Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Pictures - Catch Up

Here are a bunch of pictures from this summer. For a while there, the technology gods came back to curse my blog again and wouldn't let me upload anything. So here they are, in no particular order...


I realized that I am in very few pictures on my own blog. I suppose it would seem narcissistic to be otherwise, but here's one the kiddies with their mom, for once. We took a trip down by Imperial and had Family Home Evening at Enders Reservoir (as featured in the best seller "Heaven is For Real").
Here's a little friend we caught while we were there. Noah was brave enough to pet him.
 Here's Aaron doing his hunter/fisher/gatherer thing. He caught a whopper of a rockfish this round, and it broke his fishing pole. Needless to say, the big one got away.
Liza had a fun time playing in the water. She LOVES swimming, the bathtub - anything with water.
Liza and Daddy at Enders.
Noah the Little Mermaidman. 
   
I made a red velvet cake mix and let Noah lick the bowl. This was the result. If you're going as anything bloody for Halloween, skip the ketchup and go straight for the red velvet cake mix.
My baby boy turned 3 this July (sniff, sniff). This is a crummy picture, but I just love the look on his face. It was consistent for all of his birthday gifts. We had to coax him to open each of the remaining ones because he wanted to stop and play with the one he'd just opened. A good lesson in being grateful for what you have.

Noah with his birthday cake. It was going to be a pirate cake, but Noah wanted Thomas. I might've known. My first cake made from scratch!
Liza's hair is getting SOOOOOOOO long! I love putting her in piggie tails. She shakes her head to make them wiggle or when she's tired.

Friday, April 29, 2011

Make My Day!

I did it! I finally posted my coasters on Etsy! And! I got featured in someone's treasury! Exclamation point! (for those of you wondering what a treasury is, click here. My listing is the Mah Jongg coasters.)

So sorry about the long blogging hiatus - we moved. Yes, again. But locally this time. We are now in a charming little town called Grant. Aaron works in Grant, so we made the move to save on gas and get a bigger place. If Highlands Ranch gave up it's cookie cutter ways and strip malls, and morphed into a small town, Grant's what it would be like. The homes are well-kept, there are lots of young families with kids, there's a stellar park with four playgrounds and an old-style merry-go-round (the kind you push), and everyone we've met is very friendly. We like it here.

I had misplaced my camera cable, so here's a catch-up post for pictures.
 Piggie Tails!
 Aaron's first Rio Grande Turkey with a bow. He sure tasted good. We made turkey nuggets two nights in a row.
 Aaron training Zeus. He's learning fast. He can come, sit, go down, go to his kennel, and drop an object in his mouth. And the dog's a quick study too.
 The girls. Me and Liza-Lou chillin' in the afternoon.
 Liza's a chocolate fan already.
 Liza loves to pet the dog. He rarely sticks around long enough for her to do it, but she tries.
 Nothin' like a dog and his boy.
 Easter eggs! Rather than tempt fate, when it comes to messy activities like dying eggs or eating pasta, we just remove clothing from the equation.
 We never used the little shrinky wrapper thingies that come with the eggs when I was a kid, but Aaron tried it, and they actually look rather nice.
 Noah had a lot of fun with the Easter eggs. And he cracked every last one.
 Aaron's egg.
 Happy Easter!
 Our Primary (plus three visitors) on Easter Sunday. A sweet lady from our branch made all these little bunny Easter baskets for the kids.
 Liza in her Easter dress.
Noah with his Easter basket booty. Because of the distance to church, we didn't go after the Easter eggs until Easter afternoon.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Motherhood is...

...finding anything to wipe a runny nose with
...sneaking into a child's bedroom at night to watch him sleep
...tying little bows in little shoelaces
...singing. A lot. All the time.
...trying (sometimes successfully) not to get upset at your children
...holding a car seat, a cell phone, the keys, a package, and a toddler's hand without letting go of any of them
...waking up in the middle of the night to feed the baby. Again.
...reading stories when there are dishes in the sink, laundry to fold, and bills to pay
...dancing to make your children laugh
...tickle wars
...making cookies and letting the kids lick the beaters

...fighting the battles over eating veggies, brushing teeth, taking baths, and holding hands when you cross the street
...counting to 10, both for the children's education and your own sanity
...knowing your body will never be the same again and accepting it
...hoping your sacrifices will be worth it
...seeing the potential in your little ones
...teaching a child how to pray to and trust in God
...watching his favorite TV show or movie for the 47th time
...being brave enough to discipline your children
...believing on the hard days that things really will get easier someday
...never getting sick of people stopping you in the grocery store to tell you that your children are adorable and wonderful
...watching them learn and grow
...cherishing the milestones and the everyday happenings
...hearing them say the darndest things
...laughing instead of crying when things get hard
...hearing them sing the songs you taught them
...loving the kids before they deserve it

Friday, February 11, 2011

Ooooooooogallala where the wind comes sweepin' down the plains!

Britt's comment on my last post made me realize that I haven't posted any updates on where we are or what we're doing. Here's a Reader's Digest version of the adventures of the Sisson family in the last little while.

