Thanksgiving & Joe's

1. Remembering Chuck West at his memorial.

He passed away at the end of October.

Mike and Ellen with Crys

They were the very best neighbors to us. We love them.

2. I babysat at Chris's and also watched Samuel.

Little Mia loved the 'Bebe.'

3.That afternoon we went to So. Ogden and saw Taylor and Max

in a production of Mulon Jr. It was very well done.

They both did a great job!

4. Samuel is now eating food. Babies sure grow up fast!

5. Cory and Katie stopped by on Thanksgiving on their

way up to Idaho. It was good to see them.

We had the biggest Thanksgiving we have ever had.

I wish I would have gotten more pictures, but I was quite busy:)

6. The family room has two large tables.

7.Val is put to work cutting Amanda's hair. 

Good visiting, though!

8. We are at Joe and Tesha's now.

Leah, Zach, Dad, Ben

9. Aunt Cathy's daughter Catharine holding Joe's Catherine.

We went to visit them in Vermont. and visited Sharon, VT,
the birthplace of Joseph Smith to see the lights.

10.They bought a Blue Spruce pine tree that smelled amazing.

It was a school fund raiser and cost $25. Wish we could have

brought one home. Then Ben and Zach are helping to decorate.

11.Joseph with the final team of professors.

 12. Grandma Halloway and Leah. She babysat the kids during

Joe's Thesis presentation. She has been wonderful to them.

Tesha has learned to can so many interesting things from Vinegar

to homemade celery salt.

13.We had so much fun. We had a little Christmas with them while

we were there. Here are the kids in their new pajamas.

14. We had such a wonderful trip. It was so good to spend

time with them. They are unbelievably busy.

I guess grad school with four kids and teaching early morning

seminary keeps them very busy.

We were sharing this scripture for a Thanksgiving message and I was

going to leave off the first part and begin with "be of good cheer," but

couldn't. The person we were visiting needed to hear the first part as we

all do when things are looking so discouraging:

"And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, 

for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings 

thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours.

And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; 

and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, 

even an hundred fold, yea, more."

D&C 78:18-19

November 19, 2016

1. Spending the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa

are Robert, Matthew, and Alaina.

 The twins stayed with their dad and mom.

We had a great time in the new kitchen.

2. Watching the Cubs World Series while carving pumpkins

at Ryan's house. This is Jeffrey, then Kaden & Dusty, and Kaden
and his pumpkin.

3. Colleen, Zander, and Mia trick or treating.

4. Mallory and Caleb with friends.

5. Watching Cubs game with Ryan's family.

6.  Our wonderful neighbors brought in Gravel to begin 

making a driveway to Pete's house.

Caleb and Zander.

7. The Tanner family we've been working with.

The parents are starting to come to church with their family.

We have learned so much from them.

8.We went to Arizona for Dad's 50 year class reunion.
 Paul and Dad looking at his yearbook.

Dad & I had a great time at the reunion. He hasn't seen

some of his classmates for 50 years.

9.The first day we got to Arizona, I helped Lacey

finish a quilt she had started for Chloe.

10. It was so nice and warm. We did some work in the backyard.
Levi relaxing in the swing.

11. We all went for a hike only 10 minutes away.

Levi did the whole hike by himself without being 

carried at all. Paul and Nikki & Sammi took a longer

route, but we finished at the same time.

12. Sunday morning & ready for church.

Grandpa shares his badge with Levi

13. The house where Dad lived. It looked better this time.
He went to the Mesa 2nd Ward when he lived in AZ.

14. We had lunch on Monday with a friend, Don McCleve,
that he ran cross country with who was a year younger.

15. We celebrated Chloe's birthday a little early so we could 

be with her.

 16. Nikki making bread. Paul got a wheat grinder

and we made fresh whole wheat bread.

It was soooo good.

17. The flight home was beautiful.

18.Home to Mallory and Jeffrey's band concert.

They really sounded good. Jeffrey on the symbols
and Mallory on the flute in the center.

19. Wade Walton conducting. You can't see it very well,

but he had shaved a turkey on the back of his head.

We have had a wonderful few weeks. We have been spending

long hours on our mission, and then we take off for time with

the family. It's great.

I've been putting together A. Ellen's life history and publishing

it through Create Space like Daddy's book.

It is now done. It ended up being 96 pages. I sent a proof copy to

A. Ellen and she said she sat down and cried when she saw it.

It did turn out nice. I'm so glad I did it for her and my brother Paul.

I love you all very much. Here is a quote from A. Ellen's book by Paul.

It is at the end of a short history he wrote about our mother:

"She had met the challenges, learned and endured. We are after all,

judged not by our mistakes but rather by the refinement of our spirit

and the intentions of our heart."

I love you all. I'm looking forward to having so many at Thanksgiving

and then flying out to see Joe & Tesha and the kids.

We'll be back on December 2nd.