Fall Things

While California's year round perfect weather is tempting, I think I would miss changing seasons. I always look forward to fall and hate to see it go. This year, the fall weather has been a dream-- right now it is 70 degrees with that cool, crisp feeling in the air.

One fall thing that I definitely don't look forward to every year is Halloween. I do love the kids in cute costumes, I just hate trying to put together costumes for four ninos who know exactly what they want to be (and I do not have a creative bone in my body). I also dread trying to keep Charlie from eating 4 lbs. of candy in one night (see the mouthful pictured above). So lucky for me, I pretty much got to skip it this year since we were vacationing in California. We did try to hurry home from the zoo in time to trick or treat, but we didn't get back until after 8:00 (darn it!) and so we told the kids they could trick or treat at their aunts and uncles and grandma's houses when we got back. My parents tried to take Jane and Brit, but Jane refused to wear her costume, so Brit tagged along with Uncle Spence and Aunt Kellie. Our very generous neighbors gave my boys all their sons' old Halloween costumes and the boys have been having a ball with them for months. The red dragon one really suits Briton--sort of devilish, don't you think?

I just got a new camera--these are a few pictures I snapped the day I got it. I'm still trying to figure it out. Chuck thinks the picture of Brit and his friend, Ellie, will be perfect for a wedding video:)

Just in Time for Christmas

*They will be ready by the first week of December, complete with their first round of shots, for $50. We have four blacks, three yellows, and one chocolate (already spoken for). And this will be the last batch of puppies available from Humpherys farms. Unless, of course, Chuck chooses the dogs over me.

California (Warning: LONG POST)

Thanks to my good parents, who took Briton and Jane for a week, we were able to take a fun trip to Southern California with just Parker and Charlie. I was very worried that Jane would make life pretty miserable for my parents, but after we'd been gone only a day or two my mom informed me that I'd been worrying about the wrong child. Jane was a dream, but Briton... My parents finally got to see his Hyde-side:) By the way, have any of you noticed how much easier two kids are than four?

The weather was lovely, a little too cool to swim, but perfect for Disneyland and the zoo. The boys LOVED the ocean and beach. Apparently we need to spend a little more time at the ocean--one day we were walking along the harbor at Balboa Island and Charlie started screaming, "A Whale!!!" The whale turned out to be a sea lion.

Chuck worked several days so I was stuck at the condo with no car. Luckily the place we were staying at had a beautiful pool, basketball court, putting green, playground, tether ball, and a sandbox. The kids were in heaven and played ALL day.

After the initial shock of paying an arm and a leg to get into Disneyland wore off, we had a great time (honestly, how do those Disney people sleep at night?). The boys were SO excited to be there (can you tell by their faces right before we left?) Charlie was old enough to ride most of the fun rides and not scream his lungs out like he did last time. However, when you combine the fact that he is one of the laziest kids I've ever seen with his sweet tooth problem, any vacation that involves too much walking around in a place where they are selling churros on every corner can be quite tricky. It is the perfect storm. He whined all day that he was tired of walking and then whenever someone would walk by with an ice cream cone he would have a melt down. We finally resorted to dropping a trail of kettle corn to keep him moving along.

The zoo was fabulous--I don't know what it is about the zoo that brings out the kid in me. I'm a huge sucker for the animals, I guess. Have you ever fed a giraffe? It is such an amazing experience for me to get up close and personal with what I consider one of the most breath-taking of animals. Whenever I see a giraffe, I know there must be a Creator. Honestly, how could something like a giraffe just...happen? The kids, on the other hand, go for the comedians. They LOVED this baby orangutan playing with the pumpkin--he was definitely hamming it up for the crowd.

And lest you think me a terrible mother for pulling my kids out of school for a week, here are a few of the things the boys learned this trip:

1. San Diego only gets 9 in. of rainfall each year

2. A giraffe's tongue is 15 in. (or the distance between the tip of your fingers and elbow). The giraffe has only one living relative: the okapi.

3. "Mark Twain" is not only the pen name of the famous American author, but it is also what boatmen would shout out when the river reached a safe depth of two fathoms.

4. It is illegal to remove sea shells from public beaches. Oops!

5. Macaws are monogomous, so if you purchase a single macaw it will bond with only one person in the family.

6. Sea lions can be distinguished from seals (and whales, for that matter:) by their ears and the way they swim using their foreflippers.

