Last Saturday our ward did a chili cookoff and had games and contests and such.  It was a fun ward party.  There was what Serra now calls the “Pie Race” or a pie eating contest in which Brian participated and was creamed by many others.  He claims that if it were a contest with unlimited pies instead of a time limit, he could take them all.  Anyway, a guy by the last name of Pope beat everyone including the Bishop who has been talking smack about his winning the last two years.  So now the joke is that the Bishop got beaten by a Pope.  Ha Ha!

Rosie has conquered the stairs and can now navigate both up and down.  She learned how to do that because she also knows how to unlatch the “baby” gate.  So much for outsmarting kids with latches. 

And now the moment you have all been waiting for.  Holly Hobbie and Mulan.

Serra went to a unicorn/princess birthday party yesterday where she was supposed to dress up.  We pulled out her costume from 2 years ago and amazingly we could still zip it up.  It was a bit short, but worked nontheless. 

We thought ya’ll would enjoy seeing some of Serra’s birthday since we were galavanting around the country during the festivities. 

  OK what have we been up to?  I am in the process of making Halloween costumes.  Serra’s fancy Mulan is done and Sophia’s Holly Hobbie is a major work in progress.  I had no idea hers would be so time consuming.  On the days that Serra has preschool I spend the 2 hours she is elsewhere to work on matching pajamas for Christmas for the girls.  It is really fun to work on suprises this year. 

Serra turned some kind of maturity corner a few weeks ago.  I don’t know what it was, but she rarely has to be asked more than once to do something.  She is eager to help and please and is a huge help keeping Sophia happy.  She plays hide and seek and tag with her and it is really fun to watch how much fun they have together.  You will be able to see by the pictures we took yesterday how much they adore each other.  She surprised me yesterday by reciting the whole pledge of alligence almost word perfect or at least key words and phrases.  She can almost sing the whole alphabet as well.  It may seem a little late to be learning that but she wasn’t really interested before.  Preschool has changed a few things.  She responds very well to her teachers and is making friends. 

We have a new nickname for Sophia.  The Menace.  She is so busy and into everything, especially things she shouldn’t be into.  We have to keep close tabs on this one or she gets into trouble.  The climbing has become a bit of a problem because she climbs on small chairs and stools that fall over.  She is getting better at getting off the couch and beds.  She figured out she can turn over and go backwards and not fall flat on her face.  It is fun to watch little light bulbs turn on in her head as she figures things out.  She is very observant and mimicks us constantly.  She always tries to steal Serra’s spoons and forks and take a taste of her meals.  This uspets Serra a bit so we have started confining Sophia to her highchair when Serra is eating.  Along with that she is especially interested in everything Serra is doing.  Serra is more patient than any 4 year old I know and puts up with a lot of  the menacing. 

In this old pictures of Serra you can really see the sisterly resemblance. (Even if it is small)

Brian mentioned the other day that he is suprised that his calling as Ex. Secretary is so far the best calling he has ever had.  He is inspired by the men he works with and is learning a lot from them.  He is enjoying it and there aren’t nearly as many meetings as he thought there would be. 

Relief Society keeps me very busy and I am gone in the evenings 2-3 nights a week usually.  The new enrichment program is challanging for me because I feel that I have to participate more than I usually would because of my calling.  It’s working out even though it keeps me really busy. 

Jeff and Maren aren’t alone in the police activity category.  We had the entire Metro PD, CSI, News crews, and helicopters at our corner today.  It was on the news.  An officer shot a bum who was throwing rocks at her.  I think there is more to the story but we had to turn the news off when the missionaries showed up for dinner.  At least it wasn’t gang stuff.  We feel pretty safe in our area.  A post with pictures is in the works, but I have too many projects going on and haven’t spent much time on the computer.  Remember, patience is a virtue.

This is a little long but it was a fun afternoon and I really got a kick out of these Alabama folk.  These are some of Brian’s favorite people from his mission.  I particularly thought the attention they paid Rosie was funny. 

I had a dream last night that Mom had a baby.  It was a 16 lb. girl they named Aricoats and she could crawl right after birth and had a mouth full of teeth.  Weird.

