"Goose"bumps

I'm going to put the picture for this post a ways down so that you only have to see it if you choose to scroll down.






People have commented that Cole's name for his spider, Goose, is an interesting choice. But I have recently found that this name is rather fitting because Goose can easily give people goosebumps. Last Sunday for example...





It was early in the morning when I walked into Cole's room, glanced at Goose's cage and screamed. I wasn't sure what I had just seen and I wasn't ready to take a second look. However, Clay came running in and together we confirmed that Goose had shed his skin. I had read about tarantulas doing this but I didn't expect it to look like this...





Yikes!

Exploring

Last weekend Clay had his intensive class all day Friday and Saturday. So on Saturday we went with him to school so we could walk around the campus.

Cole really enjoyed watching the band practice.


Afterwards we visited a nearby science museum.


It has fun "discovery rooms" for kids to play in and it's free admission. Here Cole is working on some construction. We stayed for hours and still didn't see everything. I guess we'll have to take more trips there.


We explored our own town a little more too. We went to the farmers market this week which was a new experience. Cole loved the roasted corn on the cob.

Halloween Sneak Peak

We just got Halloween costumes for the boys. Cole has already worn his several times and of course has formally introduced both costumes to the old ones.

Strawberries

While I was busy with Luke, Cole asked if he could have some strawberries. I told him to have as many as he wanted. Later when I walked in the kitchen, I saw the tops of 21 strawberries!

On Marriage

On Saturday, Clay watched the boys so I could help with the Prop. 8 campaign. Prop. 8 would be an ammendment to the California constitution that would state that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California. So the church has asked members to knock doors in our neighborhoods to find out if voters know what prop 8 is and how they would vote. I paired up with another lady in our ward and we knocked doors for four hours. I couldn't help thinking of Mark on his mission. I was surprised that no one was mean or rude to us. There were a lot of people not home, or people who hid when they saw us coming. But of those who answered their doors, it seemed like a little more than half were in favor of the proposition. However, we were in a very conservative town.

On a lighter, sillier note, I am very much in favor of marriage between humans and vampires. I have just finished reading Twilight, the first book of four by Stephanie Meyer (a BYU grad). The book is about Edward, an immortal teenage vampire, and Isabella, a human. Edward almost goes mad with his desire to drink Isabella's blood, but is soon overcome with a new thirst, a new need--to be with her, to be near her, to protect her. They fall agonizingly in-love, all the while knowing that Edward may lose control at any moment and kill her. It's a great book. I highly recommend it!

Spoiled

Cole and Luke and I went on a little trip last week to visit our SoCal family. It's so wonderful to be close enough to family to make it least monthly visits.


I always thought it would be fun to try to turn one of Cole's shows into a game. So at his cousins we played "Blue's Clues". It was easy to make and they loved searching for paw print clues and drawing them in their "handy dandy notebook".


We loved spending time with Clay's parents. Grandpa Gary was so nice to take Cole swimming while Luke and I relaxed in the cool breeze on the patio.


Grandma Suzanne knows exactly what Cole will want when he comes over...waffles! This time they made some together.


We visited my dad's mom, Grandma Dorothey too. It was nice to visit with her and get to see the Christmas stockings she's working on for the new babies in the family.


At my Grandma Lyla and Grandpa Tommy's house (my mom's parents)Cole had a fun surprise waiting for him...chocolate cupcakes that were ready for him to frost and sprinkle.

And of coarse it was wonderful staying with my parents during our little get-away. My mom and dad took Cole on dates out to eat and took him and my sister's girls to a waterpark. He had so much fun. We were all thoroughly spoiled but we missed our Clay very much and we are glad to be home again.

Back to School

Clay started school a couple weeks ago and its going well. Before he started classes he had to pass a statistics exam that he spent every spare moment during the summer studying for. We were so happy to find out that he passed! Here he is on his first day of school.