Trunk-or-treat!

This was a pretty fun week for us here in Florida. Last night was trunk-or-treat at the church. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's the best way to trick or treat. Everyone parks at the church and decorates their trunk and hands out candy. It is so much better than walking around all the neighborhoods. Adella dressed up as a kitty, and Kayla was a little fairy.

They had so much fun. It looked like it was going to rain the whole time we were there. It kind of sprinkled, then stopped. Then it rained for a couple minutes and stopped. Then suddenly it started pouring! It was a mad rush to get everything back in the van. We all ended up pretty wet, but it was still fun. Adella is so excited to have gotten so much candy.

Katie has been wanting to get something that we can use for exercising at home. We thought about getting a treadmill, but they take up so much room, and they aren't cheap (even used). Walmart had a little trampoline that we ended up getting. Adella keeps calling it her trampoline. She has a lot of fun on it.

So, my parents are supposed to be coming to visit us today. They are up in North Carolina at Corey and Lu's house. Wyatt is getting baptised today, so they went for that. Their plan was to hopefully fly down here tonight and spend Monday with us. Dad has to go back Tuesday for work, but mom might be able to stay until Wednesday.

Well, since they are flying standby you never know what will happen. The flight they wanted is oversold. That means that they might be able to make it to Miami tonight at about midnight. If that isn't going to work, they won't be able to be here until tomorrow at about noon. That kind of stinks because they won't be here for that long. We are probably going to take them to the beach. It has been rainy the past several days, but they say it's supposed to be nice and only get up to about 80 degrees. I'll take some pictures and put them up next week.

Kayla had a doctor's appointment this week. She is healthy. She weighs 17lb, 10oz. That is normal for her age. Her height was the average for a 10 month old baby (She is 8 months). They didn't tell us her actual height. She had to get three shots. We missed her 6 month check up. She has been in such a good mood since then. We aren't really sure why, but we're going to see if we can just give her a shot every couple days to keep her happy.

One last thing (I think). Katie's brother, Brian, got home from his mission yesterday! We are so bummed that we couldn't be there. He has been in Germany for the past two years. Adella knows he is her uncle, but doesn't remember him. Kayla has no clue, but that's to be expected :). We only have to wait another seven weeks to see him, and everyone else!

Yep, that was the last thing I can think of. See ya next week!

Another week

Well, I'm not exactly sure what I did this week. I'm sitting here now thinking of what I can blog about, and all I can remember from this week is anatomy. We have a big test on Tuesday, so I have been studying that for about two weeks now. It feels like that's all I've done, and I am really sick of it. I'm not real sure why an optometrist needs to know so much about circulation and the names of arteries and veins.

This week was pretty full of school things. I had to stay late twice this week. The first time was to elect class officers. That was pretty lame. Maybe it's just me, but I don't know why anyone would want to add extra things to their already packed schedule. I guess some people like to be involved. I'll never understand that. The second time was for a lecture about ... well, I'm not really sure. I do know that I get an extra percent added to my final grade in biochemistry, that is always nice. The lecture was actually pretty interesting, it just had nothing to do with optometry. It was about stars and the origin of matter.

The girls have been getting up at about 6:40 for the past several mornings. It is getting a little out of hand. It leaves Adella pretty cranky for most of the day. Kayla is ready for a nap by about 8:30 or 9:00, which means we have to keep her up longer between naps, so she can get pretty cranky too. I won't comment on what it does to Katie and me.

Once we get them fed and rested a little bit,

they get back to their typical cute behavior. What a lucky guy I am.

Katie's haircut

I think everyone probably already knows that I cut Katie's hair this week. She has been telling me that she wanted it short again, so I finally gave in. In the past, she has donated her hair to Locks of Love. They need at least 10 inches. That is actually how much we cut off. When we measured it, it looked like about the right length. Well, I guess I cut it a little higher than we planned. She can't get it into a pony tail, and that is what she really wanted to be able to do. I still think it looks cute. Here is a picture to prove my point. The other thing we did this week was buy a new couch. After we paid for it, we realized that it was the first piece of furniture we had purchased (other than a $10 bookshelf). We left our old breaking down couch in Idaho, so we needed something. Well, we checked craigslist, but they were just as expensive as new, but they were used. The one we got folds out into a bed that is surprisingly not uncomfortable. We were just going to get a futon, but since it will be used as a couch more than a bed, we wanted it to be comfortable to sit on. We are really excited for my parents to visit in about two weeks! And now they have a place to sleep! That also goes for anyone who wants to visit us, we now have a place for you to sleep.

