A few pictures of Eric and Cara.

We decided to take a few more pictures, since Cara and Eric are sooooo photogenic.

My youngest daughter, Cara, just got engaged to Eric Seger. When we all sat down to Thanksgiving dinner, my husband asked each person to name something they were thankful for. When it was Eric's turn he had a card written for everyone telling them how thankful he was to become a part of the family. He had a special one for Cara and when he gave it to her he asked her to marry him. She was so happy as she said yes. He put a beautiful ring on her finger. Here are some pictures of this very special event.

Matt is doing great on his mission. I love our Monday emails. I just wish he could keep from getting injured during their pday soccer games. He has taught many people the gospel and has made some wonderful friends. One of the most special to him is this beautiful little lady named Oraida.

Family Time!

This past weekend was so fun. We had a great time being together. We went to the Ft. Smith Southside/Northside football game. David and I, Michelle and Ethan, Diana and David, Ryan and Sarah, and Cara and Eric. Eric came down from Missouri to spend time with Cara. We missed Matthew, but we know he is happy serving the Lord in Brazil. We started out at Ethan's parents house in Fort Smith. Michelle had cooked a yummy dinner of chicken and fish and couscous. We then had the great Habanero pepper challenge. I'll explain a little about that. Eric is determined to get Cara to appreciate the benefits of eating Hot peppers so he brought some habañero peppers with him. He tried to get Cara to eat one before we left Hartford. I will attach a video of that episode. Cara wouldn't try too much, so after Eric ate his pepper, Cara's Dad suggested he kiss her to help her experience the burn, so he did. She got a good burn going that way. Cara's friend Hannah came to the family party in Ft. Smith and she agreed to eat a pepper. They had a fake mustache for Hannah to wear while she ate the pepper, but the pepper caused her to sweat it off right away. It was funny to watch those crazy people eat their peppers. But watch the videos and you will see what I mean. We then went to the football game and had a great time together. It was unusual for me to sit in the bleachers, since I usually have to walk the sidelines at our football games taking pictures for the yearbook. I took several pictures, that I will post. My favorite is the one of my pregnant daughter and my pregnant daughter-in-law sitting there eating pickles.
The rest of the weekend was fun too. Ryan and Sarah spent the night at our house and I enjoyed spending some time with Sarah! She is a sweetie. Ryan taught Eric how to do a backflip on the trampoline. He was excited. So enjoy watching the videos and seeing the pictures from our weekend.



And now for the Habañero challenge for Hannah.


Now Eric shows Cara how hot it is:

And now time to cool down:

Halloween 09

For Halloween we went to a church party at a members house in Bonanza. Michelle, Diana, Caroline, Holly, Cara, and David and I went.Ethan and David chose to stay home and watch some football, which was fine. They had a fish fry (YUM) so David and I took a little break from our continual diets to enjoy it. The men that were doing the frying were sure working hard to keep up with demand. Holly was sooo cute as a little witch and Caroline was adorable as a little pirate (sword and all). They played games and went on the hayride. Caroline particularly liked catching the apples in the barrel. She cheated a little by catching them by the stem. She made a few returns back to the barrel so we had a good supply of apples. She also insisted on going on the hayride a 2nd time. Holly caught everyone's attention as she ran around. I kept overhearing remarks about how cute she was. I was glad we got to spend some time with them this Halloween. Cara had to answer lots of questions about who was the cute guy they saw her with on facebook. She left early to go to a friends party where she dressed up in a sari as a Hindu woman.

Cara is dating a really nice guy from Missouri. They make a cute couple. My mom said I need to post some pictures on my blog so family can see them. So here goes. First I will put in a video of them jumping on the trampoline. He can bounce Cara pretty high! The first pictures are some they took on their trip to Runestone State Park in Oklahoma, which is about 20 minutes from our house.

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted anything. I last posted in August and here it is October. Getting back to school is a busy time. I am especially busy at school this year. I have 6 distance learning classes that I supervise and 2 hours of yearbook students. Yearbook is very time consuming, but I have a great staff this year. They all want to work and turn out a great yearbook. I just wish we had more money to work with. But I predict another really great yearbook.
Today is Matt's 16 month mark, so time continues to march on by till he will be home again. At the top of this post are a couple of pictures he sent me that I really love. He is still in Livramento and loving it there. He is teaching some wonderful people and taking great joy in seeing their lives change.
Ryan and Sarah are expecting a baby. It's due May 30th. Michelle and Ethan are also expecting a baby on June 22nd, which we think will be Matt's release date. Nice timing Michelle. But we are so excited to have 2 new members of the family on the way!
Caroline had her tonsils out a week and a half ago. Poor little thing has been miserable! But hopefully she is on the road to recovery now. The doctor said it is a good thing they got them out because he didn't know how she was even breathing since they were so big! It should really make a difference to how well she can run and play and even sleep.
The leaves are turning and it is my favorite time of the year!

