Beatuful Houston

I have decided that Houston is generally a pretty ugly city, but there's still lots of beauty to be found. From a night to the lake last week:

 

 

Grateful to have such beauty in the world a wonderful family to share it with.

Happy thanksgiving!

Katniss, Peeta, and 2 tigers

Thought I'd post a few Halloween photos. Sharon went all out and made tiger costumes for the boys. I think she did a great job. She's also been pretty excited about being able to braid her hair like Katniss, and she felt pretty cool borrowing our friend's bow and arrow. My costume was decidedly less cool. But I did have a district 12 patch that Sharon made.

Michael is really intense here. I love his hair.

Rarrrr

You can probably tell I made these, since if you look carefully you can see bloody bone fragments on the severed end of the finger cookies. It's the little things that make all the difference. I thought Enoch might be scared of these, but he actually loved them.

Sharon took the kids to something called the Oil Ranch with people from the ward while I was taking exams.  It's basically a fancy pumpkin patch with trains and tractors and farm fun. The boys got to ride a horse, but I don't think either of them enjoyed it.

Michael's favorite trick is to put his fingers in his mouth when he's upset.

The ordinary

Most of what we've done recently hasn't been too unusual. Just life around the house, trips to the zoo, children's museum, studying, tests, and such. But it's a good life and we're trying to enjoy the ordinary.

Recent photos

Every night for the past month, Enoch has read Goodnight Moon to Michael. He loves routines, so it's to the point where he gets very upset if he doesn't get to read it to him. It's very endearing.

Enoch and mommy singing a song. Enoch loves to sing.

Showcasing Michael's new waling skills -- he just turned a switch and decided to start walking -- and Enoch's  proof-of-potty training underwear

More walking skills

Favorite way to read a book

Enoch loves doing puzzles

If he doesn't get 20 seconds to brush his own teeth before I take over, he gets very upset.

A place you can stay

Enoch and Michael, this post is for you. I usually secretly make fun of people that express their emotions through popular music, but that's exactly what I'm going to do here. You can laugh if you want, that's fine. But when you're both old enough to start going out in the world and making decisions, I hope you take the lyrics of the following song to heart.

Catch you, darling
I'll be waiting
I am on your side

This offer would be standing
All you've got to do is call
Don't be afraid to knock on the door

If you should fall upon hard times
If you should lose your way
There is a place
Here in this house
That you can stay

This song (called Deadlines and Commitments) is by Brandon Flowers from The Killers, and he's also Mormon. Being a Mormon rock star probably has given him a lot of perspective about the poor decisions people make, and I imagine that he was reflecting on this and wrote this song for his daughter.

Your mother and I hope that we can be the best parents possible and help you both grow up into stalwart young men that make good decisions. But if either of you should ever lose your way, there will be a place in our house that you can stay. Our door will always open to you.

We love you both.