Halloween

Happy Halloween! We love Halloween at our house. Except this year, Scott was still out of town for work. He just barely missed it, he should be home in a few days. He's in Louisiana, which in and of itself is a long trip home....but they have a detour to Phoenix on the way back. So Spencer and I missed him this year. Fortunately, I live with, and have family close. Spencer, Natalie, and Alex are all about Mickey Mouse right now. Natalie's absolute favorite is Donald Duck; it's her alter ego. Every time we talk to her, we refer to her as Natalie Donald. And when she's pretending to be something else, like a vampire, it's Donald pretending...so she is then Natalie Donald vampire. So of course Natty was Donald. Originally Alex was going to be Mickey, and Spencer was going to be Pluto. I really liked the Mickey costume, and turns out Alex was terrified of the thing, and would not put it on. So Spencer was Mickey, and Alex wore a sweat suit with a skeleton on it. I was Minnie, to compliment Spencer. Our Halloween route is becoming a tradition. We always start out by going to our neighbors house; they give out cans of Pepsi every year. They are probably some of the most generous people I know (When Spencer was born they gave him $25 in Sacajawea dollars...because every kid needs a piggy bank:)) I got my Pepsi, and Spence couldn't leave without his. We then went to my stakes "Trunk-or-Treat". We love the trunk-or-treat, lots of candy very fast:). Plus it was fun to say hi to all the people who use to be in my ward (I've said it before, new stake boundaries, 5 wards instead of 6, and of course my ward, which was the first ward organized in Boise, established in 1936, was the main one to get dissolved). So that was fun. Our stake had a chili/hot dog feed along with the trunck-or-treat, so we had dinner. After that, we made a stop over to our good friends the Matagi's (Sefa, Fanua, and Naki). After the Matagi's we made our stop to my Grandparent's house in Meridian. Natalie, Alex, and Spencer love going to Grandma & Grandpa Mortensen's house. They have a cow (not right now), a creek with a rope swing going through their back yard, trampoline, a big tree house/jungle gym type area, lots of room to run, and lots of fun toys. Out of all the toys, Spencer is drawn to the Halloween, and everyday, decorations. My grandma has an awesome wooden Noah's Ark, with all the animals in it, Spencer can't get enough of what he can't touch. So we always stay and visit for awhile. After that stop we always go over to my grandparent's neighbors. Ever since I can remember, (the neighbors) they have always had a teacup poodle. Teacup is the smallest breed of poodle, just under toy. I remember one named Monique, and one named Sadie, and the one they have now is named Tina Marie. Spencer loves Tina. After that we stopped at our Aunt/Uncle's house down the road, then called it a night. Every stop we make, is a visit, not just a trick or treat and good bye. At our last two stops my 2 year old Nephew Alex would stand at the door, after we rang the doorbell, and say, "Come on in, come on in, come on in"....he knew that's what whoever answered the door would say. That's why we love truck-or-treat, it lets us get lots of candy, because we don't go to very many houses. It's fun with kids this age, because once they get older it turns into a "hang out with friends" holiday, more so than a family holiday. We aren't too exciting around Halloween....but then again we aren't too excited ever.....but we had fun. Probably not as much fun as Scottie though. He spent Halloween on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, the crapper.

Too much fun?

Loves to Bounce!

Howdy Western Folk!!!!

Hi guys - this will be my first post. I figured since I was away from home so long, I'll go ahead and post some pictures for my wife to see. So here it is! We'll see how I do. I'm very amature still :P We'll start by the drive through Texas. It's nuts! We were located in a City called Kilgore. Major towns around it would be Overton and it was about 60 miles from the East Texas border. The trees were INSANE around here. Everywhere you drove, they were thick; I mean THICK!!! Thickest treed area I think I have ever seen in my life. I've been to Victoria, Canada - I thought that place had trees.... hahaha nothin compared to this!

This is what it looks like when you are looking in on it.. it doesnt quite do it justice, but it is really think. (I was using my phone so none of these are excellent..)


When you get to a new state, you have to take the appropriate schooling/testing for that state. Since we already had Texas, we didnt need to go for that one this time, but we did have to take Louisiana's, because well you guessed it, that's where we were headed next. We got in around 1 o'clock in the p.m. so we couldnt take the classes today; so we went and had fun! We took off down I-10 to New Orleans and toured the big city! I dont really have any pictures of the city (yet) but I will soon enough! I do, however, have one of the mighty Mississippi River! That is really somethin else! It's HUGE! The Colorado River is plenty big, but this river has been a part of alot of U.S. trade for good reason - it can handle it! I want to go gator wrastlin' but some local warned me that it wasn't safe, but stay tuned anyway incase I get a chance!

Since we are so closed to the ocean, and the fact that in some places, New Orleans reaches 14 feet below sea level, all of the cemetaries are above ground in this area in crypts. Bob (my boss, and one of the owners of the company) made the comment it would be EXCELLENT paintballin terf - his words, not mine ;) I tried catfish for the first time.... not recommended. I like fish but there's something about catfish that just doesnt do it for me. yuk! Anyway, that's all I have as of current. but I will keep y'all posted as soon as I get more fun stuff together!

