so much news--so little time. the big news is jack's baptism and confirmation!!! cory did an awesome job. jackson was of course his sweet little self. as for adam's surprise visit--what can i say. mindi thanks for sharing, wish you could have been here too. i don't know whose reaction was the best--brind's or meagan's and jackson's??? ellery and adam had kept it a secret so when the two of them walked thru the door fri. night and i got my big bear hug from adam it made my day. the only thing that could have made it better was if all the aunts, uncles and cousins could have made it.
adam and i are standing by the stairs in the front room talking when brind walks in from paint balling up at allens for the last 3 hrs. he is immediately distracted by the pizza ellery has brought home and put on the counter so he doesn't notice adam. i tell adam to go around thru the dining room. if you dont remember the layout of our house its because you haven't been here enough and its not like you haven't been invited so you will just have to figure it out. anyway i call to brind from the family room to come see me. he starts to whine about wanting some pizza, but comes anyway. just as he passes the hallway from the dining room adam tackles him and brind yells just like a girl. keep in mind he has just been painting balling all afternoon and getting shot at. also because he's covered in forrest debris and paint he's stripped down to just his underwear in the garage. and then there is the fact that it was his mom who has called to him and he's thinking he can trust her--silly him. i think all this contributed to his feeling of vulnerability hence the slightly less than manly yell. it was so funny. good thing adam is still the stout little man he has always been despite his recent weight loss or we could have seen them both go down as brind after recognizing his big brother wrapped both his arms and legs around him and gave him several big kisses on the forehead before he would let adam go. serves adam right!!! wish i had a picture of that, but the mental image will be with me for years. all of brind's 6'4" 210lbs wrapped around adam's 5'almost 10" 200 or less lbs. it was great!!! from there we went down to meag's. it was so sweet. it made her day to have her big brother show up. lots of hugs and kisses and tears. we missed the rest of you!!! just keep in mind the warm reception you get when you come visit. geof. we know you were trying!

cory's blessing was beautiful. he blessed jackson that he would be a pillar and example of the gospel in his family and for his friends. when i bore my testimony i thought all jackson has to do is follow in his father's footsteps because ever since cory has said yes to being baptized he has been a pillar and an example to his family and friends. life is so good and we are so blessed.

chelsea you are such a sweetheart and i am so glad you are excited about joey's kids coming and having everything ready for them so they feel welcome. their rooms sound like so much fun. i love costco--so there's my vote.

leesha, i know it's not exactly kosher to write a thank-you note for a thank-you note, but your thank-you more than made up for all the work. don't put too much into this whole blanket thing. i just want you all to have something for your little babies from me and in a way from g'ma arlene, because she's the one that taught me to sew. moni, jess, mindi, and shelli they're coming soon hopefully sooner than madison's. you are all such good little kids i do love you!

speaking of which--lydia--where are you?

the scouts had a service project here wed. night. they finished cutting up all the trees and hauled them down to a michelle's house. she is a single girl in our ward with 2 little kids. she uses a lot of wood to heat her home in the winter. it was a bigger job than i originally thot. there was over 2 cords of wood. i counted the stumps and we had cut down 38 trees. some were little, but some were pretty good sized. the scouts hauled all the trimmed limbs into a giant pile so now we are looking forward to a big bonfire--baked potatoes, hotdogs, and s'mores. actually there are 2 big piles down there so we have enough for several bonfires. wahoo!

i was supposed to be team teaching for seminary till the end of the year but the other teacher has been really ill consequently ive had class every day which is great with me! i am a little sleep deprived. i ended up teaching 7 classes in 6 days last week. sunday we had the bishop's fireside here and i was the speaker and thurs. i taught institute in addition to seminary. i need all this study and teaching because by nature i'm not that nice and so need all the help i can get.
everyone take care. bee seeing you. has that been used? oh well, love to all,
aunt le anne