For the past three years Angie has been going to school at the University of Houston and we have never once been to any sporting events. That is until yesterday. She was brave enough to invite us all out to the last home game of the season. It was so much fun. U of H was loosing the whole game and on several occasions I had given up on them, but they taught me a valuable lesson. Never give up. In the last quarter when they were several touchdowns behind they stepped it up and won the game. It was very exciting.


Before we left for the game, Ethan loaded up his pockets with his halloween candy. Unfortunately I did not check his pockets before we left. He had put a hershey's kiss in there and ended up with chocolate everywhere. Luckily for him the DOTS survived.

Today was the Big Event...the primary program. Here is a little preview of Ethan's part just moments before we left for church.

Men At Work

Ethan loves working in the yard with his grandpa. This particular morning he was so excited and impatient that he barely let me change his pants before he went out. So, yes...that is his pajama top he is wearing. I don't normally dress him like that. Saturday mornings really are the best!

Optimus Prime

For over a month now Ethan has been planning on being Optimus Prime for Halloween. He has never seen any movies or cartoons of transformers. All it took was one book from the library about transformers and he has been hooked. Everything relates to transformers and Ethan knows it all...it's amazing what you can learn from a book.

Not only is Ethan hooked on Transformers, but he has now converted his friend Maxie. Ethan and Maxie have been true kindred spirits since they met over two years ago. Where one goes the other follows. Maxie was planning on being the Little Mermaid for Halloween until Ethan shared with her that he was going to be Optimus Prime. From that moment on, all she wanted to be was a transformer, also. Her mom tried everything to convince her otherwise, but eventually gave in and bought her an Optimus Prime costume. So as you will see in the pictures, we had two very cute Optimus Primes.




This is Ethan before his first costume party, a week before Halloween.
On Thursday, the day before Halloween, Ethan's preschool did a costume parade for the families.

Here they are about to embark on a night of collecting candy: Optimus Prime, Optimus Prime, and Rachel Ray (Maggie).

Even Grandpa was able to come trick or treating with us this year. This was his first year where he didn't have to study on Halloween.

Here they are examining their candy. They had so much fun.

Pumpkin Patch

I can't believe it's almost Halloween! Yesterday we went to the pumpkin patch to pick out the best pumpkins we could. Ethan had a great time. He sat on a hay turkey, we rode in a train, pet a goat, and searched through piles and piles of pumpkins for the perfect ones to come home with us.


Angie and Ethan on the train. Ethan is sporting his new heart sunglasses he got at a princess birthday party he went to that day.

Ethan's idea of the perfect pumpkin and our idea of the perfect pumpkin were rarely the same, but he kept on trying.

Even Angie got knee deep in the pumpkins.

Here is a video of Ethan determined to bring home the pumpkin he wanted. Unfortunately our camera died early on, so this is taken on my phone. I can't seem to figure out how to rotate it so you don't have to tilt your head...sorry.

"Take a Hike Ike"

Wow, what a week! Unfortunately Ike did not take a hike, he came right over the top of us. We survived, our house survived, and our cars survived, but our power did not. We have been without power since Friday night/Saturday morning until this morning at 8:45. I was in a very restful, deep sleep (I have been able to sleep in these days!) when I heard a small siren outside our house. I shot up, looked outside and didn't see anything, so I turned around and saw the most beautiful sight I have seen in a long time...the bathroom light was on and my alarm clock was flashing a red 12:00. I shot out of bed cheering, running downstairs to share the good news and no one was around except Ethan. He didn't join in the dancing, he just thought I was crazy.

We definitely are a lot better off than a lot of people in Houston, so I regret all of the complaining I may have done over the last week...

With that said, here are some of the before and after pictures of our house as well as some pictures from our neighborhood.

BEFORE

AFTER

OUR NEIGHBORHOOD

It has been a while since I've posted anything...things have been crazy-busy lately. Ever since Ethan and I have gotten back from our trip we have been preparing for the upcoming school year. With workshops and inservices, we have been trying to get ourselves back on a stricter schedule. It has been so hard trying to get up early and go to bed early for both of us. I think we are having a hard time letting go of our summer. Below you will find a few pictures of the last leg of our trip...CALIFORNIA!

