Family Photos

Finally! A family photo shoot with the whole family! I am excited to develop some favorites and update all of the pictures in the house.

Here are a couple family shots in the running:

Love the colors in this one!

This one definitely has some personality....

And here are some of my other favorites:

I'm glad the kids got some good ones with their Daddy.

And there you have it. Yes, between this photo shoot and the one the kids and I did a few weeks ago, we have plenty of great pictures to choose from, thanks to the MBA ladies who did these for us. Great work!

Decision Made: and the winner is......

Amazon! 

After much deliberation, research and prayer, we have decided to accept the offer with Amazon and move to Seattle when Justin graduates with his MBA. It has been a big decision for us to make and we now feel at peace with it and whatever adventures it may bring. We celebrated with the kids on Saturday with a little Martinelli's..... 

It has been sitting in the fridge now for about two months awaiting a decision. It is so nice to have some closure on the job search and to now know where we will be going. So now we get to start the housing search. Oh boy! If any of you have suggestions for places to live or other house hunting tips, we're all ears! We've never tried to buy a house before!

We feel especially blessed that Justin has been able to get a good job with a good company that is a good fit for him. With the economy the way it is right now, many students will be happy to just get a job, regardless of how great of a fit it is. 

We are excited to begin the Seattle chapter of our lives. Until then, we are enjoying all of the benefits of being at BYU and all of the great associations and activities we have here. It's been so nice to be closer to family as well. So we will enjoy all of it while it lasts, and look forward to life in Seattle with anticipation and as always some nerves. 

Congratulations Justin! I'm so proud of you!

Oklahoma!

Back in the good ol' days of high school I participated in the musical, "Oklahoma!" It was an incredible experience for me. Last night, we got to go see the show at a junior high in Orem since my sister Marianne was the musical director. It was well done and we thouroughly enjoyed it. Seeing the show again brought back so many memories for me. 

We were unsuccessful at finding a babysitter so we opted to take all of the kids along, even though it would be a very late night for them. I was pretty sure that Brandon and Lindsey would be entertained enough by it to watch and be content, but I was not sure how Katelyn would react to the show, especially since it ran for over 2 1/2 hours. I prepared myself for the possibility that she might get restless and we would spend a good portion of the play out in the foyer. To my surprise, this is what Katelyn thought of the show:

As you can see, she absolutely loved the music! She was entertained and content for just about the entire performance! This little girl loves music so much and I am so glad that she enjoyed the experience. What a fun night!

Leaves!

This time of year I often think of the primary song that goes

Leaves are falling all around, 

on the house tops on the ground....

The colors here have just been breathtaking! The kids enjoyed a great time raking and then playing in the leaves at my parents' house where there is no shortage of falling leaves. 

Katelyn even got in on the putting leaves on Aunt Erin's head action. Nice, Erin!

I think the adults at least were tired by the end of it.