So Inspiring

Our ward had a musical fireside last night. I brought Cole with me and while he fell asleep almost immediately, I really enjoyed it. The absolute best part was the last solo number "Bring Him Home" sung by our Bishop. It was amazing! The song is from Les Miserables. The Bishop said that he was dedicating it to the missionaries who were serving from our ward. Hearing the song from that perspective makes it so powerful. His voice was phenomenal and sounded just like Jon Valjean. Just to refresh your memory, here are the words to "Bring Him Home".

(Valjean is standing over Marius at the barricade)

VALJEAN
God on high
Hear my prayer
In my need
You have always been there

He is young
He's afraid
Let him rest
Heaven blessed.
Bring him home
Bring him home
Bring him home.

He's like the son I might have known
If God had granted me a son.
The summers die
One by one
How soon they fly
On and on
And I am old
And will be gone.

Bring him peace
Bring him joy
He is young
He is only a boy

You can take
You can give
Let him be
Let him live
If I die, let me die
Let him live
Bring him home
Bring him home
Bring him home.

Just Another Day in Paradise

We went on another beach trip with Jaime and her boys today. We stayed for hours and had a great time.

A sad little pilgrim

Cole's class did a Thanksgiving program last Friday. They sang four cute songs: Five Fat Turkeys Are We, This Land Is Your Land, Albequerque Turkey, and A Turkey Ran Away. I love Kindergarten!

Cole got throught the first 3 songs just fine, but by the time I took this picture, sadness had hit. He later explained that he was sad because at the end of the third song, he didn't hear me laugh. I did infact laugh, the song had a cute punchline at the end, but of course, he couldn't hear me because of the large, noisy crowd. He was expecting to hear his mommy's laugh clear as a bell. I assured him that I laughed and that helped him a bit.


After the song, the kinders walked to their feast. The picnic table looked very festive.


Oh no, sadness again! This time he is nervous about the food. His teacher encouraged the kids to try a taste of everything so he thought he really had to and was cringing at everything he saw being placed on his plate. His teacher quickly came along and removed the offending foods from his sight. He finally was able to eat some mashed potatoes.


It's just so hard to be a pilgrim.

Why exercise is bad for you

My poor, sweet Clay. Last week, while he was at work, he decided to do some light exercise during his lunchbreak. So he walked down to the train station, where there is a large flight of stairs, and went walking up and down the stairs for a little workout. Afterwards, as he was walking back to the office, he started to feel a little dizzy, lightheaded, etc. So he stopped, leaned against a pole for support, and then passed out. A lady who was walking by called an ambulance.

When Clay came to, he told the lady that he was fine and he needed to get back to work. She insisted that he just lay still. He didn't realize that his head was bleeding and dripping quite a bit of blood all over his nice dress shirt.

At the hospital he had to get staples for the cut on the back of his head. Also, he had to stay overnight so the doctor could run some cardiac tests on him (Clay's heart rate has always been low so they thought his heart might have contributed to the fainting). The tests were inconclusive, but Clay had had enough of the hospital and came home instead of staying another night. He did however have some nice conversations with the 600 lb man who shared a room with him. The other two men in the room were older; one of them liked to take off his gown and put it over his head, and the other never spoke.

Classic: eating McDonald's instead of the terrible hospital food.



Okay, totally corny picture of me and Clay holding hands. But I just loved that I got to go cuddle with him that night (thanks Jaime for watching the boys!) and I loved holding his hand, and it was such a role reversal to have him be the one connected to an IV.

Update: Clay is feeling great and will be following up with more tests with his regular doctor.

On dresses

I love all the girly stuff that's out there. And if I had a little girl, I would have her wear fluffy, ruffly, sparkly dresses.

This dress is similar to the dresses Cole and I saw at Costco today. I had to laugh at what he said when he saw the rack of dresses like this. He pointed to the dresses and said,
"Oh look Mommy, they're still selling Halloween costumes!"

Our Giant Pumpkin

Clay's parents grew giant pumpkins in their garden this year. We were more than happy to take one of them home, which we did at the end of September. We didn't think this huge pumkin would last until Halloween, but it did, and well beyond. Clay and the boys finally decided it was time to carve it and see what kind of a mess was inside. This pumpkin, or Jim as Cole calls it, is not without blemish. In fact, it looks like it has some abnormal facial growths, but we still think its great!


It made a wonderful seat,


and a wonderful stool,


and a wonderful companion.


and a wonderful treat. Thanks Jim.

A New Park

We've lived here for over a year, but we just learned about this beautiful park, just 10 minutes or so from home. We had a lovely afternoon playing there on Veteren's day. Several of Cole's classmates had decided to go there too, coincidently, which made it extra exciting. I love that there's a nice, small bike path that circles the playground so Cole can ride while Luke and I play and he always stays in sight. There's other bike paths that just go on and on that we'll need to explore more.



A popular activity at this park is playing in the bushes! There are little paths and tunnels all through them, like a maze, with many entrances and exits. Cole and his buddies love running through the bushes and feeling like little adventurers.

A birthday card

It was Clay's mom's birthday last week so the boys gave her this card. This card idea was not my own. But I thought I'd pass the idea along cause it was pretty fun to make. And lets be real, I'm proud of it, I'd like to show it off, no way to sugar coat that.

Say Cheese

Cole finally got his school pictures back. I love this boy!

Happy Halloween!

Cole and Luke had a great Halloween. We all had so much fun! On Friday, Cole's school had a costume parade. All the kinders were asked to wear black so they could all be spiders. Cole really enjoyed the Halloween party that his class had that day too. I love how school just enhances holiday fun. He made so many cute halloween crafts and halloween books, and they even had a pumpkin day where they each brought in a pumpkin to do math and science activities with.



That night we went to Steve and Breanne's Halloween party. Where to begin...it was just...wow! Breanne must have pulled some all-nighters getting their home ready. (I didn't take pics of the decor because I'm sure Breanne will post better pictures than my camera can take.) Anyway, Luke and cousin Connor had a blast playing in Blake and Malia's room, which gave me freedom to enjoy some of the amazing food. Breanne really thought of everything. Their place looked awesome, their costumes were great, and there was just tray after tray of deliciously spooky food and treats.


On Halloween, Cole enjoyed frosting some sugar cookies with his grandma and cousins.



Then we all drove to great grandma Lyla's and great grandpa Tommy's to deliver some of the cookie masterpieces and show them the kids costumes. Getting a picture of them all together like this was not easy. The big kids had to hold firmly onto the little guys.


That night we attended my parents' ward trunk or treat. Here's Cole and Luke crossing swords. Cole was a knight, in case that was unclear, (it does kind of look like a space suit), and Luke was our prince (bummer--he NEVER let me put his gold crown on him.)



There were fun booths set up for the kids. Here's Cole doing the donut eating contest.


There was a booth for making sucker ghosts.


He went fishing for a prize.


Made a caramel apple


and visited the haunted maze.


I had to get a picture of my parents, Kobe and Zorro. (I did my mom's Kobe tattoos, which I'm pretty proud of :)


Had to get a picture of this guy too, or Iron Man. He made a grand entrance after dinner and immediately got everyone's attention.


I don't have any picutures of the actual trunk or treating--Clay was passing out candy while I took Cole and Luke around and I just couldn't multitask like that. Luke kind of maybe understood what was going on a little. I asked him to say "trick or treat" at each car. His "trick or treat" went like "tic-a-buh".
We drove home early this morning. Here are the boys carrying home their loot.