Never say Never

I think one of the best things in the world is going outside and taking a deep breath of cool, autumn air. Lovely.

Fall is paramount. Cool temperatures, fruity-pebble leaves, and clean, crisp air. Mmmmmmmm.....fruity pebbles.

This month hell froze over and we bought a cat. Cam and I have been talking for a while about getting a pet for the kids, but I just wasn't ever ready to make that commitment, especially after going through 2 fish in 2 weeks with Josh (killing 2 fish so quickly kinda' traumatized him--plus, we killed 2 fish in such a short span of time I was kinda worried what would happen to a real pet.)

Cam called me on a Saturday saying he saw a sign that read "free kittens." He stopped to take a look, and the rest is history. We figured Dax's birthday was coming up soon, so there ya go, Happy Birthday Dax with a new little kitty!

So far I am VERY happy with our pet decision. The kids LOVE the cat, the neighbor's kids love the cat, and all in all the kitten has only scratched a few times (even when being held by his neck, or a handful of fur about 80% of the time.) I figure it's all about the kids anyways, and if they are happy, I'm okay with cleaning out poop from a litter box. Oh yeah, Josh named the kitten Danny Rocky Eggertz (yes, as in Rocky Balboa. We still don't know how he came up with "Danny".)


Joshua

Josh has had a good month. I have started volunteering in his class once a week, and I love to see how he acts in school, how he's doing academically, and how his teacher likes to yell a lot (okay, I don't like that part.) It's great to see how well he's doing, even if I did catch him and 3 other boys sitting in a circle, punching each other in the "tenders." (what is with boys?)

Josh also started his first year of soccer. I keep telling myself (and telling Cam) that it is a learning experience and that at least he's having fun. I keep repeating that thought every time Josh runs away from the ball or stands around talking to his teammates or the other team. So he's not aggressive! So what! There's more important things in life than taking a ball away from someone or scoring a goal. Right? When we ask Josh why he's not in the action, or why he doesn't steal the ball away, he replies "because it's mean." So, at least he's a sweet heart. We'll just keep working on it.

Daxton

3 years old!!
Isn't he the cutest little pirate you've ever seen?!

It seems odd that Dax is already 3, and yet seems odd that he is only 3. So much has happened since Dax was born. He was born in St. George, then we moved to Farmington (in Shera's home), then moved to Kaysville, then had Ella, then moved to Belgium, then moved back to Utah in Nana's house, and finally back into our Kaysville home. This poor kid has been on quite the roller coaster since he arrived, but now we are taking it easy and enjoying the ride.

I recently started a music class in my home once a week. I invite the neighborhood kids and their moms to sing some songs with us. It is a lot of fun. My motivation in starting it was the excitement and smiles that emit from Dax and Ella whenever we sing songs for family home evening.....however Dax has yet to utter a single word during our singing class. Go figure. Hopefully he'll warm up soon.

I threw Dax a "Pirate Party" for his birthday, complete with treasure hunt, pin the patch on the pirate, and a pirate cake (it's supposed to be pirate hat. At least it tasted good.)

Ella

The sas is emerging. Plus she's getting kinda emotional. Can you say girl? Today at lunch I was braiding my hair and Ella was mesmerized. She kept asking for me to turn around and to show her my hair. I love girls!

Ella LOVES the kitten, and is always chasing it around the house, up the stairs, down the stairs, and under the bed.

This month Ella got her "big girl bed." As soon as we painted it and set it all up, she was all smiles. It is so cute to see her climb in, lay down with her bunny, and pull the covers up. Such fun!

Also this month, Ella fell down our front steps--nose first. Ouch.

Cameron

Cam wasn't able to summit Gannet Peak last month, due to bad weather. I am just glad he made it back safe and sound. He said it was the most miserable experience of his life. Bad weather, treacherous terrain, and they had to sleep a night in a cave without their gear because they couldn't make it back to camp before it got too dark. Doesn't cuddling in a cave with 2 strangers sound fun? Not strangers anymore! They barely got any sleep because they were so cold, someone had to keep a fire going while others would take a rock from the fire and put it in the cave to try and stay warm.

However, Cam did have a great time biking "Wasatch Crest" with my sister Shera, and bro-in-law Jeffrey. It ended up raining on them, which made the path all muddy, which made the 3 of them muddy. Why is it that mud always seems to make things funner!? (as long as a hot shower is involved afterwards.)

Me

It wasn't fun,
It wasn't free,
I got a colonoscopy.
The doc was nice
And rather lean,
He said my G.I.'s squeaky clean.

So apparently all by bowel issues have nothing to do with my gastro-intestinal tract. (did I really have to spend $450 out of pocket to be told that?!) Look at that!! I almost made it through a blog post without mentioning #2!

On a more pleasant note, I have pulled out my "domestic" ticket and am riding the train baby! This month I canned for the first time in my life. My good friend Wendy a.k.a. "Susie Homemaker" and I canned peaches together, then the next day I did tomatoes from my garden. It's great!

I have also made lots of zucchini bread, and have grated and frozen several bags of zucchini so I can make more this winter (what else am I supposed to do when our plant is crankin' out zucchini like it's nobody's business?!) I also made the boys matching bedspreads. Look out Martha!