Snowcone $ 4.98
1 .42 oz Goldfish Food $ 1.17
1 Bag Aqua Gravel $ 2.93

The look on my childrens faces this morning when all the fish were still alive...... PRICELESS

Meet the new members of our family

Well today we took the "Plunge". Yesterday Kayla came up to me and said...."What are we going to do tomorrow?" I responded with my usual...."um, I don't know, why?" She said "I think we should go to the pet store and get me a pet." So after 12 years of avoiding the pet issue.....the Branch family finally has 3 pets. We'd like you all to meet them, because really I'm not sure how long they're going to stay with us. I just hope they live long enough so that the kids have a great time with them. They are all so excited at the moment. So without further delay please meet the newest members of our family.



This is Kayla's fish who she has decided to name Nemo for the time being. I'll let you know if that changes.



Then there's Kyle's fish who he has decided to call "Swimmy" and Nathan has decided to call his "Snowcone".



Swimmy is on the left and Snowcone is on the right

Last night after discussing what kind of pet to begin with and deciding on goldfish, then Kayla said something that I thought was so cute. I told Robert after the kids were in bed that this is so much like what a girl would do.

You could see the lightbulb over Kayla's head and she turned to me and said...."But what will we do with the fish when we're gone away from home on a trip?" I said "I don't know, I guess we'll have to find something to do with them". Kayla then said that we could just get granny to come take care of them while we're gone. She would love to do that. So I guess you've been volunteered granny. We'll let you know when we're heading out of town. :)

I just thought that was so like a girl. Always thinking ahead. Even at the tender age of 6 years old she instantly thought about what would happen if we left home. I find it hard to believe that a boy would ever think of something like that. Just another one of those differences between boys and girls.

A mother in the making

Kayla was pretending to make dinner tonight and asked me to hold her "baby". But eventually she came and got the baby away from me because she was crying and wanted her mother. Kayla took the baby from my arms, turned to walk back to her pretend food pretending to cook on the stove and said..."I just don't know how i'm going to get this all done and hold my baby. I guess I'll manage somehow." It just made me smile. It's just like a girl at even such a young age to realize she'll have to multi-task when it comes to future life.

Time for a change

Okay....I've got it under my skin for a change on my blog. But I've been sitting here playing with this for over an hour now and I've really got to get on to other things.......like dinner. Okay, so it's gonna stay this way until I can figure something else out. So consider this blog....UNDER CONSTRUCTION....for the next week or so.

CHRISTMAS IN JULY

Yes....that's right. Today in our house was Christmas in July. Kayla has been asking and asking for two days now to please make a gingerbread house out of graham crackers and frosting. She has had such fun today just digging in the pantry to find things to decorate it with. She did a pretty good job. She used mini marshmallows, chocolate chips and trix cereal. I'm so glad she had so much fun with this. Oh yeah....and not to rain on anyones parade....but Christmas is only 5 months and 10 days away. But who's counting?

Bowling Fever

Well when it's too hot outside to do anyting else but swimming, we turn to the bowling alley for a couple of hours of fun. The kids wonder why they don't do as well as they do on the Wii game system. Kayla just can't understand why she doesn't get any strikes. On the Wii she can get 4 or 5 strikes in a row and she's not even trying. But when we actually go to the blowing alley then it's a different story. The boys like watching the score board. It tells you the speed of the ball as it goes down the lane. Kayla does her best....sbe doesn't want any help. So she lofts it hard as she can and sometimes it goes faster than other times. This last slow record was .88 miles per hour. The boys just loved it. At one point her ball actually even rolled back to the starting position and she had to throw it out again. What a trooper she is.


You have to keep in mind. This was a 7 pound ball.....Kayla only weighs about 33 pounds. So that's about 1/4 to 1/5 of her weight she's trying to carry and then throw with some speed.




This is how she stood after throwing the ball each and every time she was up. Girls are just so cute.



A little bend of the hips always helps the ball go in the right direction.

Fireworks

We did go into town for fireworks on July 4th.

Nathan did a great job catching the fireworks on his camera. Thanks Nathan for catching these.

More Mountain Pictures

The Tooth Fairy is a Genius

Pretty soon this little girl of ours is not going to have a tooth left in her mouth to eat with. Yes....Kayla celebrated the 4th of July in her own way. She lost another tooth thanks to the help of Aunt Jeri. Kayla's tooth was really bothering her and she was working and working on trying to get it to come out. So it was finally hanging sideways in her mouth and Aunt Jeri convinced her to let her pull it. Thank Heavens. It was so ugly just hanging there.



She soon discovered how difficult it was going to be to eat certain foods that you really need two front teeth for. I guess now she can say....."All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth." I hope they come in soon.



