October

Ethan turned 8! He loves football (probably an understatement), so he chose to have a football themed birthday party.
From his parents, Ethan received a nice set of scriptures. Shortly after his birthday, Ethan was baptized. We are very happy for Ethan's decision and he truly had a wonderful day with many family members here to enjoy it with him.

Ethan is now a Cub Scout. He didn't win the "pie" eating contest, but he did have a lot of fun.

I also had a birthday and it was a great day. I spent the evening with my family up in the canyon. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and did a little exploring. (The bottles are root beer--really!)

Amanda and Megan sang with a small group in church. They sang in sacrament meeting and then in Relief Society a few weeks later. Their group sounded very sweet. Megan, Amanda and I have recently been involved with our church's ward choir.

Besides Ethan's baptism, another highlight of the month was a visit from my parents.

I spent an afternoon with two friends who went on BYU's Chile Study Abroad with me. It was fun catching up and reminiscing.

For the kids' fall break from school, the kids and I had a lot of fun. Unfortunately, Todd couldn't join us because he was on a business trip. We began the break playing miniature golf.
We then went to Temple Square and did some sightseeing along with watching the movie Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration. Before leaving, we had a real treat when Elder L. Tom Perry stopped to shake hands and talk to us. What a genuinely good man and something I hope the kids will always remember. That night we went to Doug and Shannon's and spent the night. The next day we just played and visited.

The kids have been interested in sewing lately. Jared made a little travel pillow for Joshua.

Amanda and Megan were quite creative with wet wipe creations for awhile. They first let markers bleed onto the wet wipes and then let them dry out for a tie-died effect. The wet wipes were then sewn into creations--pillows, doll clothes, picture frames, flowers, and more.

Ethan went on a field trip to a pumpkin patch. This is his pumpkin decorated and ready to go back to school. (The balloon is supposed to look like the pumpkin is blowing a bubble with chewing gum.)

Halloween was a little bit of an adventure this year. As soon as we left for trick-or-treating, the skies just opened up with sleet, rain, hail and wind. We were only three houses away and had to have Todd come pick us up in the van. It worked out ok since we went home and ate our traditional broccoli/cheese soup with bread bowls that look like pumpkins. When the weather cleared up, we went back out and it was then fairly nice for trick-or-treating. We enjoyed having Brittney, Sarah and Derek join us for the festivities.