An Italian Christmas?

More than a month since either of us last posted anything... seriously pathetic. Not too much has been happening around the Moon house. Work, eat and sleep has been the name of the game for the last couple of weeks. Busy, busy.

The real reason for this post, though, is to share this awesome tune I came across this season. Takes me back to the old mission days of walking around the "hills of Italy." Enjoy!

Dominic the Donkey

Scrabblicous

Considering the fact that I'm an editor, I like to fancy myself a wordsmith of sorts. But, when it comes to playing Scrabble, Michelle usually beats the pants off me. So when I finally won the other night, I had to at least share it with the world.

I guess there is an element of luck to the game, and I just happened to get really lucky this time: How could I go wrong with both blank pieces and both 10-point pieces (the Q and the Z) in my hands.

Quota?
Bosom?
Azure?
It was a beautiful game.

And the best part is Michelle is a much better loser than I am... with my sulking and complaining and carrying on. I sure love her.

A Spooktacular Season

First of all, I have to say I think the term "Spooktacular" is way over used. Maybe its just me, but it seemed to be the "it" word this year.

In any case, Michelle and I had fun this year. We ran out of candy for the trick-or-treaters and ended up giving out some old candy we had in a jar. So to the last couple of kids that ended up with last year's candy canes: Sorry. You'll have to come by earlier next year.

With our garden producing enough pumpkins to feed an army, we ended up having a lot of them to carve/decorate. Here is some of our best work. Note the siamese triplet pumpkin. It was one of the first pumkins we saw growing. We were pretty excited when we figured out what to carve on that one.

We'd also like you to meet Jack, the pumpkinman we constructed just before any trick-or-treaters showed up. Who knew a drill and old scarf could create something so friendly?

Michelle insisted that I post this picture too. I went a little crazy with the drill:

Let's Draw Mrs. Moon

One of the first weeks at school this year was "Hello Week." There were a lot of activities to get the students excited about school (at least, that's what we tried to do - middle school kids don't really get excited about school) One of the days was called "Let's Draw Our Teachers Day." Most of them were done in pencil so they are a little hard to see, but here are a few of my favorite drawings:

I love these two because you would never guess that they were done by a ninth graders. At least they thought I looked happy.

This one is a little better, but I hope I don't really have such a manly figure.

You can never go wrong with a giant head picture.





I can't decide if this one makes me look really excited, or really crazy.

This one is actually pretty good, but I hope I don't really have banana lips.

I had all of the pictures that were drawn of my hanging up in my classroom, and whenever the other students saw this one they would say, "Rude!" I think they must have thought the large nose was offensive. I did have one student who couldn't stop laughing when he looked at it, so I had to take it down. I think I side with him. I think it's funny.

If I was a superhero, apparently this is what I would look like.

This is my very favorite one. I never knew the cartoon version of me was so sexy!

A Bounteous Harvest

It has clearly taken too long for us to post this, but we thought later is certainly better than never. It turns out "Summer Garden '07: The First Attempt" didn't disappoint. For our very first time growing a garden, we were really happy with the results. Thanks to some training from our bishop, our grandpas and a couple of trusted books, we really had a great harvest. Actually there was way more than we could ever eat/use. The beans and tomotoes kept coming, as did the spaghetti squash, pumpkins and one giant cucumber. Even this far into October we are still picking tomatoes and pumpkins. We also uprooted some great carrots and onions. Michelle has had to become very clever in the meals she has prepared, all of which were delicious. And with tomato sauce (made with homegrown tomatoes and basil (and store bought garlic)) in the freezer, we'll be enjoying the harvest well into the winter.

Note to self: Four pumpkin plants are two too many.

Here's a picture from mid-September:






Aw... Poor Frankencarrot:

Why I Love My Job

The first day of class I have my Foods students fill out a questionnaire to get to know them better. One of the questions says, "Do you have any food allergies or dietary needs that would apply to this class?" One girl wrote, "I don't have any food allergies that I am aware of, but if you see me having one, please let me know." Teenagers are hilarious.

A Pup Named Lucy

A post or two ago Michelle introduced you to our dog, Lucy. Really, she is about the coolest dog ever. We both had dogs growing up and loved them. (Admitedly, Michelle took much better care of her childhood pet than I did.) But we knew we would eventually get a dog pretty soon in our marriage. We are both animal people.

So we got Lucy last year when she was just six weeks old, and she is the perfect dog for us. She is soft, good with the neighbor kids and other dogs, really smart, obedient and has just the right amount of energy. Luckily we have a good-sized backyard where she can roam.

Anyway, here she is doing one of my favorite tricks. One of many she has learned really quickly. We're still trying to get her to jump through a hoop.

(p.s. For all of you who are worried or wondering... Lucy is our dog. Not our child. Even though we love her, we still treat her like she is a pet, not our offspring. We plan to have a whole litter of our own children soon enough.)

iWantThat

There are very few things in the world that I would say that I covet. Although when it comes to Apple products, I just can't control myself.

Just take a look at this thing...

The new iMac is simply awesome!

Why would anyone want to ever buy the computer on the right? More importantly, why are other computer companies still producing computers like the one on the right? The next time I have an extra thousand bucks to blow, this is where it will go. Maybe I should just start the official help-the-Moons-stop-coveting fund. Who wants to make the first contribution to our salvation?

A Few of My Favorite Things...

I never thought that Jake and Lucy looked like each other until I saw this picture. I think it is hilarious! If only Lucy wore glasses...

How Does Our Garden Grow...

So about two months have passed since we first placed a few seeds in the grow boxes we made.

And look at that garden grow...

So far, we have harvested about 10 heads of lettuce and some overgrown cilantro and spinach. The problem with this whole gardening thing is that once the stuff has grown, we aren't exactly sure when to pick it. I'm sure it will be pretty clear with the tomatoes and pumpkins though.

The pumpkins are in the middle box along with some pole beans and cantaloupe. Basically, though, the vines of the pumpkins are trying to take over all three boxes. We're constantly guiding them away from the other plants.

The squash below are also doing pretty well. We have about a dozen already good-sized gourds. This one is about the size of a football.

We also have a few tomatoes, a bunch of beans, some basil, a watermelon, carrots, and onions that are showing promise. The peppers, cantaloupe and cucumbers all look good, but none have any fruit forming yet.

One more picture for good measure...

Feeding an Army

This spring we were feeling really ambitious and decided to put a garden in our house. We had planned on doing it eventually, but a trip to Grandpa Wheatley's inspired us to kick it up a notch. It took a few weeks of back breaking labor -- cutting sod, moving sod, leveling ground, rerouting sprinklers, laying weed barrier, building boxes, staining boxes, mixing soil, hauling wheelbarrows full of dirt, laying bark and planting seeds -- but eventually we got it done. Luckily, we are surrounded by good neighbors with strong backs and willing hearts. They were a big help.

Here are a couple of pictures of it before the bark was laid. I don't think we even had seeds planted yet.

Eventually we had the seeds planted and soil wet. It was time to just watch it grow, which is exactly what it has done. So far, the only thing ready to be harvested has been the lettuce, but it was delicious. I'll post updated photos ASAP. (Pumpkins need a lot of room, by the way...who knew?)

Jumping on the Blogwagon

Since just about everybody else we know has started posting their innermost thoughts and feelings for the world to see, we decided it was about time we did the same. Check back for regular updates of the exciting and mundane, the bold and beautiful, the pictures and videos, the peanut butter and homemade jelly. (Which is delicioius by the way. We have a dozen jars of it in our freezer.)

Note: There are two authors of this blog. Try not to let it confuse you.