Due to a big, fat legal mess that started before we got to Montana, Aaron and several others lose their jobs at the National Bison Range. Oh - just kidding! The Fish and Wildlife Service picked him up as an emergency 30-day hire to get the bison roundup accomplished. Oh, did we say 30 days? We meant 13. (Good thing Aaron and I were in Wyoming when we heard the news, on our way back from a stellar job interview.) Since we were jobless, we rerouted our trip to Utah so Noah and I could hang out with Nona and Poppa while Aaron flew to NY for a hunting trip with his family.


He didn't get the job in Wyoming, but the same guy that interviewed him for the job in Wyoming interviewed him for another one in Nebraska, which he got. So we went back to Montana, packed up all our stuff, gave birth to Eliza, and Aaron moved all our stuff to Nebraska and found us a place to live, while my saintly mother cleaned up my house and helped me and the kids get down to Utah for Thanksgiving. Aaron joined us, and after a lovely time recuperating and chillin' with the fam, we embarked on a new adventure in Ogallala, Nebraska.

For those of you who have never heard of Ogallala, it's in the armpit of Nebraska. No, really. Ya know where Colorado takes a chunk out of Nebraska, making it look like it has an armpit? That's where we live. I didn't think I could get any further from a Walmart, Target, major airport, and caffeine-free Diet Coke in Ronan, but I was wrong. Although Ogallala does have three craft stores, and the library is easily double the size of Ronan's.

Despite the distance from urban conveniences, Ogallala is a charming little town and we are loving it here. We have found the legends of Midwestern hospitality to be true; the people will give you the shirt of their backs, even if there isn't one underneath. It's about the perfect size of town for us - big enough for a craft store and a library, but small enough for hunting to be close. If I could install the Mission Mountain range nearby, reduce amount of wind, import all our friends from all the places we've lived in the last year and a half, and move the whole thing 30-45 minutes away from Highland, UT, I'd be in paradise.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Noah's Turn

The terrible twos are in full swing at our house, but looking at these pictures reminds me of all the adorableness that lurks inside my crazy little monkey. I could never give away a kid this cute :-)
"I'm so glad when Daddy comes home, glad as I can be! Put my arms around his neck and climb upon his knee."
Self-portrait by Noah. There are an aweful lot of these.
Chillin' with Poppa.
Thomas the Tank is Noah's best friend at Nona and Poppa's house. Choo-choo!
Pop quiz - Who does Noah look just like in this picture?
Noah reading stories to Eliza. I have no greater joy than to see my children playing sweetly together. Eliza really does listen to him when he "reads" her stories. He gets her to stop crying that way.
"Avast, maytees! There be pirates in these here parts!"
Noah and Eliza with Grandma Sisson during New Year's.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Zoo-bies

So Aaron made the most hilarious 15-second movie clips while testing his new trail camera today. I had to open my big, fat mouth and ask permission to stick them on the blog. He promptly deleted them. Stupid me. I am adding a rule #6 to the rules of life - It is easier to obtain forgiveness than permission. Sorry you all had to miss out on Aaron doing the funky chicken and pretending to be King Kong.

These pictures from our awesome trip to Omaha last weekend should be an adequate replacement for the deleted videos. Enjoy!

 At the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, there's a cool jungle exhibit that contains a suspended bridge with animals on either side climbing in the trees. Noah is showing Daddy the birdie.
 The tapir takin' five.
 The aquarium was my favorite part.


 Inside the shark tunnel.
 I love the look on this guy's face. So smug.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Where the Buffalo Roam

One of my favorite things about living in Montana has been Aaron's job at the National Bison Range. It's doubled the length of his resume and given Noah and I free access to a zoo of sorts. I can only think of one time I've gone there and not seen a deer, elk, bison, rattlesnake, or something else interesting.

Every year on the Bison Range, they round up all the bison and check them one by one for health, weight, disease, pregnancy, genetics, etc. Despite all the craziness with his job, Aaron got to help with this year's roundup, and Noah and I got to watch.

First, they use a jeep to round up the bison and drive them into a series of pens.
Then, two or three of them are let into "the tub." The employees use tasers and tin cans on sticks to get the bison into the chute system. (You can see the gate just to the right of the guy in the corrugated tin can thing.)

Each bison is put into the squeeze chute where the biologists will check the animal's health, give innoculations if needed, put in ear tags or microchips (the chips replaced branding), and/or conduct an ultrasound, if the animal is pregnant. Since the ultrasounds were done internally, it's a tossup on whether they were more unpleasant for the animal or the biologist.
This is Aaron's boss Amy checking a bison's health, and his co-worker Joel watching.
After the long, scary ordeal, the animals are sent back out to pasture for another year.
Daddy and Noah overlooking the calf chute.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Biz Whiz

Whodda thunk that one of the jobs I absolutely hated I now do for a hobby for free? I am the unofficial administrative assistant and marketing one-woman-show to my father-in-law for North East Well Water LLC. It helps that this is on a volunteer basis, so I don't feel as guilty when I make boo-boos because I'm not getting paid - yet. So far, I am in charge of the facebook page, rewriting the website content (please note that this is in the works - pu-leeze do not judge my writing by what is up on the site right now), investigating and employing cheap SEO marketing tactics, creating PowerPoint presentations, and acting as liaison between our company and professional organizations. Wow. That makes it sound like I actually do important stuff.