School is going pretty well. I am still not loving all the science classes, but I guess it's a necessary evil. We got our schedules for next semester. It looks like some of the classes will be more geared toward optometry, which will be nice. There are a couple of days that I will have class in the morning (8:00), then not again until the afternoon (3:00). I originally wasn't thrilled about that, but then I realized that those are built-in study times. We are really glad that we are in the extended program (5 years instead of 4). The traditional program is in class from 8 to 5 almost every day. I don't know when they will have time to study. I will be able to study all day at school, then come home and be able to spend time with my family. It's great!

I guess it snowed in Boise a couple days ago. That is crazy! I was just telling someone that it doesn't snow until mid to late November. It is still really hot here. The day that it snowed there, it was 90 degrees here! This is not a picture from that day, but it could have been. This is in the pool at our complex. We had decided that if we didn't go home for Christmas that we would go to the beach for part of Christmas day. Wouldn't that be a fun memory? Adella and Kayla both love the beach and pool so much. Kayla will just splash the water and think it's the coolest thing ever. It's cute. Adella will even go under the water (at the pool) by herself. She is still a little nervous about going into the ocean without Katie or me holding her (which is fine with us).

Well, I better get going. I'm going to give the grill another try. I don't see any rain clouds, so I don't think I'll get poured on like last time. Until next week.

I Can't Believe It's October!

Time seems to go by faster all the time. Katie was asking Adella what she wanted to be for Halloween a little while ago and I was wondering why she was asking her so early. She also asked me when we were going to get out the Halloween decorations. I wasn't sure why she was wanting them out so early. That was only a few days ago. Then I realized that Halloween is less than a month away! Of coarse Adella keeps changing her mind, so who knows what she will be. I don't know if I will be able to persuade her as easily this year. Last year she was a "princess fairy" or something like that. This is a cute video from when Katie put her costume on her. I think she was a little bit excited about going Trick-or-Treating. I can't believe how much she's changed in just a year!!!

It was our anniversary on Friday. We didn't really get to go out, but we still had a lot of fun. I had made a bunch of little "love notes" and put them up around the house before she got up. We went to the library after I got home from school. That may sound lame, but if you know Katie very well, that was a great thing to do. She absolutely loves going to the library. I think I scored some brownie points with that. I have been wanting Katie to start her own blog since I started this one. That was her present to me, that she started her own blog. The website for hers is http://www.thejamesjourney.blogspot.com/ Everyone should go look at it. I think more people already look at hers than look at mine. I told her she would be great at it.

Obviously I changed the background of my blog. Katie figured out how to add music (I'm sure you noticed that already) and she even made a cool Halloween playlist for me to put up. Isn't she the greatest? This picture is from her birthday. She had to make her own cake. I felt pretty bad, but it was really good.

The girls sure do love her. I'm still at the top of Adella's list, but Katie comes in at least third (usually). The other day she said something about how I was her favorite. We asked her who was second. She told us that Kayla was next. When she saw that Katie was surprised at that, she got an idea in her little head. We asked who was third and she looked around the living room. The first person-like thing she saw was a scarecrow. That was number three, then Katie was number four. Adella loves to trick us.

Speaking of tricking, I'm pretty sure that Kayla played a trick on me the other day. She likes to grab the vertical blinds at the back door. I tell her not to a lot, but she still does it. It must have something to do with the fact that she is only eight months old. Anyway, I saw her crawling over to them and she reached out her arm like she wanted to grab it. She didn't actually grab it, instead she turned to me with a big grin and waited for me to tell her no. She has actually done that a couple times since then. She is growing so fast, I don't think anyone will recognize her when we go back to Idaho for Christmas. I guess people will just have to come visit us. Hopefully my parents will be able to visit us the end of this month. They are going to North Carolina for Wyatt's (my nephew) baptism at the end of this month, and they want to be able to fly down and see us then too. We really hope they can get the time off, even if it's only for a day.