Well Done Thy Good and Faithful Servant

Elder Wirthlin has been a favorite of mine for a while now. I will miss his cute, funny personality, but he has indeed earned his rest from this mortal life. His last conference talked "Come What May, and Love It" was so good and just what I needed this year. One sentence from that talk stuck out and rings in my head at least once a day.

"If we approach adversities wisely, our hardest times can be times of greatest growth, which in turn can lead toward times of greatest happiness."

I love that he played football (even if it was for the U) and loved sports. He was so down to earth. He reminds me so much of my grandpa who also lived to see a busy age of 91. What great examples these men are. He will be missed, but I smile when I think of where he is now.

I am Thankful for...

*I am most thankful for the five other people in this picture. They are my world!

*I am also thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and His Plan of Salvation.

* I am thankful for my dear Friends. I have the Best!

*I am thankful for all the material things that make my life easier, hoping that they are not inhibiting my progression in this life.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Birthday Boy

Four years ago.

We weren't sure he was going to make it this far. Those poor angels assigned to this kid have had a run for their money.

Halloween

Since I voted on Halloween,I'll post my Halloween pictures on voting day. Another easy Halloween. (no sewing this year)

This is the last time I sewed costumes. I think I got it all out of my system that year. ha ha

My favorite "trick or treater" this year was the cutest little bo peep I've ever seen.

Our Fall Break

We have an on going argument in our family on whether it takes money to have fun. Oh we know you don't need money to have fun, but we all take turns believing it. Last January we'd planned to do Disneyland this week for fall break.....yada yada yada.... we are in Utah this week. Anyways Dave (bless his heart) was determined to show us that you can have a good time without spending money. So we took the kids the Logan for the day. (I think he was inspired by how poor we were in college.) We've never takin our kids back to Utah State so at least it was new for them. They loved climbing the stairs at Old Main Hill and running as fast as they could back down. They also climbed on all the fountains and statues. Free Fun! We did stop for Aggie ice cream which I reminded him costs money, but Dave is a huge ice cream fan and it was a good deal. I wasn't going to argue with that.

Carter crashed half way down, it's steeper then it looks.

On the way home we stopped and visited Uncle Greg and Aunt Erin and had some dinner. Then we stopped in Paradise where my cousin lives and ended up going to a farm for a Halloweenie Roast. This cute Family opens up their farm for people to come visit. They take you on a ride pulled by a tractor (drivin by a cute little grandma) to tour tons of Halloween scenes. (8 years in the making) They also had barrel rides for the little kids and a haunted barn for the older ones. The kids loved it! And guess what IT WAS FREE!!! They do it cause they think that's what Grandpa would want. (the grandpa who handed down the farm) That was perfect for Dave's crusade for free fun.
So somehow we managed to have a lot of fun on a little money. Side note- Yes I did buy Utah State t's but they were only 5 bucks!

P.S. I have nothing against Disneyland, fun resorts, boats, ATV's, cruises, or anything else that expensive fun. ha ha

Mommy & Bree Date

Tonight Bree and I went to a Jenny Oaks Baker concert. We just love her! We have a few of her Cd's but had never seen her live. She is AWESOME and so fun to watch. She played with the Utah Youth Symphony which I am also very impressed with. Kurt Bestor was there too. He's always fun to hear from. After the concert we got to meet her and she was so sweet! I 'm so happy that Bree has someone like her for a role model. Oh ya and we also literally bumped into her Dad three times tonight... so on our way out we asked for a photo. We think he's pretty cool too.

I'll pay 1,000 bucks to potty train this kid

O.K. so I don't have an extra thousand bucks right now, but can you put a price on your sanity anyway? I have spent way more time in the bathroom than any sane person should. I have tried everything potty parties, potty presents, hours in the bathroom(he can hold it forever), putting Cheerios in the potty to pee on, taking away his computer games that he loves, and yes no birthday party.( I have a month and a half to dig my way out of that hole). My favorite thing right now is my little green machine(carpet cleaner). I've heard that boys are harder but really this much? Oh yeah I'm also trying to teach myself photo shop right now which is equally as frustrating. Somethings gotta give. I'm sure this is all to teach me patience and long suffering. And I know there are way worse things (real tragedies) but I just had to vent!! I'll try to be more positive next time!

Done!

There is nothing like getting your visiting teaching done the first part of the month. I'm not bragging cause it's rare, but I just feel like I can handle everything else so much better when that is checked off my list. I love visiting teaching it is so fun to visit with these cute ladies, and I know I get more from them than I bring. What a blessing!

Bree's first music video

Bree performed at the Hales family reunion. They liked her so much they used her for the reunion dvd trailer. Check her out! www.halesgathering.com/files/Hales_Trailer_1024.wmv

Summer Highlights

We started the Summer saying goodbye to Esa and Kristy. (Our favorite foreign exchange students) Esa's family came from Germany and stayed a few days. What an awesome family!

We will never forget you girls!

Our wonderful neighbors took us horseback riding on their horses. The kids had a ball. It took me back to the summers workin' in Jackson Hole, and I realized, it really had been 14 years since I'd been on a horse. (not as limber as I used to be)

Abby had her ballet recital. I love Clytie's recitals... the grand theater and live orchestra, but you can't actually get a picture of the event. This is Abby and her Ballet Buddy Sienna just before the dress rehearsal.We had to try out the frontrunner. What a fun way to get to the Gateway!

The Hugies invited us to their way fun condo at Bear Lake. The kids loved the pool.
Then they came to our cabin for some
beachin' and boating Griffeth style.
We also had a fun family reunion, but I forgot my camera. Oh well!
There are a lot of friends and family we missed this summer hopefully we'll see you next year hope all is well!
We love you!

We met Elder Hales!

We've always thought that Bree was our key to fame and fortune. But seriously, we probably would not have met Elder Hales if she hadn't just impressed him with her fiddle performance.

Can't get enough of Bear Lake can we!

Lagoon was fun this year!

So you said you wanted some pictures, we'll see if I can figure this out.

Here it is!

O.K. Kristy Here it is! It's not fancy, but it's a start. I guess I have hours of learning before I get it to look the way I want. We hope all is well in Ukraine.