Hangin out in St. George

Brian & I drove down to St. George with Paul & Nicole on Thursday night & stayed at the Ramada. It was perfect! It was so nice talking on the way & having great conversations with each other. Paul & Nicole were a blast to be with! We drove straight to the temple & went and did sealings in the St. George Temple. It was such a neat experience & the temple inside is just as beautiful as the outside. Then when we got back to our hotel, we went and swimming for a little bit & then the guys decided they wanted pizza, so we ate a delicious Dominoes pizza at 12:00 at night while playing Rook. (We definatly felt like we were in college again) :)
Friday we relaxed until noon & then went golfing. Well actually, Brian & Paul went golfing while Lucy & Ethel drove the golf cart around- while not understanding the rules of the golf cart- and knitting scarfs at the same time. We were in our own little world. :) We then went shopping a little bit & then went to Texas Roadhouse so Nicole & I could fill up on our carbohydrates. I think it really helped from the baskets of rolls we each ate. I'm sure that gave us the extra push we needed on race day. After dinner we took a picture in front of a large group of people waiting for their turn to eat delicious rolls- Brian told them that we also take pictures in front of McDonalds after we've eaten there too. ha ha ha :) We then went swimming again, played a game again, and then went to bed. It was so nice spending time with friends & each other- the perfect weekend.
    

Cute kids on Halloween

 

Halloween Night

Our Halloween night was different this year. We got the kids all ready & all of a sudden there was a huge rain storm, along with lightning. Right then our friends Paul & Nicole came to go trick or treating with us. We stayed inside for a little bit, and then went outside with our umbrellas. We made it to 6 homes & then we decided it was too cold, so we went home. The kids didn't complain, & didn't even care about not going to any other houses. We then went to Grandpa & Grandma's house & ate sloppy joes, mummy hot dogs, & glazed donuts. We visited for a while and then came home. It was a nice quiet night, even without all the candy. :)


   

Morgan's Halloween Parade

Morgan was so excited that I was coming to her school to watch her in the school's Halloween Parade. She looked adorable- definatly the cutest dalmation I have ever seen. :)
   

Hallie & Pumpkins

Hallie has loved taking pictures lately. She will bring the camera to me and say "Take a picture with me." So, put our faces close together & take a picture. She then will take some of me & then I'll take some of her. She is such a fun girl with a great personality. She is always making us smiling & is officially potty trained!
  
We had fun carving the pumpkins the year. The kids didn't even seem to really mind goo from the inside of the pumpkins. Two of the pumpkins even grew in our backyard- they were the only things that grew, and weren't really pumpkin shaped, but the kids didn't mind & loved drawing the faces on them for Brian & I to cut out.
This morning when I went running, I noticed that some kids had had fun last night and had smashed 10-12 pumkins in the middle of our road. It's one thing if the pumpkins are completly smashed, however, they thought it would be fun to leave the whole pumpkin itself in the middle of the road so that cars could smash them instead--- yes, very smart! I kicked them to the side of the road, and my friends and I joked while running, that if a police man showed up and saw me dressed up like a robber in the night with pumpkins all around me, there might be some explaining to do. :) Happy Halloween!
 
 

Roses & rings & love :)

A couple of months ago, I went to the store, came home & put the groceries away, went downstairs to e-mail something & when I looked down I noticed that the right diamond had fallen out of it's place. I was devastated! I felt so bad! I looked around everywhere in my house, in the car, in the garage, on the floor, in all the sacks, everywhere, & I couldn't find it.
I called Brian, on the verge of tears and told him what had happened. I know this is a temporal thing & I won't take it with me when I die, but I also know that I am a sentimental person & this ring means so much to me. We chose the ring together just before he proposed, and we both liked it because the 3 diamonds meant "Yesterday, Today, & Forever." Being 1/2 serious, and 1/2 not, I sadly & dramatically told him when he got home that day that our "forever" was gone. He gave me a hug & said,
"Our forever will never be gone."
We waited for a while to get it fixed until we could afford it & then got a simplified version of the missing diamond. On October 20, which was actually the day he proposed 9 years ago, he knelt down in front of the kids & gave me the ring which had been fixed, re-aligned, & cleaned. Yes, very sweet.
I have been thinking about my ring & forever. While I wore the ring & the diamond was gone, I kept thinking about forever & how long away eternity seems & how I felt like I was missing something. However, as much as I missed the diamond, I felt peace in knowing that it was only something in this life, but that the true forever is possible because of being sealed in the temple for time & all eternity - I have the missing peace. I can be with my family forever! I love the comforting words that Brian said to me that our forever will never be gone, because of the blessings from the temple that we have, our love will continue on forever.
 

Salt Lake Temple

For fall break, we took the kids to the Salt Lake Temple and went to the top of the Conference Center. Karen & Brittany came along & the kids loved spending time with their cousins. I love the picture of Brian & Morgan by the temple doors.