A trip to Oakland

A couple weeks ago we went down to see the Oakland Temple. It was a little bit foggy that day, but the pictures turned out pretty well. While we were there we saw a sculpture display by Angela Johnson. The exhibit is entitled "The Healing Power of Christ." The exhibit was very beautiful and we are glad we saw it. Here are some pictures from around the temple grounds.

Bradley stopping to smell the flowers.
You have to walk up stairs to get to this balcony garden that surrounds the temple.

These flowers remind me of you Darcy!

I thought this one was very pretty and unique. I am not sure what it is called.

I was having fun taking pictures of the temple from different angles.

This stream starts at the fountain in front of the temple and flows down to the street. The parking is on the right of this picture.

Andy got drafted by a couple in our ward to take some pictures. They were there for a wedding and we just happened to be passing by. We really enjoyed the temple grounds and we were so glad that the elections are over so that we didn't encounter the protesters!

Nov. 9, 2008

The Fuzzy Pumpkin Ring...

The story of the "Fuzzy Pumpkin" Ring started when Mr. Pumpkin and Mr. Fuzzy were discovered at the scene of a double homicide. Detective Essay was in charge of the investigation and soon realized it would be a long and dangerous journey to find the ring leader, none other than the PumpKingpin!

Mr. Pumpkin & Mr. Fuzzy's mug shot.

The first victim was identified as Peter Parker, the one and only Spider Man! Apparently the first radio active spider bite was a failed assignation attempt on his life. Detective Essay learned that the Fuzzy Pumpkins were going after all Peters. The pieces fell into place after he over heard Mr. Pumpkin mumbling to Mr. Fuzzy about "Peter, Peter pumpkin eater!"

The second victim was Identified as a witch called Nymphadora. She had been in the area preparing for Halloween when she heard about a jungle with machetes. She went to check out the validity of the tails and ended up plastered to a door. Mr. Pumpkin and Mr. Fuzzy were arrested at the scene of the crime and kept for questioning. However, they did manage to escape twice. Each time there were attempts made on Detective Essay's life. Due to great amounts of courage, skill, and experience he was able to over power and eventually re-incarcerate the pair.

After Mr. Pumpkin and Mr. Fuzzy's second jail brake Detective Essay was assailed by this Sumo Pumpkin and four Ninja Spiders. There was a great battle, but Detective Essay prevailed.



The Sumo and Ninja's awaiting Detective Essay.

The Sumo Pumpkin took great pains to prepare himself for his fight with Detective Essay. I think the Ladybug ribbon really helped him focus his Tia-chi

Did I mention he is a black belt Sumo Pumpkin?

Here we have our Cat Faced Spider Ninja. Hand picked for this mission due to his cat like reflexes. Also a black belt!

Next is the Black Widow Spider. She was picked for her ability to get close to men and dispose of quickly and quietly! This black belt leaves no survivors.

Next we have the 'common' Garden Spider. There is nothing common about the skill and easy in which he can dispose of pesky Detectives using only Two blades! Also a black belt.

Finally we have the elusive Brown Recluse! He is probably the hardest, most unfeeling out of the whole gang. He strikes with no warning and disappears without a trace.

Detective Essay was lucky to apprehend all of these hardened criminals. In the end he was able to put Mr. Pumpkin and Mr. Fuzzy into the witness protection program in exchange for their help in bringing down the PumpKingpin, who was identified on Halloween as none other than the twin sister of the late Nymphador. With all the evidence against this woman Detective Essay was soon able to confront her and stop her evil plots. However, we do have evidence that she and Detective Essay have some personal feelings for one another, and that is why there has been NO court date set as of yet.

*For a more in depth look at the Fuzzy Pumpkin Ring plot and down fall please request a copy of the October Neighborhood News!

Happy Halloween

We started out our Halloween activities by carving pumpkins with our cousins. We did do a little bit of Trick-or-Treating on Halloween, but mostly we just waited for the ward Trunk-or-Treat on Nov. 1st. The boys loved dressing up in their costumes. Bradley caught on to the whole trick-or-treat thing quickly. Daniel didn't like all the weird people everywhere. He was more content to be with mom or dad.

Bradley with our pumpkin

"The Boys" in their costumes.
Bradley was so excited to be cookie monster.

Daniel liked his Tiger outfit after I let him look in the mirror, and as long as we didn't put the hood on.
The Headless Horse Man paid us a visit. The boys thought he was more funny than scary.

Daniel, Bradley, Anna, Jake & Seth (Those are some handsome little Air Men!)

Bradley & Daniel after knocking on the door. Bradley is examining his goods!

The ward Trunk-or-Treat party was set up like a carnival. The boys loved the games especially the cup cake walk. Bradley did very well at that.

I helped man the ping pong put. They had to toss ping pong balls into cups. One girl got 7 out of 8 ping pong balls in to the cups!! We gave away stuffed animals for prizes. I had a lot of fun!

This is the put put course. I loved the inscriptions on the head stones.

They had face painting at the party and Bradley got an air plane. He was so proud of it. It took me about 5 minutes to talk him into washing it off before bedtime. We finally agreed that if we took a picture of it, and let him wipe it off, then he would be okay with it.

Trip to Utah

We decided to go visit our aunts and grandma and grandpa during their fall break. While we were there we helped them with potatoes, gathering firewood, making cookies and having picnics with our cousins.

Go for wood...

My parents shared a wood gathering permit with one of our good family friends. They picked some dead trees out up the canyon to cut down and haul home. We went out two different days to gather the wood. (When I say "we," I mean my family! Having two little boys to watch makes it hard to do anything, but watch two little boys.) The boys loved being up the canyon. The first day we went up Chicken Creek and the next day we went up Deep Canyon. Unfortunately I didn't take my camera up Deep canyon, so the pictures are all from Chicken Creek.

Hauling the wood into the wood shed.

Up Chicken Creek Canyon

Rachel and Bethany splitting logs at Frank's Flat up Chicken Creek.

I really got there in time to see all the hard work they had done and snap a few pictures. They had to haul the tree up a hill from where they fell it.

They cut the tree down down by the tree with the yellow leaves. They broke two cables trying to pull the tree up the hill so they could start cutting it up.

This is the big park of the tree!

Deciding how to tackle the last part.

The lovely assistants stacking the wood on the trailer.

Digging Potatoes...

Aunt Malea driving the tractor.

" Hi Mia!"

Linda and Grandma getting their next orders from Bradley.

Andrea wondering when I was going to quit taking pictures and get back to work!

Daniel helped sort the little potatoes.

Bethany and Sheena loading the bags.

Bradley helped Grandpa take the tractor back down to the farm.

Picnic at Great Grandma's house...

Bethany and Brenda in deep conversation.

Our cousin Angela.

Cousin Dallin

Daniel

Aunt Andrea

Aunt Malea

Four generations! We are so happy we were able to meet our newest cousin Kaylee!

This is our cousin Rorie. She is such a little doll! She always has a very serious expression on her face. Only the very most entertaining people, like her dad, can get her to smile.

We had a lot of fun visiting with everyone. We also got in on an on going investigation of the "Fuzzy Pumpkins." We plan to do an entire post dedicated to the investigation.

Oct. 14-22, 2008