Halloween Fun

We had some great looking Jack-O-Lanterns this year, courtesy of Brian

Last weekend was so much fun! Lindsay came home for the weekend because she was singing in Sacrament meeting for her good friend, Brian, who just returned home from his mission. We celebrated her birthday on Saturday night and had a great time! We celebrated at Kimber & Ryan's new house. Lindsay is in Esthetician School in Salt Lake City, so we also did quite a bit of waxing over the weekend. Lindsay has to practice on somebody!

Lindsay with baby Noah
We also got some very exciting news over the weekend...
Kimber and Ryan are expecting their first baby! She is due in late June and we are all very excited for them. This will be grandchild # 14 for us!

October

This is the one year anniversary of my father’s passing and Lindsay’s birthday. Also I had my Woodbadge beading tonight along with Ralph Willet. A day filled with mixed emotions... I love my dad and I miss him. He had the funniest sense of humor and loved to make other people laugh. He was thoughtful of other’s needs and would help out his friends at the drop of a hat. He loved my mom more than anything in the world and was fiercely devoted to the principles of the gospel, to the Savior and to the church that he joined over 40 years ago.

I am grateful to him for being my father and for the way in which he and my mother raised me. I owe them a lot.

Lindsay is such a fun person! She recently cut her hair and it suits her so well! I just love it. Robert and I sent her a poster for her birthday through Kathy Thurgood and her Thur-goodies business in Orem. She loved it!

I’ve wanted to be Woodbadge trained for over 6 years and I’m finally there! We had our ceremony tonight and I am now officially a Bobwhite. I love it. George and Janet were there, Greg and Patti, who MC’d the ceremony, and from my patrol... Justin, Kris, Brian (who came from Flagstaff) and Ralph, who was also beaded. Robert presented us with our beads and Bryan Colby, our troop guide, presented us with our neckerchief and woggle. Brian’s uncle, Joel Skinner also came, along with Edell Washburn from another troop. It was great. Woo Hooo!

This month Brian also had his Wisdom Teeth removed. He actually did quite well and was up and around later in the day. In fact, he went to a party that night. Oh, to be young again!

And this month, Catherine and I had a "Sleepover with Grandma" night. She did her best to stay awake, but she finally fell asleep in my bed...

On My Way

Yesterday I finished my last ticket item for my Wood Badge course that I took back in May. I’m very excited to be finished because now I can be awarded my beads! At the end of this month Ralph Willet and I will have our beads presented to us at a ceremony. Ralph was on my course and in my patrol and finished his ticket just before me. I think we are the first two Bobwhites to receive their beads from our course. GO BOBWHITES!!

Today was the second day of General Conference. It happens every 6 months...I think it can't possibly get better than the last session, but it does. After the second session today, our family discussed the talks that made an impression on us and the principles that were mentioned and the ways in which we were taught. Elder Holland's talk was mentioned several times. What a powerful testimony he shared of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. Elder Bednar's talk of the familiar scenes from their family were all too familiar to our own experience and, of course, President Monson's talk about service was a favorite, too. We learned of love and service and changed hearts and how we have to nourish them. How we love listening to the General Authorities and their testimonies and the words that they share with us. It is the highlight of our year. Lindsay had the opportunity to attend two sessions of General Conference this year and she enjoyed it immensely.

We had family members over to our home to watch Conference and have dinner and the following are some pictures of the family as we watched Conference. An all around great weekend!

Brian & Ben watching Conference...

Ethan likes to climb and he spent a lot of time climbing up Grandma and up onto the chair...

Kimber, Ethan and Catherine playing.

Kisses from Dakota