Future events/jobs: Traveling to Phoenix on the way home to check out a job that we have to do a week or so after Thanksgiving, so you know where I'm gonna be staying ;) There has also been wind of a job in Detroit,Michigan, and another one in Spokane, Washington sometime in the near future. Im pretty sure I can take Carly and Spencer with me on those! Love all of you and Ill keep ya posted! Sendin love from the Deeeep South, Scott :)

Marching Band

After babysitting my niece and nephew for a while, we all went down to District III marching band competition at BSU's stadium. My little sister, Katie, plays the snare drum on Borah's drumline. Bands from all around the area compete. All the way from Marshing to Cambridge, Weiser, Payette, Fruitland....way out there....everyone comes. It's a pretty big deal:) Like everything there are different classes. The 148 piece band from Caldwell had nothing on the 12 piece band from Marshing. And if you Nampa/Caldwell people are interested....Canyon County takes the cake in marching bands. Nampa has one the last 5 or 6 years in a row. Caldwell, Vallivue, and Nampa did awesome. When I was there Borah had 100, give or take, piece band which has now dwindled to 60ish. The entire Boise/Meridian has been bumped down to class 5a small division, while all of Canyon County has been bumped up to 5a big division. Like I said before Caldwell had 148 people! Maybe the "band geek" stereotype is changing.....maybe not. At the end of all the performances, while the results are being tallied, the Keith Stein Blue Thunder Marching Band (BSU) performs. My little sister and I would go the past few years just to watch BSU perform....that's what we call fun:) Borah did awesome, however they get docked points because they don't have a color guard (people who dance around with the flags). They had one but they quit. Yes......the entire color guard quit. However even with those docked points Borah still managed second place (in their division)! The picture at the top, is a picture of the drum line. Katie is the snare on the left end.


Spencer had a blast. I was worried about him sitting for too long, and wanting to get up and walk around. And if you've ever been at the top of the the top level of a stadium....it's high. So I put a harness on him, he still falls a lot, and that would be quite the fall. If you look really closely, there is a piano in the middle of the field. As of this year, BSU is one of the only schools, where all of the pianos in their music department are Steinways. There are pianos in every room, and every practise room (50 or so practise rooms). It's a pretty big deal, especially since Steinways are over $20,000 easy, closer to $50,000. As a piano player, thats why it's upsetting to see people who have these nice pianos in their homes that never get played....because I'll probably never have one. So BSU became part of some Steinway organization deal....so for BSU's show they brought out a sparkly bronco blue Steinway.



I know it looks like we are by ourselves....we were sitting on the top corner of the crowd. (Scott knows I don't like people sitting right behind me:))

Just watching the show.


Hot Stuff!!! For those of you wondering, those jackets are short and stiff. They make the pants like that, so when you hold your arms up to play an instrument, your stomach wont show.
Even though he had fun, he was defiantly ready to go!

Error

I forgot to title the last post, and move everything up. But when I went edit it, I can't get any of it to come up. It's just blank. So ignore the huge space and between the date and the post.

Scott did end up going out of town. When he left, he told me that he was going to be gone a week to a week and a half. Then I talked to his boss, our elders quorum president, and he said any where from one to four weeks. So I am uncertain at the moment when he will be back. Since he is gone, I am posting more, so he can see what we are up too.

Today we went and played in an open gym. There is a community center in Boise that does an open gym twice a week for toddler/preschool age kids. It costs $1.00, cheap fun! They bring in mats, balls, "Little Tikes" brand slides, and those "Little Tikes" brand red and yellow cars, hula hoops, and a lot of toys. Spencer had a blast, he loved watching the other kids. He would just stand there and say, "WEEEEEEEEEEE" as they went down the slide, or did something fun. He loves being around other kids.

If you have followed my blog...remember the picture I posted of him laying on this stomach, on those mattresses? He can't resist anything soft. If there is anything on the floor that is soft, he has to lay his face down on it.

That was tons of fun!

Yes! I got the shot right before cousin Alex ran in front of the camera.

Ouch!

In the zone

Feeding the Ducks

My older sister likes to take her two kids down to Ann Morrison Park, to feed the ducks. I rarely go with her, due to my fear of birds; they're frightening. I had a terrifying incident with a dumb bird, named Petey....long story...and now I hate birds. My sister decided to take her kids to feed the ducks today, before it gets too cold. I knew that Spencer would love it, so we decided to go. I borrowed one of those kid harnesses, and lease, to put on Spencer; I knew that he would want to get closer than I would. Like I figured, Spencer loved it. He loved running into a big flock of birds, and watching them fly away. He also kept getting uncomfortably close to the geese, I defiantly don't trust the geese. Everything was going fine, until Spencer spotted a seagull. This seagull was walking right on the edge of the bank, right where the pond started. Spencer was a few feet behind it, and just followed it. I figured the seagull would just fly away, or jump in the water...but it just kept walking. It was going fast enough so Spencer couldn't catch it....but not terribly fast, it didn't seem to be too scared. I decided to pull the camera out and video tape him. As I fumble it out of my pocket and try to turn it into recorder mode, I notice that Spencer had walked into a huge mud pile. It was bizarre because this mud pile was only a few feet long. There was sand around the entire pond, but no mud...except for this one spot. He, of course, fell down. As I came to grab him, I realized that it wasn't mud....it was a huge pile of bird crap. I don't have the slightest clue as to how so much bird crap could end up in one big messy, mud-like, pile...but it did. Luckily I was only a few feet away, so I could grab him before his hands could get anywhere near his mouth. I had to run him over to my sister, who held his hands while I ran to the car to get wipes. And of course, there were no wipes! You would think that two people, with three kids who all wear diapers, would have some wipes. Luckily I had a thing of Kleenex and a first aid kit. This kit had a whole sleeve full of sanitary wipes, soap towelettes, and alcohol wipes. So with those, and a whole bottle of hand sanitizer we cleaned him up. Then he got stripped down, and we went home. We were only there about ten minutes or so. Can't have much more fun than that!