Is the Semester Over Yet?

I have just finished with the toughest week of my college career. I did two all nighters and the sleep that I got the other nights was minimal at best. Every day was to the wire with senior projects and reports due by the handfulls. I have nothing left at the end except to argue with everyone and write in this blog. My Boss mentioned something about a masters project in Zion's national park doing temperature modeling of the river. Now that would be nice. One can only hope. As if it doesn't stop there, I have to meet in the morning with a classmate and write two papers and prepare for an exam, five of them, for next week. 5 years down, 2 more to go! I feel like I should include a picture of some of the things I've done.

Well, No one has posted anything for awhile. I don't blame em. Everyone's so busy with life, no one has time to share all the little things in life happening. So this post covers the whole month of October. Whatever happened between July thru September we will never know.

Well, as Mark and Shannah moved to California, Keeley and I moved out of the expensive 3 bedroom appartment and found a nice townhouse to settle in. 4 Truck Loads later, and a garage sale, and we're done. Keeley's Mom has been nice enough to invite us over for dinner every Sunday night. So once a week, we spend a nice evening with the Martins. Keeley and I will be celebrating our 1 year anniversary in a month 1/2, so I already got that booked. (Yes, I'm trying to be a responsible husband and not forget) The place I booked isn't even built yet, so I hope that means something...And as far as our health goes, we've tried to cut back on our eating out, and Keeley settles for a homemade sandwich for lunch instead of the #6 at Taco Bell. Me, well, that's a different story.

And if you couldn't tell, we were zombies for halloween. I thought it would be fun to scary old people. Everyone took a second look at us everytime we saw somebody. Good times, good times. Well, I just got my flu-shot today so I'm feelin' pretty quwoozy, so til next time.

Badlands Trip

Today Keeley had a very spontaneous desire...she wanted to go
to the Badlands. So after getting Kendall in the carseat, and
getting in a quick conversation with Mark and Andy via
conference about other stuff, we loaded up the Environment-
Friendly Matrix and headed off to the BADlands. We encountered
lots of various things including alive TREX that roared
(see facebook video), and DOZENS! of Germans, Francs, Brits,
and Aussies sharing the outdoor experience with us. We could
only understand the Englishspeaking ones (naturally), when
they came and admired our 2 week old young one.And thank
goodness she didn't get sunburnt. I was afraid she would,
but so far so good. And the British lady said: "She's on
her first Holiday!" Yah I know. Sweet right. Anyways, we ended
up the trip with some french fries at Keeley's Step-mom's
diner at the foot of the badlands. And now we're all tired
so I think we'll try to go to bed.

Summer Survival Camp

Last weekend we went on our Summer Survival Camp put on by Richard. Although the numbers were few...the hearts were, um, big. We roasted hot dogs, made smores, played in the river, told scary stories, played in the fire, played in the fire some more, burned stuff, threw things in the fire, and played in the fire. The following morning we went on a hike to the Wind Caves. Richard and his friend Aaron had a good time as long as they didn't think about how much their legs hurt!

Picture Slideshow

PhotoShop - Wednesday Morning

Bored this morning...so I decided to make a cool little ditto.

Suction Power 5000zT Series

Our Latest Adventures today included the horde of old ladies crowded around
us at the grocery store, as well Kendall Growing to her 7 lbs. mark.

Also, while some friends were over we demonstrated Kendall's newly
acquired trick of the trade: Bottle Balancing. And is she a Pro or What?

Family Searching

A few weeks ago I went record searching for records of Don's
real Parents...Well, after much dead ends I just ended up with
some lousy marriage and death records. I guess if I want to
continue my search, I'll have to move to San Diego and search
their hospital where he was born. The image above shows the
record of Mom and Don getting married. Thought it was kinda cool.

Español del día

After my 3 years of high school French has let me down, I decided to enroll in a summer Spanish 101 class. 5 days a week. 9:00-12:20. I may be practicing my Spanish on this blog from time to time. Here's my first:

¿De dondé son los todos otros hermanos?

Mark? Sarah? Es Matt aqui?

Katie had her ballet class yesterday and has been told she's doing very well by her teacher. She has class two days a week for an hour at a time. Yesterday they warmed up at the bar and then did jumps and tumbles. Richard also has a ballet class he loves attending.

My Wordle Week!

Our Family week at a glance, in wordle

Battling the Summer Heat!

