Lizzie's driving!

Lizzie finally got her driver's permit. She's a senior in high school so we figured it was time. Today we took her driving for the first time in her life. We lived through it!



Lizzie so happy to have her permit.



First time behind the wheel! She looks a little nervous.



Lizzie's friend, James, came along for the ride. He looks terrified.



Stop, foul squirrel!




You must not hit the children, Liz.

Actually it was a really fun time and Liz did a great job. We are teaching her how to drive on the Saturn because it is a stick shift. We found a new subdivision in Provo that doesn't have any houses on it yet, but the streets are paved. We'll be going back to that location again!

William's braces

William got braces on his front four teeth about 6 weeks ago. He had a cross bite and some of his top teeth were pushing against his bottom teeth. This is just phase II of William's orthodontic plan. Phase I involved a spacer that had to be adjusted every night on the roof of his mouth.



One last shot of his "before" teeth before he went back.



This was about 5 minutes after his braces went on.



This is literally 3 days after the braces were applied. He had been in so much pain for days and it was his teeth moving at such a rapid rate.



Lizzie had to get some camera time in. Lizzie is my only kid out of 4 who doesn't need orthodontic work.

Now that it is 6 weeks later, we have noticed that William's bottom teeth are straightening out a little since the top teeth aren't putting such pressure on the bottoms.

Halloween Party '09

We held our family Halloween Party on Friday night, the night before Halloween. Even though I had been sick for three weeks leading up to it, the night was successful. Everyone had a great time!


Helga, the barmaid from Germany.



Cousin Rachel and sleepy Joker.



Rachel and her friend, Justin get down with the Star Wars theme.



Dipti and Stefanie. This was Dipti's first American Halloween.



Mom, me, and Stef.



My mom was a fortune teller but I think she looked like David Bowie!



Roscoe and William. Roscoe was scared when he first saw William in costume!



Why so serious?



Lizzie and I as Mafia bosses.



Katie was the purple fairy. With sass, of course...



Christian and Jimmy, the two hottest babes at the party!

Homecoming

William spent the entire summer in Georgia with his dad- 10 whole weeks. His sisters joined him for the second half. They got home August 15th and we were so happy to see them again. William grew about 3 inches while he was gone. Lizzie's best friend Millie came to the airport with us.


Finally getting his mouse ears from Disneyland. I feel bad that we couldn't take him.

Disneyland

Way, way back in June we took Drew to Disneyland for her first time. It was so much fun. I can't wait until we go back. With all the kids next time. In my defense, we were exhausted and the pictures of Christian and I really show it.

311

I'm a little late in publishing this. We went to the 311 concert back on June 11. It was fun. There were a whole lot of white Rasta kids from the suburbs trying to act cool but the music was amazing. Mark, Britnee, Eli, Jeff, and Katie were all there. I got to meet Eli's cute new girlfriend, Cheri as well. Very nice girl!




Cheri and Eli



311



Ziggy Marley and the Wailers



my awesome rain boots



looking tough



did I mention that it rained the first few hours? Britnee and I put on our sexy ponchos



Mark and Britnee



Katie and Jeff

Blackberry

I ordered a Blackberry. I'm excited! I can't wait for it to get here.

William

William left this morning to spend the summer with his dad in Georgia. I have never been away from my boy for so long! I have never been away from any of my kids for more than 5 days at a time. There are 75 or so days till he gets home. I hope it flies and that he has fun. We went to the park on Sunday and had a lot of fun and took some pictures.

Rubberduckzilla!

Have I mentioned how much I love Japanese commercials? I think I have.

Photos with Mark Johnston

Our friend, Mark Johnston, is a photographer of the highest magnitude. We are so lucky to have him as a friend. About two weeks ago he, Christian, Katie, and Mark's girlfriend Britnee, went down to Utah Lake on a super cold day and took some awesome photos.


















On a side note, neither Mark nor Christian smoke. They just had cigars and cigarettes to get into the characters.