One "Hammy" family

The family took a trip to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. It was beautiful, and none of us even got sick, that is until our stop at Burger King driving home from the San Francisco airport. Caleb had just enough of a bug to keep us from going to church the next day, couldn't be too careful.
It was an amazing vacation and we were especially blessed to have my brother Shane with us. He served as our photographer, translator, babysitter and a great tennis partner! As per Caleb "We get to play real Mexican tennis!" A trip to remember, lots of pic posted here but they don't even scratch the surface. Can I use this for our Christmas card?!

Two sweetie pies

Yummy! I can't get enough of these two.

Walmarat in Mexico

Couldn't escape my weekly Walmart trip, even in Playa Del Carmen. Had to get a picture of the cart right inside the condo. Call me easily amused.

Baby chicks

We watched a few baby chicks being born. Not something you see every day.

Swimming with the dolphins

We all swam with the dolphins, even Ethany. It was amazing. Chris, Elijah & Caleb got to do a foot push with them. They laid flat on the water and two dolphins swam up the pushed their noses onto their feet & pushed them on top of the water. Of course all 3 of my boys took a muscle man pose. I was just grateful Chris didn't have time to think of dropping his drawers. I'm not sure what the Mexican laws are for exhibitionism.

A short lunch, anyone?

I couldn't resist this shot, I can't explain it.

Another "hammy" family!

An amazing butterfly exhibit

Didn't see a single butterfly.

Black panther

As close as Elijah will ever get to a black panther.

Shaner bugs

I can't even believe how much Shane looks like Dad in this picture. I love it!!

Monkey's

These were wild monkeys that just came around when they saw people walking into the zoo, assuming they would be fed, and they were. I always wanted a pet monkey growing up. Of course all of the kids wanted one after this experience.

Hesitation

Eventually everyone held the croc's, except me. Hey- I was busy taking pictures. We have a ton!! It was really quite amazing, something you'll never be allowed to do in the states. . . too much liability ya know.

Elijah

Some pictures speak for themselves.

Enna & Boa

I'm always amazed at the lack of fear that my children have when it comes to wild animals. Definitely the Degn genes have dominated in this regard.

Snake & unwilling participant

In the words of my own son. . . "I am not comfortable with this!" My feeble attempt to not be outdone by my own children. Feeble being the operative word there.

HELP!

This was the meanest creature we encountered. We weren't allowed to touch this one.

Crocodile & Caleb

Yes that is a real crocodile! We all took a shot like this but this was the only one with my camera. So Shane- I need your pics bro. The lighting on this one is pretty bad. Did I mention that is a REAL crocodile!

Bambi

Turtle race

Drop 'em a grape and watch the sparks fly!! This was one of the funniest things I've seen. These turtles acted like they were going 50 mph. . . they just weren't. Very entertaining.

Ceramics

Bob & Shane painting ceramics. Bob actually gave up scuba-diving for this!! Strange child.

Chichen Itza

Learning how the Mayan's used this one structure to tell time & date. That is one big Rolex!

Chichen Itza

Had Caleb been born in Mayan times he would have been thrust into this well as a child. Apparently any child with two cowlick's is considered the necessary sacrifice for the rain Gods. Suddenly his own parents don't seem so bad.
p.s. this picture doesn't do the well justice. It was HUGE! When they first dredged it up they uprooted the bodies of over 3700 children. I don't imagine they still had their cowlick's!

Chichen Itza

We came here about 17 years ago, BC (before children). Chris & Matt got yelled at by the tour guide for trying to get a hackey sack into one of those hoops. "Senior! These ruins are centuries old, show some respect!" I was relieved to see that area is now gated off. Don't get me wrong- he still lead his children into the fields of the "off limits". He just waited until the tour guide had received his tip & was nowhere to be seen. . . or to see.

Chitchen Itza

The whole gang.

Heather Bailey - WAY COOL!

