Christmas '08

So, this is obviously long overdue, but if timeliness was a requirement I would've had to stop blogging long ago. Anyway, the kids didn't get up earlier than normal, which was nice... in fact I think they didn't get up until after 7 am (we'll enjoy this while it lasts). The tradition in my family growing up was to take a picture of the kids just before they got to run down the hall and open the presents. We have continued this tradition so here is our little trio together for Christmas for the first time. It was a beautiful morning, having snowed much of the night and it continued to snow for much of the day.

Nathan's Christmas was all about Thomas the Tank Engine stuff. He got this little interactive book (pic below) from his Nanu and Bumpa (Mary's parents) as well as Thomas PJ's, another book and a bunch of the trains that you'll see below. He also got a Disney Characters "I Spy" book that he really enjoys as well. He got a Dinoco (CARS) helicopter from Uncle Kris and some art supply stuff from his Aunt Jenny's family. The kid was in heaven! Thanks for all the wonderful gifts everyone.

Could this reaction be any more excited! Sarah got some first readers books from her Oma and Opa (my parents) and has really enjoyed them (if only she'd read them instead of trying to memorize the story and then just quoting it almost word for word after a couple of reads!). She got some My Little Ponies from her Uncle Kris, some play food stuff from Nanu and Bumpa, and some art supply stuff from Aunt Jenny's family. She also received a hat and glove set from her cousin Ruby. Thanks again for everything.

My Mom made this adorable skirt for Sarah and a matching one for Jane that they both should be able to wear in a few months. Adorable... Sarah is really excited and both of her matching outfits with Jane have come from her Oma and Opa and they look so cute together.

As mentioned above, Nathan got a bunch of Thomas the Tank Engine stuff. The pic above is of the stuff that he got from his Oma and Opa. Mary and I were so particularly excited for Nathan's Christmas because he's at the age where we know (sometimes) what he wants (and this year it was SO obvious) but he's not to the point where he's really asking for it. So we knew it would be (and it was) a totally, unexpected surprise of pure delight! It's so fun to be a parent at Christmas and seeing your kids get so excited over their presents. Anyway, so Nathan got this James and Rickety combo pictured above. As soon as he gets it he says "James" and takes them and runs into the toy room where his brio train tracks are (we've had a bunch of this for a while but we haven't really had any Thomas pieces to go with it) and starts playing. After a bit we go in and tell him that there are more presents to open. So he comes back in and opens the large set that we had gotten him with a bunch more Thomas characters and some more track. As soon as he opens this up he says "Huh! James!" and runs into the toy room to retrieve James where he had left it and bring them all together. The kid could not have been happier and it was so fun because, for the most part, he woke up that morning not expecting much of anything. So cute! Here he is below after his Dad totally loved using some of the new pieces to build a really cool train-track.
When we were younger (I don't even remember actually doing it) we all designed our own plates and then they were somehow laminated or something so we had them for a number of years. I know we did these at Christmas at some point because we always thought my Dad's plate was the coolest and it had some kind of a Santa on it, or something. Anyway, my parents got us this plate set for Sarah and Nathan and Jane to do some plates. Sarah was the only one that really did one on her own and it was pretty adorable as you can see above (it's a "kitty cat"). Nathan's was his hand traced, a little bird, and some clouds in the middle and then around the outside of the plate was some train track and then a bunch of the Thomas character's names as Nathan announced them. Jane's was cute too as it just had some stats about her being born and what she was currently doing (crawling, eating, nursing every three hours, getting bit by Nathan, talking, and some other stuff I can't remember). Anyway, we were really excited about these and the kids were excited to use them. However, unfortunately, it apparently wasn't a very good product as the dishwasher destroyed the finish on the plates the first time we ran them. We were really disappointed as we had carefully followed the directions :^( It was a really cute idea though!

