To the Undecided Voter

I borrowed this post straight from another blog. Thanks, Barlows! A bit of a lengthy read, but totally worth it. (It's worth it even if you have decided!)
TO THE UNDECIDED VOTER

The Big Red Barn

We took the kids (and Lucy's friend Abby) to the big red barn for a family adventure.

My Views

You can relax. This is not going to be a rant on my political stance, or even about issues I'm particularly interested in. I'll save that for later. Here are the views we enjoy from our house. If you ignore all the houses and fences in the way and the ridiculously unprofessional photography, it's unbelievably beautiful.

Azirona

If my kids pay attention to me, they are sure to fail geography. Try as I might, I feel compelled to pronounce some things wrong. Azirona, for one instance. Rount Mushmore, for another. Ah well, chances are they AREN'T paying attention to me and their future grades are secure.

The kiddos and I drove to AZ last Monday. Zach went to San Diego on business, and joined us later in the week. We made a stop in Prescott to spend the night at Jordon and Katie's house (thanks again, guys!), and made the rest of the trip to Gilbert on Tuesday. It was a museum-going, dinner-eating, shirt-shopping, park-playing, movie-watching, baby-blessing, lake-going, picture-taking, cousin-playing, walking-taking, birthday-party-having good time.

As we drove home (Zach and Adam both miserably sick), we classified it as a non-stop, exhausting week of family fun. My favorite was walking every night for 45 minutes in the beautiful cool fall weather. Well, that and our trip to Canyon Lake on Friday. Derec brought his boat, Big Mable (tube), wakeboards, and borrowed a few wave runners. It was a blast.

On Saturday we celebrated Mom and Dad D's 60th birthdays. We planted flowers and seeded for winter grass, and had a birthday party that evening. We made the trip back in 10 hours flat Sunday. It's always nice to get home again, but the 50 degree weather change was a shock to the system.

At the park: Luanne and Adam. I'm pretty sure my other children were IN Arizona, but I so rarely saw them, I can't be sure. I certainly don't have many pictures of them.

Adam's new friend. He found him at the AZ Museum for Youth's toddler play area. It kept him occupied forever.

Cousins: Cade, Garrett, Lucy, Isaac, Warner

Zach's sisters: Katie, Alisa, Lindsey

It's a wonder this drawer still functions. I think 18 grandchildren have taken their turns playing in this drawer. The other 3 are still too young.

Okay, so . . .

I just put in a dozen chocolate chip cookies to bake--the Sam's club dough-from-a-bucket kind. It's a cheap and (now that I KNOW) very poor substitute for S-D cookies (that would be Seth-David, not South-Dakota), but right now I will take what I can get.

So as I wait patiently for the timer to ding, I'm ready to share a little from the last few weeks with the B's. Lucky you.

PARK CITY HIGHLIGHTS (compliments of the Mountainside Marriot): Pumpkin carving contest, scavenger hunt, Fuse beads, star wars legos on the Xbox, Iron Chef-family edition (our secret ingredient was chili beans-blech), the arcade, games with Camille & Spencer, and swimming in the outdoor hot tub while it was snowing. Good times had by all. Thank you, IL!!

I want more.

Ummmm, I just have one comment that MUST be made tonight. My brothers, Seth & David, just dropped off the most delicious chocolate chip cookies to grace the face of the earth. Ever.

Flashback Friday

Zeeky freaky (March 2005) 2 weeks old

Top Ten--September 2008 in Pictures

Confession: this month's Top Ten=not my best work. The kids were still funny, lots of great things happened, but I just couldn't get the wording right. I'm okay with that. Everybody has their off days. So I decided to supplement. A picture is worth a thousand words, after all.

Top Ten Things seen at the B's this month (that never made their own blog posts, anyway):

10--Zeeky: 1st day of preschool

9-- Need a tow?
8--Kooskie wanted to go to church like this:
7- First hail of the season.
6-- Adam's favorite lounging area.
5-- 1st birthday cupcake (I've downsized since child #1--they only get cupcakes now.)
4--I caved and gave him another one.
3--Seven seconds after dinner:
2-- Home from Father's and Son's ("The best time of my life!" quoth Kye.)
1-- Riding the bear.

