Pictures I love...

...and why. I was going through the most recent transfer of pictures and thought I'd share my favorites.

Ethan's photo shoots of just about anything--a light saber and a happy girl willing to pose. Plus the added bonus of stumbling upon these when I'm going through my pictures.

Spring and daffodils and a pretty little girl, who looks good in green.

Little fingers that are getting big much too fast.

A hair eating moose and fun with cousins and Ethan's expression.

Team work and a clear, blue sky.

Her sassy side showing and just enough snow to make a little girl happy and still melt by the afternoon.

Another reminder that they grow too fast (these would be Sophia's, still small but growing fast).

She's a Movin'

Here is a video of Clara's early walking from the beginning of March. She's gotten much better now and is actually really steady compared to this clip. She can also fall very gracefully, which is a much needed skill when learning to walk. It's still fun to see the joy on her face as she gets from one place to another. We've realized that she must have grown some while we were in Utah, because now as she is walking around, she can reach up on things like our desk and table. We are running out of "safe"places.

The Golden Spike

The Golden Spike National Park is out in the middle of nowhere. It was quite the drive to get there, but well worth it. I, and I think the kids too, learned a lot. Jakob covered this time period in history class this year, so he wanted to go check it out. It is out by Promintory, UT, which really is out by nothing else. The race across the continent was a big deal back then. Not only was money to be made, but the lives of thousands would be changed forever. From mail to necessities, everything would get to the frontier a little faster. And could you imagine the whole country celebrating the minute the final spike was pounded in? There were accounts of just that all across the country. It makes me wish there was still that kind of goal or vision to bring us all together today. Maybe there will be sometime. It's just nice to know that after the country had been so divided by the Civil War there was something that brought it together, even briefly and that something was a grand vision.

So if you ever need something to do in Utah, check out Promontory Point, where the golden spike was pounded in to the railroad the united the country. (FYI-the golden spike isn't actually there anymore, but at Stanford University. It's founder was behind one of the railroads, so he got to take the spike with him.)

Family Circle

Do you remember the Sunday comic, Family Circle? Every once in a while there would be one showing Billy's path with black dotted lines. He would be at the end, but along the way you could tell he had stopped at certain places. This is how I feel about Clara right now. She leaves a path of destruction and you can always tell where she has been. Just imagine the thick, black, dotted line linking the pictures above. Her favorites are the cupboard with all the plastic-ware, the book shelves and Sophia's little kitchen area where she loves to empty every basket and end up chewing on one thing. My favorite though has been the tissues in her crib. I put her down for a nap one day and she got quiet rather quickly. Thinking she had just fallen asleep, I didn't go check on her until an hour later. What I found you can see in the picture in the bottom, left hand corner. She had been able to reach the tissue box on the night stand and pulled out tissues one by one. There were so many that I couldn't even hold them together in two hands. Eventually though she got tired of that and fell asleep without a fuss, but she seemed to have a grin on her face as she was sleeping.

Odd Stories

Here's something you don't know about me: I like odd headlines. It ranks up there with people watching. I think it would be fun to scour the Internet for odd headlines and have a blog to keep track of them. Only my self control keeps me from doing this, because I really would never have that much time and if I tried I would really be neglecting the rest of my life. I find it intriguing that people write certain stories that are just plain odd. Usually odd means there is a stupid person involved (too numerous to give a good example). Sometimes there is a not so happy ending (the leader in this category is "Pastor killed by goat"). But every once in a while there is a happy ending, like in this cat story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29672116/

I'm working on putting everything back on our computer today, so I should have some pictures coming. Just thought I'd share this little bit of my life with you.

Back from the twilight zone

Lesson learned...back up your files. Our computer was infected with some nasty little bugs and I paid dearly for those precious files. Luckily, they were retrievable, I just had to pay for them. Other lesson learned, McAfee doesn't cut it. So that is the explanation for my month long hiatus. It's going to take me a little time to put all of our files back on our computer. I'll have pictures to add to the blog in due time.
As to goings on in the Budge household: Remember that science fair project with teeth? Jakob got a first prize ribbon on the school level and the Metro level. He was pretty excited. He also started refereeing for soccer. He gets paid for it which he is very excited about. Ethan is still Ethan and always the hug-able helper. He's also doing well in math and just past test 3 in Math Blast (a timed math test). Sophia's little light bulb in her head clicked and she is now a reader. It's fun to hear her reading everything and anything. Clara is a walker. She attempts to walk and if not successful, then she crawls, but she does get to places walking now. She is still happy and smiley.

That's enough bragging about the kids. As for me, I've felt very disconnected with the world. Strange and sad how much we rely on an inanimate object to feel the connections of friends and family. I found myself calling more people and going out more. There was also the disconnect of not really knowing what was going on in the world too (no tv either). We didn't know it was daylight savings time and almost went to church late. As it was, Phil was late for work and called to warn me. We've been kind of oblivious to the whole economic crisis too. However, I am very happy to be catching up on my favorite blogs (at least the ones that I remember their addresses--you lose your favorites list along with everything else) and the kids are excited to have their computer time.

Next post will contain pictures.