I have decided that I LOVE snow.  Or, more accurately, I love seasons.  It is so awesome.  Here's Abby doing some snow angels in our backyard- this is after she had told me she "didn't want to go outside".  Then she goes and had a ton of fun. Last year I liked the snow- but this year I love it.  Seriously, I don't ever want to live in a place that doesn't snow. 

I also love Benji.  Emily, you rock for giving us this cat.  I love him. Ironically, Rod is his absolute favorite. He loves Rod.  Must be a guy thing. I'm #2, and I'm pretty sure Lizzie is #3. He sleeps on our beds each night.  First he was just sleeping on our bed, but now he sort of does this self-rotation where he goes back and forth between Abby and Lizzie's beds, and squeezes in the occasional Caitlin's and our's bed.

He is the best cat ever (no offense, Zoogie, Jimmer, and Rosie).  He brought us a quail today. He's gotten a mouse, a sparrow, and now this quail.  The mouse and sparrow were a month or two ago.  And I am surprised he got a quail- they are fast and kinda big for Benji (or so I thought).  I think the quail are beautiful and I love the dozens that run in our yard- but I was proud of Benjie!

The quail is already dead- he had just brought it up to the sliding glass door to show off, then rolled around and played with it for awhile.  I rewarded him with bits of ham. I don't want to encourage him to kill quail....but he was so proud of himself! And I trust that he won't be able to get too many quail...they have got to be hard for him to get.

Aren't quail beautiful?

So any thoughts on what I should do with the quail? He's done playing with it and it's sitting on our deck.  Do I throw it away- or will Benjie be like "Where's my stinkin' quail that I worked so hard to get?" He ate the mouse and kind of dismantled/ate the sparrow...so there wasn't much left of those two.  But the quail's kinda big...what do I do?

And yes, I realized I just wrote, like, four paragraphs on my cat.  When other people rave about their pets, I would think, man, you need a kid.  But I have four kids.  So now I can rave about my cat.

Baby Brooks is Here!

                                Mr. Brooks Dennis Blodgett has arrived!  3:00 am Nov. 21, 2013
                                 7 lb. 4 oz.  He's a cutie.  We are so happy for Brett and Em!

goodbye black beauty!

Not sure if everyone has heard that dad sold black beauty?!?!

crazy right?! 

we put a for sale sign on it and parked it by our house. Tons of people stopped and took pictures of if and wrote down dads number.

A guy called a couple days later, who happened to be a bee keeper, so dad thought the guy was awesome already, and he basically wanted to give him the truck. 

But Brett and I reminded him how in-valuable black beauty is and how durable she is! 

(even if her front grill is held on with zip ties...)

So, the guy bought it and the good news is he lives right around the corner from us so Parker and I get to see it sometimes on our walks!

I'm thinking if I ever want to go for a trip down memory lane, I'll just run over and ask the guy if I can take it for a spin! :)

Dad got a new truck a few months ago, from a guy at work, and it was a great deal so he got this red ford 250. (this isn't his, I just found this one online, but this is what dad's looks like)

so black beauty has been replaced with... Big Red?! 

Travis thinks dads truck is pretty awesome, as well as Parker, heck even as well as Brett. :)

Em's shirt

                                                Cute shirt Emily made for Halloween.
                                                Kate, I didn't help at ALL !

Halloween

                    The Pace Halloween party group and Conga line.   They had the party at our
                    church this year because their bldg. was getting worked done.  Everyone had fun!

BatDad

These "BatDad" videos crack up Rod & I....there's a couple different ones on YouTube, they're all funny!

A little more like home...

So we got this piano for $100 from our neighbors a few months ago.  It was ugly.  So I painted it! I painted it "old white", then distressed it, with gold legs and trim.  You can't tell that it's gold in the picture, but it is.  I got the idea from Emily's coffee table that she painted (which is super cute and she should post a picture of)!

This couch I scored at a yard sale a few weeks ago for $100.  SOOOO much better than our old black leather "man-cave" couch that's been in our living room.  It makes the whole room feel much more home-y. 

In other news, we (Rod & I & Caitlin!!!) have to speak in church next Sunday.  It'll be Caitlin's first talk in sacrament meeting (although she has borne her testimony once before).  She's nervous, but I think pretty excited, too! 

And Brooke, I want to hear all about your first day of work!!!!

Some New York moments

                            Times Square, a view from our apartment, bike ride, bird man in Washington Square,
                          The book group at lunch, fun markets and parking for $21.72/ an hour downtown.!
                          We also saw Empire State Bldg. Met Museum, Tenament museum, walked over
                           Brooklyn Bridge, ground zero, 5th Avenue, Central Park, AND Newsies, Mathilda.
                           What a trip!!

I HEART FALL!!!

