Scott's Lego Creation: The MD-3000

Scott wanted me to focus on him more in our family blog, so I asked him to make a project out of Legos and then I would write about him. He made his "MD-3000" Lego creation shortly thereafter.

Scott's own words:

"This is called the MD-3000(Maximum Driller-3000). It can drill 3000 feet below the earth. It can carry a diamond about 5 tons. It is about 4000 feet tall."

A five-ton diamond. WOW!

Scott loves to create things with Legos. I love how creative and imaginative he is, and how he'll come up with some of the most original ideas I've ever seen in a boy his age. He's a very detail-oriented 10-year-old artist. There's never a dull moment with Scott around. I look forward to seeing more of his creations.

All photos were taken by Scott.

My Sister is Getting Married!

I'm so excited that my youngest sister, Rachel is getting married in less than two months! She showed me her engagement photos a couple of weeks ago, and I thought they were absolutely gorgeous! Last night she sent me a proof of her wedding invitation and I was once again blown away by how lovely the photos turned out. I'm so excited for her! I can't wait until October!

The Bug Enthusiast

Okay, so I decided to write a blog entry about my fascination for bugs. I know it sounds completely weird and out of the blue for my blog, but I felt like doing it anyway.

Just for the record, I am quite sane. I am just a bit of a bug enthusiast.

I have always been interested in small invertebrates. My childhood days were often spent catching butterflies in my mother’s garden, collecting sow-bugs under rocks and bricks, trapping flies to feed spiders, and finding caterpillars. I would often have snail races with my sisters (which turned out to be a very slow and drawn out event), and I even bred crickets for fun during the summer. I am not sure when my fascination for bugs first occurred, but it must have been when I was really young.

Here are three stories about my earliest bug experiences that I can think of at the moment:


The Baby and the Butterfly
As a small baby, my mother would often take me on walks in my stroller around Bixby Knolls; one of the nicer neighborhoods in northern Long Beach. We lived in my grandparents’ home during the first year of my life so that my parents could save money for a house. My mother took advantage of the nice neighborhood and walked me in my stroller almost every day. On one of these occasions, when I was around 9 months old, a beautiful fritillary butterfly landed on my arm during our walk. My mother watched me as I sat and stared at the butterfly perched calmly on my arm, my eyes focused on it the entire time. When the butterfly flew up, it only went a few flaps further and landed on my chubby little knees. That was when my baby curiosity took over and I reached my hands out to touch it. The butterfly, of course, did not want anything to do with that, so it flew away and left me staring after it. It was such a cute experience that my mother never forgot it.

The Itsy Bitsy Spider
One day when I was around 16 months old, my mother left me on the couch while she was cleaning the house. A few minutes after she left she heard me laughing hysterically in the living room. She went to check on me, curious to see what had me entertained. She found me standing up on the couch facing the sliding glass window, laughing and giggling. Puzzled by my behavior, my mother sneaked up behind me to see why I was so happy and what had grabbed my attention. Looking out the window she saw nothing out of the ordinary. It was not until she saw movement on the glass that she realized what I was looking at. Creeping inches away from my face was a small harmless spider, walking across the window, on its way to who-knows-where. My mother reacted calmly to the situation, which may be why I never learned to fear spiders. She does not remember, but I would not be surprised if she sang the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" song to me right then at that time. I think the “Itsy Bitsy Spider” song was one of my favorites after that.

The Honeybee
When I was three years old, my mother had a series of painful surgeries, including a C-section, which kept her in the hospital for weeks at a time. During this time my father took care of me and my younger sister, Susie, when he was not working. On one particular day, my father thought he would take me and my sister for a walk around the block to release our wiggles. I was enthusiastic about the idea of course, especially since I had a special request for my father that I knew my mother would never agree to. I wanted to walk around the block barefoot. My mother never allowed us to go barefoot outside, and I thought this would be the perfect chance to finally break the rules. At first my father was reluctant, but he gave in when I started whining and fussing. So we began the walk and I was thrilled to not be wearing shoes. As we rounded the corner, only a few yards away from our house, I spotted a bug on the ground. My eyes were drawn to it at first, but then I realized it was probably just a fly, so I didn’t pay attention to it. A few seconds later I felt a huge pain shoot inside my foot. Apparently it was not a fly on the ground, but a honeybee, and I stepped on it. The stinger got me right between my toes and it hurt me bad, but my father calmed me down, took out the singer, and carried me home where I called my mommy and told her all about it. Oddly enough, that experience did not cause me to become afraid of bees. In fact, I think it only sprung my curiosity toward them. For years after that I still felt a pang of guilt whenever I thought about the poor little bee I killed.

I took this photo (left-handed) of a painted lady butterfly about five years ago. I raised it from a caterpillar and watched it grow and change. I love this photo mainly because my hand looks so sexy in it.

My interest in invertebrates continued to grow as I got older. I spent hours watching insects and arachnids in my backyard as a child, trying to understand their behavior and complexity. I became an expert butterfly catcher when I was around four or five, as my father could vouch for me. At first I would catch them and keep them inside cups, but when I realized that it killed them when I did that I stopped. After that, I would spend hours catching butterflies and then quickly releasing them so they would not get hurt.

