November

Jake celebrated his 21st birthday on October 29.  This year he didn't have a member family offer to make him dinner and dessert, so this is what he came up with... a Halloween cupcake and eating out at Red Robin. Soon after his birthday, he got a change of companions, but stayed in the same area. The top right is his new companion, Elder Moore from Gilbert, AZ, and the bottom right is his old companion Elder Boyd from Orem (one of his top 3 favorites).

The WML took these pictures of the Elders to go on the bulletin board at church.  I love them!  The bottom two pics are at a nearby park.

Here is is hanging out in the Seahawk section of the store on Pday.  And this is the suit he found at Goodwill for $1.29!  He was very excited about it.

On Saturday the 2nd, the Weyerts came to town so Jessica could take family pictures of the Hatch's. I got to go watch and try and get Evan to smile.  It was fun (and luckily a nice weather day) and I absolutely LOVE how they turned out.  What a darling family.  We invited Tommy, Jessica and kids over after for lunch. It was fun spending time with them.  Dane amazed us all by naming every NFL team just by their logo.  He's 3....(Evan was mesmerized by a football game on TV...)

The next day we had Evan's blessing.  We did it at our house after church and had all of Brody's family there, plus the 7 of us and the Bundy's. It was such a nice occasion, and Mike did a wonderful job on the blessing.  We served orange rolls and hot chocolate afterwards.

 


Look at him!  Could you just die?  He wore the same outfit that Jake and Cam wore!  I love that (although the bowtie was an added touch).
The Bundy's stayed after Brody's family left and joined us for dinner and games. It was a great day!
The next day, Monday the 3rd, Cam and I packed in the morning then said a sad goodbye to Ky and Brody as they left to go home around 2:00.  It was so sad!  Most of us were in tears...
Tuesday Nov 4th- Cam's last day at home...I started off the day by applying a generous amount of waterproof mascara, and it was a good thing...I spent the whole day with Cam and it was wonderful but bittersweet.  Great to be together, but sad knowing it was our last day.  One thing we did was go to Deseret book to get more garments, and saw this ridiculous sight (bottom left).  Some people!

His setting apart was at 8:00.  Those there were his best buds Jeffrey, Chase, Parker, Tyson and Steve, Jess and Brad, Lin and Ryan, Mike and I, Bishop Miller and President Burns.  It was an amazing experience.  The room was so full of love for Cam as every person expressed their thoughts about him and their testimony.  It was so special. I will never forget it. His friends stayed for about 2 hours after it was over, so I waited up until midnight so we could double check everything and make sure he was ready to go.  We only got a couple hours of sleep as we had to wake up at 3 to have him to the SLC airport by 5:00.

I'm so grateful that after Cam's setting apart blessing, he felt such a calm and peaceful feeling and that lasted him all the way to Mexico.  It was a blessing that he wasn't stressed and nervous and scared like he was before the blessing.  It really helped to be able to let him go, knowing he was feeling so good about going.  But it was still so hard to let him go and watch him walk away.  I still can't talk about it or even write about it without getting a huge lump in my throat and feel like bursting into tears...  Ah- such a mixed bag of emotions.  I'm so happy he's worthy and willing to serve a mission, but I'm so sad to have my baby boy leave me for 2 years.

I had to keep very busy for the next several weeks to keep my mind off my grief, so I deep cleaned the whole house.  That was great therapy.  Freda brought me these flowers and Evan did his best to cheer me up by smiling at me from his framed pictures :)

Seeing new pictures of Evan always makes my day.  He's so adorable!!!


These pics of Cam came the week after he got to Mexico. It was so wonderful to see his happy smiling face.

 We celebrated Mom's 88th birthday by having a progressive dinner at the Bundy's, our house and the Skeens. It was a nice day and a fun way to celebrate. 

I decided several months ago that we needed to make this Thanksgiving a good one so that we wouldn't be missing the boys too much, and so that we'd have another chance to see Evan.  So we picked a destination that was halfway between Logan and Fort Collins, and also someplace Brody really wanted to go since he'd be celebrating his 30th birthday 2 days after Thanksgiving.  So Moab was our destination.  We rented a nice 3 bedroom condo and met the Hatch's there Wednesday afternoon.  We had such a fun 4 days together.  The first night we just hung out at the condo eating a spaghetti dinner and playing games.  On Thanksgiving morning, we did a 3 mile hike to Corona arch. It was a great hike- we all loved it- even Evan! 