While Texas definitely has its advantages over the winters in the mountain west, summers can be real nasty. Most days are over 100 degrees by noon and by 3 or 4 pm, the heat has become intolerable. Our most recent attempt to battle the heat is our neighborhood pool. Once Howie got used to all the splashing and cannonballs he had a really enjoyable time. In fact, by the end of our outing, he was contributing to the splashes.

We spent the holiday cooking a beef brisket, making rootbeer floats, and touring San Antonio in our car. We figured that soy dogs and grilled squash just wouldn't have the same effect as a nice fat piece of meat for the Fourth of July.

July 4th at Central Park

Mark and his family came out to visit us for the July 4th weekend. Mark and Andrew went to the Cruise-In, stopped by Andrew's research project, and got hamburgers (thanks Mark) for the families to eat while we watched the fireworks. We spent Saturday at Central Park playing in the water, eating food and waiting for the wives to finished comparing how old each other was. We returned back to the apartment to go swimming for a couple hours before dinner. Tacos were on the menu which were delicious (thanks Jessica) and then we bid farewell to Mark's family as they left for Orem.

Wordle!!!

Just found this wedsite:
http://www.wordle.net

So much fun!!!

Cousin's Birthday Party

Today was the last of the heel pokes at the hospital. Kendall
is all healthy with little to no Jaundice so that is good. I'm
not sure why they call it Jaundice, but I know most babies get it.

Keeley Loves being a Mom. There isn't a second that goes by that
she isn't begging to hold Kendall after I feed her. (which is good)

And we finished our evening off with a trip to the in-laws for a cousin's
birthday party. Nothin' like Icecream and Cake.

Little Feet

Just organized all of our important files finally. Trying to find a good way store sensitive documents/bills/etc. Any Ideas. Anyways, thought this baby feet poem was a good one. Not sure if the rest of you had a similar thing for your kids, but here's Kendall's.

Visit to the water tank

I took my motorcycle to the shop yesterday so Jessica had to drive me to work. That was the first time she was able to see my water tank research study. It was neat to be able to show her 'my other life' that takes so much of my time. Even though I tried to explain what I was doing there, I think I might have gotten carried away. Solar radiation is just so exciting!

Texas Trip

Spent the weekend with Matt, Michelle, and Howie in TEXAS! So hot, but had a fantastic time! Photos of the San Antonio Zoo, Botanical Gardens, and Greenbelt in Austin.

Kendalls first Shopping Trip

The Morning started off great, seeing as Kendall slept in until 8am.

Our first night as new parents here at home went by rather smoothly.

Our first errand was off to the court house for renewall of Daddy's Tags

on his car.

Next we drove to the Air Force base and got Kendall squared

away with Uncle Sam. It seemed everywhere we went, old ladies (forties and fifties)

were showering us with comments and advice and offering to take her home

with them. It was a very productive day indeed.

It just seems so easy being a parent, that I hope I'm not experiencing the easy parts

first.

However, Kendall is a very well mannered

young girl and is very content in everything she does. (sleep and eat)

She is deffinetly the funnest when she's awake with her eye's open.

Naomi eats a bar of soap

Naomi came out of our bathroom (which is off limits for kids) with a bar of soap in her hand. Nothing seemed odd about it until she starting to scream and spit. That's when I saw teeth marks embedded in the bar of soap and realized that she was eating it! She just drooled, spit, and screamed her way back to the bathroom as we laughed at her misfortune. I love when nature teaches my children and all I have to do is sit back, observe, and enjoy the ride.

Katie pooping on the neighbors lawn

We were inside our room this afternoon spending a quiet moment together when our neighbor showed up at our door to let us know that Katie was going to the bathroom outside! Oh Great! I went out to get her and upon bringing her into the house I asked her what she was doing. She said she was going poop. She says, "I couldn't know why I did." I was speechless. Am I supposed to get a doggy bag and clean up after my daughter poops on the grass? What is the protocol for such an event?
It was efficient to go out and get Katie because we found Naomi out on her sisters bike by the parking lot pulling flowers out of a flower pot. I guess we'll have to wait another year before we can hope for that prestigious Parent of the Year Award.

