Snow on our Parade!

Today was the Halloween Costume Parade at Hubert Humphrey. But it was snowing this morning as we were getting the kids ready for school, and though it had let up by 9:30, it was still pretty cold, so most people watched the parade in the halls instead of outside.

Dallin is Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Daphne is Princess Leia. I didn't make any costumes this year--we pieced them together from Good Will purchases and borrowed items from friends. I can claim creative genius for Daphne's hair: I made her two side-buns bigger with brown yarn. Surprisingly, they stayed in the whole day!

We were all bundled up for cold weather, so we got pretty hot after awhile of waiting for the kids to come by our little spot in the hall. The boys were pretty patient, though. At one point, a kid in a pirate costume walked by and Sean yelled, "Look a pirate! ARRRRG!"

Finally we saw them, and they were gone so fast, I almost didn't get their pictures!

When they got home, they both told me all about their fun class parties and had bags of goodies in their backpacks.

Here's a shot of the temple with the snow-dusted Sandia Mountains in the background-- I took this late in the afternoon and the snow hadn't melted off yet!

Waiting . . .

Oh what do you do in the waiting room,

Just waiting to be seen?

Do you open the drawers,

or play with your shoes,

or wash your hands 53 times?

Is that what you do?

So do I.

(And sometimes, if we're really bored, we even dance.)

How do you wait at the Dr.'s office?

Musings of my four

The kids are always saying funny stuff and too often I forget to write them down and sometimes, even mere moments later, I don't remember the cute things they say. So I figured I'd better write some of the most recent ones down before they disappear into the unreachable depths of my brain. Here are a few things they've said lately that made me smile.

Sean: When I am big, I am going to be an astronaut and fly to the moon.

Daphne: When I grow up, I am just going to be a normal mom.

Sean: Hayden, you want some cheese?

Hayden: no!

Sean: you want some yogurt?

Hayden: no!

Sean: you want a banana?

Hayden: no!

Sean: pizza?

Hayden: no!

Sean: how 'bout some chicken & rice?

Hayden: (pause) . . . yeah!

Sean: Mom, Hayden wants some chicken & rice.

(Too bad that's the one thing on that list that I just didn't have on hand.)

Mom: When we get home, we have to wrap a present for the birthday party this afternoon.

Dallin: This afternoon? Well, what about the BYU game?

(True BLUE through and through--I don't know very many 7 year olds who might want to miss a birthday party because it conflicts with a BYU football game--He makes Arthur proud!)

Daphne came into my room one morning very groggy, her hair all tousled from her sleep, and very put out.

Daph: Mom-someone just totally turned on the light in my bedroom.

Mom: yeah, it was me--I did it because it's time to wake up.

Dallin: Mom, I can't wait until I'm a missionary because then I can get away with whatever I want.

(I'm not quite sure how he came to that conclusion. Maybe he thinks that the black name tag gives you unlimited power? I think Uncle Reed needs to set him straight.)

Daphne: "I sooo did not."

Daphne: "We don't need you breaking any more brooms, okay Sean?" This made me laugh because to my knowledge, Sean hasn't broken any brooms yet.

Corn Maze

Monday after school I took the kids to Wagner's Pumpkin Patch in Corrales. Umm, sadly, the only pumpkins left in the small patch were smashed, and broken. (Guess you have to go early in the month to get a pumpkin.) We had a fun time in the corn maze and the tractor-pulled hayride at the end. It was a cute little place, but I thought it was kind of overpriced for what they had there. Still--I got some fun pictures that will be fun to scrapbook someday if I ever have time to scrapbook again . . .

Singin' in the Rain

We had a good rainstorm today, so of course, the "funnest" place to play is outside.

More of the first 6 months

After spending waaaaay more time that I'd have liked, I figured out how to make these collages. Here they are in all their glory, and to be honest, I actually like the other way better because it's less work, and these pictures are too small. But I'm posting them anyway. If you want to see them bigger, just click on the picture and a bigger version will pop up.

Above is the "Brownwood District." From what I could gather, Brownwood was a very small town with a definite "small-town" feel and Reed loved his time there. He had a great trainer, and loved the people he was working with.

Elder Stone & Elder Rusk "climbed on some tanks"

"This is Joseph. He'll be 19 in December. He as the coolest member kid in Brownwood. He would go out with us all the time."

Robert & Kathy

"They got baptized in a lake."

"40 Baptism celebration"

"Elder Schnyder came out with me. He is from Rocklin, CA."

Maybe Uncle Dave's family knows this guy?

"There were two foxes on our roof.

I'm in the window behind them and one is looking right at me."

"We rode down this tunnel and it went straight into a pond. We got soaked."

Then he got transfered to Midland . . .

The four missionaries above make up part of the Midland district. I guess they got matching P-Day clothes? On the back of the oil drill picture, Reed wrote, "Our new-suit jump--hint, hint, Anchor Man."

I think this pretty well sums up how he feels about Midland:

"District meeting. We rent our shirts in anger . . . don't worry it was an old shirt."

I don't get this, but Melanie probably will. (I'm not as knowledgeable on this group as she is). Reed's note on the back of this picture is:

"Flight of the Concords."

And that is a photo-update from Reed for all the family. Maybe in six months he'll send me some more. :) We just love him and are proud of his service in the mission field!