Blame it on Facebook

All I have to say about our non-blogging is, blame it on Facebook! It's so easy to say so little and yet feel like you are still keeping in touch. If you'll forgive us for defecting to the dark side, we'll try and still put pictures and other stuff here a little more regularly.

We do love seeing that many of you are keeping us up to date with what's going on with your lives. Just think of us as blog parasites-- enjoying your posts but rarely giving anything in return. We shall do better...at least for today.

LarkinFest (January) - We had such a great time when Nic and Angie & Co. came to stay with us during the New Year's week. We had a blast!

Here is Nic and his little crabby friend. We caught two octopus and a starfish as well.

Here's the betrothed youngsters... You know it's true Nic, put the gun down.

OK, well next we uh... jumped on Dad.


Well, I better post this and promise to update it again soon!

This entry brought to you by The Superior Court of Ventura County

Greetings fellow citizens. I guess the only time I'll have to update our blog in the foreseeable future is right now. I'm sitting in a stuffy room with 200 other prospective jurors, waiting for my name to not be called so I can get back to my laptop. It seems the government can afford WiFi, so I'll give a quick rundown of what we've been up to.

December- We had family birthdays, stake Christmas concerts, Daniel's school play (He was an elf), my birthday, our wedding anniversary, Christmas, and Larkinfest 2008. Larkinfest was awesome, and I shall write more in a separate post, as soon as I download the photos.

For my birthday, I wanted to be as nerdy as I could be. So, after an awesome breakfast in bed (prepared by little Mackaylings) Kim and the kids took me to the Getty Villa to look at old Greek and Roman stuff. It rained, but it was still very beautiful. Kim even mentioned how grateful she was for my perfect photographic censorship of Heracles.

There was a live Medusa exhibit as well. If I'm not turned to stone when Kim sees this, I certainly will get something thrown at me.

I was able to get some good shots of the kids as well.

Then....then next day was Christmas! Jonathan was too excited to wait and started opening presents under the tree.

On the 26th, we drove up to Lake Arrowhead and had a family reunion with all of the Mackay clan. 14 grandkids + 4 feet of snow= fun! (Note: Putting snow chains in below freezing temperatures does not= fun)

Kaitlyn and Malia put on Grandma's curlers, but then Kaitlyn got too shy to take a picture of the momentous affair. Too bad, it was awesome.

That's all for now. See you next post! Happy New Year!

Oh yeah, we have a blog, don't we?

Wow, we've been busy. Seminary has turned our wake/sleep schedule upside down, and it seems that blogging took a backseat. What happened to 2008? Yikes. Let's see, since we last wrote, we started school again, went Trick-or-Treating, played with family and friends, and took a fun Thanksgiving trip to Utah. Enjoy the pics, and we'll write again soon!

Here's a lovely number Kaitlyn came up with on her own. 4 swimsuits over a pair of capris.



Here's Jonathan with Great Grandpa Smith.

All of the kids with Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Smith.

We stayed at Grandma and Grandpa Wilde's new house in Riverton. We has so much fun!

Of course Daniel wanted to drive through Radiator Springs on the way home from Utah, so we stoped in Barstow so he could see the Route 66 sign and some ugly old buildings.


And of course, Jonathan wanted to help drive the car on the way home.

Protect Marriage-- Vote Yes on California Proposition 8

Hi there! I try to make these blog entries light, but there is an important issue I need to post here. For the most part I'm preaching to the choir, but I want to make sure that this message gets to everyone that I know.

On November 4, voters in California and Arizona will have the opportunity to vote on whether or not marriage should be defined as between a man and a woman. The proposed amendments takes no rights away from same-sex couples in California--it defines marriage as between one man and one woman. A friend of mine wrote his opinion regarding why he is supporting this issue. He is much more eloquent than I, so I will defer to his message (I have paraphrased a little):

"Our society has drifted toward a moral vacuum. It seems that each person gets to define their own version of right or wrong. I believe there are certain truths that are universal. The building block of society is the family. Therefore, I am taking the actions I believe are appropriate to defend the family.

In Massachusetts, one of the most honored and effective adoption agencies in that state (run by the Catholic Church) was ordered to go against its own teachings and place children with same-sex couples. Because of their refusal to do this, they lost their license. That's just ridiculous. If this amendment fails, churches that oppose same-sex marriage, or who refuse to let their buildings be used for same-sex services may face lengthy litigation challenging their tax-exempt status. Now you may not agree with our doctrine, but you can't deny that the LDS church does an amazing amount of good in its humanitarian efforts. Can you imagine what a drain it would be on church finances if it lost it's tax exempt status, and was unable to use its facilities to perform marriages?"

My friends, please use your sacred privilege to vote wisely. I love this great state, and our wonderful nation as well. It is a privilege to be here, and an honor to be able to have a voice in the government. Go out and vote! If you don't live in CA or AZ, go out and pray!

The Force Unleashed, and so is the world's scariest hornet!

