"Papa Saved My Life"

Brigham was in the car today with one of his friends. Holly heard him
say:

"Chandler, when I was a baby and was in my mommy's tummy I almost came
out too early. But my Papa saved. Can you believe it? He saved my life.

"When my daddy was little he was his daddy. And when Uncle Ja was
little Papa was his dad too. And all my uncles and all my aunts - no,
just one aunt. Wow he had much kids. (sigh) He had MUCH kids."

Hide and Seek

Right now Luc, Sam, Elizabeth and Sarah are over. They are all playing
hide and seek with Brigham. The only problem- no one is seeking. They
haven't figured out that part of the game. It sure is quiet though so
we aren't going to clue them in.

Trick of Treating with Jacob

Last night we had our Ward Trunk or Treat party. And was it ever a
party. There was a cake walk, haunted house, bobbing for doughnuts and
a moon bounce among many other things. Brigham liked everything. Jacob
loved the moon bounce.

Trick or treating was especially interesting. Jacob was dressed up
like a Buckingham Palace guard. He would go around to the cars and I'm
his sweet voice say, "trick or treat". At almost every car they said,
"You are so sweet. Here, take two." So, needless to say Jacob loaded
up. The best part is he doesn't really like candy so Brigham is a very
happy boy.

Brigham woke up this morning and said, " Trick or Treating was sooo
much fun last night." he couldn't believe it when I told him that we
were going I do it again on Wednesday.

BTW - Brigham was General George Washington (his Captain Hook outfit
with Holly's boots and a colonial hat) and Caleb was a turtle. Holly
went as a hot mama of three boys and I went as myself.

Brigham's Parenting Skills

The other night Brigham was tossing things off of his bunk bed onto
Jacob. He had been doing the same thing earlier to his cousin Sam.
Holly had just about had it with him and slammed hiis sword down on
the bed rail and told him he needed to stop it. Brigham's finger was
right near where she had hit with the sword and he started screaming
that she had hit his finger. I walked into the room just as this was
happening and Brigham started crying that we were a "bad mommy and
daddy".

I told him that if he didn't start obeying his mom I was going to call
the kid police. This resulted in more tears and accusations of
incompetent parenting. He said that I shouldn't do those things
because they make him sad. Here is how the conversation went:

G: Well what should I do to punish you then?

B: I don't know.

G: What would you do if you had a little boy who didn't obey?

B: My little boy would obey me.

G: Then why don't you obey me?

B: Because you haven't taught me to. I would teach my boy to obey.

He then started telling me how much his finger hurt - he just couldn't
remember which one. He kept looking at all of his fingers and said,
"It hurts really bad - I just can't feel it".

Jacob's Powers

Last Sunday Luc was over. Brigham and him started fighting a bit.
Holly came down and Luc was crying. The conversation proceeded as
follows:

H: Brigham, what did you do to Luc?

B: I didn't do it. Jacob did.

H: Brigham, Jacob is at school. He couldn't have done it.

B: No Mom. Jacob sent his powers out and I saw them come in the house
and push Luc.

I told Brigham that we knew he was lieing and that wasn't good. He
stuck to his story all night. I finally told him that I knew he wasn't
telling the truth and that Santa Claus knew he wasn't telling the
truth. He fessed up the next day.

Who Needs a Security Firm?

The Rest of Our Italy Trip

My parents showed up Saturday night. We had a great dinner while
they were half-awake from jet lag.

The next day we went to Pratto to catch a few sessions of General
Conference. It brought back a lot of memories from Spain. The
chapel was very similar to what you would find in a small Spanish
town. I was able to attend Priesthood Session and we caught the
Saturday afternoon session Sunday afternoon. The rest of the
sessions we got on the internet. It was pretty amazing to be able to
catch all of Conference half-way around the world.

Monday the ISUOG conference started for me. Holly and Dot took off
for Pisa while Dad and I were in various meetings. That was pretty
much the pattern for the next couple of days - Holly and Dot went to
Pisa, Fiezole and shopping while Dad and I went our various ways at
the conference. We usually had dinner all together.

Tuesday night we attended the Conference Gala which was held in an
Italian palace. The highlight of the night was Holly and Pops
dancing. Conference attendees everywhere were snapping photos like
crazy.

The next day Holly and I headed home.

What were the highlights? The food was amazing. There was nothing
that was bad. It was just varying degrees of excellent. Our
favorites were the tomato and mozzarella at Gombi 13, pizza in Siena,
gellato at least two times a day and crescents filled with nutella
for breakfast. The Boboli gardens, Duomo, Siena, Academia (where
Michelangelo's David is) and Ponte Vechio were also spectacular. It
was great just walking through the city.

It was just the right amount of time too. We were ready to return
home but well rested. Holly's mom watched the kids and it seemed
like she had survived just fine. At least she put on the appearance
that she had.

If you want to see some of the photos from our trip go to:

<http://gallery.mac.com/gdevore

Siena

Last Saturday we took a day trip from Florence to Siena. It was
beautiful. It is a small town about 90 minutes from Florence with a
very neat plaza in the center. We visited the cathedral and had a
wonderful lunch on the plaza complete with entertainment. A man with
a red hat was in the plaza in front of us doing candid camera type
jokes on the people walking by. He had the entire restaurant rolling
with laughter as he had a little fun with the tourists who came by.

We are also able to go to the top of the cathedral museum for a
spectacular view of the city. If you ever get a chance to go to
Siena I would highly recommend it.

Italy's Answer to the Suburban

Olive Oil and Ash

I forgot to mention in my last post something funny that happened at dinner. The waiter brought us some bread. Looking around the table I saw a small porcelain bowl. So, I took it and poured some olive oil in to use for bread dipping. After we had finished off the bread we heard some Americans at the table next to us ask the waiter if the little bowl was used for the olive oil. He said no, it's an ash tray. Oops. Greg DeVore
Sent from my iPhone

Segways in Florence

Friday morning we went on our Segway tour of Florence. It was pretty
cool. After a little orientation time in front of the Weston hotel
we were off. The Segways were actually pretty easy to drive. It was
amazing how responsive they were. Navigating through the pedestrians
was a little tougher. As Holly said, everyone seemed to assume that
we knew what we were doing on those things.

Watching people's reactions was hilarious. We heard a lot of "Why
didn't we get those?", or "That is the way to see Florence."

We saw quite a bit of the city and it was nice to get a quick
overview. The Duomo Cathedral is pretty amazing.

Later that day we went to the Uffizi (museum with lots of art that
looks vaguely familiar from art history courses) and the Academia
(where Michelangelo's David is). We were pretty worn out by the
end. But we capped the day off with an amazing dinner and gelato.

We'll post more later. We are off to Siena today.