The Car

The Sorensons in our ward sent us home with this toy on Sunday. Jacob had been playing with it for a few days but was pretty disinterested. Thursday evening Matt said, "I wonder what kind of batteries this takes." We found out it only needed three double A batteries the the video was the result.

To Aunt Lindy's We Go!

Serious Nintendo playing.
Baby Roger all ready for church.

Arianne all ready for church.

Lindy almost ready for church.

Jacob having some down time.

Ahhh! Naked Babies!

We're showing our good side for the camera.

Ahhh! Aunt Kristi with Arianne and Roger.

Look out! He's escaping!

Baby Roger is a Happy Kid.

This is the cake Kristi and I made for Lindy. There's a park bench, an outhouse and a garbage can all made out of graham crackers. You can't tell in this picture but Kristi put a candle in the garbage can and was joking that she lit the garbage can on fire.

Arianne ready for bed.

Haloween

Our ward party was really fun this year. There were so many cute costumes. Jacob was really adventurous that day. He would run off with the other kids and I wouldn't be far behind him. He really liked the fog machine but was a little confused as to what that white stuff was and why he couldn't catch it. His favorite place is the stairs and he's getting really good at going up and now down them. It's nice to not have to worry about him. Last week we were house sitting for Sandy & Jill and they have a split level house. He could go up or down the stairs without any trouble until he got tired and upset. Then he'd stand at the top of the stairs until I'd come over by him and help him go down.

His batman costume turned out to be really cute. It was actually just a pajama top that happened to have a cape that attached with velcro. It was pretty fun to watch him run around in that cape. Dad helped him frost a cookie and then helped him eat it. They really had fun. We wanted to see how he'd do with a donut on a string but we weren't quick enough.

A Typical Day

Lately I've been telling Matt very matter-of-factly what Jacob is

thinking. So here's Matt's turn to go inside Jacob's head.

Lessons from My Garden

In the past month or so the majority of my contact with the outside world has been through looking at the blogs of sisters in my ward. Reading their stories has been a great reprieve to me and I realized that I don't write much about what's going on in my life as this blog was started as an easy way to get pictures to family who we see about every six months. So, with this in mind I share the following experience.

The other day I was sitting at my computer (as I do everyday) looking out the window onto my balcony garden. I saw something very interesting. Look at this picture and see if you can tell what's wrong with it.

If you can't tell this is a tomato plant...and it's dead. In it's last moments it was still trying to produce a tomato. As I thought about how emotionally drained and empty I felt I saw myself in this tomato plant. I was trying to give when I felt I had nothing to give. At enrichment I went to the MAD COW class and one of the quotes talked about how you cannot draw water from an empty well (or grow tomatoes on a dead plant). May we each take a little time to recharge our batteries so we can continue to serve our families and move forward with our lives in happiness.

On a lighter note: Today is the 8th of November and this is what I saw in my garden today.

This tomato plant has decided not to die this winter until it's done growing it's tomatoes. Can you believe it? Fresh tomatoes in November!

This is the baby rose bush I got for Mother's Day. The day we brought it home all the blossoms fell off. This is the first bud we've gotten and, despite the colder weather, it's not giving up either.

A Day At The Zoo

Doesn't it make you want to go in swimming?

Well, maybe somewhere they don't have sharks.

Grandpa Craig, this goat is going to eat me!

No buddy, it's going to eat the food Grandpa Craig has says Mommy.

Mom, this turtle wants to come home with us!

Really, this turtle was trying to walk right through the glass.

It was pretty funny to watch.

The first animal we saw was the merkat (Timone from the Lion

King). They were running right in front of where we were standing.

Here are our friends the elephants.
Dad, which one's the zookeeper? Just kidding. We got there in time
to see the gibons (a kind of monkey) get their afternoon snack.

Jacob thought he could reach out and touch this mammal.

Can you guess what it is? It was Mommy's favorite.
This walrus was swimming upside down! He weighs 3,300 lbs.

That's more than an average car.

After a long day of exploring this boy and Grandma Diana went to sleep early.

It's My Birthday!

Jacob's Birthday Lunch.

He loves his new big boy car seat.

Good Morning Party! Jacob wanted to start his birthday really early.
Mom said, "We have to go back to sleep." We compromised.

Mom's birthday was fun. (That was last week.)

Jacob had fun opening presents. Well, really he just liked the paper.
He also walked around the house carrying a birthday card most of the day.

Jacob wasn't too hungry but he still dug in.Mom! It's on fire!

Jacob had a cake to eat so we needed one too.

Hey Dad, that's my toy.

Baby's first John Deere tractor.

September Fun

Huh?

Is this how you play with this?

But Mommy, I'm not tired.

Faster Daddy, Faster!

Someday I'm gonna be famous.

My third attempt at a Jacob Video

While everyone was sleeping, I made this little video. -Matt

A Good Day Off

My Boys On Watch
Look At the Camera! Silly Boy!
Somehow the best part of our trips ends up being

the unplanned part. We went to a park as the munchkin

was getting restless and ended up feeding the ducks.

I'm not sure who enjoyed it the most.

First time in the sand.

One happy Daddy
Our Walkin' Boy
Get those ducks!
Ocean View
Look, we found the water. Don't step in the Seagull poo.

The Light of My Life