Aunt Laura time

 

Cute little cherub

 

Uncle Nathan sandwich

 

Brothers playing together

Spencer built this fort for he and David 

The professional speaker

Michael speaking at the PRSSA conference in Salt Lake in November 

Catherine's first piano recital

Catherine and her friend, Nickelle Bartholomew, who played a duet called, "Bluebird on my shoulder" which we all had stuck in our heads for weeks. :) 

Woo John Beck!

Okay, so this picture is a year-and-a-half old, but it's still cute and in honor of a BYU Bowl victory by drubbing the Oregon Ducks, we post this picture of a current great BYU QB and possibly a future great BYU QB. (or not. After feeling the stress of watching Matt Cannon with a target on his back, I don't know if, as a mother, I could take it.) But it's fun to think about. 

Recent photo shoot

Most of you have already seen this shot, but just incase you haven't here it is 

Giving video another try

I added a couple videos below - let's give it another shot. Just wait a minute or so for this page to load, then click on the "play" button (the one that looks like an arrow pointing right). It should say "buffering," then take a couple seconds, then start playing. Let me know if it works! (Michael in his signature black text)

Spencer sings the BYU fight song

Sorry for the bad angle

Cath reading to David

keeping him busy while parents tend to Spencer and something else

October - Our search for the great pumpkin

The second Saturday of October we found our favorite pumpkin patch (aka "the pumpkin catch" or "the patchy patch") where we like to pick our own pumpkins. This was all new to Spencer (and David for that matter) because it was closed last year. Michael liked reliving the year that I was pregnant with Spencer , it was 90 degrees and I passed out. We all thought it was really fun walking through the patch and the giant sunflowers, finding the perfect pumpkins to provide a good home. And we all got really dirty in the process. I really am determined one year to grow our own, but in the mean time, this is a good way to appreciate the origins of the pumpkins. 

Our picks

 

Our haul

 

Catherine reading to her siblings

 

After baths

 

The Last Samurai

While making dinner one night, I found Spencer doing this in the living room with a couple of butter knives (thank goodness!) and yellling, "Go! Go!" When I asked what he was doing, he turned around and sweetly said, "I fighting a dime-no-saur." and then went back to his work defending our family. 

Carving pumpkins

What a great family home evening activity! Spencer loved it. (Frankly, he loves most stuff - you're all probably tired of me saying, "Spencer loves . . .") 

Emma's pumpkin

She was very proud of the final result. 

Spencer's first BYU football game!

Michael here after a long hiatus: Spencer likes to talk about BYU football, and when Amy drove past the stadium he said that was the BYU football place and "I go there with my dad." He was referring to when I took him for spring practice back in April (posted in May). So I planned to take him to see the Cougars play UNLV, partly because I knew it would be a blowout and okay to leave at halftime. He was pretty excited (again, mostly because he got to ride in my car). I was excited, too. 

At Lavell Edwards Stadium

He loved being there -- he was fascinated by all the action and the "BYU football guys" in their "football hats." He actually watched the plays through the first quarter and loved to cheer and clap when everyone else did. When he got really excited he raised his fists in the air and waved them around. He got bored with the game by the second quarter but liked crawling around, looking at people behind us and eating snacks. We left at halftime, which was okay because it was 31-7 or something.

All that happened AFTER I lost him for about three minutes after he disappeared when I bent down to get a drink from a water fountain. It was sheer terror followed by profound relief when I found him with one of the ushers. He had scampered back into the stands. I hope I never let that happen again. 

Singing the fight song

 

me and my pumkin

my dad carved my pumkin, but Ipicked how it should look 

Halloween 2006

The puppy, Peter Rabbit (he's missing his blue jacket), Minnie Mouse and Dorothy 

The Puppy

Spencer LOVES his Halloween costume. It was one of Timmy and/or Matthew's old costumes. He's never actually seen 101 Dalmations, so we just told him he was a puppy. Later as we were getting ready to go to the Sorensons, he was walking around saying, "I a firehouse dog, Spot." He came up with the elaboration on his own. :) 

Cute girls ready for school

 

Heading out for some Trick-or-Treating

Catherine wasn't too excited about trick-or-treating this year, but we encouraged her to go to a few of our neighbors, then come back and hand out candy. The other kids loved it - particularly the puppy. David stayed home with Mom, but Aunt Lynn accompanied the rest. 

Trick or Treating with Aunt Lynn