We have also been watching the olympics quite a bit in our house. Ethan has really been getting in to it. The only problem is that he will only root for the Australians and Japanese. We can't figure out why. He gets really disappointed when the U.S. wins. I'm not sure where I went wrong.

We have had a very busy week this past week, so make sure you are comfortable before you continue...


Here is a day by day look at what we have been up to:


MONDAY

Went shopping at Costco, saw the movie "Emma" (very good, by the way), and went to Zupas for dinner.



TUESDAY


Went on campus to the bookstore to get a new hat for Ethan. We left his other one at Elaine's house. I think he made a good choice!





Just kidding, we went with the baseball cap instead.



When Jer got off work we headed for temple square. The highlight for Ethan was riding the train downtown.

The highlight for me was going to Lion House, even though they didn't have my favorite chocolate cake.
We also saw the Joseph Smith movie, the statue of Christ in the visitor's center, and the new church history museum. I wish we had more time in the museum, I didn't quite get to see everything I wanted to. It was definitely worth going to.

WEDNESDAY

Went to LAGOON! We had a very exciting, tiring day.

Here we are about to embark on the Tilt-A-Whirl. It seemed like such an inocent ride...

...until Jer started spinning it out of control. I never did recover fully from the dizziness I suffered. Ethan loved it, though. That was just another reminder of how old I am getting. I used to have a stomach of steel.

Ethan found a feather on the ground that he wanted to keep, so we stuck it in his hat. It actually stayed there most of the day.



As the day went on, he got a little bit braver and braver. At the end of the blog there's a video of him holding his hands up for the entire ride. He was so proud of himself.

It eventually got dark, so we decided to head home. It was hard to convince Ethan of that, though. He was ready to go another round...
...as you can see.


THURSDAY

Amy watched Ethan for me, and I got an afternoon off to spend with old roommates: Kammie and Melissa. We went to Gardner Village and ate lunch and shopped. Then we went and got pedicures. It was so much fun to see them again. It felt like old times.

Then Jer, Ethan, and I went to the park. I think Jer wishes he was 4 again.

FRIDAY

Jer, Ethan, and I decided to try a little hiking. Ever since Ethan saw the "Y" on the mountain he had been wanting to hike up to it. We thought it would be a quick 30 minute hike, but it was much more intense than I had imagined. Ethan was a trooper, though. He hiked the whole thing without being carried (up and down).

SATURDAY

We all went to Boondocks. As you will see it is full of a lot of fun activities. The first thing we did was ride the bumber boats. Unfortunately, these boats also squirt water. Jer and Ethan were quite a team. They were very ruthless.

That is me getting drenched by those two. Ducking did not help.

Afterwards we played a game of golf to try to dry off. As you will notice on my legs I was drenched.

Ethan got his first (hopefully of many) golf lesson.
You will find another short video of Ethan golfing at the bottom.


We then decided to play lazer tag. Ethan was actually tall enough to be able to play...so the three of us stood in line...

...and stood in line...

...and stood in line.

Here is Jer and I (A.K.A. Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia) ready for a battle.
Ethan, last minute (after watching the instructional video), decided he would rather observe than play.



Here we are eating lunch. One of us got a kids meal that came with a toy. Can you guess which one is the kid with the kids meal?

After lunch we decided to take a drive on the GoKarts.


Here we are in line again...you would never know we were related.

At the begining of the race I was ahead, but because of a "drunk" driver ahead of me, Jer and Ethan were able to pass, which put them in...


...first place! You can see another short video of us taking off at the end.

After we raced cars, we went in and played games in the arcade. We ended up winning a few tickets so we bought some prizes...we weren't able to wait until we got home to play with them.

GoKarts @ Boondocks

Golfing @ Boondocks

Ethan @ Lagoon