This Week in Review

This week has been filled with preparations for Isabella. Jessica has been nesting like crazy, cleaning and reorganizing everything. Grandpa Spaulding came over and steam cleaned the carpets. Its amazing how many stains we can get in just a few months of living in this apartment! Richard has been swimming every day this week, even during the all the rainstorms we had. Andrew has been real busy this week working on his solar radiation study. He has to get up every morning by 4:00, before the sun, and set the experiment up for the day. It's even more difficult when the kids want to play all night long too. Kathryn has been entertaining her friends this week, inviting them over for hot chocolate, popcorn, and chicken nuggets, all of which she prepares by herself. Our butter dish was the only casualty this week, part of which Katie found in her foot the following morning. Naomi spent most of her time this week helping her mother around the house, cleaning up after her messes, taking naps, and playing quietly on the floor. The family spent all day Saturday out at the pool, swimming, playing, and sun burning. Naomi finally feels safe enough to wade in the hot tub alone. It took a few hours at a time, coaxing her with toys in the water before she would even put her toes in. Her favorite spot to sit over the 5 foot mark, dangling her feet in the water. It was probably the most dangerous spot in the whole pool but that's where she felt safest. It took an entire week to get her comfortable enough to leave her 'safe' spot and walk around in the hot tub by herself (with supervision). She's joining the ranks of Hobson swimmers, just like we began back in California, playing in swimming pools all summer long. As part of Jessica's slumber party as part of her 13 going on 30 birthday celebration, Richard is planning a Summer Survival Camp since all the men are banned from her party. To prepare, he did a photo shoot for some flyers he created, and then delivered them to all his friends. Even if the only people that go are he and Andrew, it will have been a great experience and lots of fun. Gardening has not been one of our family's strong traits, as we've been born with more of a brown thumb, or weedy thumb, but nothing close to green. As an attempt to shed our destiny, Andrew and Jessica rented a garden plot for the summer. Andrew bought squash, zucchini, pumpkin, and artichoke seeds. Jessica bought tomatoes, green peppers, and magnolias. This was a month ago. Jessica's plants are still out on our front porch. Priding himself with a sense of duty, Andrew planted all his seeds, but didn't return to water the garden for the whole month. Andrew visited the garden this morning and is happy to report the morning glory is flourishing! It is everywhere, choking the life out of the few remaining survivors of the month long drought. If any vegetables make it to our table, it will be no small miracle.

Summer Survival Camp

Richard is making his final preparations for his summer survival camp to be held July 10. He is planning it to coincide with Jessica's 13 going on 30 slumber party as Jessica turns the big 3 0 on July 9th. For the survival camp, he's posed for a photo shoot and helped make the flyers used to advertise his event. Richard is very excited and spent most of the car ride home from Salt Lake brianstorming ideas. Andrew's best defense against Richad's constant brainstorming is by asking him to "write his ideas down on paper" that way we can remember what he is thinking.

The Hobson's Week in Review

We made our first trip to the Salt Lake Temple this week.  Boy what a day!  So much family was able to make it to our sealing.  Mark, Shannah and their kids, Father Tanner and Rachel, Farren, Tracy and Gma Spaulding, as well as many other friends came to support us.  Andrew couldn't stop crying during the whole ceremony.  Jessica couldn't stop talking about food, Isabella was kicking her stomach the whole time.  Richard was able to witness the sealing and looked so proud as he watched over the family.  Kathryn was outside the sealing room singing "I am a Child of God" and Naomi didn't spend one second away from her blankie.  We took pictures outside the temple after the sealing and then went to Chuckarama for some well earned food. 

All the cousins sat at the same table and made sure they didn't share any gluten although Kathryn complained about feeling sick since her cousins touched her with their food. 

On the car ride home, Jessica and Andrew let Richard and Kathryn work out their own shouting match, both crying and screaming at each other.  It was a great first day as an eternal family.

Katie gave us some good news tonight of her new arrival, Bella.  I asked her when her due date was.  Her reply was, "She kicks!"  Whether she's singing her favorite Primary song, dancing like a ballerina, or running around with her friends, Katie keeps us on our toes.  The latest commodity we've had to say goodbye to due to a tight budget is our cell phones.  Although the termination fee is $125, our monthly bill of $119 will not be missed.  It has been nice to have the phones over the past year but with an average monthly income of less than $700, they just don't fit in our budget.  So we say farewell, good riddens, and to all the family members inconvenienced by our decision, we will be still be receiving snail mail for the moment.  During the midwife appointment this week, all the children had the chance to listen to Isabella's heart beat.  Each of the kids are so eager to have our latest addition here.  Naomi is pushing everything she can find in strollers, Richard is playing Dad to his sisters, and Katie is the first one to give Bella her kiss each morning, via Jessica's belly!

Hello World

From the depths of Logan, UT emerges the 1st Hobson Family Blog as the winds of the East proclaim....Hello World.