Blonx Zoo

Our aggresive peacock friend. Funny, until he went after Peter's PB sandwich. Then we were all running away.

This bear was hilarious, relaxing in his hot tub.

Guess who's dressing herself these days?

The creepy yet original Bug Carousel

Playtime

If I'm remembering correctly these first photos were on a Sunday evening after we had all woken up from naps. There is something so tangible about waking up drowsily on a cool Autumn Sunday in my dark bedroom that immediately sends me back to my childhood Sunday nights. And then it is odd to think "Hey, this is their childhood!?" My children's childhoods!

GUILTY!
Why, yes, I would like the entire package of Fig Newtons.

Mornin' Sunshine

Love these expressions - Every one of them

The "curly ethans" invited us to My Gym for a Halloween party.
The kids had fun.

My li'l tree hugger

We thought this was pretty fun. Peter saying Ap-poe. He's been working on a few other words like sorry, mmmmmmmmmyyyyyyyy (as in mine) and Pete. It's so awesome to watch his sense of accomplishment when he does a good job and he knows it.

One last invitation!

So my mom went to protest the Health Care Bill today! She had a blast and got pretty fired up. (Wish I had a picture of her to post here of her chanting "Kill the bill...") And, as a result I got re-fired up! Several things send up some huge RED FLAGS to me! Here are just a few...

1) This bill is so good that President Obama and Congress went ahead and wrote in an exemption clause for themselves. That's right, they made sure they didn't have to actually live by it.
2) This bill will provide for federally funded abortions. That, in and of itself, is lame because now people not only want no responsibility for their actions, they want someone to fund the whole thing. But the thing that REALLY irks me is that President Obama flat out lied! He said very clearly in his speech a few weeks ago that abortion would not publically funded! But he's so smooth he gets away with it again and again!
3) Apparently, I haven't read the 2000 page bill, if you lose your health care coverage and choose something other than the public option, you will be fined and the money will be taken from your paycheck similarly to taxes. Hmmm, again and again we have heard how competition will be encouraged even with the public option in place. That sure puts a disincentive on it if you ask me. "Oh, you want to choose someone else. That's fine. But we will be penalizing you."

Today a friend from Michigan told me a bill was just barely voted down there to tax physicians in the state twice as much as everyone else to cover health care costs. I'm sorry, what? They provide the care and then they pay for it too? Hmm, I really am shocked the nation is coming to this level of laziness. I agree reform needs to happen but where is the personal responsibility? Why should everyone receive free health care if they haven't paid for it? Is it just me? Am I just biased because my husband will have spent 12 or 13 years becoming a physician by the end this? Surely he shouldn't be forced to pay for the patients' care he's just given over a third of his life to serve.

If you're worried about your taxes going up to pay for this, or the nation's deficit or federally funded abortions or any other scary part of this bill, Write your congressman! They're voting on Saturday! Once this bill is passed, I see no way of turning back. Once people are given a free ride, what is going to make them want to go back and pay for it?

Happy Halloweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeennnn

Peter's approach was so different than Jill's at this age. She was scared at first and then just mad when people put candy in her little bucket. Finally she got it. But with Peter following her lead he plunged right in and would go for more than one piece of candy from the very start. In a cute Franklin the Turtle sort of way, of course.

We had fun going to the shops downtown yesterday evening for some early Trick or Treating. It was fun to see all the different costumes and excited kids!

And then they amassed even more candy at the ward Trunk or Treat:)

My "costume" was pretty lame this year. I gave myself a black eye with the thought that I'd think of something clever on the way there. Maybe I could be a battered wife? No, that's not really funny. I could paint a scar and be a soldier hurt in combat. No, that's not funny either. So I just went as a person with a black eye. Several people asked me what had happened and when I told them it was makeup they just said "Oh." Haha.

Peter had to put his bottle down to take some candy:)

I thought this was the perfect opportunity to take pictures of the kids. They thought otherwise:)

So cute, even when he's crying.

And a chance to see Jilly being sweet and comforting her brother.



Just wanna squeeze 'em.

Do you think they're related?

Really, I'm not coming out until you put the camera away.

Last Sunday was our primary program. The kids did great, as did the teachers:) The Bishop had a few extra minutes at the end to share some thoughts. He shared one of the first experiences he remembers feeling the pure love of a child displayed towards him when a niece gave him a simple Christmas gift. I wish I had written down the exact phrase he used but it was something to the effect of feeling the joy that comes from those who make up the Kingdom of God. Recently little Jill has been SO sweet and these thoughts just hit a familiar cord. Her face lights up at the simplest pleasures and realizations and she always wants to share the things that bring her joy with Peter and Kevin and I. Today at the playground she made a little friend. The little girl said something like "Run away from him!" (referring to Peter). Jillian stopped and said "Hey, that's my brother. We can't run away from him!" Then she turned around and guided him over to where they were playing.

She's also been taking a Spanish class at the local library, learning simple things like numbers, colors, etc., and we've got a few Spanish c.d.'s she likes to listen to. She'll ask anyone speaking a foreign language if they speak Spanish and occassionally breaks into her own "Spanish" chatter. It's pretty entertaining, especially when she follows it with "I speak Spanish."

Just love these smoochie roos so much! I'm trying to live in the moment and not worry so much about what I'm "accomplishing," as in physical projects to prove that I've been productive. This morning we sat in my bed reading for about 45 minutes after waking up and it almost hurt to be there, reading, in our pajamas, being "unproductive," while the day light was burning away, even though what I wanted to do in my heart of hearts was sit in bed and read with the kids. Does that make sense? Then I cleaned and did laundry for about two or three hours and now the house looks like I did absolutely nothing all day. Hmmm...sometimes I wonder if the house would the exact same if I didn't pick up a single thing until the kids were all five (ten?) and up:)

The other day when I was running a beautiful leaf caught my attention as it floated so gracefully to the ground. I thought to myself "What a beautiful little leaf! And now it has fulfilled the measure of it's creation and done so nobly and beautifully." It was such a happy thought I thought I would share. I love Fall! We just had a wonderful visit from my family. (We also recently had a fun visit from Kevin's mom but I forgot to take a single picture!) Anywho, here are some of our adventures...

We went on a hike at Sleeping Giant State Park. I wanted a challenge and we ended up getting a little more than we bargained for. Below is an example of some of the places we had to navigate. I would say the blue trail definitely for experienced hikers, without small children and for people with long, flexible legs:) We made it back to the car just before dark!

Are we still hiking?
Apple Store

La Bonne Soup

Isn't it funny how universally known these ears are?

Peter is such a boy! He gets so frustrated with me when I want him to keep walking when he's collecting or throwing rocks.

My sweet boys

The siblings minus Katie

Josh, Dad, Mom, Hadley