See?

First, I'd like to direct everyone's attention to a touching little tribute to parents that my sister-in-law wrote. It includes some pretty awesome pictures. Thanks, Kendall. In case you can't tell, this "Kenta" that she keeps referring to is my brother. By extension, we have the same parents, which is why I am referring you. Of course, if you didn't know this, I'm not sure why you're reading my blog.
Second, here is something that I find amusing: I bought Dane some little board books for his birthday. They are Tonka books, so every page has at least one truck in it (see how I'm training him to be masculine?). Most of the books are pretty cute, like Colors! and Numbers! It seems pretty intuitive how they worked the truck theme into those. But then there's Words! Since it is a ten-word book, I'll write it all out for you:
STRONG
FAST
MIGHTY
BIG
TOUGH
FEARLESS
DARING
HARD-WORKING
DEPENDABLE
FUN
That is it. This is supposed to help you teach kids words? With a bunch of synonyms? Lame synonyms? And doesn't it sound eerily similar to a certain someone's performance review visual aid?

Children's literature at its best.
Finally, I also found it amusing that I actually italicized the names of these ten-word books. Nerd.

Before the Snow

Yeah, it snowed like six inches the other day. It's pretty much all melted away now, but I feel like autumn was achingly short this year. And the snow always seems to last forever. But I did get a nice little autumnal photo shoot with Dane before it was too late.




Isn't it magical how the leaves seem to be falling right over him at exactly the right time? Yes, I scooped up some leaves and let them go at the right time.
Then, I stuck him under a tree for some reason, but it was cute.


Blech...I've run out of things to say. But enjoy these pictures of fall frolicking.

President Barack Obama

I heard this thing on the radio about a text message that was circulating among the African- American community:

Rosa sat so Martin could walk
Martin walked so Obama could run
Obama is running so our children can fly

Regardless of how each person voted, I think Obama's victory means something significantly good for our country in terms of what has been our society's status quo for so long. Racial barriers have been knocked down, and I am excited for the opportunities that are open to minorities, opportunities that we--and I think I can include myself--didn't have before. That makes me feel good.

Happy Halloween!

Well, another Halloween has come and gone, and we had a great time. Dane's first debut in his costume was our ward mother's group Halloween party, but of course I forgot my camera. Maybe I will get some from my friends.
Anyway, then the big day was here, and we went to a party at George & Melanee's. Here is the best picture I could get of Dane, since he was very adept at taking off his hat:

Toad! In case you don't recognize him, he is Toad from Mario Brothers of Nintendo fame. Let me know if you recognize Toad or not; at church, I found it was 50/50. I am not very happy with the pictures. I may have to dress him up again and get some better shots.
Anyway, Joel and I got in the spirit of things, too:




Here are some more pictures to show how good Dane was at taking off his hat:


I also made a little Ghost Fishing game that was a big hit among the little kids, literally and figuratively. I had to confiscate the fishing poles before an eye was poked out, but it was fun.



Even though we didn't watch Thriller this year, we had a great time. Thanks to George and Melanee for hosting us.
Happy Halloween!