Halloween 2009

I don't exactly know why I love Halloween, but I do. Always the fun stuff, never the bloody or gorey stuff. I love the fresh fall nights with leaves scattered your feet and the whoosh in the trees that makes you wonder if there really are ghosts. I love dressing up, pretending I am someone else. I think it's the way I pretend that I am someone else.
After going to the Wee Witch Weekend with Melinda and Deanna and kids, I just couldn't stand it that I didn't have a cool witches hat. So when I found a cool one at Walmart, I snatched it up. The friend that I was with made me get the stockings and wig and so I was set to be a witch. Blake had invited us to come to a dinner party at his house and Gordon and I decided to go in costume. He was the Phantom. We were just silly about it but it made us smile. The party was great fun and we got to see Blake and Estee hand out the Halloween treats at his house. They were so cute. Blake had decorated so nicely. He had beautiful glasses filled with different kinds of candy corn. (kind of like you Rachael). He had a really cool vase that was large on the outside with an inner vase. He filled the outer vase with orange and yellow candy corns and the inner vase was beautiful yellow roses with orange tips. The food was good and so was the company. We had a great time.

fun with Old Friends

Last night we wound our scarves around our necks and headed of into the cool night to meet some old friends of ours from West Point. Dianna(Page)Farr has been a friend since we started 1st grade. It has been fun over the years to touch base with she and her husband,Wynn. SOoo we had tickets to the Hale Theater for the musical "Curtains". We went to dinner first and just talked about what was going on in our lives etc. But laughed over stuff in the past.I've never heard of the play but it was so funny that we all were laughing out loud. The music was really fun and we had a delightful time. I came home with a huge smile on my face. Dad loved it too but he thought I talked way to much. Got to watch that.

BYU Homecoming pictures

BYU Homecoming 2009

Our annual Homecoming tradition is to have whatever family that is available, go to the parade in the morning, eat free pancakes, go to the BYU bookstore and then have the boys go to the game and the girls go shopping. So this year we jumped out of bed and zoomed to Provo in time to see the fun parade with all the bands and dancers and floats. We stood in line FOREVER to get the free blue pancakes. We went to the bookstore and picked up BYU sirts and footballs etc. We hadn't purchased the tickets and this year because they were ranked TCU they were all VERY expensive. But, it was rainy and dark clouds hovered overhead so...Clint was able to buy from those whose family were fair-weather fans...for $10 each. Clint, Andy, Coby and Grandpa took their blankets and umbrellas and went to the game. The girls headed to Gardner Village where the witches were everywhere. It was so fun! THe girls had their faces painted and we snooped in each store. Great time was had by all.

First Grandchild LDS Missionary

We had a special privilege of taking our 1st Grandchild LDS missionary to the MTC this week. His parents had said their "good-byes" in Portland, Ore. When we first saw him at the airport, he just looked so handsome. We had to be at the Mission Training Center at 1:15 pm exactly, so we had to watch our time. It was such a loving feeling as we pulled into the MTC and saw about 50 clean-cut, smiling missionaries to greet us. They started talking to Elder Wight right away. As we were unloading his luggage they continued to ask him questions and tell him how wonderful it was to be there. We all hugged and snatched this picture. He turned around with the missionaries with a huge smile on his face. I was weeping but with joy. His adventure to Moscow, Russia begins.

African Experience

There is no way to express in words the experience we had in Senegal, Africa. But I would just like to say that the people were wonderful. They are poor and most live in a manner that hasn't changed in 200 years. I saw that life could be VERY simple and still have meaning and happiness. They work hard. The hardest part was to realize that health care was a major lack there. Almost half of mothers die in child birth. That was why there were so many babies at the orphanage...almost 60 out of 180 children. And although I don't have figures, many of the babies also die. Most of the children have congestion or runny noses. Many have skin sores. At the orphanage they had almost no playground equipment with only dirt to play in. They have very caring volunteers. Every effort is made to give loving care and provide a clean environment. There are lots of areas in which we can assist. It would be a blessing to get wheelchairs to the disabled. The orphanage needs help every month for the milk and formula they provide. We are trying to get a medical/dental expedition to go there next June. It was an amazing experience.

Amazing African dancing

Concluding our African visit in Senegal we were treated to an authentic African dance.