Special Weekend

We had a special weekend when President and Sister Davies (Arian's mission parents) came to visit. Two friends who work with President Davies, along with their wives, also came down to Mesquite.

The guys golfed twice while the women did activities at Sun City, shopped at Susan's General Store, and enjoyed the warm weather. All together we met for dinner and also enjoyed a nice breakfast with the Davies.

They will always be very special to us. It's so wonderful to feel their genuine love, even a decade after serving in Puerto Rico. President Davies, and the other two men, work in managing director positions for the LDS Church. They meet with the First Presidency weekly. It was spiritually uplifting to hear about the experiences they shared with us. We loved spending time with them.

Zion National Park

I had a lot of fun taking the kids to Zion National Park last week. We walked the Riverside Trail. We enjoyed the beauties of nature, saw deer, and Kenneth had fun collecting rocks, leaves, and sticks. Having Nickel Creek on my ipod added to the whole experience (I love Nickel Creek). The only thing that could have been better would have been having Arian with us.

I ended up buying a 12 month National Park pass. It found a home in my wallet next to my hip card (that I must present when flying). It was just months ago that I could barely stand the pain that walking caused. I have experienced a miracle, my heart is full, and I feel incredibly grateful for the joy that life offers.

Happy Halloween

We had such a fun Halloween week.

Bingham's party:

The kids made q-tip skeletons and did other fun activities...

...and Audrey kept trying to climb the stairs.

Trev's Party:

Fun games for the kids...

...and Audrey helped herself to the movies.

She also helped herself to the leftover pumpkin decorating supplies (enlarge to see what's in her mouth).

The kids' costumes evolved from day to day. I made the cape for Kenneth last year and we had the fairy items in the dress-up drawer. I added the K to a shirt for Kenneth, made some arm bands, and he wore it to get his haircut. Reena added the red hair gel and he felt "cool." ("Mom, its so cool.")

The cape reverses to be Batman. I credit Jodi L. for the cape-she designed the pattern.

I had a great time helping with Kenneth's preschool class party. He is so blessed to be able to be a part of that program. His teachers are great. No pictures from that party, but we did get a picture from the school Halloween Carnival. Here he is with dear Ms. Kenda. We are so grateful for all she and Mrs. Smith do. We had so much fun with Jesse and Mary that night too! No photos of them, but it was sure great to have them visit us. I love them so much.

Flashback--4 years ago--2005--

Let me just point out something funny. We are wearing the exact same jeans we wore in 2005 in the picture below. Maybe it's time I got a new pair of jeans? I sure have gotten my $15 worth out of those. Thank you Target; they're still among my favorites.

October 30, 2009--

We had such a blast at the Bingham's Party. Good food, great friends, and amazing music! I felt like I was 15 again dancing it up, but one of my favorite parts was watching Arian do the moonwalk. (I'm thinking I should find him a Michael Jackson costume for next year?) I also loved seeing all of the creative costumes. We sure love all of our friends here.

I finally put Audrey's costume together and we were off to the Ward Trunk or Treat.

Are you wondering what mighty powers these little people have?

Well, Audrey's able to balance large amounts of wet wipes on her head.

Kenneth, on the other hand, can transform into a pink blob.

It Takes Talent!

It takes talent...

to photograph fussy baby girls and make them appear happy:

It takes talent to capture relationships that involve little boys who like to run away:

It takes talent to create delightful scenes from rebellious tykes and tired parents:

Our fabulous photographer has a great talent.

Jamie has no idea what I'm about to share (I know. I'm so daring)! It seems that she has been thinking more seriously about starting a photographing business. Those of you who live in Mesquite know exactly how fantastic this would be. I think with enough encouragement, Jamie might even (cough, cough) start soon so that the photographs could be used for Christmas cards to send out and gifts for Grandparents (they always love updated family photos)!

Leave a comment and send some encouragement Jamie's way (wink, wink).

Bat Eyes, Mummies, and Owls-Oh my!

My Mom visited us recently! We had a lot of fun. One of the highlights was the Halloween Party she and Kenneth created for us. They made invitations and then got busy in the kitchen creating all kinds of fun.

They served us: jack-o-lanterns (decorated oranges), bat eyes (grapes), mummies (wrapped hot dogs), pumpkins (rolls with faces created on them), owls, and Jones apple juice.

The owls were my favorite: (The candy corn-ish looking pieces are chocolate (Halloween Hershey's Kisses)!

Thanks so much for visiting us!!

We love you!

One More...

I know, I know...too many FHE posts. I promise to give it a rest, but I just had to share one more.

I can't take credit for this. I copied Jamie's great Sharing Time idea. What's fun about FHE is that you can add a little pizzaz and not worry about being as quiet as what's required for church.

1. Kenneth played his homemade drum while we sang, "Onward Christian Soldiers."

2. We looked at pictures of and discussed the story of Captain Moroni and the Title of Liberty in the kids' Book of Mormon book. Then, we had a surprise for Dad. Kenneth came bouncing out of his bedroom on his horse carrying a homemade title of liberty! We read the banner and talked about it.

3. We decorated our own flags (8 1/2 x 11 cardstock papers cut on the diagnol) with our own declarations of what we would stand for. Sorry, no pictures. With help from us, Kenneth's said things like, "Share toys, be happy," and he came up with, "go for ride in Grandma Kathy's car to go to church (my mom recently visited)" and "go to preschool, see teachers, and play monkey bars."

We all had a fun time, and since then, Kenneth's been bouncing around the house carrying the flag.

Look at this creative idea. Some friends dropped this off for their FHE. They made these cute spiders and colored the card too.

Thanks so much!

A wedding...

Three weeks ago, we got a knock on our door. It was one of our most trusted babysitters with her fiancee, delivering a wedding invitation for their marriage ceremony. This gal has faced unique challenges with fortitude. She has been living in our little town, attending to the temporal needs of her two younger brothers who are in high school, and performing the work necessary to continue operating the cleaning business her mother established before moving to Mexico.

It was incredible to see many miracle workers volunteer to make Melissa's wedding experience special, and in only one week's time!

There was a bridal shower...

A Beautiful Cake for the reception...

One altered wedding dress (I'm not telling what I used to alter this because all of you seamstresses out there will shake your fingers at me and laugh-I have a little arsenal of tricks!)...

Here are some of the masterminds behind it all. These are some of the women who led us with their top notch ideas. They created decorations, made the food (all from scratch), took wedding photos, arranged flowers, and simply made the night wonderful.

Congrats!