Like we never left

It's amazing how you can pick up just where you left. Julie now lives in Phoenix so we got to see her and I spent the weekend being inspired with/by Melissa. Chris calls her my "expensive" friend. She has balance, knows how to keep a hobby, a hobby. I however, tend to become obsessed with certain "hobbies" that she clues me into. Hence- the "expensive" part. She knows it's ok to make a purse or two. But I can't stop there, everyone I know needs a purse and then I must buy fabric for 50 or so other purses, in the case that I ever find myself with nothing to do. Same for skirts, scrapbooking "stuff" and oh yes, quilts. Can't blame Melissa for that one, quilting obsession I formed all on my own . . . sort of. Like I always say- "it's cheeper than therapy". That one isn't holding anymore though, need a new one. How about "Will work for fabric!"

Ethany's masterpiece

Ethany was so excited that I got to meet the lady that designed her favorite fabric that she herself decided to start designing. She put a pearl on these two butterflies and said "Take a picture and we'll send it to Heather Bailey." How many 5 year old's know who Heather Bailey even is? Yes, I did tell Heather- posted it on her blog today. I'm sure we'll hear from her agent soon. :)

Creative messes

Creating is messy. After spending the weekend being creative of course I came home and immediately wanted to create. Which means no dinner on the kitchen table for at least 3 days. I really need a bigger craft room.

My little Enna Benna starts kindergarten next week. No, I'm not going to cry! I'm going to SHOWER!. . . ALONE! Btw- she's sporting the new "trash ties" I got from Heather Bailey. Who's Heather Bailey? Read on,

Heather Bailey, yes THE Heather Bailey

So you may not know her name but you've probably seen her stuff. Namely those unsuspecting recipients of my recent skirt sewing binge. You know me, all or nothing. Anyway, I attended "Creative Escape" this past weekend, in Phoenix, and Heather Bailey, along with a few other really cool people, ( Heidi Swapp, Tim Holtz- to name a few) was there. She taught an amazing class and I coveted the lamp she displayed as well. I won the raffle in her class and got some of her "trash ties" (these really cool hair ties- picture to follow) and a pattern that I've had my eye on for a while. So, huge honor for me- cute pics for you to see. And no, I would never dare invite her to my blog after witnessing her level of creativity. This chic sneezes and flowers appear on the kleenex! "You may think it's flowers. . . but it'snot!" I can't even make my Mindi & co. blog look good enough to give out the address- pretty takes time people!!

What do you say to an Apostle?

Our family had a rare and sweet opportunity to meet an apostle. This particular Apostle also happened to be Chris' mission President, a few years back. He was traveling with Elder Bidnar so didn't have time to come to our home but instead arranged for a meeting with us in the Stake President's office after our stake conference, which he spoke at. What are the chances? Chris was so excited to hear about his family, and where they are now. We realized that when he was with Chris in France, he and his wife were almost our exact same age, and had kids right around our kids' ages. The same "phase" of life, so to speak. I was so impressed as he took the time to ask each child of their interests and then gave each of them a little advice. He seemed to know just the thing so say to each of them. The next few posts are of that meeting. If you know my kids, you know it won't be boring! However, viewer warning, for those of you with weak constitutions towards all things spiritual or "mormonesque" just skip down to "Bob's birthday". For the rest of you, prepare to be embarrassed for me, that is, if I were still able to be embarassed. :)

Dear friends, reunited

I've heard about this man for years. Chris and Elder Andersen were very close in France. I was amazed at personable he was, and the details he remembered about Chris. He recalled the name of the town Chris was in when they first met. He said that Chris spoke near perfect French and out of his 500 or so missionaries Chris had the only birthday he could remember, (it's on Christmas). He remembered Chris' amazing talent on the piano & Chris told how cool it was to play in the mission home (where he spent way too much time) because it had marble floors and the whole house echoed. He confessed to waking their baby on occasion. Elder Andersen told the kids, "Your father had so much natural talent and ability, things came very easy for him, so much so that I always said 'Chris has to marry an amazing woman'." Just then Caleb piped up, in my defense- "SHE SINGS!" I guess the boys felt like their Papa was getting too much credit so they chimed in with a few tid-bits of information that Chris has shared with them over the years, against MY pleadings to avoid such topics. Elijah started with "He toilet papered 15 houses when he was a kid!" Caleb added "He flipped a B.A. to some cars and one of them wa his dad!" From the mouths of Babes.
The advice he gave to Chris was "forget yourself", put your family first.

