A big "Amen"

The other night I was saying a personal prayer while kneeling down next to Tyson's (3 years old) bed. He was asleep, of course, and it was nice to say a prayer while snuggling next to my little guy. When I finished the prayer and said, "Amen", Tyson responded by saying "Amen" right after me. He never woke up. We've had a good laugh about that one!

Tip for fattening up the turkey...

We have all felt somewhat bloated and unsure as to the fate of the 5 lbs of Halloween candy we had sitting around the house. So, we told the boys that we needed to stick it outside so our Thanksgiving turkey could come by and eat it to fatten up for his big day at the end of the month. The boys helped make the sign, bag up the rest of the candy, and stick it outside. They agreed that a fat turkey was better than feeling sugared up for the rest of November.

Where did October go?

This is an excellent question, as it seems like we just slid right into November. The good news is, of course, that we're that much closer to finishing our home and moving in! Here are some pictures of the house as of today. We're told that we'll be able to move into the home within the next month!

We've been talking with our neighbors and figuring out the details on how to split the block walls and other neighborly things. They're pretty great people and we feel lucky to have a good start with them. As many of you know, we live right next door to my mom's sister, Becky, and her husband, Rick. My Grandmother Meg Gilgen lives with them as well, which is a real treat for us. We are grateful to live a few streets from my brother Rod and his family and to have other family so close. We just found out today that we'll be in a different ward than my brother, which only happens in Utah (We literally live within 5 minutes walking distance from Rod).

My dad took us on an airplane ride last week in a rented Cessna 172. It was amazing! The boys could hardly believe they were flying around St. George. Tyson got two turns and felt like a big boy! We flew over Snow Canyon State Park, we flew over our new home that's under construction, and we flew all over the area. It was fun to hang out at the airport that morning and watch planes take off and land. We were able to be within 25 yards of the runway and really feel the planes passing by. If you look closely at the picture, you'll see Andy's head in the back seat.

We had a not-so-funny-at-the-time incident with Riley that is worth sharing. Tyson had drawn some grafitti on the wall and shortly after it was discovered, Riley made sure to let us know who was the guilty party. Check out Riley's helpful message below....

We also had a great visit from Jody's parents in October. They spent about a day with us and the boys had a chance to attack "Pops" with their lightsabers. He was triple-teamed and did a good job holding his own. It was a short visit for them, but we're so grateful they made the trip up to see us!

Last, but not least, we have some great Halloween photos to share with you. They boys had a great time this year and were able to have a family party at Rod and Mary's house along with a late night of trick-or-treating. We heard a dentist in town was paying kids $1 per pound of candy. We should look him up and get rid of our over-stock!

Lizard Attack!

Andy (8) found a cool looking lizard that was bigger than any lizard he'd ever encountered. He picked it up and was showing it off to his friends in the neighborhood when it arched it's head around and started attacking his fingers with it's sharp teeth. Andy screamed and dropped the lizard. We had never seen a lizard like this one before (we don't get out much, apparently) so we looked it up and found out that it was the Desert Spiney Lizard which is common to this area. This is the lizard in it's post-skydiving freeze position. And, of course, here are the battle scars that Andy is taking to school today to show all of his sure-to-be-jealous buddies.

What is Geody?

Well, a friend of ours, Andy Goddard, said that he once met someone named Geody, which, of course, we thought was hilarious. Jody was napping when I named the blog. So, without her consent, I decided to call it Geody.blogspot.com. She said it wouldn't have been her first choice. Maybe she'll set up her own blog to compete with what now appears to be "my blog".

Mini Van Mom's Unite!

Some friends showed us this hilarious clip on You Tube called "Mom My Ride", which is a parody of the TV show where they overhaul some guy's car (ride) to make it really fit. Here's the link: CLICK HERE . Our favorite part is where the owner proves that she's got a man already....

Our first post....whoo hoo!

Welcome to our blog! We have been sending out about 1 email every six months updating our friends and families about our happenings. We've been asked by a few family members to set up a blog and to post to it more regularly. They have a point.... I certainly enjoy reading all of the great updates that get sent out from our family and friends. We have a lot going on as well, and it might be of interest to some of you. We had a website for some time, but I think blogging is going to suit our purposes a little better (and is certainly more convenient).

We are all home from church today, sick with a stomach bug (how's that for a first detail of our family?.....so "up close and personal"). Tyson has broken out with a strange case of hives that we're trying to solve by examining food, clothing, etc to see where there might be an allergy. He's pretty cute about the whole thing. He'll have a patch break out and he'll bring us the antihistimine and say, "my hives are here....I need some med-sen."

The big news is that our house continues to move along well and we're so grateful for the amazing help that Rod (Geoff's brother) and Scott (Geoff's brother-in-law) have been in making this whole thing happen. I know that they have many other things going on, but they treat us as if we're a big priority to them. They are making this a reality for us and we're very blessed to have their guidance and support. The electrical and plumbing is wrapping up, so we'll be ready for insulation and drywall within the next week. We'll try to keep the pictures coming.

It's pretty crazy to see what options are available for a new home. One of the contractors asked us if they wanted us to wire the house so we could install video cameras in the back of the home to keep track of kids from any TV in the house. I can't imagine Jody wanting to send the kids out to play so she can watch them from inside the house. Wouldn't that defeat the purpose? I'm sure it would make for some great reality TV, but it gave us a good laugh imagining us glued to a monitor while our boys play outside. There were other options such as wiring for a generator, iPod dock to run your iPod music throughout the whole house, and so on and so forth. We're amazed at how many add-ons are available for the "house of today". Who knows what the add-ons will look like in 10 years from now....