So it's Fall!!! Whoo-oo!!! I can't experience Fall without remembering mom's cornstalks always decorating the front door. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!! These cornstalks are from my neighbor's garden.  I think he thought I was a little TOO excited at the prospect of dried corn stalks.  But it's just not Fall without them.

I've had this grapevine wreath for at least 6 or 7 years.  I like recycling it to fit the season.  I just "Falled" it...fabric flowers made from fabric books mom gave me from her work, and dried weeds gathered from around here. Other than my ghetto white-wire-clothes-hanger holding it up, I love it!

Also, completely unrelated....we had a major virus on our computer and had to factory restore it.  We back up our files pretty often, so we didn't lose much.  But my "favorites" on our browser are gone...and I need links to Kates & Emily's blogs.  Anyone want to send them to me? Or just list them as links on this blog?

Little Whittle Pictures

I'm trying, I really am. I don't know why I have such trouble getting pictures on here. I take most of my pictures on my phone, and I have problems getting them on my computer. My computer doesn't recognize my iPhone because it's been 'jailbroken', some crazy process that I know nothing about, to make it so I don't have to have a contract with a cell phone company, I pay month to month and it's just cheaper that way. But I've learned the drawback is I can't download pictures to my computer, unless I email them to myself. Now I can't figure out how to make them bigger. They are so little! Any ideas my tech savvy family? :) Anyway. Here's some pictures from the beginning of the summer. A S'mores summer kick off with Alex really enjoying his. note Mt. Hood in the background!

 

 

Audrey had a family bday this year. I just couldn't do a big friend one again. When she has a party, she wants it big with lots of details. I didn't have it in me this year. We had a family dinner the night of her birthday, then Troy took the boys on an overnight Mariners game in Seattle, so Audrey and I spent the day riding bikes, picking blueberries, going out to lunch, shopping, and watching a girl movie with goodies. It was fun and easy.

 

I know you've all seen this I think, but here's the bed I made for Audrey. It was fun and a challenge. I hope it lasts forever!

 

Cam would kill me if he saw this, but it's funny. I love Dev laughing the background. Cameron looks so little for some reason. Must be the hair!

Our recent adventures!

Just Watch and You'll See...

 

I saw this floating around FB, but I kept skipping past it until this morning. It is a really touching 3 minute Thai commercial. You won't regret watching!!

 

a little politics...

Here's a little politics to shake up your day: (warning: they use the a-word twice!)

 

And for the record, ('cause I know you were all wondering), I'm against action in Syria. 

I think helping either side is a huge mistake.  These people hate us, and playing police of the world is not a good move. 

 

But Syria is screwed up.  Instead of attacking and solving no problems in doing so, the global community (US included) should focus our resources on helping the refugees.  We should build whole cities if necessary.  If families want to start over somewhere else, let's take them there.  Build schools in refugee camps.  In short, undertake a humanitarian mission on a scale the world has never before seen.  Show Syrians that the West is not evil, that democracy means the freedom to live one's daily life without fear of your own government being after you.

 

Helping either Syria's messed up government or the rebels who hate the U.S. and the West will not solve any problems in the long run, and in the short run will probably make things a lot worse.  Instead, we should seek to change through direct, immense aid to the ones who are suffering.

 

What do you guys think?

Jesse & The Rippers

Remember Full House and TGIF and mom popping popcorn?  Watch and notice the awesome mullet!

http://www.hulu.com/watch/513074?playlist_id=1901

Testing......

I'm back! It's been a long while since I've blogged. Hooray for a new computer that will work!  Here's a little snippet of my fun summer. Tahoe week was definitely one of my favorites this summer. I tried to email this pic to you all, but for some reason it's having trouble sending. I will try again though. School starts in a week, so maybe I'll have time to update the blog!

Great Grandma Gubler

Lately....

 

Rod came home from work the other day to find the girls making a makeshift bike jump in our court.  That warmed their biking-daddy's heart!

 

 

The neighborhood kids got in on the action...

 

When Parker & Em came to visit, we had a lot of fun! I love this picture of Haley & Parker drawing.  Haley: "Oh crap, that's a WAY better scribble than mine!"  (Note Parker's hair berret...I'm pretty sure he wore high heels when he was here, too...sorry Brett!)

 

My Mother's Day Loot: all homemade gifts from my sweet girls.  Caitlin made a trail out of yarn that I had to follow and find my presents.  I don't know exactly what some of these things were supposed to be....but I love them!

By the way, Brooke- you have to get your "posting" to work! I want to see your table, your kids....so much to catch up on!

Yosemite

           I went with my book group.  We hiked through the giant sequoias.  Amazing.

  This is the telescope tree.  I was inside looking up.  Some trees are 3000 yrs. old!

 

         We hiked up Sentinel Dome and Taft point, and Mariposa Grove - 12 miles in 2 days.
                                              Elevation was about 8,000 ft.

           That's Half Dome in the distance.  Very fun.