Trunk-or-Treat

Just for fun I thought you might enjoy my costume for our ward's trunk-or-treat. I don't usually dress up, but thought I'd throw something together at the last minute. I went as a "washed-up" Diva. I didn't have time to make myself a Grammy, but that would have been the greatest finishing touch.

Also, we never did get a pumpkin carved this year, but Ellie and I did finally manage to put our gingerbread Haunted House together. Here it is.

Halloween Photos

And here is Halloween. Ellie was a fairy princess, Lauren was the Sugar Plum Fairy, Emma was one of the 12 Dancing Princesses, and Maddie went for quick and easy wearing the indian costume that I wore when she was 3 years old. Thanks to Grandma Myrna for making the adorable fairy costumes for Ellie and Lauren. They turned out very cute and the girls loved them. Emma's costume was her dance recital costume from last spring.

Vocab Definitions

1) u·biq·ui·tous /yuˈbɪkwɪtəs/
–adjective
existing or being everywhere, esp. at the same time; omnipresent: ubiquitous fog; ubiquitous little ants.
2)fla·gran·te de·lic·to (flə-grān'tē dĭ-lĭk'tō)
adv.
In the very act of committing an offense; red-handed.
In the act of having sex.
3)he·gem·o·ny [hi-jem-uh-nee, hej-uh-moh-nee]
–noun, plural -nies.
1. leadership or predominant influence exercised by one nation over others, as in a confederation.
2. leadership; predominance.
3. (esp. among smaller nations) aggression or expansionism by large nations in an effort to achieve world domination.
4)prog·na·thous Pronunciation[prog-nuh-thuhs, prog-ney-]
–adjective Craniometry.
having protrusive jaws; having a gnathic index over 103.

And there you have it. New vocab to thrill your friends with. I challenge you to use the word prognathism in a sentence this week. Let me know if you make it. I'll be trying too.

Here they are

Please read the next post. This picture relates to that. Blogger wouldn't let me attach a photo on that last post. And I do have to go on record as saying that I am in no way criticizing him or his family. I think he is absolutely incredible and has always had an enviable work ethic and winning attitude and personality. Obviously. . .otherwise he wouldn't be what he is today. Kudos to Chris.

Flagrant Vocab.

I just came across a list I made a couple of months ago. I made this list as I was reading the bio of a former classmate in high school. Yes, he's a smart guy. He became a doctor, a concert pianist, won some fancy humanitarian award in Paris, has the body of a god, is still active in the LDS church, and these seem to be just a few of his many accomplishments. His wife is, of course, a goddess and they have the quintessentially perfect Mormon family. He happens to live in the Lake Tahoe/Reno area. I am possibly the former classmate in closest proximity to him and feel honored that I spoke with him a few times in high school. (I'm not worthy:) )
Okay, the list. . .
As I was reading his bio I kept coming across words that I had to admit I didn't know the meaning of. Does he use these words in regular, everyday conversation? or was he referring to a thesaurus while writing the bio? You decide.
Word 1) ubiquitous
I have come across this word a few times in reading and was able to determine its meaning because of the context of its usage, but I'm pretty sure I've never spoken the word (working vocabulary < vocabulary comprehension)
Word 2) flagrante delicto
I was able to understand this based on the context of its usage also, but don't think I've ever heard it or seen it before. Anyone?
Word 3) hegemony
Okay, I had no idea and now that it's been a couple of months since looking it up, I still can't remember.
Word 4) prognathism
I remember what this means from looking it up, but who actually uses this word even for its real meaning. It's worth the extra effort to say "protruding jaw".
Come back tomorrow and I will post the definitions if you're interested. Let me see if I can post a picture of Mr. Chris Perfect Degn.

Eeeuuw. . . Mice

Although this little guy looks a little bit cute in a sad and helpless way (he's stuck in a printer), we have had our own mouse encounters lately and it wasn't so cute.

First of all, I must admit I get the idiot of the month award. We have two storage units in our garage that we use for food storage. It just didn't occur to me that there might be mice around who could access these. I feel like we live in this nice little suburb and how dare a mouse intrude on our life? But he/they did. We mostly put canned foods in there, but I put a big bag of noodles in one of them. You know, the kind you get from Sam's Club for $3. It's been there for quite a while (many months) and there hasn't been a problem. But, we went out to get something the other day and there were mouse droppings all over and it really stunk! So, guess who's job it was to clean it all out today. Yep, it was great. I was so grossed out by the whole thing that I scoured the whole unit and washed every can in soapy water. And yes, threw away the noodles. Yuck! Pros: I now know everything that's in there. It is all organized and clean. It smells great thanks to the air freshener I put out there. We will also be putting poison, traps, etc. and enjoying the neighborhood cats more.

Cateract Canyon

Most of you know that I took a trip down the Colorado River this summer. It was an all women's trip. Therefore, I was forced to go without any children or husband (I was all choked up about it . . . really. Okay, you caught me. HA!) It was such an excellent time I have decided that I will do this as often as I possibly can.

That first picture is of me, victorious after conquering the biggest rapids we went through (class 5) in a kayak with my new friend Kim. It was so great. I loved being so close to the water, almost like I was a part of the life of the river. It is a great feeling. It makes me feel very alive.
The next picture is of most of our women guides. They are all 18-25 years old. Most of them are students, some have graduated, but just can't give up this summer job. They are incredible. All very strong and capable girls. They guided and navigated us all through the canyon, cooked every awsome meal, set up camp every night, and took it down every morning. They really made our trip as comfy as possible.


Here I am taking a turn rowing. My appreciation for those girls is growing with every stroke. Two of our days were rowing only, no motor. Are you loving my hat? I didn't wear it all the time, but was really glad I had it. I'm very afraid of the sun, and I was able to come away my perfectly lily-white self.
Here I am at the top of the canyon during one of our hikes. It was great. I did have blisters on my heels that day, making the hike less than great. BTW, here's a tip. If you ever have bad blisters on your heels while hiking put a layer of moleskin on the blister, cover that with a bandaid and then cover the whole thing with a big piece of duct tape. I finally figured this out on the 3rd day. It was great! For some reason my water sandals were rubbing my feet badly and I was a little suffering from it.



The last picture is one of the great hikes we took to see petroglyphs on the canyon walls and graineries of the Anasazi. It was really cool.


This pictures were kinda bad because all I took was one of those disposable water cameras. But you get the main idea. I did have one scary incident. I started drifting downstream where the current was really strong and could not get back to shore. I thought I was a goner for a minute, but knew I was okay when I saw the guides laughing at me. That's all for now.