Kayla was afraid that the Tooth Fairy wouldn't be able to come since were weren't at our house. She was really upset that evening when it was time for bed. We have a special tooth fairy bag at home that we put the tooth in and then the tooth fairy takes the tooth and leaves the money in the bag. Well....of course we didn't have that bag so Kayla wasn't sure she'd come. But sure enough the next morning there was something left under Kayla's pillow. Kayla told Robert later that morning...."Oh yeah....the tooth fairy found my tooth. She's a Genius". We're so happy for you Kayla that the tooth fairy came to visit you all the way in the mountains. What a special Tooth Fairy you have.

Here's the gang

'



My sister and her family were in the mountains with us and we all had such a blast. These pictures were taken July 4th evening after being at the river all morning and sitting through a rainstorm huddled under tarps to stay dry.

July 4th

Well we started the day off by going fishing yet again. And as you can see "MOM" is the one who gets the lines ready for fishing. It was my favorite thing to do when I was young and went camping with my family. So Robert gracefully turns that job over to me.



So once the poles were ready to begin fishing then the waiting game began.


And more and more and more waiting. Fish can be very patient with us fisher people. They're not in any hurry to get caught.



The questions also arose of who would catch the first fish of the weekend. And the winner was KAYLA. She caught the very first fish on July 4th, 2008. She was so proud of herself and her little Disney princess pole that the boys didn't think would be able to catch a fish. She showed them who could catch a fish. The Disney Princesses Rule.



But finally Nathan's patients paid off. He was sucessfull and caught three fish that day. Way to go Nathan.


So Kayla may have caught the first fish, but Nahan caught the most fish.

Williams Creek National Fish Hatchery

Over the 4th of July weekend our family went to the White Mountains for some fun with family and to enjoy the much cooler weather.






Our first stop on the trip was to the Williams Creek National Fish Hatchery. The kids had never been to a fish hatchery before so it was a good experience for them all. I think the boys enjoyed it the most though. As soon as we walked into the building where they keep the smallest fish, Kayla said...."oh, something stinks". Having that many fish in a building does make quite a smell. After the boys asked lots and lots of questions we went outside to see the bigger fish swimming in the raceways.



The kids were anxious to get to the river so they could start catching some of those fish.

But first it was time to help set up camp. We didn't actually camp at the river in tents or this motorhome for that fact. My sister's family stayed and camped out while us weaker campers stayed in town in a cabin. I mean someone's got to do it. Right?



This was right up Kyle's alley. He has always wanted to climb to the top of a motorhome. He was in heaven.

A good laugh for today

A good friend of mine sent this to me today and I got a really good laugh out of it. Thought I would pass it along.



The Mom Test:

I was out walking with my 4 year old daughter. She picked up something off the ground and started to put it in her mouth. I took the item away from her and I asked her not to do that. 'Why?' my daughter asked. Because it's been on the ground, you don't know where it's been, it's dirty, and probably has germs' I replied.

At this point, my daughter looked at me with total admiration and asked, 'Momma, how do you know all this stuff? You are so smart.' I was thinking quickly. 'All moms know this stuff. It's on the Mom Test. You have to know it, or they don't let you be a Mom.'

We walked along in silence for 2 or 3 minutes, but she was evidently pondering this new information. 'OHHH . . I get it!' she beamed, 'So if you don't pass the test you have to be the dad.' ''Exactly' I replied back with a big smile on my face.

When you're finished laughing, send this to a Mom.

Christi's Married......Welcome Daniel :)

Well it's official. Christi Larimore is now Christi Stone. The Wedding was on Thursday, June 5th and the reception was held in Tucson on the 7th. It was a beautiful wedding. We couldn't have been more lucky with the weather. It was the coolest day of the week. It was only in the low 90's for the actual wedding and picture taking at the Temple. It was so wonderful. The reception was also very beautiful. Christi wa so pretty in her dress. They are very happy together and we are all so happy for them. Good Luck Christi & Daniel as you begin your new life together.

One, Two, Three.....JUMP !

Yes that's our son. Kyle went on a day hike with the Scouts right before school got out. They went swimming or better yet....cliff diving. I'm so glad I didn't have to be there. When he came home he was so excited about the trip and had so much fun. I was really glad for him. Then he tells us of jumping off the cliff. That scared me a little....to be honest. Then the next day at church the leaders tell me that he was the 1st off the cliffs. No one else would go off, but sure enough Kyle was more than willing to demonstrate how it's done. I was honestly shocked that he went off first. That is not something that I would think that Kyle would have done 1st anyway, but good for him. He's got bravery in his bones I guess. Then yesterday at church I get a look at these pictures.....I'm glad they all broke it to me gently and slowly. First Kyle tells me of the event, then the leaders tell me he went first, and then the pictures. I just had to post them today. Kyle is growing up so fast and I can't believe it. We're glad that you had so much fun Kyle an

It's official......It's SUMMER

Well the kids went swimming today for the first time this summer. Yes the water was very cold, but they didn't care. They all jumped right in. I don't think kids actually know what "COLD" is. It hasn't been hot enough (did I just really say that ?) yet to make the pool warm. But time's a wastin'. So as for us here in the Branch Household.......yes, it's now officially summer.