Take Luck

Today my two youngest brothers are off to serve church missions in South America. Chile, to be exact. This means they will spend the next two years of their lives doing missionary work. It's amazing, I tell ya. They are leaving on the very same day to serve in the very same country. How cool is that? Though Bryant is headed for the bitter cold and Brad the humid heat, they'll be in it together. What an experience it will be. I am so proud of them.

So Elder Hodson and Elder Hodson, TAKE care and good LUCK!

62 and Sunny

That is what awaited me as I returned home from a Thanksgiving holiday in Seattle...where the weather was neither 62 nor sunny. It was cold, too terribly cold for my California blood.

In fact, I was at a store buying some items a couple days ago and the woman at the counter asked to see my ID. (Sadly I was still using my Oregon ID at the time...now I have my CA driver's license, I promise). And she asked if I was new to the area or just visiting. I avoided a long story and told her I was new to the area. She asked if I was enjoying the weather. I answered, "As a matter of fact, yes! It's just perfect!" She replied, "It's nice, but has been pretty cold lately." At 62 and sunny, I guess she has California blood too.

Halloween

Owen was not a lion.
He was not a flying Elvis.
And he was not a Guitar Hero.
He was a turtle. A very cute turtle.

Of All Places

When the San Jose earthquake struck yesterday, I was at the salon getting my hair cut (of all places). My hair stylist had just finished washing my hair in preparation for the cut as the earthquake began. If you've ever experienced an earthquake, you may relate. There is that initial moment when you aren't sure what is happening. Then you begin to realize what's happening, but your body isn't reacting yet. Your mind kicks into gear and starts imagining all sorts of scenarios. This building is going to come down on me with a wet head and hair that begs to be cut! Or Mark and Owen are not here and I may never see them again! Then finally your body begins to move in slow motion. You move to the closest safe spot, which in our case was a large archway in the center of the salon. And we stood there, frozen, while we waited for it to end. Others in the salon were running in every direction. I heard someone shout, "Earthquake!" And soon after it stopped. No damage done, but very scary.

And oddly enough, I was at a salon (of all places) about a year ago where I was getting a haircut during a rather large storm. The power went out, and I found myself again with wet hair. We didn't regain power for a good half hour. So we dragged a chair to the window and used the dim evening light to finish the haircut.

And last winter I went to a nail salon (of all places) with my mom to get a pedicure. We wore our flip flops, even though it was the dead of winter, so we could easily leave the salon and not ruin our freshly painted toes. Well, while we were having our toes done it began to snow. And snow. And snow. By the time we were through it had turned into a winter wonderland outside. We had to trudge back to our car and scrape the snow off in those dreadful flip flops. We didn't get far before we realized we were going to get stuck in the snow like the dozens of other cars on the side of the road. The house was only a 5-minute drive away, but it took us an hour and a half to get there. Long story short - let's just say I have experience putting snow chains on a car during a snowstorm while wearing flip flops.

Fabulous Fall

I may be a little late in posting about the beginnings of fall. But here in sunny San Jose we have just begun to see it. The leaves are turning, the air is crisper, and porches are painted with pumpkins.

A couple weeks ago my sister (Britanny)came to visit with her daughter (Alice). We took a trip to a local pumpkin patch to usher in the season. The patch was beautifully decorated with all sorts of pumpkins and fall flowers. We took a turn on the carousel and the harvest train. We saw giant-sized pumpkins, tiny pumpkins, multi-colored pumpkins, even a pyramid made of pumpkins. Owen and Alice loaded up a wheelbarrow with pumpkins...and Britanny and I unloaded it. The weather was a cool 72 degrees. Fabulous!

Eeny, meeny, miney, mo

Today's Pumpkin King...tomorrow's Prom King

Aside from picking out pumpkins and decorating the house, we have also been enjoying fall goodies; candied apple pork chops, butternut squash soup, pumpkin bread, and spooky sugar cookies.

And I'll be saving THESE two treats for Halloween Night!

Three Things

I have been busy with many things lately. Take these three, for instance:

I am stocking my fridge with all sorts of yummy pureed fruits and veggies, which means lots of steaming and blending. And so pretty on the shelves!
I am eagerly preparing for Halloween; making very serious costume choices, buying treats, and decorating the house to boot. Stay tuned to see what Owen will be for Halloween night.