I can’t believe nearly a week has gone by since the event.  I am feeling much better and am back into the regular routine of cleaning, laundry and cooking.  I was really bummed that I won’t be able to participate in the 5k this Saturday.  I am supposed to be taking it a bit easy.  So I get to man a water station instead.  We are going to try to keep some of the training groups running or walking even though the run is done though. 

We had a great time over conference weekend.  Gary and Liesl and family came in on Saturday morning and stayed until Sunday evening.  Jeff and Maren popped in for the majority of both days.  Food, folks, fun, and conference.  A recipe for a great time.  We enjoyed the talks and I think we each took a bit away with thoughts of improvement in our lives.  Let’s hope the thoughts last. 

Serra took most of the conference pictures.  Not bad.

We no longer have a baby in our midst.  We have a full blown toddler.  Nothing stops Rosie now.  At 10 1/2 months she is well balanced on the feet and toddles around quite professionally.  She sings as she explores her new world and gets into all sorts of trouble.  The bathrooms are her favorite haunt.  Open toilets=a personal dipping pool. Toilet paper=hours of endless fun.  She likes to pull off tiny little peices and they end up everywhere.  Garbage=new treasures galore.  Mo agrees with her and follows her everywhere hoping for a share in something stinky or tasty.  She recognizes writing tools and puts them to use on anything she can.  Our walls are no longer safe.  We never had this problem with Serra.  I guess we are learning how different children from the same parents are.   Rosie watches what we do and copies.  During conference I caught her dipping her crackers in a dip bowl.  We were doing it so there must be something to it.  She also imitates sound and it comes out strangely like words on occasion.  She says the mama and dada (sometimes Mom and Dad – that’s weird) and also Mo.  She yells that.  I guess that’s how she is used to hearing the dogs name.  Wa Wa  or Awa is Serra.  And I hear a very distinctive “ba” for ball.  Most of the time she is just yelling to hear herself.  She is a very loud child.  Her hair has stayed curly.  Her eyes are a beautiful bright blue fringed by long dark eyelashes.  We think she is pretty cute. 

Serra is usually a beautiful child as well.  Yesterday, however, she took a spill and bit her lip clear through.  It is very swollen and looks a little bad.  Although she does slightly resemble Julie Roberts with that huge upper lip.  Serra continues to love preschool, and is making friends.  There are mostly boys in her class and she tells me how mean they are sometimes.  Serra can be coaxed to bedtime easily with the promise of a story.  She LOVES to be read to.  That is Brian’s job at night and he usually falls asleep reading her the story. 

Brian falls asleep reading Serra stories because he is working at least 14 hours a day.  He just can’t seem to stop.  That is the problem with having your office at home, I suppose.  There is always something that needs to be done and if it is in the next room it gets attention.  The office is a big temptation to the girls.  There are so many off limit items in there I have to drag them out constantly.  Yes, there is a door – doesn’t stay closed very well. 

I think the state bird of Nevada should be the pigeon.  They are very numerous here.  They usually pick a house in the neighborhood to perch on and poop all over.  When we were house hunting, one of the houses was obviously the neighborhood pigeon house due to all the poop EVERYWHERE.  We went ahead and crossed that house off our list.  We watched with comical horror as the people across the street from our last home here in Las Vegas tried everything to not be that house.  They even had spikes attached all over their roof to no avail.  The winged rats found spots they could perch around the spikes and continued to desecrate their yard and walkways. 

A few months ago when Rosie became mobile the dogs food became her destination of choice.  I made the decision despite peoples warnings of ants and roaches to put the food outside.  We haven’t had any problems with insects since we spray regularly for them.  I noticed a few days ago that we had some new visitors.  Pigeons have started perching on our back fence and roof waiting for me to put out the dog food.  We have to find a new solution.  I don’t want to be the pigeon house.  I am convinced it lowers a home value.  Rosie still likes to eat dog food so I am at a loss as of now. 

Other than all that we are well and good.  Here is a snippet of when Brian gets home in the evening.