Cous Cous anyone?

Who would have thought that food could be such an art form? Last night, I tried something new for dinner, Cous Cous. It's a pasta and I thought it would be fun to try something new. But that doesn't work real well at our house. Cous Cous was not a hit. But Brianna came up with a way to use it. Art!

Here is Brianna deep in her art andher picture of Michael.

Trying to keep Christ in Christmas...

Christmas is over and we had another great Christmas. One way we try to keep Christ in CHRISTmas is by having numerous Nativity scenes in our house. We're up to six now. Here's some pictures of our Nativity Scenes...


Here is a Japanese Nativity Scene.


On the window sill in front of the kitchen sink



Wind-up snow globe.

On the mantel.

We got this one in a drawing at church last year.

Our very first creche. It was a Christmas gift early in our marriage.

Cutting Down Our Christmas Tree

The Annual, "Go To The Christmas Tree Farm and Cut Down a Tree Event"...


If possible, we try to go out to a Christmas Tree Farm and cut down our Christmas tree. This year we read about a guy retiring this year and he had all his trees priced at $25. Unfortunately by the time we got around to going, only the short trees were left. Anyway, here's the tree we chose to cut down


Spencer cut most of the tree down last year and promptly decided that he wanted to be a lumberjack when he grew up. All year he's said he wants to be a lumberjack when he grows up. He grabbed the saw first thing and was disappointed it didn't cut quickly through the tree. He was also our first casualty as he cut himself on the saw and had to return to the M*A*S*H (Minivan Alisa Safety Helper?) to get bandaged up and get his purple heart.

Jeremy was next and also couldn't get through this large stand of timber.

Ta-Dah!! Michael was this year's lumberjack!! It was a tough day's work, so afterwards we all went to Sonic for a burger and a milkshake!

Happy 9th Birthday Spencer!

Happy 9th Birthday Spencer!

Dalton, Spencer, Jeremy, Michael, Zach

I wish for...

OUR NEARLY FREE TRIP TO BRANSON, MO...

OUR NEARLY FREE TRIP TO BRANSON, MO...

Our nearly free trip to Branson started with Alisa registering online for a local radio contest. Yep, she won! We got 2 nights at the new Hilton Hotel, tickets for 4 to two different shows, and tickets for 8 to the Hollywood Wax Museum!

Our nearly free trip continued with the gas prices. We gassed up for $1.35 a gallon (it seemed like nearly free). [Sorry to all of you that work in the oil field, but $1.35 a gallon is great for us. I hope it will convince people to buy cars again!]. We left home on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

We stopped to eat near Ft. Leonard Wood and Michael & Spencer wanted to check out the tank. They asked about 10 times; "Hey dad what kinda tank is that? Is it a tiger tank?" "No, son it's an M60 main battle tank"...


First stop in Branson was our hotel. Every hour they have a "fire and water show" (fountain and flames synchronized to music). As Jeremy so eloquently put it; "uh, I guess it was okay".

The first evening we went to "The Duttons" show. It was corny, but a good show.


The next day (Saturday), we went to the dam and fish hatchery, then indoor miniature golfing and laser tag.



Next up was the wax museum, then to the "Hard Luck Diner" where all the waiters and waitresses are professional singers. We went there last year on the same day. Who wants to go with us on Saturday November 28, 2009???



Saturday evening we went to the Hamner Barber show (magician and ventriloquist). It was also a good show.

Sunday we went to church in Branson. Jay Osmond (yes that Jay Osmond) was the main speaker. Jimmy Osmond sat near us, and we saw many of the LDS performers in Branson. The LDS performers in Branson are; The Duttons, The Lowes, The Hughes, The Osmonds, Six (Knudsen Brothers), & The Bretts. Most of these groups have permanent theatres and are quite popular. It's interesting so many of them are LDS. Jay Osmond said during his talk "I remember when it was the Branson Branch and now there are two wards in Branson".

We had a fun time in Branson (I never thought I would have ever said that). Come see us next Thanksgiving and we might go to Branson again...

Happy Thanksgiving 2008!

Happy Thanksgiving 2008!

L to R: Yasuko, Shin, Vern, Nicole, Alex, Atsuko, Jeremy, Spencer, Alisa, Michael, Rick



After a huge feast, we decided to play the Wii. Atsuko really got into this game and kept inching closer and closer to the TV, it was fun and we all laughed at all the players...