Fathers and Sons and Mothers and Daughters

This past weekend, our family was divided along gender lines. Ryan and Brandon took off for the mountains to go camping with the other Fathers and Sons of our ward and the girls and I took off for Universal CityWalk to meet up with our favorite best friends who moved away a while back. It worked out perfectly. We spent a fun evening browsing through the shops and had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.

The evening didn't last nearly long enough for them and it was awfully nice for me to catch up with my much-missed friend, too. It was a great way to spend a girls night. And then came Saturday morning and with it, Ryan and Brandon. And with them:

Yes. It's a salamander. Apparently all the kids were catching them from the creek this year and Ryan decided to let Brandon bring his home with him! Who does that?

He's actually pretty darn cute and has been fun to have around for the weekend. Here's Brandon demonstrating how he taught "Sammy" to shake hands with him. It's kind of hard to see in the picture, I know. Anyway, we made him a nice little home and found out what salamanders like to eat and have been trying to take care of him, but I'm not convinced he's happy. I broke Brandon's heart when I told him we must take him back to live with his wild salamander brothers and sisters. But then Monday was cold and busy and we didn't get a chance and today doesn't look any better. Hopefully he'll hang around for a few more days until we get a chance to return him to nature.

Until then, he gets a lot of attention. Marissa especially enjoys him. She calls him the "bug" and always wants to climb on the counter to see the "bug". She loves to hold him and laughs when he climbs up her arm. Pretty fun, but next year the only thing Brandon will be allowed to bring home with him from the Fathers and Sons will be his dirty clothes!