The rest of our day was just spent with Mary and I playing some games and just enjoying relaxing. Last year we had these grand plans to cook this great dinner and then never got out of our jammies. So this year we changed course a bit and just did a whole bunch of appetizers. We made some really good stuffed mushrooms, had little smokies, cheese logs, wassail, and some other stuff. We just let the kids play all day and really enjoyed the day, though we terribly missed not being in W. WA with my family. However, we were grateful that we didn't plan on going because the weather certainly would've kept us at home. Anyway, we hope everyone had a wonderfully Merry Christmas! God Bless!

Christmas Eve '08

So on Christmas Eve in mid-afternoon, we were out delivering the last of our goodies to friends. We dropped by one family that we haven't spent a lot of time with but have been wanting to get to know more and who have watched our kids on occasion for Mary during the day. Anyway, when we stopped by they spontaneously invited us over for Christmas Eve dinner. Being lonely and missing company (family) and knowing that they were kind of in the same boat (used to big gatherings) we were excited to spend the evening with them. Instead of a simple yummy broccoli cheese soup for dinner, we had that plus ham, potatoes, homemade rolls and all the other good stuff. Their family does a pinata on Christmas Eve and so we had fun doing that with them and just being around them. Nathan loved just playing by himself with all their Thomas the Train stuff (a preview of sorts for him!) in the other room. Sarah loved being around their girls who are mostly a few years older. We enjoyed hanging out with DeRay and Emily. DeRay was preparing to go kayaking on Jan 1st (CRAZY!). Anyway, it was great fun and filled our need to spend some of Christmas with others. They were great surrogate family and it was so kind of them to have us over on short notice!

Here's Nathan swinging for the homemade pinata. He really enjoyed this (and so did Daddy!)

Here's Sarah giving it a good thump. She almost got hit one time diving in for candy a little too soon.

After spending time with our friends we went home and let the kids open their traditional new set of PJ's on Christmas Eve. They were both excited!

Jane did get some new PJ's as well but they don't quite fit her but they do match a pair that Sarah wore, so that'll be fun when they can wear them together. Jane was just as happpy with the tinsel and the bows! What a doll!
We got a little Nativity set from some friends in our Church earlier in the day and the kids had fun playing with that in their new jammies before bedtime. It was a nice Christmas Eve for our family.

Mary's Birthday '08

Mary had another birthday this year (who didn't?) just before Christmas. She enjoyed the Ice-cream cake that I made her and some friends watched the kids while we went out to dinner in town. It was a quieter and more simple birthday for her, which was nice, I think. I know it didn't compare to last years' birthday for her of a day of solitude in the library. Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Christmas Family Get-Together '08

On Dec. 20th we headed to Rick and Laurie's house in Fruitland. It was a crazy weekend as Mary and I went to my work party in Boise on Friday, Mary went to the ward Christmas breakfast while I went to work all day on Saturday and then when I got home we threw the kids in the car and headed to Fruitland and didn't get home until late Saturday night. It was our chance to spend some time with some family over Christmas as we were wishing we could be in WA, where all of my siblings and their families were gathered for Christmas (we so wish we could've been there!). The weather was snowy and blustery but we made the trip safely. There were plenty of desserts and just fun conversation/interaction. There were about 40 of us there and Laurie did a gift exchange for the kids that Sarah and Nathan participated in and, as you can see from the pic below, they really enjoyed themselves and the little gifts that they got. Then they did a gift exchange for the older kids and adults after everyone played SANTA Bingo.

Here we are before we left. Actually a decent picture of our little family!

Here's the whole group for the adult gift exchange. Fun times!

My cousin Joey enjoying hanging out with all the Farmer girls. We enjoy being around my cousins!

These pics are of Sarah and Nathan participating in the kids gift exchange. They had a blast and it was good because the presents weren't opened until the end so no one knew what they were giving up as they passed them back and forth.

Prepping for Christmas

The kids love getting the tree set up and decorated and it's fun to put on your own Christmas music, cook some Wassil and some of the famous Farmer Gingersnap cookies Mmmmmmmm. Sarah and Nathan really enjoyed the festivities and this year it was Nathan's turn to put the star on top of the tree. Christmas is such a magical time of the year, we all love it and, as parents, we love to see the excitement that our kids experience and that we remember also experiencing (and still do!).

