Whoa!!! Look at those shoes!
Truth be told, she didn't do a lot of disco-ing in them, she was too unstable!!!
Master of the grill and fire, takes a break!
Toastin' marshmallows over the bed of coals. Audrey probably toasted a bag herself...though she shared them!(Alyssa sitting on the far left, Audrey to the right of her, Andrew standing, our EQ president sitting to the far right)
Several of the primary girls making a "brew" with leftover rain water in our wheelbarrow, they added all sorts of interesting things they found in the small patch of woods attached to our backyard.
Several of the little kids "rocked the boat" literally. On our upside down canoe they jumped and rocked it back and forth trying to get each other to fall off. Hope the canoe's okay!!! :)
After they're lit your family sings you "Happy Birthday" in horribly out of tune voices and then you quickly blow out the candles. It's a ritual performed yearly that only lasts a few minutes, but what would a birthday be without it? 
Today our ward had a Veteran's Day Pancake Breakfast. Andrew helped during the flag ceremony. Many of the current military members wore their uniforms and some retired folks their hats or old work shirts. Some of the boy scouts and leaders were in uniform as well. One of our dearest members is Brother Brandt. He's in his mid-nineties and served in WWII and in Korea. He still drives himself to church, has an entire shed set up with model trains, and very positive about life. We had a wonderful early morning! 
Alyssa manned the color table. As a medieval maiden she helped lots of fairies, bugs, princesses, spidermen, supermen, etc... color fun Halloween pictures.
Andrew and I passed out the candy to all the trunk or treaters. Seems like we saw most of them four or five times!
with more hurricane recovery, this time Ike. We went back into the same areas we had been previously and then some. We found ourselves in the bayous of southern Louisiana…at the end of the world I joked with Kim. These are people who without exception have little; little possessions, little opportunities, and little prospects. But they had hope; I was humbled by their reliance on the compassion from fellow beings. As a work party, it was our practice that once completed with a specific work order, we would canvas the surrounding neighborhood to see if additional needs were yet unmet. In one particular case we found an elderly lady who needed assistance. After making quick work of the few branches that had fallen on her roof, she asked if we could do something about her daughter’s house just behind hers…there were a few large branches that had fallen in the storm but had rendered no damage to the house. Inside of 20 minutes our team of 18 priesthood brethren had both dispatched the branches and piled them along the street for removal. As the other brethren were taking care of this task I was putting away my saws when the elderly lady approached me…it was just her and I. It was then that she e
xplained how much this meant to her, her daughter, and her grandson. The grandmother related to me how her daughter was struggling and had no resources and this would be a load off of her mind—the daughter was not home, she was at the hospital. The daughter was a recent widow--within the past year. Her son, 17, has just been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. I suddenly realized why this task meant so much to her. After an enduring hug, I thanked her for letting us do something for her and in returned she asked to give her thanks to all who came to serve and those they left to come to Louisiana. I have a new perspective on service…the bad case of poison ivy was worth it!
ce. He offered a couple practical courses of action, noting many at work gave several suggestions of how to cure poison ivy…some were scary. I’m off point, the good doc offered to write a prescription to help stop the reaction of the poisonous ivy oil. But thinking I could tough this out I held off…until Friday that is. By Thursday night I was in so much pain and scratching all limbs at a rhythm that would make a drum player proud, I called the doc early Friday—I stayed home it was so bad. Here’s my point, not only did he gladly make the prescription, he filled it, then he delivered it to the house knowing how uncomfortable I was. Serving others is a contagious expression of our love for the Lord Jesus Christ—the doc (and the miracle of medicine) was my angel, there are countless opportunities to serve others every day.
and went to the unimproved wooded lot of an Air Force associated who said he had a very large pine tree that needed to be removed if I wanted to use the wood. I jumped at the offer, this was in July. Since the temps have finally dropped to a reasonable level (humidity too), we chose yesterday to go do the woodcutting. My decision may have been aided by the fact that I got another chain saw the preceding week and it still needed more use. We fell the tree where we aimed, though I confessed to the kids and Kim it landed about three feet to the left of where I wanted it to go, oh well. Kim and Alyssa learned how to use a chain saw (the smallest one). Andrew set about to play in the tree sap and was a great help loading the truck with wood. Audrey was the recorder, keeping a pictorial of our progress through the day—she got some great shots! Aaron, well, he explored…and when you’re eight, that’s just fine…though I did try to keep him focused on work. We came home covered in saw dust, pine pitch, and lots of new experiences and memories. And I have a 45 foot long tree trunk to cut some 8x8 lumber.
g a difference in the life of others just as the Savior himself did is vital on our course to exaltation. I took Andrew to priesthood session last night, though he’s not yet 12. But I wanted him to experience the edification, fellowship, and instruction that such a gathering of priesthood holders brings. He was pretty beat from the day’s work, but was glad he went. We took the missionaries home afterwards, but not before we stopped by the Waffle House for an evening breakfast. What great memories these are.
Today Aaron turned "8" and had his baptism too. The whole family participated. Ashley wrote a sweet letter. Ken conducted and gave the Bishop's Welcome. Audrey said the opening prayer and Andrew said the closing. I(Kim), played the piano (poorly I might add...I get more scared playing the primary songs than I do the hymns which I play every Sunday.) I also gave a talk on Baptism. And Alyssa did all the music conducting. The talk on the Holy Ghost was given by Elder Hill, one of Aaron's favorite missionaries whose been in our ward for a few months. Best of all, Aaron's best friend, Cooper, was able to come--they've been in the same class since pre-school, so that's going on 4 years now! 
