My friend needs HELP...

Hi everyone....

You may have heard, and you may know him, but one of my dearest friends, who is like a son to me....Lorin Merkley....is enduring through cancer right now, and all the trials that come with that. He was my "son" on our stake youth trek back in March of this year, where we came to love him and care so much for him. He was all ready to go on his mission when he found out about his cancer.

He has been fighting cancer for a couple months now and his family is in need of help.


They are selling Gold Canyon candles (which I know we all LOVE) to raise money for his medical bills. If they raise $2500 by November 22nd, they will give half of it to the Merkley's, who desperately need it.


So PLEASE....this is a good cause, and it's a wonderful time of year to buy one of these wonderful candles- for yourself or for a Christmas present.


You can see more at Lorin's blog ....... http://www.lorinmerkley.blogspot.com/


Or you can order directly through Josie Penrod at penrodfam@yahoo.com or 987-3210.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

Brent with Lorin on the far right

October 31st!!!

What a wonderful time of the year! I LOVE Halloween...it's my 2nd favorite holiday, next to Christmas of course! We had such a fun time going to our ward Halloween party at the Bowman's and then going to Newell and Jessica's house for the Slade Halloween get together after.....and of course, we mostly go so we can do the annual Slade Ugly Face contest. So if you are wondering what those pictures are in the slide- yes- those are not how they normally look. I'm so proud to have married into a family that is so good at making fun of themselves! :) Enjoy the slideshow! (put mouse on each picture for a little caption)

Silly Livi!

A couple weeks ago I freaked out and couldn't find Livi anywhere when we came home to a babysitter. But don't worry- I finally found her behind our couch in the family just sound asleep!The kids love our wigs we've used for past Halloweens, but this is especially great! This is Livi with her next-door neighbor friend, Zach Ballard. This kind of reminds me of my mom and dad- say......in 1972? Was that the year you had a mullet dad!? :)

A self portrait! Just a cute picture of her today during Stake Conference (while she was in the nursery playing at the end!)

Haircuts & Parties!

So it was just a wonderful weekend....I love Fall!

I decided to chop my hair off on Thursday (many thanks to my friend Julie who coaxed me into it!) and to my wonderful hairstylist- the one and only Jill Ann LeSueur Chipman! She's the best!

But we chopped a good 5-6 inches, so it was scary- but I do love it! It's kind of a choppy a-line cut- LOVE it! And it's so easy to do!

Friday we went to a rockin' Redneck Halloween party- which was totally awesome, but sorry, I'm not going to post those pictures for the whole world to see! It's just too nasty!

And Saturday we had Grandma Packard with us for the day. It's so good to have her down here...and it was so great to have her help me with my laundry all day! Then that night we had a fun street family Halloween party at the John's house. It was a blast! The kids LOVED the haunted house in their garage & they had a fun bounce house & a pumpkin carving contest. It was just perfect for the kids and a fun night for us!

Livi went through the haunted house once and they accidentally got some fake blood on her sleeve. So when she came out she had this horrified look on her face and she said, "Mom! I broke my arm.........but it doesn't hurt!?"

(Anakin from Star Wars, Gramma, Tinkerbell, the Disco Queen, & Jack the Pumpkin!)

fUn aRouNd tHe hOuSe!!!

I just have to document my favorite part of every day.....when daddy "comes home". Technically he is home a lot, since he works here!....but when he's really done with work he "mentally" comes home! And that's the best!

And then there's my cutie pie- Livi Loo. We chopped her hair off! Ahhhh! I was so nervous to do it but it looks so much better. It was just getting way too long and she hates for me to do her hair anyway, so it's much easier! And she LOVES it! It's a-line in the back and way cute.....now I'm tempted to do mine!!!!???

Here's a BEFORE shot, and a classic picture of her attitude as a 4 year old!

And AFTER!

And Jackson loves Livi's bean bag. He drags it around the house, to where he thinks might be a comfortable resting spot for a few moments....and then he's up and going again!

And this picture just had to make the cut. He actually took this himself- probably as the camera was falling to the ground....as that is my kitchen ceiling!

Jack's Talents...

Who me!?.....couldn't be!?

Yeah....he's a stinker! He always climbs up on the counter...but this time he had a purpose. He loves cookies, but mostly just the filling in the middle. Why is every child the same!?

I love these lemon cream cookies....they remind me of Grandma Ferrin's cookie jar (she was like a grandma to me growing up!)

Brothers

Jack loves anything that has wheels on it. He loves his little push car, LOVES going on walks in the morning in the stroller (the only time he doesn't make any noise), and loves trying to get on big kid bikes. So now he's found the scooter...which of course he can't do on his own- so his very helpful and kind brother always is there to teach him the ropes!