Kristopher is Engaged!

Mary should be doing this post, but I'll do it. Mary's youngest brother got engaged two weeks ago. We're really excited for him and look forward to getting to know Chelsea more. On their way back down to UT from WA after Thanksgiving they stopped in and stayed with us for a day. We enjoyed playing with them and the kids love their time with their Uncle Kris, who is our most frequent family visitor. Over the years, Kris has brought a number of girls around for family holidays, so it resonated with me when I heard that Jenny's husband asked her if he "needed to remember this ones name?" Sounds like Chelsea is the one that we are supposed to remember and really invest time in getting to know her. They are getting married on March 5th and we look forward to it! Congrats to Kris!

Getting engaged is such an exciting time, but it's also very stressful. I remember thinking that a lot of things would be easier once we were engaged/married... it seemed to make sense to me. But, as Kristopher is sadly learning very quickly, things often get complicated, stressful and a little overwhelming, though it is still exciting to consider the prospect of getting married to someone you love.

[Beware giving me a digital image you don't want to see on my blog!]

Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving this year was so great! This is our second Thanksgiving/Christmas as a family away from our family and it was SO nice to have family visit us. We had my parents come from Seattle as well as my brother Braden, his wife, Amanda, and their son, Mason, from Utah. This is the first time we've been able to host a holiday like this since we've been married and we were so excited to have family visit and stay for a while. Oma and Opa arrived late Monday evening and stayed until Sat afternoon. Braden and Amanda came Wed evening and left late Sat morning. The food was wonderful, the conversation was great, the company was so fun... it was great. Here are some pics with some explanations if needed.



Here is a cute little decoration that Sarah made at a friends birthday party the other day.
Nathan loved cuddling with his Opa.

Nathan only gets his pacifier now if he is going to sleep or going to have his own quiet time with his blanket and bear either by himself or cuddling with someone. Opa was the perfect willing target! For the first couple of days after Oma and Opa left, whenever Nathan would wake up from a nap or bed he would ask "where's Opa?" or "cuddle with Opa". Opa you're welcome back anytime.

Sarah enjoyed helping Oma make the Multi-Berry pie and it's topping. I enjoyed eating it with ice-cream! [I'm not a big pie fan at all, but with ice-cream, I can enjoy berry or apple pie anytime... especially warm... mmmmmm!]

Oma and Opa giving the kids some animal rides (the actual type of animal changes from moment-to-moment and I'm not really sure what they are at this moment)

It was cute to see Mason and Jane together. They are four months apart, but Mason is actually heavier then Jane. It was funny to see Mason laying there as a 3-month old and Jane full-on crawling around the house. Yes, Jane is full-on crawling. It was fun because she was just starting to crawl decently when Oma and Opa first got here and by the time they left she was going from one side of the house (Sarah's room) to the other (toy room). It's cute to have her just show up in a room behind us now.

Last year I was disappointed when I found out that the ward here doesn't do a "Turkey Bowl". But this year I was excited when our new Young Men's President issued a challenge between the Young Men and the adults. I was really glad that Dad and Braden came and played with me. The weather was amazing and we had a great time. I'm ashamed to admit that I was still noticeably sore on Sunday.

These are Sarah's Thanksgiving pictures that she colored (except for the one on the top-right which Mary did at Sarah's insistence). One of our friends asked if we were going to put Thanksgiving pics in the frames and we thought that was a great idea, so Sarah was excited to color them! They're really cute and she does such a good job!

Here is the spread: [L->R] Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, rolls, fruit-filled cool-whip salad, stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce, gravy, pickle-olive tray and green bean casserole. Good stuff and it all tasted wonderful!

Here is our Thanksgiving table, with Sarah and Nathan just out of reach. They enjoyed having their own table, but didn't eat much of anything.

In spite of being a great daddy himself, Braden also made time to be a great Uncle for Nathan and Sarah as well. The kids enjoyed having them read books for them and play with them in other ways as well.

On Friday afternoon we headed over to my Aunt and Uncles house in Fruitland and had a grand old time with many of my cousins and other family members.

