We took them on a date...

A while back...quite a ways back actually, Jen and I planned a scavenger hunt date for the madre and the padre.

They had a fun night.

Yay!

Taking time out.

I realize it has been a long time.

I keep meaning to be better...and then fail.

So I will give some kind of photo update soon.

Because one is way overdue.

But here is a bite for today.

Over the weekend the padre, the cita, bug and I went and saw Tangled.

We LOVED it.

I mean really.

It is probably one of my favorite Disney movies EVER.

There is just not much else to say on its awesome amazingness.

...and yes I know that is not a word.

After the movie we went through the shops at Riverwoods.  

They had a whole Christmas Village thing going on which was really cool.

All-in-all a magical evening.

We are all excited for Christmas break.

The little juan and stephie come home this weekend,

Aliswan finishes next week,

and Deruad and the bug finish some time after that.

Good times.

Quick summary.

Quick summary of the past few weeks?

We had a mini family vacation.

The pictures were taken on my phone so don't expect sharp clarity.

The little juan returned from his mission in Peru.

He asks every question by saying, "No?"

The padre and I took Stephie and the little Juan down to Cedar City to school.

He came to breakfast in a tie.

Which was pretty awesome.

In other news...

the Bug is catching 50 bugs and putting them in the freezer to die and preserve for her Biology class.

Last night the padre hurriedly stopped the car because we saw a katydid in the road.

Which they caught with her bug-catching net.

  

So there you go.  Not nearly enough but hopefully I will be able to post more soon.

There is definitely enough going on.

Adios!

Keep on Runnin'

It's been awhile since any posts were done.

Why is this do you think?

Manly because Aliswan (moi) is the only one who know how to post.  

And that is something that we are perfectly ok with.

So, now that she (I) am back from Syria

the posting will once again resume.

So what shall we start with?

How about the greatest holiday of all time?

The 4th of July.

This is our favorite holiday.

There are certain traditions that we hold to.

The first being the 4th of July 5k.

This year was the Cita's first time running the race.

IT WAS AWESOME!!!

Here are some recaps.

The cita and pa getting ready for the race.
Check out their sweet matching shirts.
Planned or not planned?
You decide.

Jen getting her sunscreen on in the car.

Driving to the "drop off point".

It was very exciting.

The padre had been camped out there since 4:30 am.

Aliswan jumped out, 

the padre jumped in, 

and Stephie drove them to the start of the race and ran back to our spot.  

It was a well choreographed moment of perfection really.

Don't be mislead by the sign.  
The runners went the other way around the round-a-bout.

Our first arrivals: The padre and the Derude.

Next came the bug.
She went the way of the 10k runners and we almost missed her.
You rebel you.

Auntie Karen followed suit and got a round of high-fives from her familia,
and the saddest face I have ever seen on a 2 year old when T-dog watched her run away.
It took a bit of cuddling and fruit snacks to convince him that mommy was coming back.

The highlight was of course seeing pa and the cita.
This was the cita's first race.
We are all so proud.

and happy that she is still smiling at this point.

Just kidding, she did awesome!!!

There was still a good 20 to 30 minutes of people behind these champions.

Wave to the crowd guys, you are awesome!

Unkie Nate played the intimidating unibomber.  

He played the part well.

T-dog hit his nap-time during the parade.  

Probably the most chill kid I have ever seen at a parade.

Check his hat by the way...fantastic.

So, there is the brief summary of the race.  

There will be more pictures as some point.

Believe me, there are definitely more pictures.

Adios amigos!

and on your way home folks, please be wary of pirates.

How to annihilate grill wasps 101

Obviously the House of Nuts loves to make videos.

Embarrassing ones,

silly ones,

music ones,

and just plain ridiculous ones.

For example:

The eradication of grill wasps.

Our house is a prime target for wasps.

There are a lot of cute little nooks and crannies where they can stuff their little bodies and make little hives.  

So by the end of the day

It is no longer the House of Nuts

but in fact, 

the House of Hives.

and we don't like that.

Wasps are mean,

they fly in your face trying to intimidate you,

they show off constantly,

(really, who cares if you can fly?)

and they shove themselves, or parts of themselves, where they don't belong.

By stinging innocent bystanders and living in eaves, gutters, corners and grills.

So what do we nuts do?

Send Deruda and Padre to deal with the beasties.

While we film them.

How to annihilate grill wasps 101 @ Yahoo! Video

By the way, thank you Otis for the swell narration and Aliswan for the filming...albeit from a distance.

And then there was none.

This weekend we moved the Unkie, Auntie, T-dog, and Widgie out.  

It was a sad, sad, moment but there are always ways to bump up the happiness factor.  

Such as Bug wearing hot pink high heels.

Here is a few stills from the day:

Auntie Karen, in her sweet In-N-Out shirt.

Bug and I

Bug and I after packing, moving, unpacking and moving more stuff.

the Padre vacuuming the dust that was under the TV downstairs.

We had to vacuum because it was nasty thick.

Don't judge us, you would write in the dust to...

although I do believe the writing is still there, in storage, in the basement.

At least we are humorous cleaners.

So there was the move.

IN OTHER NEWS

Sunday was good.  The best part was when the cita burned the last pan of rolls.

Yes those are rolls you dirty reader, get your mind out of the toilet. :)

Also you will notice, or you may not, that I changed the blog template.
It used to look like this:

Now it looks...well like it does now.

Change is good.

In fact, almost everyone has recently (blogger and life wise)

Stephie did, as did Aliswan.

Still working out the kinks.

So there you go.

Lots of change afoot.

Aliswan graduates next week,

then leaves for Syria the week after, 

and starts grad school in August.

the little juan comes home from his mission in August,

after which he will promptly head back to university.

Stephie graduates from high school at the end of May,

and starts university with Jon, in August.

Deruda is going to his first prom in the next little bit,

and will be starting his junior year of high school in the fall.

Bug also starts high school in August.

Basically everyone is growing up, moving on, and going crazy.

Because that is what we do.

We are 'the nuts' in the House of Nuts after all.