halloween 2014

 yes, we are Jack and Sally.  i have found that it's about 50% for who knows us.  we went to the ward halloween party dressed up.  i figured now that Pete is in bishopric, we have to make an appearance.  i have the next few years already planned.  anyhow, i had ordered the costumes, and they got here one day before the party.  whew!  yes, i like mine.  good for Pete for doing it though- i wasn't sure that he would.

 do you see the resemblance between Pete and my pumpkin?  maybe?  well, he should have had his whole head white really...

 cookie monster!!

 Ayden's freak-pumpkin

 Tessa's Cheshire cat pumpkin.  we had lots of fun painting and creating!!!

 here is a collage.  like i said, i was pretty impressed with myself.  haha. 

 and then today Tessa and 2 friends dressed as nuns at school.  good for her!  she even went to seminary this way!  teeheee...such a cute nun.

 here is Ayden's costume.  Ali-Baba?  i dont' know. 

just as a side note, this is my favourite movie of all time.  i watch it every single halloween night.  i enjoy halloween quite a bit acutally- but could do without the trick or treating part of it. 

catch up time

wow, it's the end of october and i have some catching up to do.

-we've been having some amazing fall weather.  no complaints, a bit windy at times, but so nice out. 

-three of us have been seeing a new chiropractor in town.  Dr. Fox.  i had no plans to see another one- as i am still mad at the last guy.  BUT- he's been helpful to Tessa and Ayd, and so i decided to try it out.  we shall see how it goes.  one thing he does different, is he has lasers.  interested to see how those help.  oh yeah, and he doesn't charge anything extra for that.  a sign of a good chiropractor in my opinion.

-last weekend Tessa and Ayden had a youth temple conference.  they had to take 3 names to the temple to do baptisms.  they have found something like 250 between the two of them- so 3 was no big deal.  they did some fun activities and had a good day.  they both said the testimony was a bit of a gong show...but what else do you expect when deacons and beehives are involved?

-Ben continues to do amazing.  he is not baptizing people by the dozens or anything, but he is always happy- and that is what is amazing to me.  i've never heard discouragment or frustration- other than a tad here and there with a companion or two.  but even then, he managed well.  i'm extremely impressed with him.  pretty shocking that we are at the 13.5 month mark!! 

-Pete is feeling the pinch of the business of his new calling.  i think he is adjusting though, and he will do great!!

-Tessa continues to pay for her vietnam trip.  she got all her shots, plus a lot of travel instrucitons at the health clinic.  it may or may not have scared her a bit- but she will be fine.  so exciting for her!  we are all glad she's had a job for so long- or this trip wouldn't be happening probably.

-Ayden says he doesn't like school lately.  he is growing like a weed.  he got a great haircut at the barber shop last week- complete with old-man-guitar-playing-entertainment.  good old times. 

-i am enjoying life at the library right now.  everyone is so nice there, it's fun to go and chat and chat and chat.  i love my friends there.  even the manager is easy right now, so life is okay.  it changes a lot, but for now i'm enjoying it.  i continue to live my life in pain.  i am beginning to think there is no help out there.  i will continue trying the new chiro and see.  he scanned my feet and they were wonky- like i knew- so i will be getting some special insoles.  that could help.  my feet are so dumb- and that causes bad effects up through knees and hips...so for all i know, that IS the whole cause.  or maybe a result.  who knows.  NOBODY THAT's WHO!  yes i am frustrated.  always.

-i can't think of too much more right now, it's hard for me to think 3 weeks back.  3 days even!

conference

 last week we had conference.  as expected, it was fabulous!!!  i love that i don't have to twist any arms around here to get people to watch.  some really great talks as usual...  for well over a year now, i have started every day by listening to at least one talk.  i have heard the last number of years' talks many times- so i always love getting new talks to listen to. 
what else.
on monday, the bishopric was invited to the villa for FHE.  all we basically did was introduce ourselves and have cake.  hahaha!  it was a good time- love the older people. 
On thursday was Pete's bday.  i was at work, and he had a meeting- so we will celebrate later.  
Tessa had a girl's night out on friday with Natalie and Pooja.  they went to a movie, and shopping.  gotta love girls' nights out!! 
Ayden did some baptisms on friday with Adam.  gotta love that too!!
Saturday night.  Ayden was downstairs looking for names on ancestry.  again.  when we were done watching Brother Bear Tessa went down to look with him.  Pete and I went to sleep.  hahah!  they stayed up apparently until 12:30 searching names and found over 50!  can you believe these two?  i am stunned by them.  today Tessa went to an adult sunday school class so she could learn more about duplicates.  i am going to try to get to a meeting thursday about indexing.  i love this!!! 

let's see- we will hear from Ben tomorrow about his new companion, so we hope that is going well.  thanksgiving is tomorrow.  we so badly need a day off, so it will be good. 
last week we made our guesses about where he would go- i was the only one who thought he might stay in Bideford, so i won!

end of september

 3 beautiful girls.  at the end of October the stake is having a big youth event.  everyone has to take 3 names and do baptisms at the temple.  they are expected to find their own names.  they are also having a bunch of other stuff that day- and taking temple pics is part of the prep.  so here is one of the pics they took.  Hannah, Tessa, and Natalie. 

 here is a picture someone sent us.  he was at a dinner appointment visiting Bideford with his son- who used to be on a mission there- and came across these two. 

 i think this is DL's and ZL's. 

 a great pic i dug up this week.  i miss these ages!!  most of the time anyhow...

 kiddos reading a book together...AWWWWWW

 10 days or so ago, Tessa and Ayden began looking for names to take to the temple.  they got addicted and enjoyed doing it!  very interesting, that spirit of Elijah.  so they each got about 50 names...and on saturday went and did about half of them.  i went to watch...i will go and help do some of the other ordinances.  but wow, we are so PROUD of our kids!!! 

 who knew that Ben liked fish crackers so much!!??  there is a Christmas present idea.

 Then last week, we had 2 birthdays.  Tessa's was monday...she got headphones.  it was a pretty low-key day, since she had a test the next day...

 seeing a LOT of this lately!

so monday we had Tessa's bday.
tuesday- Pete got a calling to be second counsellor in the new bishopric
friday- Ayden's bday.  we went to Leth, at at Montana's, saw "The Maze Runner" and did some shopping.  a pretty fun day!
saturday- baptisms
sunday- Ayden got ordained to be a teacher.  Pete got ordained to be a High Priest.  Then into the bishopric.
busy week!  but, a great week.