Mom made some of her amazing salsa. I wish that you could have an understanding of how big that bowl of salsa is. I'll just say that even though there were over 50 people there, it didn't all get eaten by the time we left. We still got to take some back with us and left some there with them. Mom was literally making this salsa for like three hours (while also doing other Oma things here and there). Amanda made some delicious guacamole and we made some yummy bean dip.

Here are Sarah and her cousin (2nd cousin? or something) Eli playing in the castle at the Farmer's house.

There was a big group of people that played flag football at the Farmer's on Friday evening as well. I was too sore to play but I enjoyed watching from the balcony pictured. We had a great time and it was great to see so many relatives.

We look forward to the Christmas gathering we are planning!

Passing of Joseph B. Wirthlin

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, passed away on Monday evening at the age of 91. When he passed I thought about my experience with understanding him as a person and as a special witness of Christ. He was not a very dynamic speaker during the years that I was actually attentive to his messages. I don't know if it was always the case for him, but he seemed to speak in somewhat of a monotone voice and was, for me, at times, difficult to listen to. Due to that experience, I made the incorrect assumption that the content of his message matched his delivery. But while I was on my mission and could only read his messages, I quickly learned otherwise... and repented :^). In fact, his messages have been some of the most influential for me over the years. He was related to the late President Gordon B. Hinckley as their grandmother's were half-sisters (they share the same middle name - Bitner). A co-worker of mine is related to the Bitner line and so he has been at family reunions with Elder Wirthlin and President Hinckley. He mentioned to me recently that "Uncle Joe" was one of the kindest men he had ever met and that at these reunions he would frequently be found with a member of the family who "didn't fit in" or was maybe on the outskirts of the mainstream family values. This seemed to fit my image of him. I have always appreciated his humor and the stories he shared.

1. Another lesson I learned on the football field was at the bottom of a pile of 10 other players. It was the Rocky Mountain Conference championship game, and the play called for me to run the ball up the middle to score the go-ahead touchdown. I took the handoff and plunged into the line. I knew I was close to the goal line, but I didn’t know how close. Although I was pinned at the bottom of the pile, I reached my fingers forward a couple of inches and I could feel it. The goal line was two inches away.
At that moment I was tempted to push the ball forward. I could have done it. And when the refs finally pulled the players off the pile, I would have been a hero. No one would have ever known.
I had dreamed of this moment from the time I was a boy. And it was right there within my reach. But then I remembered the words of my mother. “Joseph,” she had often said to me, “do what is right, no matter the consequence. Do what is right and things will turn out OK.”
I wanted so desperately to score that touchdown. But more than being a hero in the eyes of my friends, I wanted to be a hero in the eyes of my mother. And so I left the ball where it was—two inches from the goal line.
I didn’t know it at the time, but this was a defining experience. Had I moved the ball, I could have been a champion for a moment, but the reward of temporary glory would have carried with it too steep and too lasting a price. It would have engraved upon my conscience a scar that would have stayed with me the remainder of my life. I knew I must do what is right.
The Light of Christ helps us to discern right from wrong. When we allow temptations to drown out the still voice of our conscience—that is when decisions become difficult. [The link to the full talk is here]

2. I remember when one of our daughters went on a blind date. She was all dressed up and waiting for her date to arrive when the doorbell rang. In walked a man who seemed a little old, but she tried to be polite. She introduced him to me and my wife and the other children; then she put on her coat and went out the door. We watched as she got into the car, but the car didn’t move. Eventually our daughter got out of the car and, red faced, ran back into the house. The man that she thought was her blind date had actually come to pick up another of our daughters who had agreed to be a babysitter for him and his wife.
We all had a good laugh over that. In fact, we couldn’t stop laughing. Later, when our daughter’s real blind date showed up, I couldn’t come out to meet him because I was still in the kitchen laughing. Now I realize that our daughter could have felt humiliated and embarrassed. But she laughed with us, and as a result, we still laugh about it today.
The next time you’re tempted to groan, you might try to laugh instead. It will extend your life and make the lives of all those around you more enjoyable. [The link to the full talk is here]

Anyway, as many of these great men move through my life, I'm grateful for their distant, yet real impact on who I am as a person, a husband and a father. I'm glad that Elder Wirthlin has reunited with his wife.