We made a delicious dinner, then everyone but Mike and Evan went to the movie "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay part 1"  It was awesome!  We all loved it so much, and Mike loved staying home with Evan and watching the 49ers play.  That evening we had fun playing games and eating a tasty pumpkin dessert. 

On Friday we went to Arches and hiked to Delicate arch.  It was awesome.  Again, a fairly easy 3 mile hike with Evan being such a champ in his carrier.  We drove around to some other places and had a picnic.  Home to watch Elf, eat leftovers and play more games.

Jess and I got up early Saturday to help Kylee decorate for Brody's birthday.  Everything looked awesome. Ky had 30 reasons why she loves Brody in the 30 balloons that say "Brody, here are 30 reasons why I love you"  For our gift to him we hung 30 $5 bills from the hall ceiling. He was very surprised when he woke up.

That afternoon everyone went in different directions.  Ky and Brody went climbing, Mike, Jess and Brad went back to Arches to do more hiking, and I stayed at the condo with Evan so he could have a good nap.  I think I had the best time :)  That night we went out to eat at a delicious Mexican restaurant, played games and had birthday cake and ice cream.  It was a wonderful little vacation!

These pictures arrived from Cam while we were in Moab, so it was awesome getting more pictures.  He's loving his time at the MTC.

This face... I'm so in love.

October

Cam received his endowment in the Logan temple on the 2nd.  It was great to have the support of Jess and Brad, Mom, the Skeens and Bundy's. It was a very special experience.  We had dinner at our house afterwards.

Between sessions of Sunday general conference, we took advantage of the amazing fall weather and went on a walk in Logan Canyon.  It was so much fun and great to spend time with each other.

This month has been overflowing with apples.  We had soooo many on our tree.  We gave a lot away to neighbors, and I spent hours and hours cutting some up to dry them.  They're good to eat no matter how you slice them.
We were also lucky to be asked again by our neighbors the Larsens to help them pick apples from their 4 trees and take them to Paradise to the apple place for juicing, and to share in the juice.  104 gallons were juiced, so we got to buy 52 of them (for only $77!).  We quickly found a home for them  as I sold 20 to Ann,  gave 15 away to neighbors and friends (early Christmas gift....), and put the rest in our fridge and freezer.

This sweet boy continues to delight me.  I'm always so happy when Kylee or Brody send a picture or video of him. I always watch or look at it dozens of times until the next one comes.  I was counting the days until I got to hold him again.

I was able to get out in the canyon many times for walks/hikes and that made me so happy.  Here are some pictures from a hike I went on with Mike. I can't get enough of fall weather and scenery.

During fall break, me, Mike and Cam rode to Ogden for a temple session, stopping in Logan along the way to get a few more pictures in front of that temple.  The Ogden temple is gorgeous, and I'm happy we made the effort to get there.  Enjoyed dinner at Five Guys before heading home.

Jake continues to do well in Bellevue.  He's been there since August with Elder Boyd, and he loves the area and his companion.  He has definitely lucked out with great companions (for the most part).  The top left picture is him and an old companion with a member they taught and baptized- Zheng.  He's such an awesome member missionary to other Chinese people in the area.  The bottom left picture is Jakes view from when some ward members live.  So pretty!

Cam's farewell weekend finally arrived. When he got his call in June, it seemed like this day would never come!  The Hatch's arrived on Thursday night, (23rd) and it was wonderful to have them there.  I hope Ky and Brody didn't feel too bad that all the attention from everyone went to Evan.  I think they were just happy to be out of the car so didn't even notice...Friday morning we all (except for Brody and Evan) went on a hike to the windcaves. It was a beautiful day and we had a fun time.

Look how happy Evan is to be in Utah!  He's saying "hurray!  I'm so happy to be here!"

