Mark and Terry Reed Family

11/9/08 Conner's blessing day

Mark opened one eye to check on Conner who was making little noises during the blessing. He was smiling big and almost laughing. He must of thought it was fun to get bounced by his Daddy and all those men.

Halloween Costumes 2008

We drove around the backside of the knoll by our house to the Shumway farm for the ward Halloween party. Calla was dressed as a "Southern Belle" but everyone asked if she was "Little Bo Peep." Jenny was a very skinny version of Babe Ruth. There wasn't a pumpkin carving contest after all, but we still displayed Mark's work of art and everyone loved it. We had a giant bowl of candy and when we thought all the kids had come around I left Jenny to manage it. The next thing I knew the half-full bowl was completely empty. She was running around with it to kids and giving them huge handfulls. She made alot of little friends last night! At least we didn't bring any candy home, except Calla's little "stash."

Boo!

Tonight is our annual ward "Trunk or Treat" party at the old Shumway barn. The kids in the ward climb all over the huge hay stacks and stir up tons of dust and the adults stand in line and bring chili beans and cornbread to eat. Then a huge bonfire is lit and everyone stands around it, and there's a costume parade. There's usually a pumpkin carving contest (which we have won several times, I might humbly add) and we thought we'd show you our design for this year, which Dad skillfully did for FHE last night. Pretty close likeness to the original idea. I know, it's not a pumpkin, so we might be disqualified, but it sure looks gorey! He's wrapped in plastic wrap in the fridge till his big "unveiling" tonight...

Conner comes to Taylor

Tim and Cindy drove up Thursday night to spend General Conference weekend with us. We enjoyed them all so much! Those of us upstairs slept wonderfully, but I guess Conner had some fitful nights. He loves to eat and sleep and eat some more. He smiles so cute and we spy a dimple once in awhile. Cindy and Tim are such sweet and loving parents, he's a lucky baby!

FHE at Taylor Intermediate

Mom and the girls went to Calla's school for an all-school "Family Night" where we brought blankets, pillows, flashlights and books to read. (Dad had a community meeting he couldn't miss) Teachers had telescopes set-up to look at constellations. The PTO served hot dogs and water. We came home and smelled a skunkish smell really strong. Oh no! Kelly had gotten sprayed. She reeked bad. She wanted in the house,

but first we had to give her a bath outside in the tub with our special de-skunking formula. Then we took her in the house and gave her one more bath with some special dog shampoo. What a night! But one happy note: Calla's 6th grade class had the most family's participate, so they get a pizza party this Friday.

Missing Mom

As the anniversary of her passing approaches, I find myself getting teary everyday, remembering my last moments with her...I wish I could see her, where she is, what she's doing. Wish she could tell us what we need to be doing that we're not. Wish she could tell us what to change in ourselves (as if we didn't know). How can I tell her that I love and miss her? Stand looking down at her grave? I don't think she waits there for me to come. I think she's busy and lovin' it. But in my heart of hearts I know she misses us too.

Here's a thought-provoking short video with music that has a great message about those who have died and more importantly, a message for those who still live.

http://www.dashpoemmovie.com/

A photo study of "Dawson"

This isn't the hearty country breakfast my daddy told me I was going to get!

Good morning...whatever...but don't think I'm ready to smile if this is all you're going to offer me.

I'll humor Grandma and give her one of my half-effort smiles, she'll think I'm adorable anyway.

Hmmmm...who will be my next victim?

Now that's more like it -- Captain Crunch and a view of the dairy cows!

Conner Kew Reed

After almost 33 hrs. of labor(bless Cindy's heart) Conner arrived at 11:32 p.m. September 2nd. He strongly resembles the Garcia family, and that's okay because he's beautiful! Weighing in at 8 lbs. 14 oz. he's a strong, healthy baby boy. He and his cousin Brolin Bigler will be just a month apart in age. We feel twice blessed! And the McMullin twins will be right in the thick of the fun...a few years from now. Our future family reunions will have to be geared toward the interests of boys (camping, shooting, fishing, dirt, boogey boarding, bugs, etc.) Ha! Congratulations Tim and Cindy...you are a "family" now!

First day of School '08-'09

Calla and Jenny were ready "bright and early" Monday, Aug. 11th for school to begin. Jenny's bus comes at 7:05 a.m. and Calla's bus picks up the local neighborhood kids about 7:25 a.m. Calla started 6th grade, where are these years going? Jenny will continue attending the self-contained resource classroom at the high school. She enjoys the sociality there and the staff (secretaries and nurse) at the school say that her smile is the highlight of their day.

Summer ends with trip to Utah and Idaho

Mark and I and the girls drove up to Utah on Friday, August 1st and took a different route (Alt 89) thru Marble Canyon and the Vermillion cliffs. So beautiful!

We arrived in Provo and then followed Christopher and Jenelle up Provo Canyon to the Willis family cabin near Kamas. The cabin was so comfortable and in such a beautiful setting with an awesome view. Deer came around frequently. The weather was perfect.We went to a huge reservoir and canoed, played games, got acquainted with Dawson, attended church in Oakley, took naps, walked to the creek and just relaxed. Jenelle had planned yummy, simple meals. Her parents drove over from Centerville for a brief visit. Mark enjoyed hearing Corey's narrative of how their family built the cabin over many years. We stayed there till Monday, and it was kinda sad to leave.

On the drive back to Provo, there was a fire on top of the mountains above Bridal Veil falls. There were two helicopters dumping water and we stopped at the scenic view pullout and watched them in action.

We settled into the large apartment that Chris and Jenelle live in, that we hadn't seen, and planned our meals and grocery shopped. They are such a sweet, hospitable couple, and Dawson is a precious boy. He is really talking, and seemed to really enjoy Calla and Jenny. We went to a local park,threw Frisbee's and Landon Woolf stopped by to visit us. He also works at the MTC and Chris really enjoys having his cousin in town. On Tuesday we girls had a "day out" while Grandpa babysat Dawson, and went school clothes shopping and saw the movie, "Kitt Kittredge, an American Girl." Wednesday, Mark and I and Jen went to the BYU Library and did some family history research. Calla went ice skating that evening with Christopher. We were grateful for Jenelle, she watched the girls for us and that was such a blessing. Thursday, Mark and I drove up to Idaho Falls, stopping in Logan to meet some new coworkers at Henderson Law Offices. Because I work on my computer at home in Arizona for them, most of them are just "names" without faces. Until now.

We arrived in Idaho Falls and spent the evening there at a theme hotel room downtown. We celebrated our belated 31st anniversary in the most elegant room we've ever had. The next morning we got up quite early and went to a session at the temple. Then attended Tyler and Brittany Klepinger's wedding. Such a beautiful couple and special memory! We went to the delicious luncheon afterwards and headed back down to Provo. Christopher and Landon had driven up for the wedding and they followed us back down. We packed everything up, slept in our clothes, and left early Saturday morning for home. We had a safe trip and arrived in Taylor, grateful for the great vacation to end our summer!

Welcome to the world Brolin!

On Friday morning, July 25th, Lathe called to excitedly tell us they were at the hospital and Brookly was in labor. We packed quickly and drove down, arriving in time to nervously pace the halls till Brolin arrived about 4:15 p.m. (He was born on Jenelle's birthday) Mark calls him "L.J." for "Lathe Junior." The Bigler genes definitely won out, and that's just fine! The girl's and I stayed down in Mesa for a few days to help Brookly with the twins and love and hold the baby.