Sweet Moments!

Today, we received the December edition of The Friend Magazine that is published by our church for children (ages 0 -12 or so). The last couple of months, whenever we get this magazine, reading the stories from it replaces books for Sarah in the evening as she's so excited to read it and color some of the pictures in it. Anyway, tonight I was reading the story titled "The Language of Dance" on p. 32 (not linkable online yet because it's not December yet, so they don't have the electronic version of this edition). It's a sweet story. Anyway, as I was reading Nathan was being his distracting self... making noises and such. I could tell Sarah was really trying to listen to the story but was having a hard time. The interesting thing was that I would typically just hurry through this, regardless of Nathan's noises, so I could get them to bed. But tonight, for some reason, I asked Nathan several times to be quieter so Sarah could hear. Then I rearranged the seating so Sarah could hear better. Then I went back a little in the story and read what she might have missed during Nathan's commotion. When I finished the story, I looked over and was surprised to see that it looked like Sarah might have been a little teary-eyed. I asked her how she felt and she said "good". I asked if she had cried and she said, in a sweeter than usual tone, "yeah Dad, but it was a happy cry". I asked her if this was the first time she had had a cry like that and she said "yes". I I asked her what she was feeling inside and she said she felt "love" and, after a brief pause, "good". I told her that I knew that that good and love feeling that she felt inside of her was the Holy Ghost. I asked her why she had felt like that and she said that the girls in the story had made the right choice and that they were good friends. It was a really neat experience and I told her that I was proud of her for listening to and feeling the Spirit and that I knew that she could make similar choices in her life.
I love sweet experiences and moments like this where your child learns something that, developmentally, they may not have been at a point where they could make sense of those experiences yet.
This particular situation is one that I've struggled to explain to her over the last couple of years. She's frequently asked, when she's seen me or Mary or someone speaking at Church shed tears of joy, why we/they are crying if they are happy. I've tried to explain it, but I haven't really been able to do it in a way that made sense to her as crying has always been coupled with sad/upset/painful feelings in her experience. But she learned the difference between those kinds of feelings and those kinds of tears tonight! We love you Sarah!

It was Hard not to Laugh!

So in my profession and in my current job working with teenage boys with specific behavioral issues, I work with kids that have some very sad and traumatic histories and experiences in their short lives. Most of them are extremely sad because of them experiencing things that no one in this world should ever experience. Some of them, on the other hand, are kind of humorous while also being sad.
Such was my experience the other day. Every third Saturday of each month we have what we call a Family Day where we do a lot of sessions with families/guardians of the kids that we work with. This is the only Saturday that I have to work each month.
Anyway, so Saturday I met with this kid and his mom and her fiance' for the first time. I knew some of the history of this family, but not all of the details. Sometimes, I do a genogram (a glorified family tree) with the family to understand them better and find out about some of the important people in this kids life. As we were doing this this is what I found out. Mom's first marriage ended in a divorce. Shortly thereafter she got married again. Not very remarkable until you discover that she married her ex-husbands sister's ex-husband (her former brother-in-law). She was married to this guy for a while and then divorced him. Who is she currently living with and engaged to? Her most recent ex-husband's brother (yes, another brother-in-law). So, in short, she's married her brother-in-law twice. How does this work out for the kid (my client). Twice, his uncle has become his step-dad and his step-dad has become his uncle. There are more juicy details in other areas of this family of course, but they require more detailed and confusing explanations. The family seemed to know on their own that this was pretty messed up and/or weird at the least.
So, to make this a little more clear, here is an example. This is like Mary, my wife, divorcing me and marrying my sister's, Rebecca's, husband, Chris. Then, after being married to Chris for a little while, she might marry, or at least be engaged to, either Dougie or Mike (my vote is with Dougie). Yeah, pretty crazy!
Suffice it to say, it was hard not to laugh!