On Saturday all of us spent most of the day getting ready for the next day (except for Brody who went to Cancun for a work conference for 6 days).  Cam was supposed to be working on his talk when he was actually sleeping (he did get up at 7:00 to go to work for the last time) but he didn't sleep long, and finally got it done around 6:00.  Just in time to go hang out with his friends. 
That night the Densleys joined us for dinner and visiting. It was great, as always to spend time with them and see their adorable boys. It was extra fun to have Evan and Shep- who are less than 2 weeks apart- play together.

Sunday-Cam did such an awesome job on his farewell talk. It was very touching and heartfelt. I was very proud of him.  We served a lunch of pulled pork sandwiches, salads, chips and various desserts to about 100 family and friends afterwards!  The temps were a little cooler than they had been, but we were still able to have some people eat outside.  I so appreciated all the help with the meal from family and friends, and the support of those who came to be with Cam on this special day. 

To say that we all could not get enough of Evan while he was here would be an understatement. I hope we met our goal of making Ky and Brody feel like they didn't have a child for 10 days!  He's so loveable and sweet and cute and I'm just so happy that he's in our family.  He's the best!

This was Cam's throw together Halloween costume.  His Ram's poncho he got in Mexico, and a mexi-stache.  A lot more thought went into making Evan into Charlie Brown.  Isn't he adorable, so so big looking?

And the most effort went into Jess and Brad's old people costume (worn at their annual Halloween party).  I just love it. I think they look fantastic and have nothing to fear about old age if they'll look as good as this!

Misc- Stacey and Brody Lake surprised Jake on general conference weekend by popping in to the church where they thought he would be watching conference.  They were in Bellevue for Kennedy's soccer tournament. I was happy Jake got to see another familiar face and get spoiled with some flowers and fruit.  Stacey came the following weekend to run a half marathon with her sisters, and she, Ann and I went on a walk in the canyon one morning.  This is the only picture I have from her weekend visit... Cam joined me for a bike ride up the canyon one afternoon.We had a great time together.

September

Lets start this post off with my favorite missionary.  Jake is serving in Bellevue and loving it.  His companion is Elder Boyd from Orem and they get along great. He sure has lucked out in the great companion department.  The top picture he sent along with this scripture: Mark 16:15 "And he said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature."  He cracks me up.  The bottom left on is with him and a former companion and their convert Zheng at a new member fireside.

What post from now on would be complete without pictures of Evan?  Doesn't his smiling face just put a smile on your face?  I dare you to tell me that it doesn't...

I love him so much and am counting the days until I get to see him again...

For our quarterly dinner group with the former RS presidency that I was in, we had a lovely evening up Logan Canyon at the Measom's yurt.  We had a nice time visiting and eating delicious food cooked by the experts Ty and Sue.  It sure is beautiful up there.

One rainy day I spent making chili sauce.  I loved doing it outside and not having to dirty up my stove.

Cam joined me one morning for a lovely bike ride from our house to 2nd dam along the Logan River.  I loved spending time with my boy.

Cam was back on the doctors table- this time for more mole removals.  He had one on his forehead and 2 on his neck taken off, and all three needed stitches.  He's a brave man.

I love my calling as activity day leader.  I have 3 sweet girls who are so excited about everything we do. For this activity we went to the temple and washed windows of cars there and left a note that said while they were inside serving, we were outside serving them.  Then we got frozen yogurt at Orange Leaf.  It was a hit!

I helped Lindsey train for her half marathon by going on several speed walks with her up Logan Canyon.  I was in heaven spending so much time in the canyon this fall. 

I made two triple batches of salsa this year, and several batches of different flavor freezer jam.  And I could eat a fresh veggie meal like this every day and not get tired of it.

MISC stuff-  *Janae came for a visit only a few weeks after moving to Washington. It was great spending some time with her.  I sure do miss her.  *I didn't see that many sunsets this summer for some reason, but I did capture this one. *Mike and I biked down to Orange Leaf one Friday night for our date night, then walked around and had a good talk. *I had to get out of bed one night to watch the most amazing lightning storm.  It was fabulous!

*I'm crazy about clouds and had to pull the car over one day to take this picture of the clouds setting so low near the Wellsvilles.  *More pictures of gorgeous Logan Canyon.