And I'm watching this guy. He lives in my front yard on a geranium plant. He kind of creeps me out, but I'm too curious to get rid of him. Does anyone know what kind of spider he is? (As a point of reference, his body is about the size of a quarter.) He's big!

The Break In

It went like this. Owen and I decided to go outside and play for a bit before dinner this evening. We went out the front door and spent about a half hour exploring the yard and enjoying the beautiful weather. Not long after, Owen was ready to eat so we proceeded to go back inside. Wait. Door knob not working. Were we...gulp...locked out? I hadn't locked the door, but for some reason it wasn't opening. I jiggled it. I shoved it. I couldn't believe this was happening.

Maybe there was another door unlocked. (Afterall, we have 5 entrances to the house. Surely one of them was open.) AND NO. Okay, maybe I could get in through a window on the first floor. No luck there either. They were secure.

With no spare key, no cell phone and a hungry little boy, I started to panic. I WAS locked out! And to make things worse, my dear husband was...and still is...in China on business. Totally unreachable. My next thought was to walk to the neighbor's house and call our good friends Kim and Caleb who live in the area. I was certain I had given them a spare key. Hold up! I don't know their cell numbers! Who memorizes phone numbers these days when you can just scroll through your cell phone book and press "call"? Who else did I know? Being relatively new to the area, I didn't know anyone else I could call.

Despair was settling in. I was racking my brain for any last ideas. I REALLY didn't want to go next door and introduce myself to my keep-to-themselves neighbors. "Hi, I'm Bridgette, your relatively new neighbor...and I wondered if I could have something for my son to eat, and oh, could I also call a locksmith because I can't get in my house!"

One last thought entered my mind. If I could pull a ninja move, perhaps I could break in to the house through a second-story window. And it went like this:Success! I managed to avoid an awkward disaster with only one single scrape to the arm. I'm not that great a ninja.


Note: Turns out we have a sticky latch on the front door. It did, in fact, lock itself when I closed it. So a new lock is in order. And have you ever tried to photograph your own elbow? Not as easy as it looks.

I Give You...Bridgette

BLACKBIRD

About one year ago at this time I had just welcomed a new baby into my world, and I was excited to take on the great adventure called parenthood. Mark, meanwhile, was busy welcoming a baby of his own into the world and has since spent the past year parenting a top-of-the-line gaming machine. While I was oohing and ahhing over the miraculous design of our little one, Mark was oohing and ahhing over BLACKBIRD'S design. And now BLACKBIRD has been released to the public. Mark's baby has flown the coop. (Thankfully mine is still around!) It is an amazing machine, really. Check it out here.

Now tell me, who's cuter...Blackbird or Owen?

Summer Travels

We recently returned from a whirlwind trip where we visited both sets of grandparents. It was such a good time that I just had to post a couple of the highlights.
First stop - visiting our Utah family. We quickly got reacquainted with the hot, dry desert weather. And even more quickly we cured it...with lots of playing in sprinklers.
And then came Seattle, where we spent a downright good day at the fair. While there we participated in a world-record-breaking event for the most people doing the "Bunny Hop" at one time. The goal was to have 2,000 bunny hoppers, and rumor is that we succeeded. So look for us in the next Guinness Record book.

And Many More

A milestone! We recently celebrated Owen's first birthday with a gathering of friends and family. It was a very happy birthday indeed. And as I think back over the past year I cannot believe how much has happened since he was born. But mostly I canNOT believe how fast it's gone and how much my little "o" has grown. So here's to many more birthdays to come. We love you Owen!

Firsts

In this first month of the year I thought it appropriate to post some of Owen's firsts. He's had quite a busy month. He experienced his first snow...quite a bit of snow I might add...while staying with his grandparents in Seattle.

He made his very first snow angel. It was just too cute!

He tried his very first rice cereal. Note: NOT an instant favorite

And he got his very first haircut. (He's wearing a bib because he kept trying to eat the cape. Wish he'd do the same with rice cereal!)