Emily's Tag

Spencer 9 months

Mom's Tag

Well i'm at work so this should be interesting. Here it is, first file seventh photo:

Saga of the Goldfish

About a month ago we went to Spencer's soccer carnival. It is sponsored by the AYSO and basically consists of a bunch of booths with games sponsored by the various teams. One of the booths offered the opportunity to win a goldfish if you could throw a ping pong ball and land it in a small fish bowl. Aubrey, the lover of all animals, immediately wanted to spend some of her tickets to try to win a fish. We told her that she could not have a fish but she was welcome to waste her tickets trying to win a fish she couldn't have if she wanted to. So she tried and of course she won. These days they don't seem to hand out the actual fish but rather a coupon which can be redeemed for a fish at a local pet store. I told her to give the coupon to another kid or throw it away since she couldn't have a fish and she got very indignant and told us that it wasn't fair that she couldn't have a fish because she had won it after all. I informed her for the umpteenth time that life wasn't fair and if you don't believe me just ask your Grandmother Reed. She continued to sulk and pout for the remainder of the afternoon but by nighttime she was back to her old self and I thought that she had let it go.



Than night as we were pulling the covers down to go to be we found this under a pillow:

The following morning we told her that her letter was very cute but that she still could not have a fish but we promised to think about it. She seemed to accept this and again I thought we were done. Five days latter under our pillow we found a picture of a goldfish with a big question mark on it. I asked her why we should let her get a fish when we are always having to remind her to take better care of her existing pets. She asked that if she took better care of her existing pets would we possibly reconsider. I used the we'll think about it line again and hoped that she would just give up and forget about it. A couple of weeks went by and we thought she had finally given up, then this showed up a few days ago addressed to whom it may concern:

I thought we had already decided this but hope springs eternal I guess. She has been doing a better job of taking care of the dog and the cat but we really don't want a stinky fish in her room. We finally made a deal with her that if she could run the mile at school in under 12 minutes then we would allow her to redeem her coupon as long as she bought the bowl and other fish accessories. This will be a real hurdle for her unlike getting good grades which for Aubrey at this stage in her life is about as difficult as breathing. She is very excited and has planned out a training regime she is going to start after school today with her friend Katy. So what do you think? Were we too soft? Have I been manipulated by a 10 year old?

Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

A few weeks ago we went to a local farm to get pumpkins. Murray Family Farms is a small organic farm that grows a large variety of fruits and vegtables which you can go and pick for yourself. This year they put together a fall festival with crafts, mazes, a hay ride, and a petting zoo. We went with Heather's sister Terri, her husband Joe, and their little boy Graham who is about two months younger than Will.

This is in a maze they made in their blackberry patch.

Will and his cousin Graham in the corn pit, I think they look like a couple of old men.

Aubrey thought that this was a very funny joke, she shared it over the intercom at school last week.

Spencer showing of his face painting.

The Asparagus maze was fun because you could snack on fresh asparagus as you navigated the maze.

The hay ride took you out to their nectarine orchard where they had planted small pumpkins and gourds between the rows of trees. A week earlier a bear had been coming down from the hills and hanging out in the orchards but luckly he wasn't around this day. Why will babies never look at the camera?

Biker Dude

Spencer has been riding his bike a lot lately and wanted to share this video of him riding. He is almost ready to take the training wheels off.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Last night Aubrey and I went to Mormon night at the Dodgers. Ever since we first went to a Dodger game a few years ago with Eric and Abby, Aubrey has become quite a little Dodger fan and is always wanting to go to a game so we thought Mormon night would be a good chance to go. On the way down to the game we stopped at In and Out burger because believe it or not Aubrey had never been there and really wanted to try it. She thought it was much better than McDonalds and I have to agree.

As we were walking into the stadium they took our picture. This seems to be very common anymore at large venues where they take your picture and then you can go online to view it and buy it for an exorbitant sum. Anyways here is our "official" Dodger Stadium picture http://www.printroom.com/popupImage.asp?evgroupid=0&img_id=102175651&effectRGB.



Here is a picture that I took before the game started.



As we were sitting waiting for the game to start I noticed two elderly gentlemen with Dodger jerseys standing around home plate with some young adults. One the the jerseys said Perry on the back and when he turned around I saw that it was Elder L. Tom Perry. It turns out that he was going to throw out the first pitch. I pointed him out to Aubrey and she was very excited to see an apostle in real life. After the first pitch and the national anthem Elder Perry left the field and started up the aisle to the exit and I realized that he was going to walk right near where we were sitting so I told Aubrey that we should go and say hi to him. Most of the people seemed to have no idea who he was and so it was easy to go up to him and introduce ourselves. He was very friendly and shook our hands. This was the first time either of us had ever been in the presence of an apostle and it was a very unique experience. I definitely felt like I was in the presence of a very special and spiritual man. At 86 years old he seems very healthy and vigorous and has a firm handshake. He is also quite tall. Needless to say Aubrey was very excited. I wish now I had asked him if we could take a picture with him but he was leaving and I didn't want to bother him. I did try to snap a picture with my phone as he was leaving but my phone takes terrible pictures if there is any movement at all. Here is the picture, Elder Perry is the blurry man in the white dodger jersey and blue cap.



The Dodgers ended up losing the the Arizona Diamondbacks 2-1 but that didn't matter because we had a great time and created some good memories.

Hummingbird Nest

We first noticed this hummingbird nest on the side of our house a few weeks ago. The babies are now big enough that we can see them clearly above the rim of the nest. The look very squished! For reference the nest is built on a coax cable coming from our satelite dish that is about the diameter of a McDonalds drinking straw. The parents don't seem to spend any actual time in the nest and just visit to feed the babies. This isn't quite as exciting as deer in the front yard like the Whites have but we thought it was pretty cool.