Back to School

This week means back to school for most Las Vegas students and our family is no different.  Okay, so we are a little different.

On Monday we celebrated the first day of school by going bowling with the whole family and our homeschool friends.  And we picked our first watermelon from the garden, even though it didn't look like the ones in the store.  We were totally relieved when it was red and sweet and juicy inside.

Today after school, Connor put together his birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa Fillmore--a robot weasel.  And, yes, after a few disassemblings, adjustments, and reassemblings, it works!

Follow-up to "Question of the week"

A follow-up about taking my pork surprise to the "pitch-in":

I added a little corn, a few green beans, a splash of chicken broth (to moisten it a little), another sprinkle of couscous, and then I put it in the oven. Then I sprinkled on a little cheese per Jan's suggestion. It was warm enough and colorful enough to be appetizing. However, the other wards somehow didn't get the message about bringing something to share; everyone ate their own food. If I had wanted to eat my own food, I would have stayed home! It was good that we also brought an apple crisp.

We ate all of the apple crisp, but the pork surprise came home with us. Leftovers the Sequel. "This time it's mad!"

Question of the week

Is it OK to take leftovers to a potluck dinner?

Here people also call them "pitch-in" dinners, by the way.

So, I made something last week out of pork, carrots, parsnips,
couscous, etc. I followed a real recipe for this, but my kids didn't
like it, and I wasn't crazy about it either. The parsnips were
undercooked, but even if I cooked them to death, would it really help?
So, I hid--I mean "preserved"--the leftovers in the freezer to be
finished at a later time, when I'm feeling brave enough to try eating
it again. I don't want to throw it away; the pork was pricey.

Well, it just so happens that tomorrow night is the annual party when
the three family wards and one singles' branch in Bloomington have a
"pitch-in" picnic at the park and then go to the pool. So, this is
bigger than your usual potluck. Hence, no one has to know that I
brought it!

After the question "Is it ethical/moral/honest to bring leftovers?"
comes the question "Should I add cheese, corn, tomato sauce, or all of
the above?"

Marcie

Family photos across the US

Second time posting to a blog.

First time posting photos. I can't figure out how to change the alignment of the photos; if Jason were handy, I'd have him tinker with the html to make it happen.

St Louis Temple

Albuquerque Temple

Snowflake Temple

Grand Canyon

Salt Lake Temple

The Oklahoma City Temple was on our way, and we would stopped for a photo at that temple, but we drove through at midnight.

Back by popular demand...

Edward's Third Birthday

My big boy is 3!

It's amazing to think about.
His birthday was on the 4th and we had a small party for him
the next Sunday with Grandma Catherine and Aunt Elise.
(All the pictures are by Catherine.)

He liked unwrapping the book we put in animal paper.

He liked the clock puzzle he got from Grandma Fillmore.
(You can also see next to him that he got
some UNDERWEAR. They have cars on them.)

Then there was the BIG BOX!

It had a BIG surprise! And he loved it.


It was a great party!
Even Frederick had a blast!

Meet Michael

Dear Family, it's me Rachel. I have a little secret I've been keeping. His name is Michael. We've been dating for almost 3 months now and let's just say things are going pretty well. Since none of you have met him, I thought I would introduce you to this stranger that I love.

Michael and his family are from Ecuador but have been here for about 12 years. His last name is Gallegos. (pronounced Ga-jye-gos) (or if you can't get that, you can say Guy-egos) (i guess those from the south american countries say the 'll' sound as a 'j') (just don't call him michael gal-Legos.)

I met Michael 3 days before coming home from my mission. We were in the Sacramento Temple and he came up and introduced himself to my companion and I. At the time his calling was Ward Mission Leader so we talked about missionaries and missionary work and missions. That's it. A few months after I was home we began talking and getting to know each other more. So don't worry....we didn't hook up because I served in his ward or anything shady like that.

Here are some quick stats since I know you're all going to be wondering these things:

-served his mission in Provo

-going to school at American River College in CA for Business Marketing.

-knows how to break dance. And salsa.

-speaks only Spanish in his home so all those who wish to learn spanish along with me...feel free.

-loves soccer, of course.

-dresses better than I do.

-great testimony, magnifies his calling, reads his scriptures, and wears a suit coat to church every week.

