Parable of the Bat (otherwise known by Bryce as Attack of the Killer Bat)

As soon as the kids and I pulled in the driveway and saw the look on Bryce's face as he came toward the car, I knew something was terribly wrong.  He was yelling something to me before I could even get the car stopped and the door opened.  "It's a sign!  It's a sign!  It's a sign! I am NOT taking the poster down!  It's a sign!" When he got a grip on himself, the rest of the story spilled out.  After years of keeping a bikini girl poster on his garage wall (I think it lived in 3 different garages as we've moved over the years), he finally decided it was time for it to come down.  As he peeled the top of the poster down a bat suddenly flew out and attached itself TO HIS FACE!!!!  With cat-like reflexes, he ripped it from his face, chucked it at the cement floor, and ran out of the garage-possibly screaming like a little girl, although I can't say for sure since we hadn't yet arrived on the scene. We had a quick family pow-wow where heavy discussion was held concerning the belief that the attacking of the bat was a sign that the poster should stay.  Brandt and I brought the Joseph Smith praying in the grove story to the table, and it was finally decided that often times Satan (and his bats lol) will attack us and try to stop us from doing good in the world and we have to fight against that and do what we know is right. Bryce was afraid it was still alive, so we went as a family to check it out.  Bryce grabbed a shovel and the four of us crept in for a closer look.  Bryce nudged it with the shovel and the dang thing spread it's wings and tried to fly off-and that would be when I screamed like a little girl!  We were all giggling like crazy and trying to be brave while Bryce finished it off and then hauled it away before taking the poster the rest of the way off the wall.  He ended up being the hero for finishing the job he started and teaching us all some lessons in the process. I guess that if this parable is worth anything, I don't have to explain the moral of it here, right?

Funeral fit for a Crab

In the past couple weeks we have had two deaths in the family.  Shy the hermit crab came out of his shell and I thought it was cool that I was able to catch some pictures of him before he moved into his new shell.  Unfortunately, he was attacked by Brandt the crab while he was naked and ended up dying a day later.  Brandt was pretty traumatized and upset that Shy's friend had attacked him.  We thought it was our fault for not keeping him isolated while he was molting, but then a couple weeks later Brandt came out of his shell and then died.  So...we must have had something wrong with their habitat or something.  Of course, we had a funeral (for Shy anyway-buddy was still upset at Brandt for being a murderer so he just got flushed lol) and Brandt was heartbroken as he said some final words.  As the pictures show, Kylie was pretty chipper at the graveside service.

In a generous effort to help Brandt earn money to put towards what he owes for broken windows, Jana offered to pay him to go to her house and help stack wood.  He went fully prepared in protective gear including the helmet, goggles, gloves, and muck boots!  He was a great little helper up until the time that he smashed his finger between 2 pieces of wood-he had a pretty good wound that I wish I would have gotten a picture of.

One of the best things about fall is High School football.  The kids love going and playing with  friends and I love going and cheering on our Bear Lake Bears.  Today we took Jolie and Bridger with us to watch DJ Hillier and Max Lauridsen play.  It was a great game (we won, of course) and we had a lot of fun.

3rd Annual Lloyd and Ellen Pugmire Family Reunion

This year's reunion was a bit of a roller coaster.  There were quite  a few meltdowns-mostly from buddy and mostly due to misunderstandings- as well as some brawls.  BUT...there were also some really fun moments and hopefully those are what the kids especially will remember.  My mom puts so much work into getting us together and making it quality time, and for that I am so thankful!