What's that noise?

Often when Greg and I are using the computer we occasionally hear this ever so faint scratching noise. At first we think it is as mouse or rat hiding in the walls, not that it would be the first time in our home, but then after consecutive noises, we remember that we have pet hermit crabs in the room. This year for Everett's birthday we decided to do something extra special and buy him some Hermit Crabs. (Greg's idea.) They used to reside in the kitchen until I figured they needed a better place to reside so I relocated them to our computer room a few weeks ago. Yes, we do forget about them because honestly they are probably one of the most boring pets you can own - kind of up there with aquarium fish (at least they are fun to look at). So tonight as I was blogging I heard the noise again and strangely I again thought "rats", but then I remembered our crabs. So I went to take a picture of the crabs and pulled one out. As I started to dangle one of the two, I realized that he was not squirming as he started dangling out of the shell. Then I realized he was slipping out farther and farther, which only meant one thing - he's dead! The other one is still alive, but poor Dawson will be a little bit sad tomorrow. We also had a fish die on Saturday as well. He's still upside down under the castle in our aquarium. Hmmm, I'm thinking we aren't the best pet owners.

Halloween preview

We had our ward Halloween party this last Friday and the turn out was fabulous. Greg's costume was awesome and even though he is probably about a foot taller than batman's original sidekick, he just looked so great in the costume. I think it was the cape, or maybe the pants that made him look like he was wearing speedo briefs. Been a long time since he strutted around in those - another story, another day. . . anyways, we're looking forward to Halloween night with the kids. Happy Halloween!

Learning Photography

Children are such inspirations for learning photography aren't they? Else what would we put on our blogs, right? Last week when the boys were off at Disneyland I decided to mess around with my camera. Unfortunately Sidney is just a little too inquisitive of the camera, so she tends to look more serious than playful during our photography sessions. I need to take some classes though because this can be so addicting. There is a photographer in the area, Jenny Mason, as most of you know, who takes the most gorgeous photos. What an impressive talent! Maybe someday I'll make that my side profession. I know I'm such an amateur, but thought I'd share some pics of my little darling.

Bates Nut Farm

Way out in the middle of "who would ever live here" is a great place called Bates Nut Farm. Last weekend my spunky sister-in-law invited us to come along for a fun family event. Greg and Dawson were up at the UCLA game, which of course was a great time because the Bruins won. So Everett, Sidney and I went down to the in-laws and had a great time without them. Everett was so proud to climb on top of a pumpkin so big and Sidney was just happy to be out doing something. This was of course before all the fires, so the air was clean and the sky beautiful. Everett was the first to pick out his pumpkin - he's not as indecisive as his mother. The big hit was the popper guns that we purchased shortly before leaving. They've been up in my closet since the day after we bought them. I suppose we might bring them out on Halloween or something. Thanks for the invite Britt - we have a good time and wished we could have stayed for the dinner.

Back to Disneyland

It's been two years, but we finally made it back to Disneyland with all three kids. They had a great time and surprisingly Sidney was such a trooper given the fact she had just a 25 minute nap until we left. I was so proud of her. Everett did all the scary rides including the Matterhorn and Space Mountain and he didn't show an ounce of fear. Dawson of course enjoyed all the rides and hands down the boys love the Autopia the best - go figure. Believe it or not we gave in and got annual passes, so Greg is now determined to go a lot! He even took them a week after our initial visit which was just two weeks ago. Thanks to the fires, he was smoked out of his office and he took advantage of the shorter work day. Now we need to try out California Adventure. We've never been there.

Sidney enjoying her swing

Sidney has been having a rough week being sick and possibly cutting a few of her upper teeth, but she sure did enjoy swinging in our backyard the other day. She is usually such a sweet and happy little girl. I know when she starts crawling she will be even happier. She is so bored of her baby toys and is always looking around for something to satisfy her curiosity of the world. I just wish babies would stay this cute and small but be able to do all the things that toddlers can do minus the attitude. Sidney can finally say one thing, "Dada". Thank goodness for that because Greg was starting to develop a unloved complex from his little baby girl. She always says "Dada" in the evening, probably anticipating his arrival home. Or when she's really upset. I guess maybe she learns it from me. Whenever things go wrong the kids always hear me cursing their father's name under my breath. Just Kidding!

When I grow up - Sunday Comic Relief

Sundays, though meant to be a day of rest, often end up being quite stressful for me and my children. We seem to spend half of the morning getting ready for church and have only recently been successful at being on time about 50% of the time. Did I forget to mention that our church starts at 1:00 pm? Greg leaves Sunday mornings usually before we all get up, and we will see him for about half an hour when he returns for lunch and then not again until 5:00 pm if we're lucky. His sacrifice is certainly one that brings great blessings to the family, but I have to admit that some Sundays I come home from church wondering what spiritual uplifting I've received from that day. Thank goodness I have children who do their best to cheer me up and make me feel that the sacrifice is all worth it. A few weeks ago Everett came strutting into a room where I was trying to escape for a moment of peace to show me just how much I was missing of him. Apparently he had a lesson that day in nursery about what we become when we grow up. I always thought Everett wanted to be a fireman, but now I ask which do you think he might grow up to be. . . a plumber, or a drag queen? I love how my kids make me laugh!

My Sensitive Son Everett

Most people know Everett as being the more resiliant and tougher of my two sons, but he has a unique sensitivity to others emotions that is quite unusual for his tender age of 3. The first time we noticed it was when he was about 2 1/2 while watching the Prince of Egypt. He was watching the mother put baby Moses into a basket and send him down the river and he started to cry. I could not believe that he perceived the emotion that the mother must have felt or maybe the tip off was the tears in Moses' sister's eyes. In any case, I have a tender spot in my heart for my little Everett because of this. Today he was watching "Cars" and tears welled up in his eyes again after the scene when Lightening McQueen was wisked away to go off to the big race. That's my sensitive little man!

So people ask us if we did anything fun this summer. Honestly with a new baby, it was so hard to plan anything. So when our friends asked us to take a trip to the Colorado River for a weekend getaway my answer was a resounding yes. I didn't even think about how Sidney would do, I just said "Yes" because I was dying to take a vacation! And our family had a great time! Wish I had some sunset waterskiing photos of Greg and I (you could probably see the grin painted across my face from a mile away). But you know how that goes - only photos of the kids seem to matter anymore! I do have to admit that the sense of joy I felt from my own waterskiing experience paled in comparison to the joy I felt as I watched my kids doing their various water activities. That's what having kids is all about!