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Joseph started 1st grade this year. This is a picture of him on his first day of school. We walked about 10 minutes to his bus stop. The realization hit that he was not going to be with his Utah friends anymore, so he was sad when he got back. Of course, his best friends moved too. One moved to Vegas with his family and the other moved to Lehi. We have their addresses so Joseph can write them. On Friday, Joseph said that 1st grade "was an interview of kindergarten and preschool." He meant review, but so far, that is all it is. He did see 4 butterflies hatch from caterpillars in his classroom. We also signed him up for soccer and one of the boys from his team is in his class. He is starting to make friends, but he misses his BFF's from Mrs. Ferrin's class.

One day after church, Joseph came downstairs with socks on his hands and feet and socks for weapons. He was a sock monster and was throwing the socks at everyone. We laughed when we saw him. He is wearing his Phineas and Ferb socks which he stated that, "Dr. Doofenshmirtz must have built a sockinator."

Samuel has a new habit of collecting plants. It started in Utah. He wanted to carry the tomatoes or squash from the garden in the house. He also collected sticks and branches and had his "garden" in the sandbox. One day he said to me, "Heavenly Father makes me pick plants." He LOVES plants and everywhere we go, he collects them. He and I went for a walk this week. He had his cuties, a puppy and an alligator toy, and started to collect any branches he could on our walk. I convinced him to only bring home one in the end.

On a walk on a different day, he saw these flowers and wanted a picture with them. His backpack has his cuties inside so his hands could be free during our walk. My mistake. Once his hands were free, he started to gather.

No, we did not send our son to gather fire wood. This is his collection that he walked home with and which is now sitting on our porch. I tried to get him fake flowers because they don't die and leave messes in every room, but he likes the real thing. Of course, he enjoys the fake ones too. He has a vase and lots of fake flowers that he plays with. We hope he grows out of it, but our son may end up being a botanist (that isn't a bad thing). He is our little boy that eats raw onions, loves broccoli and pea popsicles (frozen veggies), and salsa. Samuel is also reallly big into volcanoes, tornadoes, and hurricanes. He likes to look through the books from the library for pictures. When in doubt with a way to distract him, show him a volcano video. We also have noticed that he is definately a lefty. He throws and writes with his left hand. At times, he does things with his right, but by and far, we have a left-handed child living in a right-handed family. He is lefty like his grandparents Rankin (I am actually not sure about Grandpa Rankin), Grandpa Nunez, his uncle Jeff, and Aunt Alison and Chrissy.

This is Joseph, daddy and Grandpa at a train show. Joseph was excited to walk around and see all the cool stuff. AS a bonus, Grandpa got him a Pokemon toy that he saw. Joseph is big into Pokemon. He has changed his career choice from video game designer to vet. He also told us we can never go on a cruise because big cruise ships leak oil into the water and kill sea turtles. That is another new love. He wants a pet turtle. _______________________________________________________________________________________ We had the elders over for dinner tonight. They asked if we read scriptures as a family. To be honest, we are not good about it, but no need to fear. Joseph was perfectly clear about our familial scripture habits. He told the elders, "we aren't the type of family that reads scriptures." Embarrassing, yes. Funny, yes. We do have FHE most weeks, but yeah, we know what we need to work on. Now we will be the example that the elders use in the future when they talk about the importance of family scripture study and how kids notice what happens in their home. "one time we met with a family on my mission..." The elders are nice. We have had them over a few different times. Tonight I made impromptu enchiladas. I had planned on making a roast for dinner, but the marinade I used was strong on the cumin. I luckily had stuff to make a Mexican dinner. It turned out better than expected. The boys and I also baked my Grandma Nunez's butter cookies yesterday. When I bit into one, it took me way back to the days of eating them at her dining room table. She always had them when we would come and visit. We also made crazy crayons out of broken crayons. _______________________________________________________________________________________ All in all, PA is a beautiful place to live. It is humid, but the scenery takes my breath away. I see it and it fills my heart with joy and gratitude. There is a cripness in the air as fall is approaching. I love it.