The teenager

Bob was disapointed to hear, yet again, that it would be a good idea to ". . .watch your mother and listen to her counsel". What a smart guy. She was asked to give a talk about the interview in church a couple weeks later. She confessed that she's been given such advice many times. Now that it came from an Apostle she figured there must be something to it. However, this should in no way be considered a "white flag". Don't worry Bob, I know better. BTW- he refused to call her "Bob". :)

Elijah- "Won't you be dead by then?"

When Elder Andersen asked Elijah what his interests and talents were he replied "I love nature, and I play video games". Nice huh- he also plays the guitar, piano and is an amazing artist but the video games will embarrass the parents the most so he went with that. :) Although, Neil did say that his son (or son-in-law) was one of the game designers at EA games so I guess he didn't mind. Later, we wrote letters to thank him for visiting with us. Elijah's said this; "Dear Mr. Ansersen, thank you for meeting with us. I have been working on my lizard catching skills. I hope that one day you can catch a lizard too. Oh and, I have a new talent, it's being healthy." Elijah hasn't gone to bed this summer without doing his push-ups first.
Elder Andersen said several times "We're going to be friends forever". He said he wants to know when the kids graduate, get married, get their mission call etc. Elijah called him on it- "Won't you be dead by then?" He replied "No, I'm going to be around a while, do you know that MY mission President is still alive?" Caleb couldn't resist. . . "Was HE in the book of mormon?" Refer to Caleb's blog entry for further understanding. . .

Caleb

Caleb's cute comment happened before the meeting took place. I was telling the kids that we were going to have the chance to meet an apostle. Caleb got very excited and asked "Is he one of the three that chose to live forever?" Later he wrote in his journal exactly this, "the eposole asked for our family persinly. But just 10 minets or longer. This might be the only time that I could see him. We will be seeing him after church! the eposle that we will meet might become the profit, I think that he's about 50 or 40. Wate I almost forgot, his name is Elder Neil L. Andersen."
Caleb did the sweetest thing. Our time was up and I knew Elder Andersen hadn't eaten in hours and had a plane to catch. He asked if he could leave our family with a prayer. As he stood, we all bowed our heads and Caleb quietly asked "Could you pray for our Uncle Ted?" He paused, sat back down, put his hand on Caleb's knee and said "Tell me about your Uncle Ted". Caleb informed him that "He's the doctor that delivered me and now he has a really bad disease." He stayed for a minute longer as we told him about my Uncle Ted who has Lou Gehrigs disease. It was such a sweet, tender moment.

Enna's contribution. . .

"I talk in my sleep ALL THE TIME", was just one of the many interjections Ethany felt compelled to share when she thought she wasn't getting enough attention. When he finally did speak to just her, she dazzled him with her nose picking skills, particularly the new flicking method she has perfected that occurs at the end of a successful catch. His advice to her was to look to her older sister as an example. When it came time to pray he reminded her "Now Ethany, you're going to have to be quiet for this." His last words as we left the room, concerning her, were "Boy, that Ethany is a character."

Birthday Bob

Bob had her 15th birthday on June 13th. We took the kids to the "octanefest" in Fallon. No it was not Bob's choice to spent the evening at a white trash convention for her birthday, and she let us know it, but that is how things go when you're not an only child. Don't worry, she has more than made up for it. Her birthday dinner was last night and her friends are coming over Friday to party, she knows how to milk it. We gave her some money in a card last night and I just had to share the little ditty her dad jotted down before giving it to her. It took about 5 minutes I think. Please keep in mind, the man hasn't written a "non-sarcastic" piece of literature since our dating days. I don't expect that to change anytime soon, I love it:

My dearest Daughter-
To Gaze upon your lovely angelic face is to contemplate the eternities.
To wander throught the wonderous maze of your bedroom floor is to unravel the complexities of beauty.
To listen to your soothing voice take upon you the nane of your eyeliner is to fathom devotion.
To hear the enchanting music of your soul thump the floorboards in the ill-formed phrasing & dubious grammar is to marvel at your empathy for things lowly.
To behold you rise like noonday sun (or, let's say 12:30) is to bask in radiance, provided the door is unlocked.
And to donate to your birthday cause this token of our affection is to respectfully forbid any lewd I-tunes, clunky emo footwear, random hair-dye colors, makeup, or bus fare.
We love you- Papa & "Mindi" ( she goes by "Mama")

Yes, tons of inside refrences there. But if you have a teenager I'm sure you can relate to at least a couple. The card got a smile/almost giggle. We consider it a success. Her quote of the week "I swear on my eye-liner!" We love our Bobbi-lou.

