Right now she is in Provo, but in a few months she will be jetting to Brazil to begin what will probably be one of the best experiences in her life– serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  We are so excited for her. We will now have our very own missionary to write letters to and send packages.  When Jessica told her dad she was going to serve a mission, it was a happy day. We have all been anxiously awaiting her mission call. Where would she go? Would it be Boise, Idaho or somewhere overseas. Now the wait is over and she will be serving in the Florianopolis Brazil Mission.  She will learn Portuguese.  I am thinking Rosetta Stone language software might be a good Christmas present. She won’t leave until April, but we will be able to enjoy our time with her before she embarks on this most wonderful call — to serve and to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In the excitement of getting a new puppy, I completely forgot to post pictures of the boys on Halloween. We went up to Monticello to visit Bill’s mom. Jessica and her roommate, Kate, came down, too. It was a lot of fun.  Bill’s sister also lives in Monticello so the boys had so much fun trick or treating with their cousins. We all piled into the back of Bill’s truck and he would stop and we would hop off the tailgate and then we would knock on the window to let him know we were ready to go to the next neighborhood.  We also went to the elementary school’s carnival on Friday night.  I think the whole town was there. 🙂

I have been resisting getting another dog. We had our beagle, Eddie, for 14 years and he was such a good dog.  Well all of that resistance melted away when we walked into Pet Smart. They were having an adoption fair. All of the dogs were bigger than what we wanted. Then we walked around and there in an enclosure were three puppies. Once I held the puppy in my arms I knew it was the right decision. So we have a new member of the family. Her name is Piper and we are pretty sure she is a chihuahua/miniature schnauzer mix.  There is the possibility she is a chihuahua/yorkshire terrier mix. That’s what the animal rescue told us. What do you think?

A little tongue in check, but we had a great time at Canyonlands and Arches National Parks. The boys loved climbing over all the rocks and finding caves and small places to climb in and fortunately out of. Jessica’s roommate joined us.  She had never been down south to Monticello so we had to show her the beautiful country that is in Monticello’s backyard.

Billy had his first field trip of the year to McCall’s Pumpkin Patch in Moriarty.  Baden and I tagged along.  It was a beautiful day.  We got to pick a pumpkin from the patch. Then we had lunch and the rest of the day was spent playing in the sand, sliding down the slide, playing on tractor tires and of course, petting and feeding goats.  Baden liked it so much he didn’t want to leave.

Billy had day off from school, so we packed up and headed to the zoo.  It was the perfect day to go since Albuquerque Schools were in session.  Attendance was minimal. They boys had a lot of fun running around and feeding the ducks.  Bill couldn’t join us as he was flying, but as we were walking through the zoo we heard the distinct Huey helicopter sound.  It was Bill flying over.  The boys were waving and jumping up and down.  It made me think about the many times he would fly over the house when we lived in Maryland.  Fun times, indeed.

Billy goes through phases and gets on kicks. He is back on a Superman kick.  He was Superman for Halloween when he was 3 1/2 years old.  He can still fit into his costume so decided he wanted to be Superman.  Well Baden had to get into the act.  I wasn’t sure what to do. I was sure there would be tears. Then the light went off in my head — Billy has some Superman pajamas that he has outgrown. Perfect! Baden fits into them just fine.  He was so happy that he could be like Billy.  So Superman 1 & 2 had a great time flying around the neighborhood.

Over the long weekend, Bill decided we all needed to jump in the truck for a ride.  I am not usually up for rides especially long ones, but with a little bit of complaining at first we started on our way.   We did make a side trip to the Kewa Pueblo for the Indian Art Market.  We had lunch there. Bill got some really hot green chile stew and the boys enjoyed fry bread with powdered sugar.  I had some really good taquitos.   My biggest problem with drives in the mountains is the anxiety I feel when I look over and there is nothing there.  It really makes me nervous.  I just close my eyes and pray.  But after a few switchbacks, we saw some really pretty flowers, some cool rock formations and just had a good time listening to the boys laugh.  We ended the day with a treat for the boys with dinner at McD’s