Ward Halloween Party

We dressed up for the party as a Bump and a Construction Worker.

Thanks to Eric and Stephanie M. for running the Photo Booth!
(from Flickr)

Used my other birthday present: a new camera! Here are some photos we snapped after trick-or-treating wrapped up and the games were happening up in the gym.


Enjoy!

We've been Ghosted!

We were sitting around home tonight,
just minding our business.



When we heard some eerie noises outside our window.



And who burst in the door?

Tommy P!

And Mar-Mar!

They came "ghosting" and brought us these plates of yumminess:

Too bad they couldn't stick around for very long,
but apparently our house was stinky

and there were too many boxes in the way...

What great friends!
=)

We've been busy!

We had a great trip to California -- a big thanks to everyone who made out trip fun, tasty, memorable, and possible.

We were able to get some good (quick) visits in with both grandparents and the extended families. For some of the cousins, it was the first time in 10 years we had seen each other! Too long, if you ask me.

We felt like we took a lot of photos, but apparently not so much... but here are the shots from our camera:


Thankfully, others took pictures as well.
Photos courtesy of our "family photographer":
Thanksgiving at the Goldstein's

We had a blast.

(I'm hoping Jill is going to post more on her blog about all the fun things we did. If she doesn't, I'll come back here and fill in.)

We flew back on Saturday, had a quick detour at a nearby Wal-Mart when our poor, tired battery -- on its very last legs -- had enough juice to turn over (after several attempts to crank and multiple bad clicking noises) and get us to the store. Thankfully, the Auto Center was still open, and we were able to get the battery tested (yes, it was bad) and a new one installed.

Got back in time to review some things for Jill's Sunday School lesson, then went to bed. Jill taught a great lesson in gospel doctrine, and we had another great lesson from the Bangerters in a combined priesthood/relief society meeting.

Monday came and it was back to the grind. It was a pretty quiet day at work -- except for all of the technical support I provided pretty much everyone in the office (ok, so maybe 2 or 3 people; but it felt like everyone).

And now it's Tuesday. With today being the first day of December and all, we decided to get out some of our Christmas decorations that we have with us. (Most of our decorations are sitting in the Walker basement back in Rexburg...).
(I forgot to get a picture of the yummy cinnamon smelling pine cones that Jill got for me.)

Now I sit here writing this all up while I back-up some of our photos to my SkyDrive and listen to the Vince Guaraldi Trio rendition of O Tannenbaum, streaming on my laptop from AccuHolidays: Holiday Jazz channel. Ah, technology. Wonderful.

This Veterans Day

This Veterans Day, if you're in the DC-area, join Amy Grant and the American Red Cross for a morning of service. If you're not in the DC-area, you can still help!

For the past few years, the American Red Cross -- along with partner, Pitney Bowes, has gathered, screened, sorted, and delivered millions of holiday cards to our men and women in the armed forces. Here's what the Red Cross press release has to say about this event:

In this season of hope and giving, the American Red Cross and Pitney Bowes Inc. have joined forces again to invite the public to “send a touch of home” to United States service members and veterans across the country and abroad through the Holiday Mail for Heroes campaign.

Now in its third year, the Holiday Mail for Heroes program provides Americans with the opportunity to extend holiday greetings and thanks to service members and veterans. Last year the program received more than 1.4 million cards for military men and women, their families and veterans.

The public can participate in the campaign by sending holiday cards with personal messages to a special post office box from Monday, November 2 through Monday, December 7. The Red Cross and Pitney Bowes will then screen cards for hazardous materials, sort and package the cards, and deliver them to military bases and hospitals, veteran’s hospitals and other locations in the U.S. and abroad during the holidays. [...]

Joining the campaign this year as spokesperson is contemporary music artist and American Red Cross celebrity cabinet member Amy Grant. [...]

Grant will celebrate the campaign’s official launch with the Red Cross and Pitney Bowes at a Veteran’s Day event in Washington where she will join military and public guests in signing holiday cards for the program.

Jill and I attended both efforts last year: we signed cards in the tent in front of the historic Red Cross, then we joined then-First Lady Mrs. Bush for an afternoon of sorting the holiday cards that had been received. [[I'm not sure where our photos are, but we were at the table kitty-corner to the First Lady's table. There's a pic on the ARC website that might have us barely in the corner, lol.]]

If you're not in the area, or can't make it down, you can still send cards now through December 7th. Holiday cards should be addressed and sent to:

Holiday Mail for Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456.

• Please be sure to affix adequate postage.
• Cards must be received no later than December 7. Cards received after this date will be returned to senders.
• For reasons of processing and safety, participants are asked to refrain from sending “care packages,” monetary gifts, using glitter or including any inserts with the cards.

For more information and card requirements, please visit www.redcross.org/holidaymail.