7th Anniversary!

Today is our 7th Anniversary. It's interesting how it seems that on one hand the time has just flown by. But on the other hand, that it seems like Mary's been in my life for so long... my life before Mary seems like it was sooooo long ago (and don't take that the wrong way). Here's a brief statistical summary of our seven years together:

-We've been married for 2,558 days and over 61,300 hours.

-We have three cute kids

-We've lived in 8 different locations and 5 different cities

-We've been in 9 different wards

-We've had four vehicles

-We've gone from having one nephew to four nieces and six nephews (w/ at least one more on the way - probably a boy!)

Alright, this is getting kind of boring and tedious to think about some of this somewhat unnecessary info.

Needless to say, we've had a great 7 years! We're planning on doing something fun in the Spring/Early Summer without the kids, but I'm taking the day off tomorrow to enjoy the day with just my wife (and Jane for most of the day).

We're fully aware of the 7 year itch and the stresses of kids on a marriage (we KNOW!), but we are still in love and enjoy spending time together. We pine for minutes, hours, and (gasp!) days where we can just get away and be together. We look forward to quiet moments in the evening after the kids are asleep where we get to just talk with each other about our days and just connect. We love doing our own things and then being together again. We enjoy being around each other in both large and small social settings. We love watching each other serve in the church as we develop some of our talents. I am frequently amazed at how she makes our income expand and go much farther than I could even hope it would. I'm amazed at how organized and driven she is when she sets her mind to something. Life is busy, crazy, fun, hectic, frustrating, enjoyable, silly, rewarding, tiring and everything in-between and more... and I'm so glad that I can spend this life, and particularly eternal life, with my Sweetheart. Happy Anniversary to Us!

Primary Program '08

As part of our church services on Sunday, Sarah attends two hours of "Primary". One of the hours is spent with her in a class with other kids her age where they have a lesson from their volunteer teacher. During the other hour they are in what's called "Sharing Time" where they learn and sing songs, give talks, read scriptures, do little presentations, etc. Anyway, each year the primary organization (kids ages 3-12) in each congregation puts on their annual "Primary Program" presentation during the "Sacrament Meeting" portion of our worship services. Anyway, during this presentation the kids typically sing songs on a certain topic and most of the kids have very brief speaking parts where they answer a question or share a brief thought on the topic. This year's program title was "I Am a Child of God". About a month ago we were asked to ask Sarah the question "How are you being a missionary now?" and get her response and then let them know what it is. Even though we'd like to help her come up with the answer to such questions and guide her in what she says, we also like to just let her say what she feels, as she probably has something better to say than us anyway. Such was the case here. This is what she said in the program today:

"I am being a missionary now by sharing the Gospel with other people. I tell the stories of the Book of Mormon to Elizabeth. She is my friend from school. I told her if we don't interrupt we can follow heavenly Father's commandments, and get blessed. Mrs. Murphy is my teacher at school. She knows that I read the Book of Mormon every night. She doesn't have a Book of Mormon. If it's her next brithday, and I am still here, I could share new scriptures with her.
I could call Kylie and her family and say 'can I please tell you about the Gospel?' I think she would say "yes" and then I would get ready and go. I am not big enough so I might need a map."

We were of course supposed to help her practice this so she could present it. The funny thing is that she would resist whenever Mary wanted to sit down with her to go over it. Mary would sometimes just recite it to her over lunch or dinner, but Sarah didn't really want to practice it. Then yesterday during dinner she basically recited it (almost word-for-word) by memory, we were fairly floored by this. She did a spectacular job in the program reciting this. It looked like she was getting help on two occasions by looking down at the person that was there to help if she struggled, but that lady informed us afterwards that Sarah would just look at her and say something like "Mrs. Murphy now, right?" or "Kylie?" to confirm that she was saying what she had planned to say. Pretty cute. She seems to have an uncanny memory (albeit sometimes selective!) about things at times. Great Job Sarah!

