New pictures of our missionary

David is loving Brazil. Here he is with his current companion--Elder Buzzato--he loves having a companion who is willing to work hard.

I think they look very happy.

Bicycling

Michael and two other scouts from his troop decided to get the bicycling merit badge. During the summer they did one of the required rides each week. Ned and one of the other Dads went along on all of the rides.

They decided to do the final 50 mile ride on Labor Day. The boys' Moms met them at noon for lunch and a little rest. We're proud of the riders--I think this is one merit badge they definitely will remember.

They're off!

Brad got his braces off this week

We think that he has beautiful smile.

Game Night

We love to play games as a family. Some of our favorites are Settlers of Catan, Risk, Ticket to Ride, Clue, Cities and Knights, Scattergories, Apples to Apples, Masterpiece, Colosseum, Acquire and the list goes on and on. Each of us has our favorites but everyone is willing to play.

Sometimes the action is a little slow so the girls try and liven things up a little bit. We were playing Cities and Knights last night and the girls decided to make the pirate invasions a little bit more real. In the end it's all about having fun together which we always seem to do.

Birthday Fun

Sarah turned 19 the weekend. She is sure that she is really "old". I guess it is all relative.

We had a great day and as you can tell she received many fun and exciting gifts.

New mission--same darling missionary

In July part of David's mission was split off to form a new mission, Missao Brasil Teresina. We just received this photo of David with his new mission president and his wife, President and Sister Dias. David seems to be thriving on mission life.

Starting another school year

Another school year is starting--summer always goes by too quickly. Sarah doesn't really start fall semester for another week but I won't be there to take a picture of her at BYU. Brad is a Junior. Betsy is in 9th grad. Michael is in 7th grade. This is the first time in 15 years we haven't had a child in elementary school. They are all growing up too quickly.