Stop Child Abuse!

Okay, folks. This is serious. Look at the pictures below and tell me you don't want to do something about it:


Did I get ya? Okay, I know, I probably shouldn't joke around about child abuse, but these pictures are just too priceless. No, they are not posters for Bikers Against Child Abuse, they are pictures of my nieces with their movie make-up on. They had to fight a dragon. By the way, you should feel privileged that I'm posting these. Exclusive behind-the-scenes production photos, people. For a preview of the movie they are in that my brother is making, Warriors of Destiny, go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nN4IEpgbiNY

Okay, now on to chronicle the week Neilyboy and I spent in Cedar City with the very entertaining Pangan family.

This may give you a glimpse of how crazy these kids can be. I love Rachel's loopy expression, and Ali's crazed, maybe evil, one. We were stuck in a traffic jam coming back from St. George and we were bored. What can I say.

Ronny = water baby. What more needs to be said?

Whoa! A picture with all four of them smiling and looking more or less at the camera!? Someone alert the press! Apparently, you just need to stick them all in water to make them cooperate. This was taken at a really cool water park in St. George. I'm pretty sure it was the best day of Ronny's life.

Rachel courteously standing so Ronny can get a jet of water up his nose. What a good big sister. :)

Let this be a warning to you. Ronny eats everything. If you want to eat something in peace, you have to lock yourself in the bathroom - and he'll probably still find you. This is him "sharing" Neil's Gogurt.

Ali and Ronny playing in a clothes basket. One of my favorite pictures ever for some reason.

Rachel on her big-kid bike. She's decided she's no longer a "girly-girl" and requested a blue bike. I think it's pretty awesome, myself.

Ronny, after his mother played with his hair when he was defenselessly drinking his bottle.

The very handsome Jarrett-boy. This kid is surprisingly good at posing. Of course, you may remember that from this post.


How many people can you get on Tyann's couch? Quite a few, apparently. I really don't know what was on Neily's computer that was so fascinating, but it must have been good.

Jarrett boxing. And that kid CAN box, too. He loves hitting stuff.

Ahh, parting shot. Isn't this pretty much the funniest picture you've ever seen? Cracks me up everytime.

Anyway, a very huge thanks to the Pangans for letting us come and visit. Couldn't have asked for a better time!

Balloons and Fireworks . . .

. . . or, my really late Fourth of July post. Sorry about that, July has just been a really insane month. Pretty sad when it takes me until the NEXT holiday to post about the previous one. Oh well. How about I just say Happy July, and keep my bases covered? :)

Okay, enough babbling. Onto the pictures.

Quite honestly, I don't remember if it was actually on the 4th that we went to see the hot air balloons. They're cool, regardless.

Bree and her friend Christopher admiring the Smoky the Bear balloon.


Carson was . . . less than amused. Seriously, he made this face the whole morning, and I have lots of pictures to prove it. Funny little guy. :)


He was a little more entertained by the fireworks. We went to a parking lot to watch the Stadium of Fire ones, which were pretty lame, by the way.

Bree and Uncle Neil. I don't know what happened to the background on this picture, but it's kinda cool. And Bree and Neil are cute, as always.

Another really cute Bree and Uncle Neil picture. Why Bree was wearing shades at ten o'clock at night, I will never know. I've stopped trying to figure that kid out. :)


I tried really hard to get a picture of the fireworks with the full moon, but they just weren't close enough to make it very dramatic. It was a good idea, anyway.

This is a picture of the fireworks we did at the Kreis' house on the 3rd. Bree LOVED them. She laughed every time we set one off, but it was late and she fell asleep before we were done.
It was cute.

Here's the obligitory kids-with-the-flag picture. Cute, huh? Check out Carson trying to keep his feet off the grass.

Anyway, I hope you all had a fantastic 4th, and are having an awesome 24th. I, for one, am certainly proud to live in this country, and am grateful for the freedom to light explosives in our front yards. :)

Another Adorable Children Post!

We went down to Cedar City this past weekend and I managed to take about two-hundred and fifty pictures. Good grief. The kids are just so cute that I can never help it, though. :)

These first three are ones that I really like because no one is paying attention to the camera. I really like capturing people just doing the things they do - stealth photography, you could call it.