7. There is nothing but 5 hours of ugly desert between Phoenix and Los Angeles

I don't know why I'm just now posting this, but I was listening to "Thriller" this morning and realized I hadn't recorded this story for posterity. I'm sure some of you know that my kids LOVE Michael Jackson. Chuck has a few old music videos ("1,2,3/ABC", "Billie Jean", "Smooth Criminal", etc.) on his laptop and the boys love to dance to them. So they were all broken hearted when they heard he had died. I remember that Hayes was here when I told my boys about it and asked, "Who was Michael Jackson?" Parker was completely appalled that Hayes didn't know who Michael Jackson was and replied, "Only the greatest singer and dancer who ever lived."

A few weeks after his death, I had all the kids at church (the big 2-ward meeting for the 24th celebration)--we had arrived about 15 minutes early and Chuck was in the hall yapping (he claims he was attending to his priesthood duties:). I was trying to keep all the kids under control, when I heard Briton, who was standing on the bench pointing toward the back of the chapel, scream "Michael Jackson!!!" I turned around and spotted the only kid in St. Johns with an afro (we're not the most ethnically diverse population:). Unfortunately, the other boys saw him the same time I did and they all began yelling, "Michael Jackson! It's really Michael Jackson! He's not dead!" I was trying to calm them all down, but they were so excited they could hardly contain themselves. So I did the only thing I could do: pretend they belonged to someone else. In their defense, this particular young man does bear a strong resemblance to the young MJ:)

Saturday Is a Special Day

6:30 am -- 5 miles w/Maren
7:30 am -- bake french toast casserole for Mike's B-day brunch
8:00 am -- Platt breakfast for the Humpherys kids
9:00 am -- soccer game Charlie
10:00 am--soccer game Parker
11:00 am--Mike's b-day brunch
12:30 pm--major fall cleaning/organizing with Chuck
4:30 pm --wrap up cleaning and start on dinner: Thai yellow curry and steak salad
6:00 pm --sit down for dinner (yes, it took me 1.5 hrs to get dinner on the table:)
7:00 pm--bathe kids, read stories
8:00 pm--FAVORITE TIME OF THE DAY: Kids asleep
8:30 pm--clean kitchen
9:30 pm--web-based research
10:30 pm--2ND FAVORITE TIME OF THE DAY: collapse into bed

Does this Saturday schedule sound familiar? This is why I love Sundays, day of rest.

When They Are Learned They Think They Are Wise

A few days ago a friend sent me this link to a talk that Elder Dallin H. Oakes gave at BYU-Idaho this week. He spoke about the Constitution and religious freedom-I really enjoyed it and found it to be a great resource to explain our position on the marriage debate. Elder Oakes clarified the argument by explaining that the issue is NOT about the civil rights of homosexuals. It is about religious freedom and our right to protect what is inherently and traditionally a religious institution.

http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/religious-freedom

Later the same afternoon my dad showed me this article.

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_13546968?IADID=Search-www.sltrib.com-www.sltrib.com

It is an article from the Salt Lake Tribune in which Sen. Maj. Leader Harry Reid (a former stake president) critizes the Church's position on Prop. 8 in California and argues that the Church had no business being involved in that issue. I think he would do well to read Elder Oakes' talk, not only to be reminded of his own Church's teachings about marriage, but also for a little lesson on the Constitution and the role of government in protecting our freedom of religion. I suppose I expected a little more because he is a Church member, but I guess he is also just another politician who will do anything to stay in power, including compromise the values he supposedly espouses and sacrifice the principles of Christianity that are the basis for the Constitution he has sworn to uphold. (Whew! That was a long sentence...sorry:)

I can't help but think of these verses from the Book of Mormon: "O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not...But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God." (2 Nephi 9:28-29)

More Catching Up

The boys are loving soccer--even Charlie, who does not have an aggresive bone in his body. Jane loves trying to steal the snacks.




In Utah, we visited our mission president and his wife. It was so much fun to see them after so many years.



And yes, I'm finally getting around to posting "first day of school" pics. They were both ecstatic as you can see:)

Family and friends watching Trey "walk on water" at the pool. One of the most hilarious things I've ever seen.


Charlie and Brit taking the truck for a spin.


The three stooges


Funny Girl


Jane at the ward campout at Green's Peak