More pictures from Brazil

Matthew sent a few more pictures from Brazil. I'm posting them here so you all can see them. I love to see his pictures! He looks so great.
One picture is of a sunset and one is of a rainbow. In one picture Matt is standing in front of a view of Santana do Livramento. The rest are taken before baptisms.

Old nostalgic items

My husband just got back from a trip to Arizona to visit his mom. He spent the time helping her get her house ready to sell. They didn't get it all done, but they made some progress. I'm glad he's home. He brought home an old rocker that is many many years old. It needs work on it. About 50 years ago his grandparents leased some land that had an old abandoned house on it and the rocking chair was in that house. It was old then, so I'm sure it's quiet old now. It is pretty. Years ago my husband replaced the rockers on it for his grandfather. Now it is ours.
He also brought home a lot of old tools that were his grandfathers. His Grandpa Barney would paint the handles of his hand tools either yellow or green. So now he has a collection of his Grandpa's tools.
My daughters are excited about he quilt tops that he brought home for each of our kids. They were made by his Grandma Barney, their great grandmother. I haven't seen them yet, since he left them with Michelle as he drove through Fort Smith on the way home.
The favorite thing for me, that he brought home, is a beautiful butterfly tray. It was a gift he brought home to his mother when he returned from his mission in Uruguay back in 1975. It is made from the butterflies of the Amazon. One thing that is significant to us now is that he bought it in Santana do Livramento, Brazil when he visited there for a conference. That is where our son Matt is currently assigned on his mission in Brazil. The glass is broken on the tray unfortunately, but it is still beautiful. I am thrilled to be able to display it in our house.

Pool fun

Michelle and the girls are staying with us a few days. They love to spend time in the pool. Here are some pictures of them enjoying the pool. In one of them, Holly is eating her lunch on the deck. The deck is not finished yet. David is working on it this summer, trying to redo it. He has only a little time now and then and the priority has been to make sure the pool is secure from little ones being able to getting through the fence. Caroline, of course, found a way into the pool right away, so Poppy had to put up more chainlink fence around the deck, but it is pretty secure now. The pool has provided lots of fun over the years, but now with small grandchildren around we have to be diligent with safety measures.

Camping at Queen Wilhelmina Park

This weekend we went for an overnight campout at Queen Wilhelmina State Park. It is located in the Ouachita Mountains and is about and hour south from where we live. The whole family went, except for Matthew (who is working away in Brazil) so we had a great time. There was a bad storm that moved through our area just after the kids left for the campout and before we left for it. I was a little frightened and David called from work to check on me. Ryan and Sarah got hit by some pretty bad hail and now their cute little Volkswagen has hail damage.

When David got home we packed up and left for the campout. When we got there, the kids had our tent up and ready for us. David said he could get used to camping like that! The temperatures were about perfect, which is what I enjoy. We had lots of fun being with the kids and grandkids and talking and laughing. We grilled a couple of beef tri tip roasts and hamburgers, hot dogs and bratwurst. We were so full after eating that we decided to save the dutch oven dessert of apple crisp to make for breakfast.

There is a little train that runs through the park that people can pay 4 dollars and go for a ride and see the great view of the Ouachita Mountains and the parklands. Before we got there, the kids went on it and enjoyed it. The tracks for the train ran beside our campsite and whenever that little train went by Caroline and Holly would get so excited and wave. I had fun going for a walk down the tracks with the little girls. We saw beautiful wild flowers and butterflies and woodland (Caroline called it the jungle where the bears live).

The park people came by and told us to be sure to put all our food in the car because a lot of bears were in the area. Michelle was worried about using her sweet smelling lotion. : )

A heavy fog and mist moved in during the evening hours which was pretty cool looking. We all settled into our tents for a nights sleep. Of course at 2:00Am I woke up and needed a quick trip to the restroom which was hidden in the fog. I drove to it. There was thunder going on and I figured I better go before the storm hit. Diana wasn't so lucky. When the rain started her husband and her got up to make sure everything was put up safe and then she had to go to the restroom. She walked up there in the pouring rain.

By morning the rain stopped and the fog moved back in. The sun coming up through the fog was really cool. I took lots of pictures. The fog soon burned off and we had a beautiful day to enjoy. We had eggs, sausage, fried potatoes, biscuits, and apple crisp for breakfast. No one went hungry on this trip! David and I took Caroline and Holly up to the lodge to look around and play on the playground while everyone else went on a hike. Later it was time to pack up and go home.

It was a great time. The only part that was hard, was that I missed Matthew so much. He would have loved being there with us.