I also have memories of catching small wasps, and even spiders, using my bare hands. I will admit that occasionally I did get bit or stung by some of them, but they were all mild bites and stings, and that did not stop me. I knew which bugs would give me bad injuries and which ones were harmless. I even learned to predict behavior and aggression in certain bugs, so that I could adapt my handling skills in such a way that I would not get hurt. I have not been stung by a bee or bitten by a spider in many, many years, and I still continue to handle them sometimes (as you can see in the top photo of me holding a bee).

I have always loved spiders. I could tell just by looking at webs what spider built it and if the spider was dangerous or not. I would rescue wasps, spiders, and bees whenever I believed their lives were in peril. I had such a high respect for life that I rarely killed anything, or allowed anything to be killed. Once I pushed my father down the stairs on our front porch when I thought he was going to kill a bug. My poor father lost his balance and rolled onto the lawn, but luckily did not get hurt. I felt pretty silly afterwards.

Okay, I will admit there is one bug I cannot stand, even above that of fleas, ticks, mosquitos, and other parasites. I HATE cockroaches. They are the only common insect I really dislike and cannot bear to be around. I am very grateful I live in northern Utah were they are far less common than where I used to live. I cannot tolerate their disgusting, creepy, hunched-over, dark-looking bodies when they scurry places, and how they seem to get everywhere you don’t want them to be. They are nasty little buggers.

But other than roaches and parasites, I love bugs and I enjoy learning about them. I took a wildlife biology class while I was in college, which included the study of various insects and other invertebrates that commonly thrive in Southern California. During the class we were told to make our own insect collection, which I really struggled with at first, because I knew we would be required to kill insects. But I wanted to get an “A” in the class, so I did the project. We had to catch three insects from each order (about eight orders in all), and then put them in jars with poisonous fumes. We then had to stick pins in them and scientifically label them in our display boxes. I tried to put off catching the butterflies for last, because I dreaded the thought of killing them the most. When I finally gave in, I took my butterfly net to a nearby park and caught a giant Western Swallowtail. It had yellow wings and gorgeous black markings going up and down its body. As I stuck the beautiful creature in the deadly jar, heavy tears began spilling down my face as I watched the butterfly try to get out. I felt so bad! The butterfly reminded me of a small bird beating its wings frantically against the glass, desperately trying to be free from the fumes. It broke my heart watching it slowly fall asleep . . .

Ugh! I don’t want to remember that!

If I were to go back to school and get my BA, I think I would like to study more about biology and become a wildlife biologist, and/or a photographer. I love taking pictures of plants and animals. I wish I had a nicer camera to take better close-up photos, but I’ll do my best with what I have for now and save money for later.

I love being a bug freak! Insects are so amazing!

A New Look

I decided to give my blog a new look. I was getting tired of the black background and neon bright text, so I found a template that I think I'll like better. It's closer to my simple, feminine side. I'll show it to Brad when he gets back from work to see if he approves.

~Becky

Swimming Photos

Brad and I took the kids swimming at Aunt Marian's house yesterday. Scott and Emma love swimming there, and it was a nice way to escape the August heat and spend time together as a family. We had a wonderful time.

Scott and Emma were finally brave enough to jump into the shallow end of the pool without any help from adults. They kept jumping in over and over again once they learned how much fun it was. These were my two favorite shots:

I suspect that Scott might be a vampire. What do you think?

Back to Normal

Scott and Emma returned home from La Verkin on Thursday. I am so happy to have them back! They brighten up my day with endless kisses and cuddling, and I love hearing their laughter and giggles in our home. We missed having them here with us, and I know they missed their daddy and me too. I think they are glad things are back to normal again.

For the past couple of days, I have been trying to break Scott and Emma from the habit of watching TV and playing video games. When they first got back all they wanted to do was sit in front of a TV screen or a monitor all day long. I highly suspect these were their main activities while they were gone for the past four weeks. They are now aware of every single kids show that airs on TV, what times and channels they come on, and Scott keeps talking about video games I've never heard of before (which says a lot, if you know me). I decided that this routine had to end now, so I told Emma and Scott they had to do something else that did not involve electronics. "But what can I do?" asked Emma. I told her should could play board games with Scott, read a book with me, play outside in the sprinklers, play with her friends, draw or color, or play with our pet rats.

On the day after the children came home, Scott and Emma learned something new to keep them occupied: they both discovered that they love to play the board game "Clue." Scott learned how to play several months ago when Brad and I were playing, but this was Emma's first time learning how to play, and she caught on to the game extremely well. She always surprises me how quickly she understands game concepts. She has a very strategic and mathematical mind, and she does well with thinking games.

I am also happy to report that since Scott and Emma have been home they have been watching far less TV and playing video games less often. They have been following all of my suggestions, and have been having a great time. I am glad they are home and things feel back to normal again.

