Thanksgiving

Happy belated Thanksgiving to all ya'll who are reading this now. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We join the number of sick people to add to the count, if anyone is counting. But we still had a fun Thanksgiving despite being under the weather. We went to my parent's for Thanksgiving day and went with my family to Hodges Gardens in Louisiana. I will post pics as soon as I get them. I'm getting my dad to make copies from his camera since I seem to have misplaced mine. Anyway, Hodges Gardens is a place my family has been visiting since I was a kid and it is an awesome beautiful place. The trees were beautiful this time of year, all different colors. This is something we are not used to here in Galveston. It was refreshing to see all the trees standing upright with their tops still attached. I had become so used to hurricane trees I forgot what it was like to see normal trees. We stayed in some cabins out by a beautiful lake. We rented canoes and went boating out in the lake. We also hiked the main gardens which are full of waterfalls and flowers. Although this time of year it was mostly the red and yellow leaves that were so beautiful. It was pretty cold and rainy but we were still able to enjoy it. We're back home in Galveston now and as I said earlier, we've all got colds. I've got pregnancy nausea also so I'm feeling pretty yucky but I am glad I was able to have a nice Thanksgiving with my family.

Shoes, shoes, shoes, and more shoes!

So...for a long time 'Quoia wouldn't wear shoes because she didn't see any need to strap leather to her feet to protect them since she didn't even walk on her feet. (If we could find something to strap to her bottom on the other hand...that might be helpful.) However, one day Tam, decided to strap shoes on her and force her to wear them. Whatever happened, you can definitely tell that 'Quoia has taken a liking to her shoes. She now scoots up to us demanding that we put shoes on her feet. Normally she demands we put her own shoes on her feet and they don't match. Today though, she demanded that I put on her feet shoes and shoes and shoes, and then...more shoes. Here is a picture.

First of all she is actually wearing two of her own shoes in this picture. She's also wearing Phoenix's sock on her right hand/arm along with one of his shoes. On her left foot she has one of her shoes on and Phoenix's sandal. And while I don't have a picture of it, she is currently wearing Tam's red and black leather shoes. She's sporting one of them over her sandal on her right foot. For such an anti-leather-wearing-gal, she sure has changed!

The following pictures show just how crazy she's gotten.

This is actually her arm!

Phoenix's sandal over one of her own shoes! It's shoes madness. I just can't wait until she starts explaining to me how she has no shoes to wear with any of her outfits. I'm practicing my eye rolls already for that big day. Many people tell me just how much of a boy Phoenix is, but 'Quoia is definitely all girl. I wish all of you could hear her stomping around in her shoes right now. It's cute.

Oh dear, what's a dad to do...

Surprise

Having weaned Sequoia after nursing her for over a year, I was excited to get my body back to myself again. I started working out again and started eating healthier. Things were actually sort of easy with a one year old and three year old. I might also add that with my new diet I was faithful about taking my vitamins and birth control every morning. Then on Saturday I realized I was a couple days late, not too much to worry about right? By Monday I bought a test. I really didn't think anything would come of it. Dave and I weren't planning on having another critter for a few years, and I had been very diligent in taking my birth control. Test number one results: positive. Well obvioulsy that can't be right. Test number two results: still positive. Now wait a minute. Can I take this back? This can't be right. Well, I am (gulp) happy to say that yes we are expecting Grantham kid number three. Dave was thrilled, and if I didn't have three months of nausea ahead of me I would be ecstatic also. I am pleasantly surprised and I am sure Heavenly Father knew I needed another little blessing in my life. I'm putting my sister Andrea's baby ticker with mine because we're actually only about ten weeks apart. I'm really excited about that. It'll be fun to have kids so close in age. Possible baby names so far: Sur Prise, Acci Dent, and Oops!

Halloween

So here it is! I've finally got our halloween pictures up. Phoenix had decided last year that he wanted to be a firefighter for halloween. You'll see him as a firefighter in the three pictures on the bottom from the ward party. I bought him a pirate costume to wear to the Rennaissance festival, so on halloween he switched from firefighter to pirate.

Arrgh! Phoenix and Carter raiding for some treasure! Dave taught Phoenix to say, "Gimme treasure!" instead of "trick or treat" so when they gave him candy instead of treasure we had to explain that Daddy was just kidding.

One of our only shots with Sequoia actually wearing her hood. She was little red riding hood but not for long!

Here's firefighter Phoenix.

Here we are at the ward party. Congrats to Dave who performed his first magic show at the ward party. And congrats to Sequoia who won the cutest baby costume award.

Lorena and Chris

Congratulations to Lorena and Chris! They finally tied the knot despite being chased off by Hurricane Ike. They were actually married in Oklahoma after evacuating from Ike. We held a small reception for them at my sister's house in Beaumont.

Lorena poses with her favorite red headed nephew. Sequoia's upset that she didn't catch the boquet.

My sister Andrea, on the left, Lorena, me and Quoia, and my Mom.

Family Update

I've decided to take a break from all this Ike stuff and talk about our family. Dave started back to work this week doing a dermatology rotation in Texas City. He's had a nice schedule and he has weekends off so I'm not complaining. It's been nice to have Dave around. Dave has alreay gotten 10 interviews for residency. We're still wondering how we're going to pay for all the plane tickets but we're excited that he's got so many options. Sequoia is really getting to be a "daddy's little girl." He's usually the one to give her a bottle at night while I'm getting Phoenix in bed. She's definitely get him wrapped around her little finger. Quoia's favorite word is "cheese!" She uses it to say thank you and please. This is also the word she uses any time she sees a camera. Of course Phoenix is a daddy's boy also. We like to play "smash" together. For those wondering, smash is a glorified pillow fight. Sequoia's even getting in on the action now. We've been enjoying the fall weather and having fun with the friends who are able to stay here in Galveston.

Galveston after Ike