Halloween '08

The kids had a fun Halloween this year. A week or so before Halloween we painted pumpkins. This is the first year we've painted them and I think we'll do this until the kids are older. They seem to enjoy it more because it's more colorful, they get to actually do more of the work and the designing and we like it because it's less messy and doesn't take as long. I hope next year we'll do a little of both. The kids loved "mixing colors", which usually just ends up with most colors looking a tannish gray hue, but they had fun and that's what counts.

Above is Sarah's pumpkin that she painted. You can see that she started with a good face and then just started mixing colors.

As far as costumes go, Sarah chose to be a witch and was excited about getting a little black kitty cat to go with her outfit. Nathan, who has fallen in love (read 2.5 year-old obsession!) with Thomas the Train was able to wear a costume that we borrowed from our friends the Angerbauer's. We also borrowed a Giraffe costume from our friends for Jane as well. All the kids were cute and excited. We went to our church's Trunk or Treat. It was nice because they started early (5:30) so we were actually home a little after 7 pm. The kids are still young enough to just be excited with whatever is in their bag at the end of the night, though I'm sure the days out with friends where they fill large containers full of candy and go out way beyond when anyone answers the door will come in a few years (such fond memories!). I guess that we did get a hint of that this year as Sarah has been so interested in counting her candy and playing with it when Nathan naps (I figured she would end up eating some pieces unless I watched her closely but, no, she just loved sorting and organizing her candy. She really did just want to play with it! Coincidentally, this was something I loved to do with my candy... when I was younger). The kids get a couple of pieces of candy a day and are excited about choosing and often sharing with one another. One thing that was crazy was how warm it was... it had to be in the 60's, which was a really nice break from the usually really cold weather this time of year. We didn't have a Halloween Party like last year, but maybe we'll do that again in the future. Mary and I didn't do anything to dress up this year, no surprise there... I love how the kids enjoy it but I don't really want to dress up, though I would if I had a good costume. Anyway, below is what you really came here to see.

Sarah and Nathan before we headed off to the Trunk or Treat.
Sarah was really excited about counting her candy before she went to bad that night and was pretty pleased with her results.

Bless that...

From Sarah's prayer over her breakfast this morning:
"Bless that the birds will have enough fish to eat and the jaguars will have enough animals to eat... Bless that Jesus can be our bestest King forever and ever, and Heavenly Father too."

After a spell of fairly rote prayers that were brief, fast and straight to the point, she is starting to put more meaning (from our limited adult perspective) into her prayers. We tried to not make the routine/rote prayers an issue and just let her speak to her Father in Heaven however she wanted to (though we did have a Family Night lesson on the subject) and it's nice to see her choosing to be more expressive vocally in her prayers.

A Cure for this Obnoxious (Posted by Mary) Stuff (Posted by Jeff, just to be clear)

I know it's been absolutely abnoxious to have Mary "hijacking" my blog while I was away [and even when I wasn't... the nerve] so I've solved the problem. I changed my password for my log-in so now she no longer has access to my blog. I'll just have to make sure that I sign-out when I'm on the blog and I'll have to log-in each time, which will be a little annoying but it obviously serves a purpose. Okay, so I didn't really shun her, I just finally added her as an "author". So this blog, appropriately, now has two authors... Mary and myself. So, she will no longer have those odd titles to her posts. Instead, if you're curious who authored the post you'll have to look at the bottom of each post to see if it was me, or her. Although, astute readers will quickly be able to identify the different idiosyncracies that we both have in our writing. Anyway, problem solved.
So, let's all welcome Mary, officially, into the blogging world by leaving a comment that mentions one quirk/oddity or something interesting that you know or have observed about Mary (even the lurkers can comment!). She will now be able to leave comments on your blog as well that are actually from her. And the nice thing is that any comment from her is also a comment from me since I taught her how to blog, just remember that ; * ) The pic above is the one that Mary chose for now for her profile picture, the one below is the one that I wanted her to put in there. I guess I'll let her choose such things now that she's an official blogger. Welcome to the HammFamilyFun Blog, Jeff and Mary edition!