Mae's Primary Program...

The best Sacrament Meeting all year! I worked a night shift last night, got home at 7:00 am, then went to church at 9:00---the program made it all worth it (not that our regular meeting aren't worth it). Mae did amazingly with her part and got many compliments from our ward members. I was sitting on the back row and when they sang "I am a Child of God", I could hear her voice, loud and clear, over all the other kids. I was amazed, especially this year for some reason, at how strongly I could feel the spirit, and how refreshing of a testimony strengthener the program was. To have 5 year olds speak about The Proclamation to the Family and how how they are grateful for eternal families. With all the talk in the media about the definition of marriage and people's rights, I got emotional when these young kids talked about how having a mother and a father for children is the essence of why Heavenly Father created families and marriage. These kids don't watch the news, but to them, this was both important and uncomplicated.

The program had the classic kids who had the part memeorized and zoomed through it while staring at their shoes. The one who messed up mid way through, chastized themselves and started over, the ones who's cute way they talk make it a little hard to understand but leave you with the biggest grin, and of course the poor 12 year olds who are sooooooo ready to be out of Primary and show their complete lack of interest in the songs and their parts.

Ahhhhh...like I said, this program was great and put me on a spiritual high that will totally get me through this next week--hey thats what church is for right?!

With no further ado, here is the star herself...

Because the fire engine video (below) was so boring...

... here are a couple videos of the kids you might like.

The first one is of Noah having his first taste of applesauce (we have another, funnier video, but the file was too large to post).

The second one is of Ian asking to watch Ronan Hood (a.k.a. Robin Hood). I managed to get him to say "robin" alone, but he can't seem to say "Robin" and "Hood" together (I thought it was funny).

Anyway... enjoy!

Oklahoma State Homecoming...

Homecoming in Stillwater is absolutely CRAZY!!... but lots of fun too! The night before the game all of the frat houses team up with different sororities and they build these huge structures in front of their houses which they then decorate with different themes The one above is, obviously, a 007 theme, but there was also a Indiana Jones theme, a Dr. Suess theme, a Pirate theme, and a variety of other creative works. The celebration is called the "walk around" (creative, I know), and not only are there great decorations and LOTS of people, but there are also a variety of overpriced foodstuffs and goodies.

This one is Mae's favorite, the Dr. Suess theme. Most of these things have moving parts, and the kids get to watch them all and see what they do.

This one is the Pirate theme, and Ian thought it was pretty cool--he even tried to go under the restraining rope and play on the makeshift beach that had been created. He actually dropped his new BYU hat there and luckily someone picked it up and gave it to some guys running a nearby booth. About a half hour later we realized it was gone and re-traced our steps to find it--Ian HAS to wear it whenever his dad wears his.

Ian is pointing at the shipwreak on the beach--admittedly, this one was pretty cool.

The '80s theme was the one we liked the most. There was an NES, a boom box, a TETRIS screen, MTV allusions, and other favorites from the '80s.

When we left the walkabout this float was parked in front of the exit to the parking lot we had parked in. The guy who parked it there had locked the keys in it and we had to "offroad" in our Pilot in order to get around it--so, we felt like we had to take this picture this morning at the homecoming parade.

Had to get a picture of this horse and cowgirl queen. That is all.

Below, I posted Ian's favorite part of the parade. I had to restrain him from running out in the road for a closer look.

Catching up...

Well, with grad school in full swing, a couple of quick trips to Utah, and Mae's kindergarten underway, we haven't posted much in the last month. Sooooo....

Here are a few pictures to catch everybody up:

Yeah. The crazy pilots let Ian in the cockpit--I am sure you can all imagine how fun it was dragging him out of there. He did have fun, though.

At least once a week we have a family movie night. We pop some popcorn, make some brownies and watch something together. It is always fun and the above picture is what eventually happens--Ian with the popcorn bowl finishing off every last kernal.

Noah was getting pretty shaggy.

But after a quick trim-up he looks great!