I'm a Jedi. What can I say? When I went to Target to pick up an extra Wii controller, I should have been more sensitive to the disturbances in the Force. OK, I was running errands for Kim also, it wasn't just a Wii trip. Anyway, I picked up the extra controller, a second Nunchuk, and then I began to peruse the aisle for a "cheap" game. (Mind you, I got the Wii on Friday, amidst pledges to Kim that I was going to buy discount games or wait until the expensive ones had dropped in price. ) I had a few "family friendly" titles in hand when, much to my surprise, a giant cardboard sales rack tower appeared out of nowhere! It was a beauty. It was Stormtrooper white, and on each shelf, had many sparkling copies of the long-awaited and much anticipated "Force Unleashed" Star Wars game. I reached my hand out for a copy, and I felt the Force tell me that Kim (or my Emperor, for you friends of the Force) would be most displeased if I came home with a $50 Jedi game. I was almost overcome by this thought until I saw on the display, that the game controller acted as a lightsaber. Yes, you got it right, you chop chop through the air, and your Jedi goes chop chop with his lightsaber. I couldn't take it anymore. I bought the game, walked to the car, and then realized that I forgot to pick up the stuff Kim had asked me to get from Target in the first place. I ran back only to find that Target was all out of what I had been sent to find for Kim. I shall end the story there. Needless to say, I came home with Jedi essentials, but nothing for the Emperor. Bad Evan Jedi. Bad.

Ok, this entry is just going to get weirder. Check this out. Yuck. This is not my hand--this is a Google image, but I have a little story for you about this insect anyways. We have an apple tree that we haven't picked any of the fruit from--since June. Since we don't pick the apples, they fall to the ground. Since we've been on vacation a lot, we haven't cleaned up the apples. Since we've let the apple mess grow, all sorts of insects come into our yard.

Daniel and I saw this thing (we thought it was a really big beetle) crawling near the apple tree. I knew my brother Craig had a bug collection, so I caught it and called him to ask him to come and get it. Upon closer inspection I realized it was some kind of wasp. I thought I was mistaken though, because who ever heard of a wasp the size of your hand? Well, he saw it, freaked out like the rest of us, and he left to "assimilate" it into his collection.

He let us know later that it was a Tarantula Hawk. Apparently aside from rotten apples, these fatties like to attack tarantulas and paralyze them. Once the spider is dazed, the wasp lays its eggs in the live Tarantula, and I don't need to tell you the rest. Alien: Resurrection on a micro scale.

Is there a bright spot in this story? Yes. At Seminary this morning, we drew parallels between the Tarantula Hawk's hunting tactics and the kinds of temptations the kids face. It actually ended up being a great discussion. Go figure. Wasps are no match for a mighty Jedi!

Wow!, Lucky Charms, Anna melting my heart, and laughing poop

Wow. All I can say is wow. BYU beat the snot out of UCLA. I started out listening to the game online and then I had to run to my brothers house to see it in person. Oh, did I mention he's UCLA alumn? Ah, to watch the carnage and ruin...It was warm and fuzzy, but since it was just me and him, I had to restrain my emotions and respect the fact that his team was being forced to kiss its own butt. I was sympathetic on the outside, but inside, I was writhing with maniacal laughter. I must say, given the circumstances, he was incredibly gracious and the epitome of a good sport. The only thing that topped that hoopla this week were these three events:

1. I poured Daniel a bowl of Lucky Charms and he said, "Hey Dad, this cereal looks like Chinese writing!"

2. Anna: I want to wear this dress (the one she got in Hawaii) when I get married.
Kim: Anna, when you get married, you'll wear a white dress.
Anna: When I get married I want to wear a white dress, a necklace and flowers for me to hold.
Kim: Where are you going to get married?
Anna: The temple.
Kim: Anna, who are you going to marry?
Anna: Daddy.

3. Kim walked upstairs to find Kaitlyn in Jonathan's bassinet, sitting on his tummy. They were both laughing hysterically. Kim was not laughing hysterically because Kaitlyn had lost a little something from her messy diaper on Jonathan.

That's all the news that's fit to print!

Aloha, Mahalo, and Humuhumunukunukuapuaa

Alooooooooooooooooooooooha! Hi there! We just had an amazing time in Hawaii (Oahu). We don't want to rub it in too much, so I'll try to make it sound a little less amazing that it actually was. Scratch that--you'll just have to be strong and will yourself through this one.

We arrived in Honolulu on the 21st, found our car, picked up Kim's Mom, and headed for the North Shore. You should have seen the look on everybody's face when they saw the Family Circus get on and off of the plane. With a little Dramamine and fun preplanned activities, the flight was pleasantly uneventful.

Actually, first and foremost, I must shout out a HUGE thanks to Jen and Russ for letting us stay with them at their apartment on BYU-Hawaii campus. We had a great time together, and we are so excited that they get to stay until December!

Since Kim (the master planner of all planners) had prepared an awesome "to do" list, we racked up 700 miles on our rental car and visited just about every nook and cranny of Oahu. We did Hanauma Bay, Waimea, Lanikai, Ko'Olina (Thanks Brent for the hot tips!), Hukilau, Melekahana, Temple Beach, Shark's Cove, The PCC, Dole Plantation, Aloha Swap Meet, yaddah yaddah-- the list goes on!

Don't you love pineapples? We do. Apparently we're pinapple nerds. I had to take a picture of this exotic purple and red pinapple from somewhere in Asia...

Oh, by the way, we did an awesome hike to Manoa Falls. It was about as rainforesty as it gets. There was a light sprinkle during the hike, and we all thought, "oh, how nice, isn't that refreshing?" Those thoughts subsided when the clouds decided to send their holy wrath upon us and soak us in a torrential downpour that lasted for longer than I care to remember. Mud mud mud. All that being said, it was probably the best hike ever!

We had such a wonderful time with our family and we are so grateful we were able to pull this one off.

Note: Kim pulls another one off. When we got to the airport on the 31st, Kim told the attendant we would volunteer to be bounced if the flight was full. You guessed it, we flew out 6 hours later with travel vouchers galore! Carribean next year, anyone?

We love you all! Special thanks to Nihi for all the sweet hookups! I'm going to let another 5 years pass by before I stick my arm in the evil crab's lair again.

Mucho Aloha!