Halloween/Nevada Day Week!

This is the Nevada Day Parade and this was a cool float with 2 planes on it. The parade theme was the 100th anniversary of aviation.

Noble got to hold about 5 pizzas at a time and sell them during the parade.

This was Nica playing the quad drum with Josh playing the tuba in front of her. Nica and Josh are both juniors. Dayton High School won for best band during the parade.

These are the Shriners and they were hillarious as they drove their cars. Although one guy stepped in front of them during maneuvers and got hit.

Here is Shay in the second row second in playing the trumpet.

Here are two more girls from the ward; Emma and Celestine playing flute.

We went to the church for the Trunk or Treat and Todd and the Teachers quorum were in charge of Dog doodie. They found this real DEAD BIRD!

Trying to get the Evans family on the run. Sorry they are a little blurry. What a darling family.

The Gardner family always do a family theme. We loved their Toy Story costumes.

Todd surprised me by taking off work on Thursday and whisked me away to Sacramento. We were able to attend a session and loved the temple there. It is very beautiful inside and out. Then Todd took me to "The Boiling Crab". We ate lobster, shrimp, rice, corn and sweet potato fries. It was a great way to celebrate turning a half century old!

On Monday Devree had a fall concert and it was wonderful. I was very sad I didn't have my camera. Devree is in the advanced choir and it was so beautiful it made me cry. It is an all girls choir this year and they just have almost perfect harmony.

This week has been sad too. We found out a friend of ours is battling breast cancer for the 2nd time. She was able to have a miracle baby this last summer, her 3rd child, and this last week she had a double masectomy. We also know a little boy who is one year older than Dane and has had heart surgery when he was younger. They don't know if he had a heart attack and drowned or was drowning and had a heart attack. He is in Primary Children's hospital now and his heart has been regulated but he is in critical condition. This week for those that want, will you please pray for Jennifer and Ben?

I continue to find blessings everyday and know that our family has had trials. As we learned today in Sunday School, we can grow from our trials. But I don't like to see others go through such hard trials.

Fall FRENZY!

Heh, conehead! Low Rider got neutered. He had to wear the cone of shame. He is doing really well with no more marking his territory.

Manny had a Chamber Choir concert up at UNR. Todd, Noble and Devree were able to go up and see him. I had a book group and Shay had a friend over to spend the night and Dane wanted to play with the friend.

Shay and Dane were invited up to Lake Tahoe to see the salmon spawn. Thank you O'Barrs and Watt's for taking them along.

Shay took my camera and let someone take his picture but he did well with the pictures. Although I had to delete several pictures of dead fish that Shay thought were interesting.

Several families from the ward went up because it was a day off from school.

Dane looking at the fish and acting very excited.

Shay looking at the fish.

Shay got quite close to this duck.

Stephen and Shay at the under the water look.

Taking "kissing" pictures of the sockeye salmon.

Stephen with the kissing pictures.

Kennidy and Mackinley.

A good pose for Kennidy. She was also on Shay's soccer team and her Mom Staci coached.

Someone carved Noble in the tree so they had to take a picture.

There was a "Daddy/Daughter Date" at the church. Todd got to have a date with one of the girls whose Dad doesn't live close. Devree ended up going to 2 parties and Shay went to one party where he was the only boy. Noble went to his Singles Branch Party so Dane and I went on a date with his good buddy Tanner and Tanner's Mom, Connie. We went to see "The Guardian's of Gaoole". It was very good. Here they are trying out the new D-box chairs and laughing at delight.

Devree at her 1st costume, birthday party for Ali.

At our Halloween party. I was Shana Banana and Todd was "Ape for me".

For our Halloween party Devree was "Penelope the pig-nosed girl".

Shay was the "Cool Vampire"

We had 3- 3 yr old girls that were beautiful fairies! Plus a cute witch. Chiara, Aubrey, Alyssa and Mallory were some of our guests. Stephen was wearing a traditional Equador costume.

Sariah and Makaela and I loved how Sariah gave herself "bunny ears".

Joseph wore traditional Chinese dynasty clothes.

Our favorite, most creative costume was Tanner. He was a peice of dirt! Notice his hair is the grass and then bugs glued on his face and brown shirt and pants.

The Clark family.

Callie was a green witch and she is getting ready to eat some of our "bloody fingers".

Arianne with our "Who's Mummy are you?"game.

The Matthews getting wrapped up in the game.

Megan tying Stephanie in knots!
Joseph and Daniel being very precise with Krista.
Noble had a pre-cancerous mole removed. He got to tell everyone he got 14 stitches on top! We got to do this while others got to see the salmon spawn. He is healing nicely.
We roasted Ghosts at the Halloween party. Our "Ghosts" were HUGE marshmallows.

As you can see the fall has been very busy. Shay and Dane finished up their soccer season. Noble continues to work and earn money for his mission. Devree, Shay and Dane stay busy in school and we try to get in some fun too!

Happy Fall Y'all!

Giving Back St. Jude's luncheon

I didn't take pictures but it was kind of against the rules to take pictures anyway. We have had a busy 2 weeks and we just haven't blogged.

Brenda Griffin and her Mom Ethel, came to town for the Candy Dance in Genoa. It is a big arts and crafts and everything else kind of fair. Brenda's sister Dari lives in Carson City and works out at Hodges where we know 2 other members that work there. It is a place where they experiment on cars and other things way out by Ft. Churchill. Anyway Brenda and Ethel came to the temple with me. We ate lunch at this French bistro in downtown Reno. I wanted to go there because Devree and I had been asked to speak at a luncheon for St. Jude's donators that happen to gift their ENTIRE estate. We had a very nice lunch and I enjoyed talking with Brenda and Ethel very much. They are 2 sweet and wonderful friends. Brenda always make sure that Devree and I have a car when we visit Memphis. Ethel has let us borrow her car many times.

I did go to the Candy Dance on the last Saturday of September to try to meet up with Brenda but never saw them. I got to the General Relief Society broadcast in time at the stake center and enjoyed it very much. I love to hear guidance from the General Authorities and Sister Beck does not mince words.

On Wednesday was the day of the luncheon for Devree and I. We were each asked to speak about 15 minutes each. It was more of a question and answer kind of thing. I spoke first and told the donors of our story to St. Jude's . Then Devree got up and they ate her up. They asked questions and questons and she thrilled them with her sense of humor, intelligence and even shocked them when she showed them her lack of hair. She is amazing.

We absolutely loved General Conference. We stayed home and watched all 4 sessions and had Beth over to watch also. There were so many wonderful talks that were given to me. I feel that possibly 1 of the main themes is the gift of the Holy Ghost and how to have the spirit and how to have guidance in our lives. Todd wanted to have a Sunday all day feast and so we made dutch oven BBQ chicken, fruit salad, cheese ball, chili sauce cheese ball, vegetable platter, cookies, cupcakes, chips and dip etc. It was like a Thanksgiving feast and a spiritual feast all on the same day!

We ended up going to some friends, the Jones' and having scones in the evening. It was fun to meet up with friends there and eat and visit. At home, Devree ran down the hall. She was so excited she said "I can run! I can RUN!" She demonstrated many times. Then she got on Facebook and told the world "I can run but I look like a retard when I do it." It is just another wonderful miracle of her recovery. She also does not take any medication now. She is off of her medicine to help her eliminate. We just incorporate alot of fiber and she has been fine for over 3 weeks! We still have an appointment with the Gastrointologist in November to tell him how she has been doing.

We believe in miracles and we still are seeing them just about everyday. I hope you see the miracles in your life.