Its Winter!

We finally had our first major snowfall of the year. The kids were so excited they decided to go build something exciting.

They weren't sure what they were going to make but they made lots of snow brick anyways.

Finally it was decided that an "obstacle" for Amelia would be perfect.

She promptly tore it down and commenced to eat all of the snow.

So much for all of that hard work. 

We are so excited its finally starting to look like Christmas around here though.

O Christmas Tree

We thought it would be fun to cut down our own christmas tree. Its something we've never really done before so we didn't know what to expect. We found a christmas tree farm about 20 minutes north of us.

We spent about 30 minutes walking around looking for the perfect tree. We found lots of Charlie Brown trees. We'll just say most of them had their own unique personalities. We finally found this tree. Its about 11 feet tall. The trees were cheaper as they got taller so we were looking for a REALLY tall one.

Actually we found two trees we liked so we got both.

Sarah thought this would make a good tree for next year. It still has a little bit of growing to do.

The next part of our adventure was actually getting little Ophelia (thats what we named it) to stand up straight. Much to our dismay her trunk seemed to have gone a little more crooked after the ride home.

Amelia promptly chewed this branch off of Hamlet (the other tree). Its a Shakespearian themed year. 

Autumn is in the Air

We went to the Autumn Festival at Thanksgiving Point and had a great time!

Success!

David had his first baptism last week--well first three actually. Valdson, Digeo and Diego's sister, Lorena, were all baptized last Saturday!

Here is David and his companion with Valdson--the investigator that David baptized. We are so excited for him!

SHRIMP BOIL!

 A couple of weeks ago we decided to do a shrimp boil!

We covered our table with butcher paper and colored all over it with crayons and then dumped a whole pot full of boiled potatoes, shrimp and corn out onto it!

Here is a more detailed picture of our art work.

Amelia enjoyed watching the shrimp boiling away outside in her cute new sweater the girls got her... We sent a picture to David and he said she looked ridiculous.

Missionary Update

Here is a little excerpt from David's last e-mail. As you can tell he is way into mission life.

"Things are definitely happening here in Capanema! My word, yesterday was the best day of my mission so far. I don't have a ton of time on the mission, so that's not saying a whole lat, but it was awesome. : ) We had 11 investigators in the chapel! It was crazy. Our goal was 6, so we were totally surprised. Diego is still on track to be baptized this Saturday, and Elder Esplin an dI are really happy for him. There's been this trickle-down effect because of him, too. His sister's agreed to be baptized along with two of his friends, and the sisters of one of his friends. Then Diego's sister, Lorena, took us to talk to one of her friends, Jacqueline, and yesterday at church Jacqueline said "I really liked it here, I'm excited for my baptism on the 27th!" I'm trying not to count my chickens before they hatch,but these eggs look really awesome. We also had a man named George who brought along his son named Diego, and the parents of one of the members here, who are about 75 years old. Its crazy awesome. I'm not exactly sure what we did, except for fast, pray and work, but things are going well."

The Big 1-8

We have another adult in our home now. Sarah turned 18 last week and I don't know who is more dismayed me or Sarah. We can't quite figure out how the last 18 years passed so quickly.

For her birthday Sarah wanted a print of a picture by J. Kirk Richards. It's kind of modern but we like it. It is being framed right now and then I am sure it will hang on her wall for years to come.

We all went to the Utah State Fair on Saturday night. What an adventure that was. We get so used to life in our own little world that it was quite the cultural awareness experience.

We saw the PRCA rodeo. YEE HAW.

Amelia--Our Basset Hound

The newest addition to our family is Walter Amelia Bedelia Cordelia--Amelia for short (we had some conflicts over what to name her...). She is about 5 months old right now and pretty entertaining. We call her our little drama queen because she is very demonstrative with both excitement and sorrow. You always know how Amelia is feeling.
When Amelia was about 5 weeks old we went and picked her out. She was the sweetest one and it was a long few weeks before we brought her home.

This is Amelia's favorite sleeping position. She also enjoys sleeping with her toys.
Amelia is the girl's little baby. After baths they would wrap her up in a towel and carry her around. She is a little to big for that now--however...
...she still thinks she is a lapdog. 

Betsy dressed up as Stalin one day. Amelia was her cohort.
Amelia has turned from our little black dog to our little brown dog. No matter what kind of dog she is she gets more love and attention than a dog needs.

David's Mission

David left June 10, 2008 and flew directly to the MTC in Brazil.  There were 14 elders that left from the Salt Lake Airport.  Guess who we think is cutest?

Here is Darling Elder David  and his companion Elder Williams from Texas.

Beans and Rice are pretty much a staple. David's favorite foods are the exotic fresh fruits.

We Have Entered the Blogging Universe!

Well, I guess it was about time for us to start a blog.