(playing Down by the Banks, not holding a seance, by the way)

Okay, so Neil is paying attention to the camera in this one, but he doesn't count.

Rachel (movie star)

Alison (model)

Jarrett (cowboy)

Ronny (philosopher)

We finished off the weekend by blowing some bubbles. Obviously, I have way more pictures than this, but I'm too lazy to post more at the moment. Thanks for sharing your kids, Tyann! :)

Grandpa Hammond's 80th B-day Party!

Okay everyone, I can hide it from you no longer. I am a complete Stargate addict. As a matter of fact, you are about to see the extent of my obsession. Get prepared.

I myself, have been watching Stargate for a couple of years now, and have recently managed to get my friends and younger brother obsessed as well. We started at the beginning of SG-1 and watch about two episodes a night, religiously. One of my friends is embarrassed by this, so in public, we refer to these nightly viewings as "going to visit Grandpa Hammond." And last night, we decided to have a party. By the way, I don't have the time to explain all the references, so if you don't know much about Stargate, you may wish to turn back now. :)

These cookies say "Happy B-day G-pa Hammond." They were made by my fantastic friend, Bridget.

We were in the store getting things for the party, when my brother held up a box of Nerds and said, "Nanites!" He has really good ideas like that.

Machello Jello! Believe it or not, we didn't come up with the name until we were actually eating it. We had just watched "Legacy" and thought that Machello's inventions sort of looked like Swedish Fish, except blue. Hence the gummy sharks. Anyway, my embarrassed friend who wished to remain anonymous, put them in Jello. We were all sitting around eating it when my other friend said, "Pass the Machello Jello." We all just stopped and stared at each other, realizing the genius, before freaking out.

Nicole demonstrating Machello's Goa'uld killing invention. :)

Goa'uld salad, complete with a couple of Tok'ra spies! Nicole's inspired idea.


Okay, folks, now we're getting to the really good stuff.

Rodney is SO CUTE. My brother decorated him, and I was totally in love. Also, dreadlocks are very difficult to make out of frosting, but my anonymous friend did a fantastic job. :)

Cute little Asgard! My favorite is the girl one.

These ones aren't very obvious, but we have an Unas, Apophis, Bra'tac, Dr. Fraiser, and Grandpa Hammond himself!

SG-1, seasons 9 and 10

And of course, the original SG-1!


Okay, here comes the crowning acheivement. But first, the story of how this started. One night, a while back, when it was just me and Nicole watching the show, she decided chappa'ai would be a cool basis for a rap song. She started saying "Chappa, chappa, what?" to which I would reply enthusiastically, "Chappa'AI!" We now all do this whenver someone says chappa'ai. Anyway, one day it hit us: we could make a chappa PIE! Ingenius, no? Here are the results:

My awesome friend, Bridget, with the Chappa Pie.

Me, looking at the Chappa Pie with pure joy.

My little bro, Neil, with the Chappa Pie. He did all the detail work on the 'gate.

And a pic of the Chappa Pie all by itself. Isn't it cool how the camera's flash made it look all shimmery? The chevrons are little apple wedges, by the way, and it's white chocolate pudding with blue food coloring for the event horizon.

And finally, a lovely group shot. Wanna know the funniest part about this party? The only things we could bring ourselves to actually eat were the Nanites, Goa'uld salad, and Machello Jello. Everything else was just too cute, and so the cookies all remain on my counter and the Chappa Pie sits in the fridge.
Anyone hungry? :)

Toes

My mother has been in Hawaii since the day after graduation (the 29th), and I am most certainly ready for her to return. I'm really glad she got to go - she's been wanting to go to Hawaii for probably her whole life - but I am kind of done being the mom at our house. :)

Anyway, she went with some of our most excellent friends, the Kreises, and they got pedicures before they went. Mom insisted I take pictures of her toes before they "got ruined." So, here you go. Tyann, she especially wanted you to see, so tell her I did a good job next time you talk to her. ;)

Mom's toes (white sandal), Bridget Kreis's toes (black shoe), Becky Kreis's toes (tan sandal).

The Neilyboy's Graduation

Group shot! The graduates (Bridget and Neil) with their parental units.

Neilina with a couple choir/ward buddies.

Neilykins with Mom and Dad

And lastly, the Neilyboy with me! I'm very proud of him. :)