trick or treat

Our first trick-or-treater.

We joined him for a great Halloween party tradition at the Teets home and neighborhood.

my fall mantle

On Mondays I am like the energizer bunny. After I did all my jobs today...this was my project...so fun!

halloween party

I told Brianna that she was too old to trick-or-treat this year. But, she'll never be too old to party, and off she went this evening with her friend, Natalie.

happy birthday melanie

Dear Melanie,

I thought I would post a few of my favorite memories in no particular order:

1. Remember listening to this song?

2. Remember when you fell down in the garage and split your chin open and I picked you up and carried you into the house and then to the car to go get stitches...my back hurt for days and I knew then that moms can have superhuman strength when it comes to their kids.

3. You were my only baby that loved to be snuggled.

4. Do you remember when we were going to lunch at the Breakers in West Palm Beach and you saw a couple walking out of the hotel and asked me if I had noticed them? When I said no, you said that they looked like you and Spencer when you got old and that's when I knew you would marry him even though he was on his mission at the time and you were not even writing letters to each other.

5. Remember when I was hanging wallpaper and you were painting and the wallpaper accidentally ripped in half and we both collapsed in a fit of laughter?

6. Remember when I made your pink dress and we curled your hair in a zillion ringlets for Prom and you looked like Heaven?

7. I am glad that you have always loved dolls and I have enjoyed choosing dolls for you.

8. I loved watching you on the balance beam at gymnastics, so strong and beautiful...that's how I still see you.

9. Remember how I used to help you study and how happy we were the day you got accepted to BYU?

10. Remember when we saw that big huge alligator sitting in the middle of Lake Dalhousie and we hopped on the jet skis and went waterskiing anyway?



I think about you and your family everyday, but especially today because it's your birthday. I hope it was wonderful. I love you.

MOO

halloween mania

Last night Tori and Megan and I went shopping at the Goodwill to find some Halloween garb. Megan was very entertaining in her neon orange go-go boots. Tori was the cutest candy corn girl. When we went back to the house to pick up the balloons, I realized that Brianna had the housekey. Tori saved the party by walking on the roof and entering through an open window. Finally, we delivered balloons to the girls who were working on their personal progress. It was a very fun night.

wildfires

After spending virtually all of any time that I had glued to the phone with my computer tuned to California radio stations and San Diego wildfire maps, I am grateful that my family is safe. My sister reported that although 90% of her stake was in the wildfire area, not one family lost their home. Apparently late yesterday the National Guard threatened to arrest anyone found in the mandatory evacuation area that my sister lives in. She and her family have been in Las Vegas since Monday. Then helicopters came and dumped massive quantities of water that eventually made it possible for the residents in quadrant 1148 to return to their homes today.

My mom and brother were a little farther from the fire (about 10 miles), although they too received the reverse 911 call for a voluntary evacuation. It is hard being clear across the country when you really just want to help somehow. I am thankful for my daughters and their spouses, who played a part to keep me abreast of developments since I have been working this week. I am grateful for their attentiveness to the situation and diligence in keeping me aware of developments through their technological savvy as well.

Tonight, at least for my family, all is well. And I will keep praying for the other Californians.

america's top pumpkin

Tonight for the joint youth activity the kids carved pumpkins. The Laurels carved the girl onto the pumpkin on the far right and the MiaMaids carved America's Top Pumpkin on the far left. I watched the show (America's Top Model) with Tricia for the first time last week so I volunteered my earrings to complete her look!

What else did I do today?
worked in the garden
mowed the lawn
ran some errands with Doug
mailed birthday stuff to Melanie and Elliot
unpacked
tidied up a bit
helped Brianna decorate the house for Halloween
checked homework
did phone errands for Tricia and Chezzie
took a little nap
made chicken tortilla soup for dinner
read scriptures

and

posted a bunch of blogs!

to-ing and fro-ing

This afternoon...Chezzie and Clark met me at the gate as I returned from Charlotte just minutes before boarding their own flight to the Queen's City.

the cutest little pumpkin this year

This morning...
We saw the costume in the grocery store. She tried it on and modeled it for the nearby shoppers, who apparently thought she was every bit as adorable as we did.

blue ridge parkway

Saturday we had a great adventure. We went to Boone, North Carolina and then for a ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

community helpers

This is Carter holding his homework about community helpers. Our grandkids may not know exactly what their own dads do for a living, but they all know that Papa is a farmer. (Ummmm...let's not disappoint them just yet!)

baby bella

She loves me!

where oh where have you been?

I've been to Charlotte to visit the Queen and her extraordinary subjects.

open house

This year for open house at school our class did plays based on the Frog and Toad books by Arnold Lobel. We made the puppets during our literature extension time at the end of the week. The kids really loved it and they did such a great job on their performances. I was very pleased that about 50 friends and family came for our show. This picture shows just a few of the puppets that were available the next day.

i just love conference weekend

Elder Eyring is called to the first presidency and Elder Cook is called to be an apostle.

Chezzie, Tanner, Clark and Brianna watched conference with me this weekend. Doug was away at Woodbadge Training and we missed him. When we went to Sam's Club this week, Doug bought me this little leatherbound journal and conference was such a good way to break it in. When Sister Dalton came, she recommended having a journal to record things that moved us or ideas we have while attending meetings. This conference was such a great way to start. So now I have a "to-do" list unlike my normal ones.

One of my favorite moments of conference had to be when Elder Nelson stood by Elder Wirthlin as he gave his talk. One of my favorite talks was Elder Bednar's talk about the transformation of our hearts. Something I hadn't thought about before was that generally miracles are ideas and solutions. I need to remember "when it comes to the Holy Ghost, we often live below our priveledges" and do what it takes to make that happen less in my life.

tanner takes the oath

We were priveledged to witness Tanner's official swearing in. We also got to see his office and meet some of the people that he works with. It was a great evening and we were very pleased to be part of it.