::happy thanksgiving 2010::

(our halloween pumpkins that sadly never got carved into jack'o'lanterns)

Today both sides of our family are together and complete minus us. It's a bummer that we aren't in Utah right now, but with our little Sandy and all, things just didn't work out.
But we love everyone, and we're so thankful for them today. We're blessed with two great families.
We're also grateful for our little family we've been blessed with here. We love our little boys so much.
And we're thankful for great people out here in Santa Fe who are our friends. We've had a bounty of love and caring poured out on us since the baby was born and it's gone a long ways to making us feel at home.

Happy Thanksgiving friends!!

::school pictures::

Here we go, fall 2010 pictures.

He's such a cute little goof.
At least we were without the hillbilly smile this time. That's probably a good thing.

::school halloween parade::

At our last school Max wasn't even supposed to wear a costume, much less did they do anything to celebrate halloweeen. Out here in the west, however, it appears entirely kosher to go all out for halloween at school.
In fact, they spent at least the whole week leading up to it making crafts, playing games and learning about halloweeny things. The halls of the school were very festive with cute holiday art.
On friday the school had it's annual halloween parade. As usual with school, nobody told me when or where it would be until the day before, and I had to change some doctor's appts around and stuff, but I made sure to be there.
Max was a jedi for school--Luke I guess.

It was cute to see all the kids in their costumes. Also, I've been able to spend a little time in his classroom, so I'm finally getting to know the kids in his class which is nice too.

They lined up out in the hall and waited for all the big kids to parade past. And wow there were tons of kids that came by. I really didn't realize how dang big the school was until I saw the parade.

They had a hard time waiting their turn.
And though Max looks like he wasn't having that much fun, I have proof that he was:

See? He smiled. I'm not sure who he was smiling at, but he smiled.
They joined up with the end of the parade as it went by and we all marched out to the athletic field. I took up the rear to make sure nobody got lost, and it was a good thing I was there, because there were at least two kids that I had to literally push most of the way so that they would keep up. Classic 6 year old stuff.

There they went onto the field where they all lined up for a while and stood around. I'm not sure why, but oh well.
We took some pictures.
Of Luke Skywalker & Luke Skywalker especially.

I don't have any idea why they look so solemn. They definitely weren't!


Now that's more like it.

I like it when they get into character.

That's Max's teacher there on the right looking pretty groovy. He was so confused on why the teacher on the left would dress up "like a boy!!"

Then we all walked back to the school into the chaos of class halloween parties. I stayed and helped out and by the time it was over I was exhausted. Luckily friday is a short school day, so we got to leave at around noon. I think the kids had a great time. It was quite the kick-off for the entire weekend of halloween activities that we had to look forward too.
As of saturday night when I'm writing this I'm all halloweened out. Fun stuff, but you can only do so much.
But anyway, the parade was so fun. Lucky sugared up kids.

::egg hunt::

On Saturday we had a big easter egg hunt with a bunch of our friends. I'm happy to say that not only do we have enough yard that we could host this year, but the weather cooperated beautifully. It was sunny and lovely and a great time.

I made lots and lots of sugar cookies for the get together. Max was really helpful this time and put the sprinkles on very carefully and well. I think they turned out pretty cute.

We scheduled it for in between conference sessions. Sessions are at such weird times out here--starting at noon and then again at 4. So everybody came as soon as they were done with the first session at 2.
When everybody arrived I sent the dads out to hide the eggs that everybody had brought. When I walked out to see how things were going I was very amused to see the trampoline looking like a shoe and sock store.

The kids were having a total blast on it.
It was fun to see all the colored eggs dotting the yard, and the dads hiding the eggs.





Needless to say, the kids were super excited and raring to go.

Ready, set, go!!








Once all the eggs were found (which really didn't take as long as it should've, considering how many we had!) the kids sat down to count their spoils, to feast and trade.
I think they were having a good time, what do you think?


While the kids were busy the grownups chatted and snacked and hung out. It was perfect.



We had a great time. It's nice that we have good friends we can be with on holidays like this, when we're especially prone to miss our parents and brothers and sisters, and little ones are missing their cousins. It's like we're a big adoptive family out here, and it's great.
We'll miss everybody when we go and when they go. But for now, there's always Rex in pink bunny ears. That makes everything ok.

::pensive::

Some of my friends out here in the web have thoughtfully picked out words or quotes to inspire them for the new year. I think this is a fun idea, though I hesitate to pick one for myself. I don't know why. Maybe I'm just not that organized. Maybe things have just been so crazy for us the last few years that each year feels kind of like ten. Maybe I just don't ever know what's going to happen next.
Anyway, my friend Megan finally pushed me over the edge and made me really think about it. She picked the word RELAX. And I really like that. In fact I was just going to go ahead and steal it from her and make it mine. But something else kept popping into my head.
It's that scripture--you know, the one in Psalms 46:10: "Be still and know that I am God." It also shows up in the Doctrine and Covenants. D&C 101:16 "let your hearts be comforted concerning Zion; for all flesh is in mine hands; be still and know that I am God."

Of course what kept popping into my head was "relax and know that I am God." Not exactly accurate, but I think that's one way of interpreting those scriptures. The more I thought about it the more I realized that this scripture is really what I need to think about and remember for the next year. We have so much crazy stuff to do. We're going to be moving across the country (again). We'll be buying a business and taking it over (if all goes well). We'll have to find a new house in a new place. We'll have to find a new school for Max and go to a new ward (again).
It's all really scary. It's scary and intimidating. It makes me feel tired and frightened.

BUT. If I can think about it all in regards to the lovely scripture above then I can think about it a different way. If I can be still and know that Heavenly Father is God and that he's watching out for me then I don't have to be so scared, or maybe scared at all. I'm not the only one watching out for me and my little family.
So maybe these big big things we have to do can start to look exciting and adventurous instead of so scary.
And even the fact that we can't ultimately control what happens to us in our lives can be ok. We have divine beings watching out for us. And ultimately even if bad things happen we have hope that all will be ok and that we will be able to be together in the end.
I've just got to have faith. Relax, have faith and do the work.

One of my favorite men in the world, Jeffery R. Holland wrote the following In a wonderful article in the Ensign this month:
"Some of you may wonder: Is there any future for me? What does a new year or a new semester, a new major or a new romance, a new job or a new home hold for me? Will I be safe? Will life be sound? Can I trust in the Lord and in the future? Or would it be better to look back, to go back, to stay in the past?

To all such of every generation, I call out, “Remember Lot’s wife.” Faith is for the future. Faith builds on the past but never longs to stay there. Faith trusts that God has great things in store for each of us and that Christ truly is the “high priest of good things to come” (Hebrews 9:11)."
Could that be more perfect and appropriate?
He writes and speaks so well. Just listening to his words brings me comfort.

"Be still and know that I am God."
OK, I'll try. I'll try my best.
Thanks friends for making me think about all this. And thanks for reading.