Wasps B-Gone! (take 2...or is it 3?)

Karter and I found the Mother Ship and we shot it down!


We think this is where all our wasps originated from last summer. Although they typically don't return to the same nest every year, I'm still glad to be getting rid of that enormous home! If we could just find where the queen is hiding we could nip it in the bud right now, but she's tucked away somewhere warm, pregnant and ready to build a new nest when it warms up and lay eggs. Then she'll hatch a new batch of the little stinging beasts. Dang Wasps.


Links to my wasp saga posts from last summer.....
http://rookacre.blogspot.com/2008/09/waspsyuk.html
http://rookacre.blogspot.com/2008/10/new-camera-yay.html

Check out The Edge Blog!

Hey Friends! Check out the Edge Magazine blog. Get involved with it! Post comments, ideas and let us know what you think.

Also, you can get a sneak peek at upcoming story ideas, photography and/or covers. Right now you can see what our January cover shot looks like. I love it. Beautiful picture and totally "The Basin". Check it out! On my bloglist ----------->

Also over there on my bloglist are the links to my other blog, my Confessions of a Super Mom blog that is also a chronicle of my weight loss journey and the diary of the contest I'm doing called "The Healthy Edge Weight Loss Challenge" between the two ladies who publish The Edge Magazine and me. You'll find links to their blogs as well. It's fun! Cheer us on, follow us, comment often and keep the enthusiasm going. We are inspiring all kinds of people to lead more healhty and fit lives.

Happy Birthday Kenyon!

My baby isn't a baby anymore. He's 3 today. Kenyon was born December 27th and weighed 8 lbs 3 oz and he looked just like his daddy.









*Sigh* If I could just keep them little forever I would. But, they get big. They grow up. Kenyon is a big boy now. If you don't believe me, just ask him. "I big now!"

Here's the big birthday boy opening a few presents.



Having a birthday 2 days after Christmas is a bit of a bummer to some, but we kinda like it. It gives us another person to spoil and something to look forward to when the disappointment of Christmas being over sets in. And we make sure we spoil him, too. Birthdays are a big deal around here but especially when you're born close to Christmas.

"I got shot-gun!" It's really noisey too. Oh goody.






Happy Birthday Kenyon! We love ya!

Christmas Morning 08'

The little boys got their Ford truck. They were thrilled.


Kenyon happily rides while Kai drives. For now.


Ally got an awesome Razor scooter. It is SO cute. She can't wait to go cruising around the neighborhood and ride down at the church parking lot.


Santa gave her that cute purse too. This girls LOVES purses and bags.


Karter got a mini-laptop. He loves it.


Merry Christmas Rook Kids!

And I refuse to let you see my messy shelves, but that's where the kids shove stuff when they pick up. LOL

Family Photos

Rook Family 08'

SANTA!! I KNOW HIM!!!

We had our Phillips Family Christmas party at my mother's house and Santa stopped by.







Apparently Karter is TOO COOL to sit on Santa's lap anymore.


The teenagers were too cool too.


Except for Em and Nat




Darin


Tedders loved Santa. She was very curious about that white beard.


Poor Cody. Another Santa-Hater. I think we may have traumatized him. Everyone was laughing and snapping pictures. We adults are cruel. Some kid is terrified and we just laugh. Terrible people. ;-)


It'll be ok though...Taylor and Syd, Rusty's girls, got over their fear of Santa. Taylor climbed right on Santa's lap this year.




And see...his mom will take a turn on Santa's lap. She helped Coy, Cody's big brother, get over his Santa fear.




My cousins Rusty and Casey and Rusty's wife, Theresa. I love my cuz's.


That's Cep. We love him. But, what's not to love? Look at that smile. He's always got it on.


I can't believe Sierra's a teenager now. She just looks so grown up.


Pop and his Rook grandkids


Mom, Brandy and Teddy


My boys all dressed in their Hi-waiaan flowerdy shirts


And so did Pop


More teenagers: Tina's girls, Kaylee, Em and Nat (and Ally and Sydney)


Darin and Ally, such cute cousins




Kai and Teddy


Miss Ted...such personality already! She was the life of the party. She kissed Cody so we grabbed the camera just in time to capture her grabbing his hair. Poor Cody...he didn't like it much! LOL


But who could ever be mad at this girl?? Certainly not me!

Finally! Snow!

Well, it finally snowed yesterday and my kids were thrilled. Too bad it's just a skiff that will melt in a hurry, but they were all excited and wore their new snowboots today. After we got absolutely dumped on last year time and time again we're prepared in advance this year and watch, it'll be one of those years without snow or just a couple of inches here and there that doesn't even require snowboots. Doesn't matter to me though...I still love winter best!





Merry Christmas everyone!

Thanksgiving in the Book Cliffs

We love our annual Thanksgiving tradition in the Book Cliffs. 4 days of dust, deer, dutch oven turkey (and an awesome brisket I made Saturday night) sometimes snow and tons of fun.

Click on the pic for a closer look. You'll see it was snowing..at least spitting snow anyway. Nothing sticking yet

The Healthy Edge

Ok folks...new thing going on in my life. Check out my other blog (link to it over there on the side--------->), Confessions of a Supermom. Me and my two buddies who publish The Edge magazine, http://www.theedgemagazine.org, are having a weight loss contest. It's a Biggest Loser type contest. We'll be blogging about it faithfully, working with personal trainers, nutrionists, and our local doctors. Check it out. Join in if you want and/or be our support staff and/or just follow our progress and read our blogs. The three of us will be chattering back and forth on our blogs alot. There are also other comments at The Edge website blogfeed as well. Leave us your comments, thoughts, and tips and advice, please.

And yes....there will be before pics posted! YIKES!

Rat Results.....

So, I let Karter do his science fair project using rats. He did a great job checking on them daily and conducting his experiment. He handled the rats with ease, fed them, watered them and just did a great job with them. He did one of the 12 hour food withdrawals then neglected to feed the rats before he left for school one morning. When he got home here is what we found....

White rat was busy eating and washing his face.


Test Rat was busy ignoring his sugary treats....


And Rat #3 was gone in search of food and water and other entertainment.


OH CRAP!!! A RAT LOOSE IN MY GARAGE!!!

I wasn't as freaked out as you would think though. It was just ONE rat. No other rats loose and none around here for it to breed with and it was in the garage. I wanted to catch it, but it didn't gross me out and it didn't worry me too much.

Besides, it's a rat with a Rockstar Complex! He (or she) did NOT want to miss its big debut at the Science Fair so, it made its way back to its former cage just as Karter was going out into the garage to get things ready for the Science Fair. He saw it in its cage so SNAP! he shut the lid on its cage as quickly as he could. WOHOO! We caught the rat and just in time for the science fair. Alright!

Little guy was thirsty!






Oh, and btw...Karter won the science fair. He got "Overall Showman". His presentation was very strong. He knew his project well and that's what put him over the top. People can say what they want about parental involvement in these projects, but you can't fake the kid's knowledge. He knew his stuff. It was HIS project, he did all the work and his efforts were recognized. I'm very proud of him for that. He put forth 100% effort and didn't half-way do any part of it. I love that it was all his idea too. He's got a scientific mind and he's a curious kid who is always learning. Way to go, Karter!