I have had a lot of fun researching things like SEO, marketing, and the like. I am beginning to think that I picked the wrong major and that I should just play Boggle as a side job.

Fun pictures to be posted as soon as I can find the blasted camera.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

For Now

I have been remiss on my blogging efforts - apologies to all. Our Internet reception is patchy up here since we don't have our antenna hooked up yet.

Things are gradually falling into place. We haven't gotten everything figured out yet, and we're still thinking about piracy in Tahiti, but grad school at BYU is looking more and more likely. Penn State has fallen out of the race, but SUNY ESF in Syracuse is back on the radar. BYU still has the clear lead with likely funding sources and two cooperative (though temporarily elusive) professors. Keep on praying for us!

As for the here and now, Aaron is working with his dad's business, North East Well Water. They basically take ultrasounds of the earth to find aquifers before people drill wells so they don't have to (literally) throw thousands of dollars down a dry hole. So if you know of anyone that needs a well east of the Mississippi, drop us a line. Aaron's just working on a per-job basis, so it's a little unpredictable. However, we have been working a little bit behind the scenes to get a little more marketing out on the Internet and things. I'm hoping to get some search engine optimization juju going on soon.

Aaron is also helping Eddie and Dad rebuild the sap house in anticipation of making maple syrup this year. Things are looking promising there. I am looking forward to a lot of pancakes in March...

As for me and myself, I have been attempting to keep Noah out of trouble, which seems to get harder as he gets older. He understands more, but his little hands want to explore more too. He gets into ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING! He absolutely loves it here, from the cats on the front porch to his cousins to the snow, he's in hog heaven. He knows the word "hot" very well from our wood stove; thankfully he learned it without having to burn himself. He has also learned "deer" (go figure) and "teeth" and "turtle." I also got him to say "cheese" today. He knows "Jesus" really well too, which melts my heart.

As of Friday, I'll be a working woman again. I'm going to be an office assistant at a search engine optimization company in Schenectady. I'm not thrilled about the job title, but I am thrilled about the prospect of learning that industry. I think it will do great things for my writing and for North East Well Water also. I'm also writing online articles on liposuction, which you can view here. Not my passion in life, but it's a start.

That about sums it up for us, for now. More interesting stories and pictures once we get reliable Internet service for our desktop.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

12 Days of NY Christmas

On the twelfth day of Christmas my in-laws gave to me...

12 dozen cookies (yes you read that right)
11 hyperactive nieces and nephews
10 degree weather (plus a hefty wind chill)
9 months here
8 gray hairs
7 days of house-sitting with an Italian mastiff
6 weeks of work for Aaron harvesting maple syrup
5 minutes of peace and quiet
4 stray cats
3 small miracles (found wallet, saving the house from burning down, and cheap fix for Dad's truck)
2 wood-burning stoves
1 real live Christmas tree

Ok, so the numbers don't really match. I actually have 13 hyperactive nieces and nephews, but that doesn't fit with the Christmas tradition too well.

The highlights to this week have definitely been the house almost burning down, the pot-smoking, ranting previous tenant in our house, the frickin' freezing weather, our four new cats, and shooting the two bulls on Sunday because they were too big and stupid to move back into their pasture. I guess the cold weather renders the electric fence useless. Go figure. It renders almost everything else useless, including most of my digits. For you New Yorkers reading my blog, the meat is for sale for $2 a pound.

This first week has definitely been a challenge, but I am learning to appreciate rural life and to expect the unexpected (like stupid bulls). The silver linings are my sweet in-laws, the gorgeous landscape, a white Christmas, and a pot-free house all to ourselves with a romantic "fireplace" and an infinitely large area for gardening. I hope to have tomatoes and beans coming out my ears by July.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Happy Halloween!

The results of the Morgan/Sisson family Halloween FHE Pumpkin Art Extravaganza.


On this pumpkin, Ben has simply yet skillfully represented the classic spirit of Halloween.


This pumpkin focuses on the dark, mysterious side of Halloween as exhibited by the dim candle that (unfortunately) obscures this photo of Grandma and Grandpa's otherwise stellar work.


Natalie and Gary illustrate the more horrific, gruesome side of Halloween in this work entitled "Cyclops." Note how the pumpkin goop hangs just so to look like veins in the eyeball.


And in this masterpiece, Aaron speaks out against the commercialism that has taken over and masked the true meaning of Halloween.



And in this one, the artist didn't have the tools to create the sculptural pinnacle that this Jack Skellington rendition could have been otherwise. Looks like Darth Vader will have to wait for next year.


Happy Halloween, from our house to yours.