Shelby

This weekend was a sad one for our little family.  Our dog Shelby has had cancer in her leg for a couple of months and had been doing pretty well up until the last week.  It appears the cancer had spread to her brain and she was unable to walk and was in a lot of pain.  Mark and I decided it was time to have her put to sleep on Saturday.  Even though we knew it was coming, it was a lot sooner and harder than I had anticipated.  Shelby has been a part of our family since April 1999, over 9 1/2 years.  Neither Mark or I have ever had a pet that long.  She has been such a light in our life.  I think she had the biggest heart of any animal I've ever known.  She loves everyone!  Sometimes a little too much.  She has even loved our dozens of cats and bunnies that have come and gone through her time with us.  Sydney and Luke will miss her greatly since she is the one they always want to go see when they are mad at us.  Mark buried her under a tree on the river on the lot we hope to build our home one day.  We will miss her greatly and we are so thankful she has been a part of our lives.

Security Home Mortgage

Yesterday was our annual company photo. I have been with this company for over eight years and worked with some of these people for over a decade. They have become like my second family and have to put up with all of my annoying habits: (ie... my sarcasm, competitiveness and the disaster I like to keep my desk in.) I appreciate all their patience and all the fun times.

HALLOWEEN

The last couple of years Mark and I have started hosting a party on Halloween night.  It has been a lot of fun.  We have dinner and the kids all go trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.  It's been much easier than trying to get our kids to see everyone.  Of course Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays since it's also my birthday.  I still like to think everyone's out partying just for me.   We did have one small incident this year when Sherri and I volunteered to take the herd of younger children around the neighborhood alone.  We lost one.  But thanks to my dear friend Sharla and the luck that his babysitter lives nearby we recovered him without too much harm.  After that we implemented the buddy system.  I need to remember that for next year.  Thanks to both of our families for coming to play with us.

We were so excited this year when we came up with the idea of dressing the kids up as a BYU football player and cheerleader.  One because we already had Syd's outfit and a jersey for Luke. We also loved the idea because Luke loves to wear helmets so we figured after last years nightmare of wearing his Nemo costume for about 31/2 seconds this would be a big improvement.  So we spent two weeks searching for a BYU helmet and finally found one which we way overpaid for.  And then of course he wore it every second until 12:01a.m. Halloween morning and refused to wear it until the next day and hasn't taken it off since.  Hence the reason for the picture of Mark trying to force it on his head.  I swear, sometimes, I think he may just be the biggest tease on the entire planet. 

A few of the cousins:  Tooth Fairy (Emily), BYU Cheerleader (Sydney), Dorothy (Jenna), Minnie and Mickey (Ava and Jordan), BYU Football Player (Luke)

Sydney as Sharpay

Our family, OK Sydney, has been anxiously awaiting the release of High School Musical 3. We went opening weekend with Sherri and her girls. Sydney loved it and to be honest I thought it was pretty cute. Sydney has always loved Sharpay and has wanted to dress up as her for Halloween for a couple of years now so when we saw this costume it was a must.

LOGAN'S FAREWELL

Whitney, Parker, Logan, Jenna, David & Jada

Cousins: Ava, Allison, Luke, Logan, Jordan, Whit,

Sydney & Jenna

So, I'm so on the ball, that I'm just posting Logan's farewell pictures and he just flew out to Houston today.  The MTC has already come and gone.  He did a great job speaking at his farewell and seemed very anxious to go.  I just can't say it enough, we are so proud of these nephews setting such a good example for our kids.  

Thriller

I conned Sherri into going with me to Thriller.  It was a lot of fun.  We went and ate at Heaps and watched the show at the Covey Arts Center.  Of course I loved it, It's Halloween, my favorite.

MOAB

The Kids: Luke, Braden, Sydney, Carson, and 

Brandon (just missing Whitney)
Thanks to my mom and dad for letting us

borrow their 4-wheelers

Delicate Arch in background
After a wet hike to the windows.  Brandon, Matt, Mark, 

Luke, Sydney, Braden and Carson

We planned a quick weekend get-away with the Manookins to Moab.  We had so much fun and they were so great to show us around.  We were totally clueless.  I haven't been to Moab since I was 17 and Mark can't ever remember going.  Sydney was so excited to go with Carson and even more excited when he brought his friend Braden, a new crush for the week.  She goes through them about as fast as toilet paper.  We stayed in some pretty swanky KOA cabins.  They didn't have much, but the kids were extremely excited to stay in a log cabin with bunk beds.  Even though the weekend was pretty wet, we managed to get in a couple of short 4-wheeler rides to Gemini Bridges and Metal Masher and a few hikes to the arches.  I can't believe how much bigger Moab is than I remembered and there really is a LOT to do there.   We look forward to going again.