Happy Halloween from Bahama!

I know that Dad hates Halloween, but my kids sure like it. Nothing like being able to eat all of the candy you want for days on end, is there?? And now that you can buy nifty little pumpkin carving saws, I *love* Halloween. Every year I have such fun making a really cool pumpkin. Here is mine this year, and the small one next to it is Jason's. As you can tell Jason is into the subtle but clever pumpkin design this year.

I am hoping that everyone will get an e-mail from the google group telling them that there was a new blog post. Will you let me know if you do get that?

Cindy

Dental Problems & Blog Updates

Well I'm sure you can tell from this picture that dental hygiene in the Ray house is just not so good... Thank goodness for insurance & orthodontia! ;)

I'm trying to figure out a way that everyone can be notified when anyone updates the blog, so that you don't have to keep checking back to see if anyone has posted anything. If this works, you should receive an e-mail from googlegroups telling you that there's a new post.

When you make a comment on a post there is a box you can check to have any additional comments e-mailed to you. If you get the e-mail and don't want it, just let me know!

We are really having a lot of fun with this

house building thing. We are so glad to have a contractor that works really fast, and who looks out out for us. In this picture, they were pouring the floor in our basement. I was busy taking pictures and the contractor pointed out that Matthwe was busy throwing rocks into the newly poured cement. Yikes!!!



For those interested, the windows you are looking at are those of the guest bedrooms. There will be a bathroom in between, and the big main room is the family/pool table room that Bob has always dreamed of. The room behind the builder is a storage room that has a back staircase leading down to it. We will probably use it for wood/water storage.

Thankfully, Dave did not mind walking into the wet cement, cleaning out the rocks and making it look pretty again.

I have spent a lot of time outside with the little boys watching cool things like the cement pumper truck. This is when they were pouring the basement walls of the house.

Thanks to Marg, we all had a great time skating on the new cement before the basement walls went up.

This is the house, minus the garage walls. It is really a lot of fun to see it go up. The window to the left of the front door is the small living room. To the right of the door is the baby room/craft room. The further two windows to the right are master bedroom windows. The garage will be to the left of the living room.

I hope I am not boring you guys to death. Every day or two I'll put up more progress on the house. We are so excited that we just assume everyone else wants to see it step by step too!

Privacy & Giving Credit where it's due

Ok, I think I've set it so that no one can see the blog who's not invited. Which means that I sent an invite to everyone & so you should all be able to see it. I also gave an invite to my boys. Is there anyone else who anyone thinks should have one?

Just so you all know, I totally and completely stole the name of our blog from Cindy Lynn. I tried 5-6 things before I resorted to common theft, but all were already taken. (Makes you wonder who already has the "WatsonFamily" blog and all of the variants, doesn't it?? Then I noticed Cindy Lynn's blog name and thought that would work really well. Isn't that great when you give birth to someone and they grow up enough to be of real use? Thank you, sweetie!

PS--the picture is so that I can attach it to my comments. Not because I'm worried that you guys don't remember what I look like. I guess if you want a picture it has to be posted/hosted somewhere online....

New baby Evan

For those of you who managed to miss it, I was pregnant recently for the 8th time. Just thought I would share the final misery with the lot of you, especially those who live far far away.

Thankfully, my doctor agreed to induce me on Matthew's

birthday. Notice how HAPPY I am in that picture! Bob and I had

a really fast party for Matthw before heading off to the hospital.

Two hours after the induction started, Evan James Stowe was born, weighing in at 8 lbs, 2 oz.

Now it has been a month, and I am remembering with fondness the peace and quiet of the hospital and the teeny tiny new baby....

Who probably weighs 11 lbs. by now!

Privacy??

So the first question we need to decide here is if we want to password-protect this blog, or if we're going to leave it open. I've been surprised that CL has gotten some random people happen on her blog--either from googling something or from going from blog to blog. What do you think?

Cindy

P.G. Watsons

So I'm typing my midterm paper and decide to break up the monotony by checking my e-mail. And look here! An opportunity for more writing! Jeff (the bald uncle who apparently holds the key to our family identity) is working, working and working. And, on Tuesday nights, he goes to scouts and then to volleyball. He was voted 'Most Improved Player' on our ward team. Elaina just had four teeth pulled to make way for her brand-new, big-girl teeth, earning her the new nickname (which she hates) Yank-y Doodle. Carter has been on such good behavior in Kindergarten that he earned a token, with which he can "purchase" toys from a machine in the office. He came home today with a pocket-sized ninja. What more could a little buster want than a ninja that can be with him always? As for me, I took a French exam today, I'm getting my fiction piece workshopped tomorrow, I'm defending my research paper in History of the English Language on Friday, and I'm writing a midterm, which is also due Friday. I'm also doing final edits for my internship with the literary journal. Does that make any of you who are done want to go back to school?

OCS

Just for those of you who haven't heard the latest, I (Grant) have decided to trade in my stripes and go through the rigorous and painful Officer Candidate Program to become a second lieutenant. It's a step forward in pay but more than anything, it is a big step up for my family and a better experience serving over seas. Another motivator which is no small thing is the fact that a bunch of guys at work that I feel are substandard performers have followed Ben into the Warrant Officer ranks. I don't want to be junior to suckas, so officer is the way to go.
Sage is full gear into her new craft business. She's got quite a bit of talent and has finally decided to do what she loves; make cool things that other men's wives can't say no to.

i hurt me.

Hi. If we are, in fact, being Watson... i wonder if my affinity to self destruction comes from genetics, or just idioticy. A month or so ago i had a tumor (no cancer, thanks) removed from my right thumb. it's healing nicely, but until thursday last i was still favoring it.
I was favoring it until I put a 1/4 inch drill bit through the meaty part of my left hand muscles. now i have decided that my right hand has to do the work while the muscles knit together that i punched through.

recently... i have also smashed my knee into a big steel gear on our (shops) manual winch, and almost flipped both a tractor and a fork lift (closer in the tractor than the fork lift) today.
My bosses wife thinks i need to slow down and pay more attention.
p.s. the e.r. is for pansies... i don't think i'll go again. they just did the same things to my bludgened hand that i would have done. oh well... to live and learn.
much love,
sam.

Utah visit

I had such a great trip to Utah/Idaho. It was fast, but it was so much fun to be able to see everyone! My family was glad to hear that Andra's baby was indeed cute & hungry, there is a house being built, the newlyweds are happy, and Jeff got a quarterly bonus. My little girls have asked to go play with "the cousin who has a bald dad." I told them that hopefully she'll come to the beach with us next summer.

Welcome!

When Andra lamented earlier that she didn't know what to do with her house-in-progress pictures I decided that perhaps the time has come for the John Watson's to take a step forward technologically--a family blog. Who knows--we could decide that we love to have a place to share pictures, happenings, and laughs. Tell me what you think!

Cindy