End of Year Letter

Be Strong and of good courage...

This is my dear friend Denisse (and my Primary Secretary).
She has had a very hard year!!!!!!!!
She has been an inspiration to me. She has shown me what you can do through your adversity. I value our friendship dearly.

Last Saturday, I helped her make a few gifts, and some signs for her home.
We had fun. She kept saying I don't know how you handle three kids,
I've got two...and somedays...
Denisse makes me laugh all the time. When she calls me, it probably takes 4 times the amount of time to get through a conversation, because all we do is Laugh!!!

Hoedown Throwdown

Ash begged me to learn this dance. Her aunties and honorary auntie (AIL-auntie in Law) learned it too. Meomories!!!!!

Pumpkin Patch

We have a really cool place we like to go to, to get pumpkins. We usually go to a Harvest Party each year with a group of friends to this place, but mom wanted to wait until Easton was here to go this year. The only time we figured we could go was on Friday at 10 am. I knew Ash would freak if she didn't get to go, so we went and checked her out of school for two hours (I swear that this is the first time we've ever done that. Paul and I are both pretty stringent on attendance!!!-It's not an issue with Ash, she loves going to school.) Little did we know that they don't run the hayride until after 4 in the afternoon. It was a bummer, but we had fun anyway. The Vegas-ites were freezing!!

Like kids in a Candy Store

Paul planned a "Fun" Family Home Evening. He really likes to try "things" when they're brand new. He went to the airport to look around after they had refinished it, and has to go look at every new store or fast food restaurant that comes along. This time it was the new Parkcenter bridge, that has just been completed. Its a nice bridge...:)Boy, how that area has changed in the last few years.
One of Paul's co-workers had been talking about a new candy store, so Paul wanted to try and find it (but he's not so good with directions to places he doesn't know- just ask Steve or Aimee about our Vegas fiasco). Since he couldn't see it right off the road, he kept on driving. He was heading home, and the kids couldn't quite understand why we drove clear to Boise to go over a bridge (we hadn't told them about the candy store). I made him turn around, and go look for it. Since Paul has trial Internet on his phone, we looked it up, and I had seen the road right after we had come off the bridge. The shop (Powell's Sweet Shoppe) was in a new section of town they are trying to make into a little village community, with loft apartments and shops, restaurants, and offices underneath. The area has a quaint feeling to it, and the candy store is so cute (a new favorite adventure for us).




Brennen picked Orange, Black and Green M&M's that he made into a "carrot".


Ash picked old fashioned candy sticks, and pop rocks


Daddy gets in on the fun.

When we were walking in, two girls came up to us and asked how old our kids were, because they were doing a scavenger hunt and needed to give a 5 year old "5". So Brennen gave the girl "5"!


On the way home, Ash wanted Brennen to try her Pop Rocks...very nice of her right.
He put them into his mouth and immediately started whining. He held his mouth open, from the connector all the way home.

Follow the Prophet

Wasn't Conference AWESOME!!!!
I can't wait to read the talks again.
We all have a lot to ponder and work on.
My favorite talks were the first 4 during the Saturday morning session, President Monson's daughter, and President Erying's Talk. I also liked one of the 70's (can't remember his name) when he talked about praying for opportunities to teach teach the gospel while on his mission, and realizing 20+ years later, the prayer was being answered by his son.
I also really liked the history about the Manti Temple, and how we can use learned knowledge in many different ways, when we are inspired to do so.