HEADLINE: Aaron ALMOST convicted OJ!

Las Vegas NV-- Thirteen years after he was acquited of murder, O.J. Simpson was back in court defending himself against a possible life-sentence. Mr. Simpson, who greeted reporters with a thumbs-up and a broad smile, listened passively as an all-white jury heard recordings of his conversations in the hours before he allegedly robbed two dealers of collectibles. Jury selection for the OJ Simpson trial took place in down town Las Vegas September 8, 2008. Among those in the jury pool was Aaron Harris, Math teacher at a local high school.

When asked by reporters how he felt when after a long day of waiting he was not picked, Mr. Harris responded, "It is a shame. I was all ready to state the verdict. Guilty. The sentence: death penalty. Seems reasonable for armed robbery, right?"

First Day of Preschool!!!

Demarie was so excited to get started with preschool! On September 2nd, we held our first class... at home! After much prayerful contemplation, Aaron and I decided that we would buy materials and teach Demarie in our home. It is going to be her last year with me before kindergarten and I want to make the most of it! We have had so much fun working on reading, writing, math, and other concepts. Demarie is such a smart little girl! It is so fun to see her sounding out and reading whole books already! I also arranged to do a 'field trip' with her every other week with other children her age. We have an exciting year planned and will definitely keep you posted on our adventures!

Pretty Poses!

Inspired by Emily Allen's pictures, I tried to do the 'holding a pretty flower in the outdoors' theme, but my camera isn't as fancy (and I'm not near as talented as she is), but at least I was able to get a shot of the cute little mowhawk curl on Preslyn's head. These pictures were taken when she was around 9-months old. She is now almost 11 months old! I can't believe how fast time has gone by. I feel like I have blinked and missed the first year of her life! Some things about Preslyn: Preslyn loves to sit and twirl her ankles and hands at the same time. Being such a good sitter, she has really learned to use her pointer fingers well and can tell me just what she needs without moving her little toosh off the ground. Her favorite word is 'dada' and she is constantly staring at Aaron. She is such a daddy's girl! She can sign "more", "eat", and "all-done" (since I am an SLP I had to throw that in). She loves to play peek-a-boo, patty cake, and will roll her arms during Wheels on the Bus. During the past month, she has really taken an interest in books and baby dolls. She loves to point to my nose and is learning where her belly is. Yesterday, we found her on her tummy when we went to get her from her nap! She had rolled over in her bed! I must admit it has been nice to have two mellow immoble babies that I don't have to chase around. Demarie was carrying on a full conversation with me before she started walking. The rate Preslyn is going, she may just follow in her sisters's footsteps! We love Preslyn so much! She is such a sweet little girl and has added so much to our family!

Silly Preslyn!!!

I just had to post these pics of Preslyn. She loves to feed herself and is always pushing the spoon away now! She is such a clown at mealtimes and thinks it is her time to shine!

Cast your vote: Child Abuse or Husband/Wife Mis-communication?

I forgot about this until Aaron uploaded the pics on our computer! Aaron's brother, Bryce, and his wonderful family came to visit us the first week in August on their way to California. They were planning to leave after church and did not want to get gone too late so they left church early to pack. I told my friend to let Aaron know that I went home with them to help tend kids while they packed and to bring Demarie and her 8-year old cousin, Josh, home with him. Well, he misunderstood the message and thought I had left him without a car. About a half hour after church got over, there was a knock at the front door. I answered it and Josh practically fell over when I opened the door. I thought he was exaggerating until I looked closer. Demarie's face was as pink as her dress and Aaron's shirt was soaked to him. We live about a mile and a half away from church and he had made my poor little girl and Josh walk home in the blistering afternoon heat!

We sure enjoyed having Bryce, Rotciv, Josh, Vanessa, and Jakie come visit!

5-4-3-2-1 Blast Off to the Moon Family Campout!

The Moon Family Camptrip:

Every year we go to Bear Lake with the Moon Family (we are now 42 with two in the oven!) and stay at my sister's cabin. My brother Alden and I were in charge of the camp trip this year. My sister-in-law had a great idea to shoot off rockets made out of 2-liter pop bottles, so I decided to make the entire theme of camp, "Blast off to the Moon Family Campout!" After listening to my plan, Aaron asked if I was trying to create 'Science Camp', but luckily everyone was good sports about it and we had a good time.

We made personal pizzas and smores in pizza box solar ovens. If anyone else gets the brilliant idea to try cooking from the sun's energy, here are a few suggestions: 1) no matter what you do, the pizza is going to be disgusting, but eat it anyways. It's the activity that counts, and 2) chocolate melts much faster that marshmallows. We went swimming and played tennis and several of the guys got up early to go play golf. We had a great time playing 'Do You Love Your Astronaut" (to stay along with the cheesy theme) and making icecream in a bag (again, the whole science thing...). We made "Moon stepping stones" and all the grandkids painted star wishing boxes so they could write down their wishes on a piece of paper and keep them safe. Aaron had to work and joined us late Thursday night (thanks to Alden and Kandice picking him up at the airport). Demarie wished on a star that her daddy would be with us at camp and was so excited when her wish came true! We had a great time all day Friday boating and playing in the water. The water was a little chilly, but the weather was beautiful. Demarie and her cousin Hallie were excited to be Little Mermaids in the sand. Demarie even sang the Little Mermaid for all her aunts, uncles, and cousins. She did a great job! For family home evening, we played, "I survived a Moon Family Game Show" with hostess Star Light (me) and Star Bright (Alden). He was a good sport playing along. We picked a few people in the family to be 'shooting stars' and everyone else threw water balloons at them to shoot the stars down. We then did a group activity where each team had a ladder and a cardboard box and had to get their entire team from one side of the field to the other without touching the ground (Rainbow Relay). I then related each activity to a spiritual message to remind everyone to shoot for the moon! We should be there to support each other with our goals and dreams, even when it may feel like everyone else in the world is trying to shoot you down! Afterall, 42 people behind you is a pretty powerful support system! We had a great time shooting off the family rockets. Everyone was so creative and some of them went really high and far! I say some, because the Princess Power Rocket, created by the Harris Family never made it to the launch pad. After the first rocket was launched into the air, Demarie turned to me with tears in her eyes, hugging her pink rocket tightly, "I don't want my princess rocket to break and fall in the weeds!" I guess next time I will know better than to make a "pretty" rocket! All in all, we had a wonderful time with family. It was so good to see everyone and we are grateful to everyone for pitching in to make it a good time and for putting up with my "Science Camp" adventure!


It's times like this that make me really miss living close to family!

My Little Mermaid

Three weeks ago, Demarie freaked out when I had to dump water on her head during bathtime. Whenever I tried to take a shower with her she screamed like I was torturing her to death. Demarie even freaks out in the rain because it rarely rains in Vegas! Well, 3 weeks ago I took her to her first swimming lesson. The first day, she bawled as I held her hand and walked her into the shallow water. She cried for the first 10 minutes and then started bouncing in the water. I was so proud of her when she immersed her chin in the water all by herself! To celebrate we took her to buy an icecream cone and a beautiful pink Sleeping Beauty swimsuit with the promise that she would do everything her teacher told her. The next day, her teacher dunked her. My baby went under water! Wow! That was a huge step. At the end of three weeks, Demarie is floating on her back like Sleeping Beauty with minimal support from her teacher, going under water by herself without plugging her nose with her hand, and kicking to her teacher with her face in the water. She even took a shower with me without screaming! I am so proud of Demarie for facing her fears and conquering them!!!