Pirate names

In case yer thinkin' of hittin' the high seas in search of treasure, ye don't want to use yer real name. Our crew went to an online pirate name generator to get proper pirate names:

Cap'n Bobby Skullcracker (Jason)
Cap'n Snookie Caraway (Yvonne)
Mad Molly Henke (Melissa)
Dirty James Beckett(Colin)
Mad Brutus Mosby (Carson)
Cap'n Diego Firebeard (Dylan)
Bloody Raja Haynes (Levi)

Give it a try and let us know yers -- if ye dare. Arrrrrrrh!

Where did September go?

It's hard to believe our busy, crazy, September is over. To recap....

Carson turned 11 on September 5. He is now officially a Boy Scout. He went on his first campout, and received his Arrow of Light.

Colin turned 12 on September 21. He was ordained a Deacon by his dad and passed the Sacrament on his birthday.

Levi turned 4 on September 24. He thinks that he should automatically go to school now. Don't four-year-olds go to school? (He was thrilled to get a white shirt and tie like Colin -- a sure sign he is getting bigger.)

Colin, Carson and Dylan finished up another baseball season. All three played well, learned a lot, and had a good time. But, after four nights a week at the ballpark, we look forward to being home a few nights a week.




September being over, however, leads us to a busy October. Melissa's 18-and-under fall softball season has started. She will be playing in tournaments for the next five weekends. Three of those weekends will be in Southern California, and a final one in Phoenix. Can you think of any better places to play in the fall?

War Is the Gamble

We support and are proud of the many friends and neighbors who have served or are serving our country. Colin wrote this poem last year and we feel it is appropriate to show our appreciation today.

War Is the Gamble
War does not make boys men,
it makes men dead.
Every kid plays war,
but it's all pretend,
it's never a gamble.

In the war there are no soldiers unwounded,
not all soldiers get cuts and scratches,
but all are touched by the war,
none can go to sleep at night
without see their BFF drop dead again and again.

War is like a game of Russian Roulette,
it's a game of luck,
and the grand prize is your life
yet you don't get to choose which one,
it is like flipping a coin.

It takes 20 years of war for a man to have peace,
yet it takes only 20 seconds of war for a man to be dead.
War is a matter of time and patience,
war is a matter of bravery,
and it all ties together for peace...until war starts again.

Colin Bohne

Labor Day weekend at Spring Mountain Ranch

Over the long Labor Day weekend we (minus Melissa, who was in Utah with friends) went to Spring Mountain Ranch, a state park just west of Las Vegas at the base of Red Rock canyon. The weather was cool (by our standards, around 90 degrees) and we had a good time playing catch, reading, hiking, and eating a picnic lunch. We also toured the ranch house, which was once owned by baronness Vera Krupp and later by Howard Hughes -- it's a neat step back in time.

Levi the photographer

Levi has learned how to operate Yvonne's digital camera, so we all have to be on guard when he has access to the camera. Here are a couple examples of his work -- the first a self portrait (he takes a lot of those), the second a candid of Yvonne at the grocery store after Levi has asked Yvonne about 50 times to look at him (she looked, and he clicked).

First week of school

Summer is over...wow. The kids are back in school -- Melissa is a high school junior; Colin starts middle school as a sixth grader: Carson rules the school in fifth grade and Dylan is in second grade. Levi, well Levi is still home. Alone. So alone. After a week (three days for Dylan, who picked the first week of school to be sick), all is going well and the kids are happy with their classes and their teachers. As you can see from the photos, the kids didn't mind lining up for first-day-of-school snapshots.

Bedtime story

Jason and Colin goofing around late one night (check out Jason's sweet pj pants). Another example of us never having a dull moment.