Big Ol' Update Time!

Howdy, folks! I have oodles of pictures on my camera from the past few weeks to show y'all the stuff we've been up to, so here goes!

The week before Halloween we were able to go to Utah for 5 days and visit my family. We had a nice, leisurely time down there. On our last night we went with my sister, Cathy, and her girls and Papa Bart to Hee Haw Farms in Pleasant Grove and enjoyed the down-home activities.

In case you can't tell, Alayna is the goat, Derek is the sheep, Isaac is the horse, I'm a cow, and Maren is the pig. How cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute!

Here is Papa Bart and Maren on the barrel ride:

And no, I'm not too grown-up to post the following picture of "Wilbur" from Hee Haw. I mean, honestly, look at the anatomy on this porker!!!

Halloween was a lot of fun. Alayna was a southern belle, Isaac a dragon, and Maren was Tenderheart Bear (that's the same costume Alayna wore on her first Halloween...so precious). We joined my brother- and sister-in-law at their ward trunk-or-treat and carnival, then we went to our neighborhood for a few more streets of trick-or-treating. It was a great evening; not too cold at all!

Alayna turned 6 on November 12. Grandma Howell gave her a ceramic tea party set that came with paints. Alayna had great fun expressing her creativity via tea cups. She let Isaac paint the lids to the teapot and sugar bowl, which I thought was pretty generous. I asked to paint a saucer but she wouldn't budge.

We had her family birthday party this weekend. We unofficially made it a music party, so here's a picture of her blowing out her candle. The cake was a piano keyboard made with Kit Kats and Twizzler's Pull 'n' Peel.

The girl made out well this year: 18 dollars in cold, hard cash; a really cool lap desk; warm winter pajamas; and last but not least, an iPod Shuffle. That was Derek's idea and she LOVED it. He didn't think she'd know what it was, but I knew better. I already had it loaded with many of her favorite songs and it was so fun watching her lose herself in the evening belting out the songs she was listening to.

One of the nightgowns she received came with a matching gown for a baby doll. Here are Isaac and Alayna all ready for bed:

Earlier this week I had an amazing experience. A friend in my ward, my visiting teacher, was expecting her third baby. Because of employment circumstances, her husband had to go to Salt Lake to start a new job a full week before her due date. When it was time for him to go she had still not delivered. Because of our time spent together in visiting teaching visits, we discovered we had very similar ideas about child birth, particularly using no medications/interventions and using meditation and relaxation techniques for pain management. The day her husband left she approached me and asked if I would help her during the birth of her baby. It was such a touching honor. I couldn't imagine trying to surmount such an obstacle without the help of my husband, and I was more than willing to help her make this birth the best it could be. She called me Tuesday morning and we arrived at the hospital around 7 a.m. The baby came around noon and was perfectly beautiful. It was such a neat experience to share with my friend, who left today with her husband and children for Salt Lake. It was bittersweet to have this bonding experience and then say farewell to each other, but I sincerely hope we take the time to keep in touch. Here is our picture from my visit to say goodbye to her:

This last picture really doesn't have any significance; perhaps I can say it celebrates Maren turning 18 months old this week (she starts nursery tomorrow! I'm elated!). But I think we make a gorgeous couple, so I threw it in here:

Thanks for reading this hefty update!