Who Knew Soap Was Entertaining?

I have become a blog follower. I have Pinterest to blame for it. There are so many fun and creative idea out there that are just waiting for me to find them. This is one I stumbled onto and had to try. Why not? It was cheap and I already had all of the ingredients. . . soap.

All we did was put a 1/4 bar of soap in the microwave for three minutes, and watched what happened. We started with Ivory, but it was VERY old (food storage) and just crumbled apart. Next we tried Lever that had just come from the store.

We set the timer for three minutes and just waited. . . some more patiently than others.

In the end, R ended up with dino shaped soap! What a fun easy activity to do in between conference sessions.

Another Dater

2T is now 16. That means that I have 2 teenage boys of dating age under one roof.  Because 2T has missed his friends very much over the last year, DSH and I decided that it would be a great present for his 16th birthday to send him back to Pocatello with two tickets so he and a friend could see his favorite comedian.

He decided to invite "Joey", his sister-friend who lived across the street for several years before we moved to Wyoming. They had a great time.



For dinner the night of his birthday, he chose to have yobein. This is a Chinese fry bread that has oil, salt and onions in it. DSH's father learned how to make it while he was living in Taiwan.  It has become one of my kids favorite food.

Yes, that is jam.

2T's friend decorated his locker at school.





And he went on his first official date. He was really cute about the way he asked her too. This is what she posted on facebook.  "He gave me the first [egg] and said sorry I wasn't here for easter, and I opened it and it said look in lanterns, so I looked there and found an egg that said behind mirror, and behind the mirror was an egg that said in box, and i looked in a box, and then the egg in the box said look under chair so i looked under the chair and it said "Movie Tonight?" :)"

2T heading out for his first date. . . she drove.

Pinewood Derby

We just went to our last Pinewood Derby! No more weigh ins, no more last minute paint jobs, no more hands covered in graphite.

R has had quite the Derby career though.  In the three derbys he has attended he has won 1st place twice, and second once.

This is the year he took second. He was happy about it.

Acutally, he really was.



The Elders came and were the judges. We tried to buy them off, but with no luck.

Turns out, we didn't need it.

One neat thing they do here in Worland, is an open class division.  Anyone who wants can enter this race. This includes siblings and fathers.  S decided to enter, and won third.



My sister often blogs about the funky things that happen in her rural community. I wonder if the winners of the Pinewood Derby make the paper like they do here.

Sister Time

Because my brother got married this weekend, my sisters and I had the rare occasion to be in the same place at the same time. So we did what any group of 5 girls would do. We went and got our nails done, and then went shopping!

 

Aren't they so cute?

The Psychic Bank Lady

Her name is actually Julie.

She seems to know everyone, and everything about everyone. (sounds like me in a former life!)
2T and I went through the bank drive through one day and Julie started asking me about how my job was going.  We exchanged some polite chit chat as she was fulfilling my banking needs.  As she left the window, 2T asked if I knew her. I said that I just knew her from doing my banking, and that I had never seen her outside of that setting. He was surprised because she knew somewhat about my situation.

When she came back to the window she said this. "2T, I bet if you are good on the ride to Colorado you will be able to get more than coal in your stocking."

We laughed, and drove away. I did not remember telling her of our plans to go to Colorado, so as we were leaving I asked 2T if I had mentioned anything about it. His eyes got big as he said,"No! She is the Psychic Bank Lady!'

YEAH! POKY!

I think one of the best decisions I have made was to keep S's orthodontist in Poky.  It has given us the opportunity to come back and stay with friends and family longer than we would have been able to.  For Thanksgiving we were able to come 2 days early and stay almost a whole week.  We were able to see family and numerous friends. 

I got a new camera for my birthday in October, so I was a little click happy over Thanksgiving.  I took over 600 pictures.  I guess I really missed my friends!

Work gets Juicy

Unfortunately, this isn't the good kind of juicy.

*********Viewer Discretion is Advised**********

1T has had a job as an assistant taxidermist this school year.  He has really enjoyed using his art skills while learning a new skill.  He also really loves the paycheck.

His job description includes skinning newly obtained wildlife,

                                                                          

Helping mount them,



Posing for silly pictures,

Making school mascots,

And cleaning and shipping.

1T's employer has been working on a traveling exhibit that will be going to museums in Japan.  Most of the animals they get for these displays are either put down by the fish and game department, or are given to them after the animals die of natural causes.  In the next week, a production crew is coming to film at 1T's workplace. They are putting together a documentary on the region in which we live. It is very exciting to 1T as well as his employer.

This has been a great moulding and stretching experience for 1T.

Winter Pics

We had our family pictures taken a few months ago in a very neat location. When we finished our photo shoot, 2T suggested that we take a family picture in the same location in each of the four seasons. I thought it was a great idea, so here is our winter installment.  We couldn't get down to the location we were previously at because the snow was waist deep.  We improvised the best we could.