Bobbi-Lou. There you are!

I got a glimpse of my "happy" Bob I used to know, on the trip. Still too cool to put an arm around her mom for the camera, but it was nice to enjoy her sweet disposition, even if only for a week. We decided we need to get her "away from it all" more often. Juggling school, napping, texting, I-pod navigation and avoidance of homework & cleaning can be such a strain on teens theese days. But alas, we're home now and life has normalized. Farewell joy. . . we barely knew thee!

The "Shane" of my exhistence.

Everyone needs a "Shane" in their life. He's the Uncle that the kids always have fun with and the adults can rely on to enforce the rules. Also, he's an amazing photographer so your trip will be well documented if he comes along. Shaner- the kids can't wait to see the under-water video you got! He flies for free so I just shoot him a text whenever we're planning a trip and if he's available he tags along. I love him. . . oh, that guy standing next to him is all right too, ;) but that goes without saying. Love you, lover.

Spring Break '09 - "Pepple Beach"

Chris & I were both amazed this trip at how much fun a family vacation can be once your kids are "old enough". We kept knockin' on wood. . . the teenager was pleasant, the boys were getting along and the munchkin was sweet, relatively speaking of course.

C-Dude "Mom, check out my 6-pack. . . on my back!!"

His favorite color is "golden", his favorite song is"City" by Hollywood Undead, his favorite food is steak & he thinks every day should end with a bowl of cereal, especially after bed-time. When he grows up he wants to be a "radiologist that plays the piano really good & has big muscles" hmm, wonder where that came from? He hates how his hair turns white in the Summer, & he like it when Bob straightens it. His football coaches call him "Sunshine" or "Brad Pitt" & he has no idea why. He's been hounding me for a pair of "skinny jeans" and blue high-top Converse shoes for two months. We both know it won't end until he has them for his own. He knows how to play his mother, the smile gets me every time. He also knows how to agitate the snot out of me, and can hold a grudge for hours. Caleb is so much like his dad it scares me, except for the grudge part. . . that's on me. My kids are sooo mine.

Easter 2009

Easter morning. It was a quick one. Looked for eggs, put on Easter outfits, one hour of church then piled into the car for our Spring Break extravaganza!! More to come . . .

Forgetting Enna

I pick up Bob from school every day around 2:30. Ethany comes with me, sometimes she's happy to do so and other times it's a bit of a chore to get her in the car. After what happened this week, I don't think I'll ever again have to ask twice again. The school is about 7 minutes away. I told Ethany 'it's time to go, let's get in the car'. I thought I heard the garage door shut so I followed her out, got in the car, opened the garage door, told her to buckle up and I was off. I got to the school & realized I hadn't been yelled at for anything. Nothing, I hadn't started a movie, I was listening to "talking" on the radio, and nobody yelled "GOOO" when I came to the red light. Strange. I looked back in Ethany's car-seat and noticed it was empty. "Ethany?" Sometimes she hides in the back to make me think I left her. Just then Bob got in the car and I told her to check the back. No Ethany. I bolted home, somehow managing to lag behind every slow driver in my neighborhood!! When I got to the driveway, there she was. Standing next to the mailbox, sobbing. I opened the door, picked her up and wanted to cry myself. I said I'm sorry and she replied, "I went to get my shoes and when I came to the garage you were already gone. Today you didn't know things. Even my nose is crying!" Once again, there goes my mother-of-the-year award.
I was feeling pretty sorry for myself until I texted my sister Marli and she told me that she had forgotten SOMEONE ELSE'S KID at school that day, AND DIDN'T REMEMBER UNTIL THE KID'S MOM SHOWED UP AT HER HOUSE THAT NIGHT TO ASK "WHY?"!! She won this round, but I'll be back.

FACEBOOK IS SO MUCH EASIER!!

Ok, so someone visits my blog and I try to add them to friends or family list and a message comes up saying that it "could not detect a feed for this URL", which I know is a lie because I'M CURRENTLY ON THAT FEED! Am I stupid? GRRRR. Hey, this font is different.

And that JUST happened!

