Clayton and Bonnie's Wedding

Last week Dad's brother Clayton got married. After many long years of searching, Clayton has finally found the love of his life, the perfect match for him. We are so excited for him to have found Bonnie. We love her to death and love how she makes Clayton so happy and completes him. We love our new aunt/sister. Welcome to the family Bonnie.

More good news on Clayton for those of you that know and love him, He is working as a professional artist, doing contract work for the church helping with the designs of the temples and starting a series of temple paintings of his own to sell. He also had a paper he wrote put in the church archives. Finally, all the schooling is paying off.

Horray for Clay!!

Halloween Party

My friend Leanne and I did our second Halloween party together last weekend. We invited two families in our ward and a neighbor. It was pretty crazy with all those kids doing dance contests, wrapping each other up like mummies, feeling gooey things in bags and eating lots of creepy food. We all had a blast and of course were exhausted at the end of the evening.

Corn Maize

We went out to a local farm to run around in their corn maze last Sat. It was fun to get out in the fall air and have a little family outing. The kids are getting all excited for the Halloween parties that are coming up. Good times.

11 Years Old

We had a fantastic party for our number one son last weekend. He invited 13 friends and planned four hours of activities for those friends. First they played pictionary, then capture the flag, then they came in for pizza and cake and icecream (he designed the cupcakes himself.) Then they opened presents, watched a movie with popcorn and candy and then played until the parents came to pick them up. It was a lot of energy for one house, but Mr. M reported that it was the best party ever.

Sonatina Festival

Two weeks ago Mr. M and Lady K got to be part of a sonatina festival. It was a great experience for both of them to stretch themselves and memorize some hard pieces. They performed for an adjudicator and the top two in each level went on to play in an afternoon recital. Lady K ended up winning first place for her level. We were all so proud of her. Way to go you two. You make your parents and teacher proud.

Ryan and Carissa's Wedding

A few weeks ago we drove out to Utah to attend Dad's youngest brother's wedding. Ryan and Carissa were married in the Mount Tipanogos Temple. It was such a wonderful weekend full of great family time and amazing spiritual moments. We love our new sister/aunt. She is the sweetest, brightest, most wonderful girl. We were able to attend the reception, wedding and luncheon. The kids loved being part of the wedding wearing cute clothes to match the colors and getting to know their new aunt and her family.

In addition to the wedding festivities we celebrated Grandpa Vance's 60th birthday, spent time with the Baughman family celebrating Uncle Russ' birthday, went to see Yoli and Cesar's awesome new house, and hung out with family at Grandma Vance's house. Lady K even got a little violin lesson from her grandma.

It was a great trip. The kids were even good in the car. I am glad all went well, but I am glad we will not be driving out there again until summer...I hope.

Fall Recital

The four oldest performed so well at this Fall recital. J Man only had two lessons before the performance so we were impressed that he had the guts to get up there. The kids always impress me at how they are able to rise to the occasion and play well. Great job kids.

Pictures at an Exhibition

A couple of weeks ago our family was blessed to be able to attend the Eugene Symphony's performance of Pictures at an Exhibition. It was such a fantastic experience for all of us!! First, a youth orchestra opened with a one movement piece by Handel. It was very impressive. The Eugene Symphony then took the stage and performed Symphonic Espagnole by Lalo with Jennifer Frautschi as the soloist on the violin. It was breathtaking watching her play with such accuracy, speed and musicality. An amazing musician!!

After intermission we were so excited to hear Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky. I was introduced to this piece as a child by my mother and remember loving to picture the person walking down the hall of the exhibition. I shared that with the kids and we had fun identifying each different "picture."

The greatest part of the evening was that it inspired this...

They joined the youth orchestra this week. I don't think their dad could be more excited.

Tender Mercies of the Lord

There is a fantastic talk by David Bednar called The Tender Mercies of the Lord. I have pondered this talk and just last week identified one of the many tender mercies of the Lord in my life. The kids had been given tickets to go see the Eugene Symphony!! I was so excited for them but realized that we would only be able to afford to have one of us go with them. A week before the symphony performance a friend emailed me out of the blue and offered Dad and me tickets to the symphony. I was so excited. I later asked her what prompted her to offer us the tickets and not someone else. She said that when she realized she couldn't go, immediately our names popped into her head. I know that the Lord wanted both of us to be able to go. I felt so loved by the Lord, that he would give us this little gift. Often tender mercies are little things the Lord does for us to show us that he is there and that he loves us.

A Sad Day

Last week our beloved bunny Daisy died. It was very sad for all of us. Little L and Baby R were crying. We buried her in the backyard and the kids wrote her name with rocks on her grave. She is survived by her sister Joy. Poor lonely Joy.