Happy Halloween!

 This year we had no school on Halloween so, we decided to go to CornBelly's, and enjoy the day.  The weather this year was unbelievable, and it was the perfect Halloween day.

 We spent the whole day at CornBelly's and we enjoyed all the activites they have there.

 Grandma Young came with us and we loved spending the day with her!

 We got home and hurried and got ready for the evenings activities.  Anne was Elsa.

 Eliza was Elsa too!  We were lucky to have Grandma Young help make these fun Elsa dresses.

 Lucy was Anna

Jason is almost to old to be trick or treating!  We was a fisherman this year.  The kids all went with their cousins this year to trick or treat.  This was good because Mike and I were both sick.  Jay went with Alex and Anne and Eliza went with Kate and Claire.  I took Lucy out for about an hour, and she was good with that.  Halloween was on a Friday this year so, the kids were out late.  But, did they ever come home with candy!  I have never seen so much candy in my life!  I am sad I didn't get a picture of all the candy but, good job kids!  We had a successful Halloween and I enjoyed it so much with you kids.

Pumpkin Carving

 We spent an evening carving our pumpkins.  The kids did their own work and I think they did a great job!

I loved how they turned out!  From L-R Lucy, Eliza, Anne, and Jason's pumpkin creations!

Off Track Fun

 We always try to have a little more fun while we are off track.  One day, we went to the new children's museum at Thanksgiving Point with the Barton's.  We had so much fun there, and spent the whole day there.  The nice part of year round is we are able to go to places that are usually crowed at less crowed times while others are still in school.  We had this place almost to ourselves!

 The kids love this park in West Jordan and we spent an afternoon playing here.  We have been lucky with such gorgeous Fall weather!

 We went to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins to carve for Halloween.  Check out those awesome Utah blue skies!

We made our traditional Halloween sugar cookies and enjoyed decorated and eating them!  We have gone swimming at the rec center, went to the theaters to see a movie, and watched the new movie Maleficent in our home theater.  The kids built a Lego city down in the basement and it's pretty impressive.  Lots of art projects and playing the back yard.  I love having you kids home and spending time with you!

Family Halloween Parties

 Grandma and Grandpa Young had their annual Spooky Dinner.  We look forward to this party all year and it was another successful party.

 Here we all are ready for Halloween 2014.

 We had a spooky dinner and then fun games and crafts for the kids.  This is always such a fun party for the Young family.  Grandma Young puts a lot of time and thought into making this party fun for the kids.

 Auntie Cathy then had the Schwitzer family over for a Fall dinner and fun Halloween games for the kids.

We always enjoy being with our Families during the holidays!

Mission Fair

Our Stake held a missionary boot camp and they asked several people from the stake to set up displays about their mission.  They asked me to participate and it was fun thinking about my mission again.  How grateful I am for the chance I had to serve.  As I looked through my pictures and read my journal I am reminded of the many miracles I witnessed as a missionary.  Not only did I witness miracles of my investigators but, the miracles I witness in the members, and myself.  Getting to wear the Saviors name over my heart for 18 months is a time I cherish and love.  I hope someday to go on a mission again but, this time with Mike!

Phinney Bible Story

 Let me start off with the back story.  Mike is a treasure seeker and I am pretty sure he got this itch from his mother.  He loves to find old things or find "treasures" at garage sales.  We have even bought an abandoned storage unit to see if we could find any hidden treasures in there.  While we were in Paris, there was a man selling old Bibles along the Seine River.  Mike wanted a Bible so bad but, the guy wanted 2,000$ for it.  It was in French and we just couldn't justify spending that much money on something we couldn't even read.

One day, Mike was home working and had the impression that he should look on Ebay for an old Bible.  Mike loves Church history so, he went the route of looking for something that connected to Joseph Smith.  There were many of these Phinney Bibles for sale.  The Phinney Bible is the Bible that Joseph Smith used to translate the Bible for the Joseph Smith Translations.  Joseph Smith's year of Bible was the year of 1828.  Mike found this Phinney Bible was in excellent condition but, was published in the year 1829 so, it isn't worth as much as an 1828 Bible.  He told me about it and I was cleaning the bathrooms and just said, " Oh that is really cool" but, didn't' think he was really thinking about buying it.

One after noon he was at his Mom's house for Lunch and he was telling his Mom about this Bible.  JoAnn, who also loves old finds, ask to see it.  She then calls Mike's Dad and they both think it's unreal!  They convince him to buy it!  So, he did.  We bought the Bible from a rare book dealer in up state New York.  We think that this Bible has never left New York.

Once we got the Bible we were enjoying looking at it's old pages, and couldn't believe this Bible is 200 years old, and is in such great condition.  We then noticed that in the middle of the Bible there was a family history section where the family that owned this Bible for generations kept there family history.  As we were looking through the names, the spirit told us that we were suppose to get these family names in Family Search, and that these people wanted there Temple Work done.

The mood totally changed from what a cool Bible to hurry we need to figure out this family tree, and get this work going.  Mike was led by the spirit on so many occasions as he was trying to figure out how many kids they had, and who went with who.  We felt these good spirits in our home as we they would inspire us to look on different census,or enlighten Mike's mind to make it all come together.

We really believe that these are really good people and that the Lord used our means, and Mike's interest to get this Bible in our hands.  This family wants there work done and we are going to do it!  This has been such a neat experience for our family and one we will never forget.  The miracles that happen when doing family history are real.  Even though this family is not related to us, as far as we know, the work is progressing on both sides of the veil.  The thought has come to me that one of our grand-parents maybe has taught this family in the spirit world, and they need our help here on Earth to get these great families work done.

 Here is the Family Record

 When one of the pages would rip they would sew together the the ripped part.

Temple cards are printed out, and we plan on getting the work done for about 40 people that were listed in this Bible.  We love these people and hope to see them one day!

Go Cougars!

Uncle Brad got tickets to the BYU homecoming home and some of us were able to go.  It was a fun night with Grandma and Grandpa Young and all my brothers and Jill.  We each brought our oldest kid so, I took Jason to join in on the fun.  It started out like an awesome game for BYU but, they ended up losing it in the second half.  For my die hard, BYU loving family it was horrible to watch.  Allen was in near tears and all the Men were clearly upset.  It was still fun to be all together and enjoy some good old family fun together!

Family Pictures

 We took our camera and tripod and took our own family pictures.  It was crazy for Mike and I because we were pushing the camera button and then running into position.  It worked out, though, and we got some great pictures!  I will one day pay to have someone take our picture but, just these year to year pictures my camera does great!  We went up Yellow Fork canyon and caught some of the Fall leaves.

 Lucy 3 years old.

 Eliza 7 years old.

 Anne 9 years old.

 Jason 11 years old.

Of course we had to get a sister picture!  I am glad we got them done and some turned out.  It's just a little stressful getting 3 girls ready and making sure everyone looks good.  Good thing we only do this once a year but, it's worth it for the memory!

Chili Champ!

I had to document that I won the Chili cook-off in our ward.  I got this awesome jacket that I get to keep all year.  Next year I will pass it on to the next chili champ.  I was really surprised but,  happy to finally have won a cook-off!