Zeekyism--Banana Bread

I told Isaac that his job was to mash the bananas for banana bread. This is what I found approximately 2.5 seconds later. (Yes, that IS a meat cleaver.)

Top Ten--September 2008

Top ten things said, done, or noticed at the B’s

Ahhhhh, September. The month of autumn colors spilling down the mountains, beautiful late summer weather, Labor and Patriot’s Day, our Primary Presentation, and BYU football. We can thank Kye and Isaac for most of our top ten this month. What can I say? They are at the funniest stages right now.

10—Kye and Isaac cannot overcome the brotherly magnetism they share. If only this were are pleasant thing, but it’s really not. They cannot be in the same room without gravitating toward each other to kick, hit, roll on, wrestle with or beat on each other. Kind of reminds me of the magnetic pull Kye’s head once had on every wall within a 5 foot radius of his body when he was 3. It makes for a lot of bruises.

9—Adam’s improved dive-bombing skills. Whenever he sees a blanket similar to his own, he slams his face into it. He’s getting better at judging the distance correctly—he hits the floor much less often these days, and the world is a happier place for the Bradshaws as a result.

8—Isaac’s strategy for surviving the big bad world of the dinner table: divide and conquer. Every particle of food must be broken into teeny, tiny pieces before he eats any of it. Dinner is a very, VERY long process at our house.

7—Kye’s new obsession with punching:
“What if someone punched you in the back of the head and your eyeballs popped out?”
“Dinner smells so good that I want to punch someone. Eeeeee-yah!”

6—Lucy literary masterpiece, created while playing with a friend one day:
“Animals rule everything (club).
Were animals and we like to rock.
Were out of this world animals.
Puppy’s are just so cute!
Kittins are just soo playful
Animals love to rock (and we do to)
Dolphins love to swim and so do we.”

5—Introspective questions raised by Isaac this month:
“Mom, when is Jesus’ pwan going to be done?”
“Mom, when I bweed, does Jesus bweed, too?”
“Mom, can I send Captain Mowoni an email for his birthday? And also a tweat?”

4—Little man Adam turned 1. I feel like I had a lot of soul growth this past year. He has brought so much to our lives.

3—Isaac=technogenius. He managed to lock the IPOD with a 4 digit code one day while AC/DC’s Back in Black was playing (ahem, Zach). When asked what number he pushed, he replied, “Ummm, I fink eight.” After trying 8888 and 8000, Zach started the laborious process of trying to find the right code, starting with 0001. Fortunately, he unlocked it at 0008. (BTW, if your 3 year old genius figures out how to lock your IPOD, just hook it up to your computer and ITUNES will unlock it for you. You’re welcome.)

2—Lucy’s “Ten Things I do Best” from school: monkey bars, gymnastics, swimming, playing, handling animals, riding my bike, remembering stuff, helping my mom, being nice to my brothers, and jump rope.

1—M: Tell me 3 things you want to be for Halloween (Just giving myself options, you know.)
K: Hot Wheels car, a TMNT, or a ninja.
I: Captain Moroni, a minja, or Jesus.
M: Isaac, even though we try to be like Jesus, we don’t dress up like Him for Halloween. (Ensuing talk on reverence, etc.)
I (after a thoughtful pause): Kye, guess what my last costume will be? YOU!! I will be a K-Y-E for Halloween.

Flashback Friday

Four years ago for Halloween, Kye dressed up as Zach's mini-me. Delightful, doncha think?

Thoughts to ponder until my top 10 is done.

1) Why, oh, why has the Post Office not yet come up with a drive through window? It just makes so much sense!
2) I am morally opposed to men in skinny black low-rise jeans. Well, all people really, but especially men. That's all I'm saying.