Friends, football, and deep fried turkey...

Happy Turkey Day! I knew if we didn't get a picture BEFORE we sat down to eat we'd never get a real picture of all the hard work that was put into the days events! Here we are with some of our guests eyeing five of the turkeys we fried that day. All in all we fried Eight turkeys, mingled with 21 friends and family, fed 8 hungry missionaries, and had lots and lots of fun!
Two large pots of hot peanut oil kept us going all morning as we timed each frying perfectly! Several guests had never seen it done before and got to try their hand at the southern specialty! Kenny was the expert at reciting all the "SAFETY" rules before anyone was handed over the oven mitt and hook! Lisa was our official "TIME KEEPER" and did a very good job at calculating the 3 1/2 minute per pound rule for each turkey we fried!

Chevron Family Fun Day...

This month Chevron hosted their annual Family Fun Day. The kids had fun riding horses, jumping in blow up bounce houses, and playing for prizes at the carnival game booths. Lisa's favorite part was the rock wall although I was warned that there would be severe consequences if I took any pictures.
Kenny liked riding the horses and could've spent all afternoon at the petting zoo. Jessica liked being able to get into line just as often as she could so that she could try a different flavor at the sno cone booth. And I enjoyed catching up with old friends some of whom we knew back in Salt Lake. By the end of the day our bags were filled with stuffed animals, blow up toys, balls, bracelets, and tattoo stickers.

Cotton fields and closed beaches...

For the first time in a very long time we drove to Gulfport, Mississippi for the weekend. It has been over a year since Hurricane Katrina hit but you can still see the signs of the damage it went through and the struggles they have had trying to rebuild what use to be a very vibrant thriving community. The beaches are still closed and there are plenty of vacant lots for sale, but the people have smiles on their faces and are anxious to say hello as you enter their establishments and spend a little time with them.
The cotton fields are being harvested this week as well. It has been fun for us to watch the blossoms turn into white puffs of soft cotton fiber. It was particularly wet the morning we stopped to take this picture but last year we failed to catch a picture before the white fields were all gone and I didn't want that to happen again.

Lava lamps, ice cream, and rip tides...

Lisa had the opportunity to attend the University of South Alabama Women in Science Conference this month with several of her middle school friends. She spent the day attending workshops where she learned about the weather, crime scene investigation, and what you can learn about humans by disecting a frog.

Excellence in the making...

This month we held our Young Women In Excellence program where Lisa was able to display the project she has been working on for several months. It has been a difficult project for her to complete. One that I had hoped would help her through a difficult loss. A very dear friend of ours passed away suddenly from a stroke. Natalia was only 21 years old. She left behind a young husband and two twin boys, Logan and Mason. Lisa wanted to gather as much information and pictures as she could from friends and family of Natalia in Utah and Idaho and put together a scrapbook for the twins to read and enjoy when they got older. The twins are only 1 1/2 years old. They will never know their mother the way each of us has come to know our own mothers. But through Lisa's project we hope they have a sense of who she was and how she touched so many different lives. Especially ours. We will never forget our dear friend Natalia.

Ghosts and goblins...

I just can't get over Halloween here in the South. The weather is mild. The streets are inviting. And the tall towering 100 year old trees make for just enough mystery at night that you can sense the anticipation from each of the children as they approach the next house around the corner. Full-sized candy bars, fresh caramel dipped apples rolled in pecans, and witches and warlocks dancing to Karaoke machines hooked up to loud speakers blaring throughout the night. These are just some of the very unique things we saw this year for Halloween. Not that we are complaining mind you. Just pointing out the very unique way people here in the south celebrate Halloween.
Even as the kids get older they seem to enjoy dressing up in their favorite character costume and going door to door for candy. We met up with some Chevron friends who have two young boys who LOVE Kenny and Jessica. I didn't think they would ever slow down! And talk about candy! We'll be eating the stuff through the new year!

Wind over matter...

This month Kenny and Arnold worked on a wind powered balsa wood sail boat that Kenny raced in our annual Cub Scout Raingutter Regatta. Although the kit provided everything we needed to create the small boat, it was the breathing excercises I made Kenny do all week that proved to be the key!

Two 10 ft fiberglass gutters filled with water made up the raceway and two cub scouts competed against each other at a time. With 35 entrants that night, Kenny did great coming in Second! His boat now sits proudly in our front room complete with that shiny new ribbon and childhood memories for a lifetime!

Pirates in Mobile?

For this month's Cub Scout activity we had two pirates visit our Pack! They brought weapons and war stories and even put on a 'pretend' seige of the building! We learned interesting facts about Pirates of old. Who knew Mobile Alabama had pirates?

It finally happened...

Jessica has waited several weeks for this day to come! And what perfect timing! It all happened at school during mid-morning announcements. Everyone watched as she spit out her front tooth and proudly displayed it to the rest of the students! The tradition at school allows for any student losing a tooth during school hours to walk down to the office and pick out his or her very own plastic tooth holder and the exciting event is even broadcast over the intercom by the principal! Jessica thought that tooth would NEVER come out! Congratulations Jessica!