The Jedi/Hogwarts Halloween '09

So Halloween has come and gone and I thought I'd put up a few pictures to commemorate its passing. Brooke decided a few months ago that she wanted to be Hermione Granger and Bryant (Kenny) decided that he wanted to be Yoda because Bryant (Kenny) likes Star Wars so much. Brooke is now really good friends with our neighbor's daughter and they decided to go trick or treating together. It was a lot of fun and pretty much exactly what you'd expect from two little girls dressed up in costumes, out on the street and hopped up on sugar: running, skipping, screaming, playing tag and giggling. Anyway it was a really great time and an excellent kick off to end of the year holidays!



Happy Hogwarts Halloween!

Braids were our chosen method to give Brooke that Hermionie-ish scraggly poofy hair. In the end we had 16 braids which Brooke loved having to play with.

"Presenting my daughter, Coolio"

One poofy haired Hermione at your service

Who knew the mysterious key to all of the Jedi's powers were a steady diet of lollipops?

"Mommy it's the emperor! Don't worry, I'll take care of him! AAAAHHHHH!"

Brooke with her new Texas neighborhood best friend Minnie Mouse.

(Skip)-a-dee-doo-dah!

And now here's the riveting story of two fictional fantasy characters who crossed paths one Hallows Eve. I will warn you this story is not for the faint of heart, but does demonstrate a valuable lesson about who would actually win if Hermione and Yoda ever actually got in a fight.

"Hi! My name is Hermione:-)"

"I'm one of the most powerful witches in the world except I have yet to find the spell capable of reining in my ridiculously large hair."

"And this is what I think of Jedi Masters who are short and green."

"I sense a disturbance in the Force. Dare to disrespect the Jedi Order someone has."

"Teach the poofy haired girl a lesson, I will with my awesome proportionally accurate lightsaber. "

"Oh Yoda, you reached beyond your means and now I have you and your lightsaber cornered. When will you learn that the Harry Potter series is vastly superior to anything that has ever come out of the Star Wars movies? "

Although generally a peacemaker, Hermione then turns to the most vicious wizarding spell to get rid of the Jedi once and for all. "Avada Keda......................"

"In despair I am. Stayed on swampy planet, I should have."

"Lift myself up, I must, and harness all the power of a true Jedi. Take that Hermione!"

"Escaped I have and demonstrate, I will, the strength of a true Jedi"

"Won, I have, but what prize will come to the victor of the great battle?"

"Get to be carried around everywhere by Daddy, I will, while sucking on a cherry DumDum;-)"

Moseying on Ahead

So a lot has happened in the last few months including a dental school graduation, a cruise, a family reunion, the Shakespeare Festival, dental licensing (in two states:-), decision to move, and finally an alarmingly rapid job and house hunt which has all led us to arrive at where we are today which is: TEXAS!!!! That's right! Shan and I have been planning for awhile to move out to Texas after dental school and our original plan was to work in Vegas for a year and then move to Texas, but due to some unforeseen events occurring in our lives we ended up accelerating our original plans and we now live right outside of San Antonio in a town called Cibolo. We found a great rental house that we are loving due to the increased living space and larger backyard and I have gotten a job as a dentist with a large practice that focuses almost exclusively on treating children which I have found can be challenging but quite rewarding. We actually only arrived here about a week and a half ago but we are already loving our new ward and neighborhood and looking forward to experiencing all that this area has to offer. As far as the last six months go, my original plan was to post individual blogs about all the events but lets face it, I'm not gonna do that. So I posted a few pictures as a summary blog post below this post. Enjoy!





Brooke and Bry searching for any secret passages in the new rental house






Bry now loves apples. He eats at least one a day with no signs of slowing




Grant and Alyssa had us over to make carmel apples to help make the Texas transition a little easier

"This carmel apple is going to be SOOOOO delicious"

Kisses Brooke received from her brand new friends the ants. She accidentally stepped in an anthill within an hour of moving into the new house and got a total of 45 bites.

"Wow this Texas place is different! It's like a galaxy far far away."

Brooke trying on a spacesuit at the children's museum in San Antonio

"All this moving has worn me out."

"First thing to do when moving to a new place? Get the Food!"

"Y'all come back now ya hear!"

The last six months

A final picture with Nate, Jamie and Luke before we leave





















"If your gonna do something, you should do it right!"

























Just a little pre-game stretching






















Shan above the city on our 7th anniversary!









Bry has become quite the climber. Not many toddlers can scale a 3 story building

Bry loves to fly!

Bry's first haircut

Fun at the Shakespeare Festival

Visiting Grandpa Ken

Fun at the Family Reunion

Brooke hamming it up on Country night at the reunion

Howdy Pardner