Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving all! We are having our own little Thanksgiving today. We are eating and then painting our living room and just spending some quiet time together--and it is 61 today so we will go for a walk too.

We wanted to make a list for you all of 10 things we are thankful for:

1. Mom and Dad
2. Siblings
3. A good job that provides well for us
4. Heavenly Father (Isaac chose this one)
5. Membership in the church
6. Monkeys (Will chose this one)
7. The country we live in
8. A home to live in
9. The times we live in so we have all kinds of luxuries
10. Our super, awesome, exciting, argument free marriage--we'll let you decide which one of those adjectives might be an exaggeration.

Tell your family what you are thankful for today!

Uhh...we really are bad about birthdays

Happy (late) Birthday, Dad. You are certainly our favorite dad, and we're sorry we forgot you. We hope you had a great day and that you enjoyed all the people who did remember. Here's a picture of the children you have that did.

The reunion book

I am starting to make the book for the family reunion. I am wondering how big everyone wants the book to be. I can make a book up to 440 pages, which I think is ridiculously big. We have a ton of pictures so I'm wondering how many of them you actually want. I am willing to make it as big or as little as you would like. Also, I think I can find a way so that there are "contributors" so that you can get on and have some input. I see good and bad things about that. On the one hand, you all might want different things and I might get annoyed trying to please everyone ;). But on the other hand, it would be nice to not be responsible for guessing what everyone wants. Also, I thought it would be nice if everyone could write something brief about what their favorite thing/things about the reunion was and if you have some pictures that you really loved, if you would tell me so I can include them. Do you all want to contribute or do you want me to do it and then surprise you all? I can make it and then you can all preview it and let me know what changes you want...Hmmm. Leave comments and let me know.

I was just looking at the picture at the top of the blog, and started wondering. When was the last time that there wasn't someone in our family who was pregnant?

Halloween with Grandma

We had a great time with Grandma here on Halloween. We had a pizza dinner, then went out trick or treating with our very large group and got lots of candy! Everyone looked great in their costumes, Steven a chicken (We got a lot of comments about his costume), Yanina a witch, Nick a bee, Becca and Sarah were in Poodle Skirts, Gavin (Laura's Cousin) was an IRS agent, Jacob a vampire, Mariah was a random person, Noah I did not get a picture of was a bee also, and the rest of us...well we did not dress up. We were glad that everyone could come and join us for the night.

For Andy

Will was going to be a superhero (I thought) but he insistede on being a monkey for the second year in a row. It is fine by me as long as we get our money's worth from the monkey suit. The boys are trying to show you their muscles in the one picture and Eli is waving hello.

I'm very disapointed!

I think I've waited patiently long enough. I have been out here in the middle of nowhere checking all the blogs daily to see all of the Halloween pictures of cute nieces and nephews in costumes. Nothing. I expect you all to repent over this weekend, and have pictures up by the end of Sunday. A vos te digo tambien Laura. Ya es tiempo para que pongas algo en el blog.

Happy Belated Birthday!

I'm sure you all know by now that we are really, really bad at remembering birthdays. We are so sorry Ralph! We hope you have a great birthday.

Reunion Pictures

Did we ever get the photoshopped photos from the lady?

Voting time

Who's everyone voting for? Adrianne and I voted for Chuck Baldwin--we know there's no way he's going to win, but we are registered in Utah and they will select McCain regardless of what we do. We agree with the constitution party's position on most things. Are any of you in states where your vote actually means anything?

What is/has every one done for Halloween?

We went and picked pumpkins and then carved them. Unfortunately, it's now sure that I will not be here for halloween. I am going to Sierra California for 3 weeks this Saterday.

FUmpa FUmpa FUmpa...NOAH!!

Is someone talking to me?
FUMpa FUmpa FUmpa
NOAH!!
Who is This?
It's a miracle. Andy put a new post on his blog. It's even got pictures and everything. You should check it out.

Noah

Laura asked me to post some pictures of Noah.

He is 10 pounds 6 ounces, and 22 inches long.

SOMETHING COMPLETED - FINALLY!

We enjoyed watching general conference yesterday and today, and our testimonies have been strengthened through the talks we heard from the general authorities and other church leaders. We were glad to hear about new temples in Rome and Philadelphia, both of which we hope to visit :-).

Friday and Saturday (before and in between sessions) Dad cut and glued the capstones for the planters in front of the house. He started building them last summer, and feels great satisfaction at finally completing them. Still lots more capstones to do on the "great wall," in the back yard, but he continues to move forward.

Destructo Man

My little one year old boy (birthday pictures on my blog) is a constant mess maker. He climbs into everything, pulls things out of all the cupboards and drawers he can open, throws things on the floor and says uh oh! He is so cute, but I have twice as much to clean up now that he has learned these new abilities. When he gets hungry, he climbs over to the snack cabinet, pulls out some cookies or crackers and eats right thru the package. I finally have had to lock some of the cupboards up. He pulls out all the pots and climbs inside that cupboard while I am cooking dinner. He loves to watch things fall and say uh oh. Ah, what a fun stage this is.

Post Cards, please

Check out this post from Adrianne's sister. Her daughters class is collecting post cards.

http://mcclarkies.blogspot.com/2008/10/shout-out-for-postcards.html

Mike

Yesterday morning

Yesterday morning Adrianne and I got up for the day around 0610. I got into the shower and Adrianne went for a jog. After being in the shower for a few minutes, it was time to wash my face. I applied the soap to my face, and as I was doing so, I heard, from about 3 feet behind me, "Mahhh-mahhh." Naturally, hearing what sounded like ghost noises to me, I screamed like a girl. A second into the scream my brain caught up with my adrenalin and I recognized that the noise was Isaac.

Let me interrupt my story. On Sunday I was going to the bathroom when I overheard Adrianne telling the boys that I was a monster and that they needed to go "quish" me. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to play with the boys, so as they ran down the hall to squish me, I turned and yelled, "Roarrrr!" Will was a little startled, but Isaac, stopped, shook like he was having a seizure and then started bawling. That was not my intended reaction, especially since it took about 30 minutes to help him stop crying. For the rest of the day he kept saying, "Daddy, no be monster/dinosaur."

Now, back to my story. I quickly opened the shower curtain to see Isaac, terrified, standing in the bathroom. Before I could say anything, he screamed, too. I tried to reassure him that things were okay, and that I was just a little scared by him, but all he would say was, "Daddy, no be monster. Daddy, no be monster." I couldn't figure out what to do--Do I hop out of the shower naked, dripping, and with soap all over my face to comfort my crying child or do I pick him up and bring him into the shower? I decided to pat his head, and tell him he was okay. After a few minutes he calmed down enough for me to tell him to go back to sleep and that mommy would be home when he woke up.

I no more than shut the curtain and resumed my shower when I heard, "Daddy, what was that scary noise?" With less patience for him, I told Will to get back in his bed and go to sleep.

Some men are afraid to admit that they scream like a little girl. I am not.

Mike

Advice

Does anyone know anything about the current market? Other than it is not doing great.

We are thinking about refinancing (again) and wondered what will happen to the interest rates over the next few months.

I have to lock-in my rate and am not sure what to do!

Chores

How does your family do chores? Mom and dad do it all? The kids have assignments? Charts? Daily, weekly? What do you do??

One more thing...

P.S. How is Laura, Andy's pregnant wife, doing?