Young Women Camp

I had the opportunity and pleasure to attend girls camp with the young women in my ward a few days ago. We stayed at the beautiful Blackhawk campgrounds in Payson Canyon, Utah. I loved getting to know the girls and leaders better, and spending time in the great outdoors. I took many photos and plan on posting some of them up. Overall I had a wonderful and joyful camp experience.

The Dawn Has Arrived!

"Breaking Dawn" has finally come! It felt like it would never arrive, but it did, and now I must take full advantage and devour as many pages as I can before I leave to Girls Camp tomorrow. I was supposed to get the newest Stephanie Meyer book Saturday morning, but things didn't go as planned, so I ended up getting it this afternoon. I am very eager to start reading it!

I became a Stephanie Meyer fan earlier this year when I heard about the mysterious vampire stories from various women in my bookclub. The older ladies were hesitant to read it (most of them don't like "horror" stories), but I became curious, so I borrowed "Twilight" from the library, not sure what to expect, and instantly became hooked! I was thrilled when I heard that a "Twilight" movie will be released later this year. I can't wait until December 12th!

My Own Artwork:

Electricity

I think everyone needs a power black-out now and then to realize how much we take electricity for granted. Yesterday my neighborhood went four hours without electricity. Our house was eerie and quiet without the constant hum of the refrigerator, the computers, the air conditioning, or the other large appliances. We couldn't do laundry, use the dishwasher, watch TV, turn on a fan, or even use our house phones. I could not help but feel a little helpless and cut off from the world.

But I did notice some positive changes in our neighboorhood when the electricity was gone. I saw lots of families playing out on their lawns, neighbors talking to neighbors in drive-ways, people watering their lawns, owners taking their dogs out on walks, and people sitting on their porches. So many people were outside enjoying the beautiful summer evening instead of vegetating on a couch indoors, watching TV, or wasting time on the computer. It was a refreshing change.

Highlight of My Day: June 17 to July 31

I try to focus on at least one good thing that happens in my life everyday to keep me focused on positive events that I sometimes take for granted. I record these "highlights" in my blog as a small mini journal for me to look back on later, as well as to share with others. Here is a glimpse of the pleasant things that happened in my life during June and July:

June 17, 2008: My wedding anniversary! Married 2 years today! Went out to dinner with Brad.

June 18, 2008: Wednesday lunch with family

June 19, 2008: Emma reached her reading goal!

June 20, 2008: Camping trip to the Sand Dunes! Wonderful!

June 21, 2008: Swimming party at the Harman's.

June 22, 2008: Sunday! Relaxed and spent time with family.

June 23, 2008: Emma and Scott started their swimming lessons.

June 24, 2008: I talked to my sister-Susie on the phone. She's so fun!

June 25, 2008: Had a cuddling fest with Scott and Emma.

June 26, 2008: Went shopping with my hubby. I love him so!

June 27, 2008: I had the car! Spent time driving the kids fun places.

June 28, 2008: Our family saw "WALL-E" and loved it!

June 29, 2008: Visited Bruce, Loralee, and the 8 cousins.

June 30, 2008: I had the car again! Drove to see Brad at work.

July 1, 2008: Played with fireworks as a family

July 2, 2008: Flew to Long Beach for our family vacation.

July 3, 2008: Went to Knott's Farm!

July 4, 2008: Spent the 4th of July holiday with family and my friends.

July 5, 2008: Watched Brad baptize Donovan.

July 6, 2008: Spent time with Anissa!

July 7, 2008: We had a wonderful time at the beach!

July 8, 2008: Returned to Utah again. It's nice being home!

July 9, 2008: Brad gave the children and me priesthood blessings.

July 10, 2008: My husband takes such good care of me.

July 11, 2008: My fever is gone! Hooray! I feel healthy.

July 12, 2008: Brad and I watched "The Incredible Hulk"

July 13, 2008: Visited with the Bruce-clan.

July 14, 2008: Stopped by to visit Amanda and her kids.

July 15, 2008: Went out to dinner with Brad's family at Little America in SLC.

July 16, 2008: Enjoyed book club tonight!

July 17, 2008: Chopped off 10 inches of my hair to donate.

July 18, 2008: Spent time with Charlotte and Aksel. CUTE!

July 19, 2008: Made $80 in a small garage sale, and watched "The Dark Knight!"

July 20, 2008: Played "Settlers of Zarahemla" with Brad and his dad, and I WON!

July 21, 2008: Brad and I went on a date to Jamba Juice.

July 22, 2008: I cuddled with Rosie throughout the day.

July 23, 2008: I'm getting new glasses!

July 24, 2008: Went up to the canyons for a Pioneer Day picnic with Bruce and Loralee's family.

July 25, 2008: Took family photos of Bruce and Loralee's family

July 26, 2008: Drove to St. George to visit Scott and Emma!

July 27, 2008: Visited church history sites. Scott and Emma had a wonderful time.

July 28, 2008: Reading "Eclipse" and loving it!

July 29, 2008: Went shopping with my mother-in-law

July 30, 2008: Finished reading my book! Now for the next one. .

July 31, 2008: Attended a service activity with the Young Women.