Congratulations Sarah Bear!

I was walking around an antique mall here in the Provo area today with Katie and I got this phone call from Sarah. It sounded like she was crying and I all of sudden became very worried. She was finally able to say, "I made 2nd chair in Symphonic Band!" This is something she has worried about and worked very hard for. Hard work pays off! Yeah Sarah! The rest of this year is going to be very fun and challenging at the same time. Oh yeah, and just in case you're looking for a fantastic (and I mean fantastic!) flute teacher, Heather Porter is the best! She has been such an encouragement to Sarah. Sarah looks forward to having her lessons and always wants to do her best for Heather. When you inspire your students to want to achieve their very best, you're doing something right as a teacher! Thank you so much...you can never have too many positive role models for your children.

P.S. The contest continues...Claire is looking a little too comfortable inside Katie. Maybe the excitement of a BYU football game taking place in Provo tomorrow will inspire her to get with the program!

Guess Her Weight...Claire, Not The pumpkin!

OK, so it's a contest! I arrived in Provo almost a week ago, anxiously preparing for Claire's arrival. Needless to say, she hasn't made her appearance, but we all feel like it's getting closer by the hour. So this will be a QUICK contest. Let's see who can come the closest (without going over) to guessing what Claire's birth weight will be. The first picture is to give just a little perspective. I can't say how much the pumpkin weighs because it was just left on their doorstep, but it's a nice size.
So here's the official profile...5 days before her official due date of October 26th.
Like I mentioned, I've been here almost a week. We've spent a lot of time sewing, shopping, and getting things ready. We cleaned her condo really, really good on Monday hoping that somehow if we cleaned it would help. Unfortunately the doctor said it would probably be another week. More cleaning...just kidding. So, hey, what's your guess??

Sarah's Birthday and a Trip to Orlando!

Sarah's 15th Birthday came and went flying by on conference weekend! I can't believe it...my baby is 15!! Rich brought her a sweet gift back from India. This elephant is so amazing! It's all one piece of stone and inside is carved a small baby elephant. How they did this through the lattice work is incredible. Rich, Sarah, and I took a quick trip to Orlando the week after conference. The "Magic Kingdom" is pretty much what we remember from all of our trips to Disneyland in California. Epcot was a blast and definitely a place we want to go back to. One of the places had cars you could get in and check out. Sarah is getting a little anxious to start driving...January is right around the corner! Here she is trying out a bright red Hummer...dream on baby girl, dream on!
Rich and I at Epcot...a beautiful day, but definitely pretty humid and hot!

Manners and Competitions

We found this book as we were cleaning out Marshall's bedroom not too long ago. It was published in 1922. It's clear that Marshall did not read past the 2nd page, which says under the heading of "Care of Clothing"..."Whether a boy or a girl, cultivate the habit of smoothing out your clothes and arranging them carefully when you take them off. Never throw them in a heap on a chair or on the floor. Hang them on hangers if possible." Actually, all of my kids could have done better in this regard.
This paragraph is interesting also and I'll have to see how well our congregation does next week at church. Under "Entering Public Places" it reads, "In church, however, where the family have a pew and the usher does not precede them, the man of the family precedes, whether he be an adult or a boy, and stands beside the pew until the women have taken their places. He then takes his place in the end seat." Never knew that...

Yesterday was the Tiger Marching Band Ambush Classic. Edwardsville High School hosted their first competition with 22 bands in attendance. It was a rather successful event. The weather even cooperated with relatively cool temperatures, and the rain holding out until we were on our way home. Sarah is doing a fantastic job on the keyboard in the "pit". Last week did not go as well and she was a tad nervous about doing a better job this week in front of the home crowd. It was fantastic and she did great! Heather (her Mia Maid advisor) always makes such a great effort to support her girls and was there to see Sarah perform. Their season goes for several more weeks. On top of that Sarah has also agreed to play her flute with the music ensemble group that plays for the school play, which this fall is "Man of LaMancha"...think "To Dream the Impossible Dream." Busy, busy girl.

OK, so they're not the most attractive outfits, but that goes with the territory.

Time Out For Women - Yeah, We're Already Planning For Next Year!!

This last Friday and Saturday I went to a conference designed especially for women. This one took place in St. Charles, Missouri. Several girlfriends from church went over in the afternoon and wandered around through the darling shops in old town St. Charles. The concert Friday night was most awesome. We spent the night over there, stayed up late, ate lots of munchies, and got up early to attend the all day event on Saturday. The theme this year centered around having a joyful life. It was all so inspiring and just what we needed. There was close to 20 from our Edwardsville area that attended. So fun to be with 1500 or more women from the St. Louis area that enjoy hearing inspiring and uplifting words of counsel and love.
Here's Karen, Darlene, Crystal, Melody, Teresa, Kirstin, Ann, and Heather - maybe half of our group. We all didn't stand still long enough to get everyone together. I think one of the best parts is the free bag we all got. OK, so we're already planning next year's get away. Our "time out" needs to be more than 24 hours next time!

Gotta Love That Red Hair

Ashlyn was visiting the other day. She's getting to know me better all the time. I'll win her over yet! She and Addy have this amazingly curly, beautiful head of red hair. I love it! How do you say, "Cheese!"

It's a Shower!

We were excited to have Katie and Joseph be here at home for a couple of days as they were on their way back to school in Provo, Utah. They had a long and exhausting summer and were so ready to get back to their home and start to make preparations for Claire's arrival. While she was here we looked at bunches of nursery sets but couldn't seem to find just the right one. We decided to check out a little quilting store in Edwardsville and happened upon the cutest set of coordinated fabrics using Eric Carle's "The Very Hungry Caterpillar". It's so bright and colorful! It will be darling. These were some of the kids favorite books. For some reason I had saved one of them that was Katie's that my mom had given her to use as a quiet book...back in 1991! So it will be fun to bring all of those fun stories back out again.

Also, while Katie was here some friends of ours got together and gave her a shower. It was really fun and so thoughtful of them. Thanks bunches Heather and Kirstin!
Let's see...there's Teresa, Melody, Amy, Cassie, Lorren, Heather, Katie, Sarah, Rachel, Kirstin, Crystal, Courtney, and Kaylene.
Silly Heather!
You can kind of see Katie's growing tummy...here she is with Sarah. It was such a fun evening and she's well on her way to having a well-stocked nursery!