Turkeys and Indians

We had a very nice Thanksgiving. My parents came down to spend the week with us, which was really nice. They also filled our freezer with a side of beef. Gotta love that!

Josh had his first Thanksgiving program at preschool. He was an indian and he was very excited. Since Dalen and my parents missed the program, he stood on his stage (a kitchen chair) and did repeat performances multiple times. It was very cute!


On Thanksgiving morning, my parents got babysitting duty with Josh and Anna while the rest of us took off to try and offset some of the gluttony that would occur later.

Seth and Dalen went to the Annual Unofficial Ward Flag Football Turkey Bowl. Seth loved it. Dalen loved being with Seth, but he is still dealing with kidney stone issues and he decided that maybe football and kidney stones don't go together all that well.

Aleah and I went to the 19th Annual Turkey Trot, along with 14,500 other Austinites. Aleah's friend Ava and her mom, Natalie, came too. It was really fun. Aleah, who has NEVER run a race in her entire life and who did no official training for this race other than playing soccer, pumped out the entire 5 miles without walking once! I kept telling her to slow down and pace herself, but I guess there was no need to worry. She ran up the final hill at the end of the race like she had energy to burn. She's amazing! Next year I'm going to just let her take off and tell her to wait for me at the finish line. Aleah and Seth are both looking forward to doing another race soon. I love it!


Then we ate and ate and ate. And of course, I love that too! Happy Thanksgiving!

Stones

It might actually be funny if it wasn't so incredibly painful. Poor Dalen. We hope this is over soon.

Halloween

Another All-Hallows-Eve has come and gone. This year was very fun. I really like Halloween falling on a Saturday, can we do this every year?

We started our celebrations the weekend before Halloween with the annual cul-de-sac pumpkin carving party. It was a lot of fun, but the kids are looking pretty serious here. Maybe having pumpkin guts all over your hands does not go along with smiling. But in the end I think they were pretty happy with their carvings.


Evan and Robyn (Dalen's nephew and his wife) joined us to carve their pumpkins. They moved to Austin a few months ago and we are loving having them here!

Anna insisted on cleaning out her own pumpkin,
at least until she got bored.

Here are the final masterpieces.

This year's costume lineup included . . . .

A fierce looking Skandian. I know he looks like a Viking, but Seth was really Erak the Skandian from the Ranger's Apprentice books. These books are Seth's number two favorites right after Harry Potter.


Cruella de Vil


A Jedi


A kitty. It didn't take Anna long to figure out that most of what kitties do is lie around on the furniture and look annoyed with you.


Mr. Fredrickson from the UP movie.


And a very mean wicked witch.


The kids had a lot of fun at the trunk or treat up at the church and then they went trick or treating through the neighborhood. Josh especially liked it this year. He has asked numerous times since Halloween if we can go trick or treating again. I always tell him we can go again next year, but he wants to go right now. Why wouldn't you go beg from the neighbors when you are in the mood for candy? Heaven knows the wicked witch won't give him any.

Happy Halloween!

Remembering Grant

Dalen's father passed away in September. He was a very good man who lived a good life. We are forever grateful for him and for his example and his influence in our lives.

Grant was born in 1920 in Roosevelt, Utah. He was the youngest of twelve children. When he was about five years old, his father, who had been a blacksmith, became paralyzed. Grant and all of his family worked very hard to support their family.

Grant served a mission for the LDS Church in the Spanish American Mission, Spanish speaking, which served the southwestern United States.

Grant after his mission around 1943.

He then served in the Merchant Marine during
World War II.

He attended BYU, graduating with a degree in horticulture. This picture is of Grant with his mother Lydia in 1947 at his graduation from BYU.

Grant and June were married in 1948.

They have five children. (Dalen is the youngest.) They also have 21 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren and counting.

Kerri, Brent, Letha, Mark, & Dalen

Grant was a landscape architect. Most of his career was spent working for the State of Utah Parks and Recreation Department as a park planner. Some of the projects he worked on include Wasatch State Park, Utah Lake State Park, Antelope Island, Dead Horse Point, and the Dinosaur Park in Vernal, as well as others.

After retiring, Grant and June were called to the California, Oakland Mission where they served in Vietnamese and Chinese branches.

Grant was always a gigantic tease! I cannot believe it is possible that I don't have a picture with him sticking out his tongue, because he ALWAYS stuck out his tongue when you tried to take his picture. But I wasn't able to locate one. I think someone needs to send one of those my way!

Grant was a wonderful father and grandfather. We love him and we will miss him!

Dalen and his dad on the day we got married.

Grandpa with Seth and Aleah - Summer of 2000
(The giant polar bear in the background was a big favorite too.)

Grandpa & Seth

Grandpa & Aleah

Grant, Dalen, Seth, Aleah, and snowman.

Grandpa and Josh

Grandpa and Anna

Anna's blessing day