So there you have it. Now you know a little about Michael and a little about what I've been up to lately. We've talking about getting married probably a year from now. We'll see. I love Michael and I'm really happy when I'm with him. Your examples of happy families and successful marriages make it easier for me to envision what I want in a marriage. You don't realize it, but I'm watching every move you make....so keep up the good work!

Our First Real Garden

Shocking photos!

In chatting with Marcie last night, I realized I wanted to share an interesting development in our lives:  our garden!

Against all odds, we have made our desert bloom like a rose...sure, we've neglected our roses in the process, but you can't eat roses, mister!

We used the book All New Square Food Gardening by Mel Bartholomew as our bible, and voila!  Growth!  Anyway, we had a lot of fun planning, building, planting, tending, and now, harvesting!

We have loved eating home-grown green and yellow beans, basil, onions, some tiny corn.  And even though we just survived the hottest Las Vegas July on record--ever, we are still getting tomatoes and zucchinis and lots of cucumbers, and are holding our breath for our watermelons.

So here are some before and after shots of our little piece of heaven in our own backyard.

Before:  you can see, from closest to farthest: onions,  basil, and some ill-fated peppers; then zucchini; then beans and corn; beyond that are the tomatoes, then cucumber; and in the last section is the watermelon.

You can see the basil getting stronger, and the zucchini and corn are really showing off!

And this was just the beginning!  That zucchini has since grown all the way to the onions!

Baby Owen's poor table manners.

I recently returned from American Samoa visiting Melinda, Ephraim, and their kids. They had a little surprised named Owen that I have never met and probably a few of you haven't seen him any older than a drooling baby. Let me tell you....he's so stinkin cute. Melinda left me at home one day with the kids and Owen was getting fussy. I quickly ran to the fridge and got the easiest thing I could find--spaghetti noodles. I started feeding them to Owen one by one so he wouldn't make a mess and this was the result. Watching him was making me chuckle to myself so I grabbed my camera and I wanted to share this will y'all.

Hair Stuff

Warning to Bro-in-laws: This post contains a lot of hair-talk may be boring to you.


This one's for Jan.
I call it 19 Bobbypin Confusion.
I wish Jan could've fixed it for me, it would've looked better. I had to look nice because I went to the final banquet for the Upward Bound Program, the summer school thing for which I taught Spanish.
I guess I didn't have to look nice, but I'm a Fillmore, and I have a name to uphold. And maybe I didn't look nice, but I didn't look boring, and that's important.
My hair was a mane after that.

Rachel can tell you, my hair's been really curly lately!


What is up with this? What's this Bruce-wave coming out in my later years? I don't know, but I won't complain. At least I have hair that will hold 19 bobby pins. That's all, thanks for listening.

A guy goes out in the woods...

While I took the kids down to Utah the 17th to the 24th, Evan was in the Wind Rivers of the Wyoming wilderness on the annual Allan family fishing/hiking/camping trip. Not to be confused with the secret Allan family fishing place (which we don't talk about so that other people don't go there), they freely talk about where this place is (because no one else wants to go there). Apparently they drive nine hours, then get out, load up the horses with the supplies to survive for a week, and then walk ten miles to the campsite.

(Picture is Evan as small boy with fish)

Evan hasn't been able to go since we've been married (which was SIX YEARS AGO YESTERDAY) because of school and research and learning-type things. Now that he's full of knowledge, he got to go on the trip! I've never been to the Wind Rivers for two reasons. First, I don't like going to the bathroom out of doors. Since I was raised by Ann Fillmore, I know how to do it and I have done it before, but the thought of doing it for a whole week is painful to me.

The second reason I haven't been is this:


There are apparently millions of mosquitoes. This means the fishing is great because the river has recently thawed and the fish are hungry for millions of bugs. I don't need to go to the wilderness to get bug bites--I can go to the mailbox and back and have new bug bites. When Edward and I play in the park with our ward members every Wednesday, we have lots of fun and I have 10 new bug bites. Maybe I have chiggers.

Anyway, part of the manly adventure is the beard growing contest! Evan's dad always wins because he is half mountain goat, but Evan and his brothers do fairly well since they are one-quarter mountain goat. Bryce (18) is still searching for his inner-mountain goat. Marc the Red (21) was disqualified from competing because he had three days of growth at the start of the week. Elise (15), quite thankfully, lost the facial hair competition.

Evan had a blast and caught 214 fish in four days of fishing. He came home furry, smelly, and blissfully relaxed. We're all glad it was a safe trip!