Long Weekend with Dad

A lot was going on this weekend! The girls had an overnight camp out with the young women. They left Friday after school came back Saturday evening. They had fun rock climbing, going through obstacle courses and flying through the air on a zip line. I hope one of the leaders e-mail me some pictures soon. Jared flew in Friday evening (on an airplane, not on a zip-line). We got to have a dinner and a movie date. We saw "W." Saturday we got to watch football and just relax. The girls got back in the evening and then we just enjoyed dinner and some games together. Sunday Gabrielle gave her first talk in Sacrament Meeting. It was a terrific talk on the topic of Friends. Monday we enjoyed family home evening together. Since the weather was nice the girls were able to play catch with Jared. Tuesday Jared had Dr. appointments and then left that afternoon to get back to work in Louisiana. It was so nice to spend this time together!

Election Excitement

Here's our Obama / Biden yard sign. Down the street they have a McCain / Palin sign, but they also have weeds and tacky orange Halloween lights on their house. Enough said there. It has been great living in Missouri, a battleground state, getting visits from both campaigns. Barack drew a crowd of 100,000 people last weekend in St. Louis under the Gateway Arch. Later that day he spoke to another 75,000 people in Kansas City. Senator McCain stopped for barbecue in Columbia last Monday in between his campaign stops. Will Missouri go Blue or Red? Keep an eye on the electoral map! Missouri has voted with the winning candidate for the last ten elections.

School Pictures

Here are the 2008-2009 School Pictures. Madison is in 7th grade and Gabrielle is in 6th.

Going out for a bite to eat

More sights from Louisiana from Jared. That, my friends, is a hog! Can you believe this? I am so glad we don't live there! $100 for the best caption for this photo. Not really, but try just for fun! Mine is, "Why did the Crocodile cross the road? Barbecue!" or how about "Anybody want to toss around the old pigskin?"

Shop Girl

Gabrielle has completed her first 6 week encore class, Industrial Technology. Her final project was this spiffy tool box. She was really pround of the results. She also received a certificate of excellent effort and conduct. Next she moves on to Foreign Language Experience. Madison spends an entire semester in her electives and is currently in FACS (Family and Consumer Science). They have discussed being a productive, contributing member of a family and are now into the sewing portion of the class. She has sewn a zipper bag already and is now working on a string bag. Look for pictures of those projects coming soon!

Duets

Here are the girls doing a few duets. Enjoy!

Flute Practice

After dinner last night, the girls decided to get together and practice their flute. It turned into a little impromptu concert. Remember Gabrielle has only been playing a little more than a month! Madison has ventured out to play a few primary and church songs and we even downloaded the sheet music for Boomer Sooner late last night. Well done girls!