Elijah asked if he could stop taking guitar lessons now that he knows what he wants to be when he grows up. "Stand-up comedians don't need to play the guitar". I introduced him to Flight of the Concords, now he's very serious about guitar. Today he came home and said "Mom, I have an act for my 'career', don't get mad, I don't like Dora but remember it's for my 'career'". Then he starts singing to the tune of 'I'm the map'. . ."Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap. . . (sees my face) I can see you're not entertained, I'll keep working on it." These types of conversations with Elijah occur on a regular basis.

8 reasons for starting this blog

Yes, I finally took the advice of many of my long distance friends & family (who currently outnumber the local ones) and decided to join the ranks of respectable bloggers. Those of you who know me well know that I use the term respectable rather loosely :)

In keeping up with this blog I hope to accomplish the following:
1. Keeping up with this blog.
2. Help friends & family, particularly those loved & missed, have a better understand of
Degn-anigans.
3. Tastefully limit the understanding of Degn-anigans.
4. Get my husband to write occasionally so all my "book smart" friends might believe I have amazing wit and intelect.
5. Write often myself so that my "social smart" friends will understand what's being said.
6. Feel less guilty for the slacker attitude I've adopted recently towards scrapbooking. I even quit collecting the supplies -- great for the bank account (Chris adds), not so great for family history...now if only I could print this blog and count it as a journal entry.
7. My shoulders need a longer work-out. (Refer to picture on right)
8. I had a blank spot in my to do list. HA!

Fixed wagone & other Degn-anigans!

"Wagon fixing" time is a favorite on our house. It can mean anything from a good foot slappin' . . . hard, medium or soft are the given choices but somehow all slaps wind up harder than expected. . . to a nice book readin' complete with a loud slamming of said book followed by a resounding choral "THE END!"

Admit it, there aren't many people that can pull off this look. Aub wanted the most unusual pair in the store, I found these & even she had to admit they were perfect. She also got contacts, I was demonstrating how easy they were to take out and poked my eye so bad it was red for a week. Her opthamologist suggested I refrain from any further demonstrations.

"Mama knows things... usually"

Our family loves to go to the movies. We're usually running a little late so the current method is for Chris to drop of me & boys off at the door to get tickets, while he parks the car with Ethany and Aubrielle stays at home so that she can enjoy her unlimited texting & sleeping within the walls of her own bedroom, far from annoying siblings and embarrassing parents. Trust me, it's just easier this way. So anyway, this particular day Chris had asked if I would get the boys seated and come back out with their tickets, Oh and would I please get them some popcorn & drinks. Sure, I hurried the boys in the theatre, noticed that previews had already started and the theatre seemed quite bare for the premier of Madagascar 2 on a Saturday afternoon, oh well, I had a job to do. I tell the boys "Sit here and don't get up!" I notice a few dirty looks as I leave. "What!? I'm coming back!!" I thought to myself, but clearly didn't spend enough time "thinking" to myself otherwise I would have seen the obvious.
Chris & Ethany meet me as I'm paying for the drinks, which took a good 7 to 10 minutes. I say that because it's important. We walk toward the theatre and I notice the theatre we are assigned to looks suspiciously different than the one I put the boys in. It's all becoming clear. Yes, I forced my boys to watch about 15 minutes of "WANTED". I ran into the theatre and they were both wide eyed (Elijah more so than Caleb- naturally) & on the edge of their seat, they saw me jumped up & yelled "You put us in a rated R movie!. . . They said the F-word a LOT. . .Why did you do that?. . . This is for adults only!... It seems like a parent shouldn't do that." I'll let you figure out which boy said what, not hard if you know them. So there you have it, and now whenever I give any advice followed by the usualy warning "Mama knows things" Elijah will add, "Uhh, not always."

Peer Pressure

So I've always prided myself in not giving into peer pressure. Today I lose that argument with my 14 year old daughter, I am blogging for one reason. . . all my friends are doing it. I take that back, a couple of other reasons; my house is clean, and Caleb barfed last night so I have to stay home with him instead of going to the gym. If I ever miss a work-out to blog you'll know I've really lost it. I've convinced myself for months that I don't have time and what could I possibly write, post or convey in a blog that anyone would truly be interested in. So, there you have it. Uhh, now what?