Dad's Portrait

While I was out at Becky's for Thanksgiving, Dad needed a picture for some papers related to his recent church calling as Stake Patriarch. Apparently SLC captures some basic information about you after you have been called.

I thought I would post his smile for the rest of the family.

A Relaxed Thanksgiving in Maryland

Thanksgiving was as good as ever this year. Becky hosted us once again in Maryland. : ) Got'ta love Becky's cook'in.

↓ Becky set a very impressive table. Rachel had a great time taking these pictures. Dave has begun teaching her about composition. ↑

We all helped pitch in with the various kitchen duties ...Some more than others. I confess I am not sure what Becky is doing in this shot : ) ↑

Stan always loves to prepare the turkey.↑

We all enjoyed the meal, even if we didn't enjoy having our pictures taken with a mouth full of food. :-) ↑

Afterwards, we enjoyed playing on Becky and Mikes Wii on there huge television (for those of you still living the 70s, the Wii is a video game console). ↑

While Dave could never beat his dad in tennis in the "real" world. He finally beat Stan's cyber version. :-) A small victory for Dave ↑

We were all tired and enjoyed just lounging around most of the Trip

↑ Ben had a great time playing with Becky and Mikes assorted toys. ↓

Rachel loves spending time with Grandma Morey. Late night girl chats were one of her highlights. No boys alowed. ↑

As usual, Beth drove most of the way home... ok, Beth drove the whole way home while everyone else feel asleep : )

It ended up being a great couple days away from Boston. Now we turn our eyes toward Christmas and finding a tree.

Playing in the Leaves

For those of you who miss playing in the leaves, we offer this memory. : )

Just plain fun.

Happy Halloween

The boys went out trick or treating with Ben's friend from his preschool days, Kyle. We snapped some pictures before we headed out.

Rachel went out with one of her friends from school. Unfortunately, Rachel went so early to the friend's home that we weren't able to get a picture taken. (She went as a candy corn)

Ethan went as Stitch from the movie "Lilo and Stitch" for the second year in a row. Luckily, Kyle went as Stitch two years ago, and his family gave us the costume. ↑

Ben went as a black Power Ranger. ↑ A big departure from last year when he went as a green Power Ranger. :-)

Ben's Last Soccer Game of the Season

Ben had his last soccer game of the season Saturday. He had a great time.

At this time in his life, Ben loves "playing" soccer just for the sheer joy of it.

Do a little dance... ↑ As always, Ben is his own man.

Goofing around (By the way, Ben is on the field in the middle of a game) ↑

I'm here! ↑

We think these pictures reflect that joy Ben seems to find playing around : )

Flash-back-Friday

I noticed something lately... The older I become, the more I seem to look like I did as a baby. I am not sure that is progress. : )

Hanging Out in Utah with Libby and Kathy

I had a chance to travel to Salt Lake City on business recently. While there I hung out with my sister Libby and the family of my other sister Kathy. I actually didn’t see Kathy as she was gallivanting around Paris France with her Sisters-in-law. (I wished I was there with her : ) But I had a great time with Tyler and the kids. While Kathy was away, we seemed to play a lot of video games. : )

I had a great time, but I did something a rarely do. I forgot to take any pictures of the family. The only pictures I really took were of the Salt Lake Temple. Tyler was kind enough to head out with me at 10:00pm to allow me to take a few shots.

So, this picture is all I have to show my traveling... : )

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Just Me and My Boys : )

Paraphrasing Oliver Cowdery (JS-H 1:75)...

These are the days never to be forgotten. : )

Annual Family Pictures

It is that time again. It is time to drag out the family camera, beg the kids to be still and smile, and endure countless attempts to take our annual family picture. It always seem like someone is blinking, frowning, or frustrated. Inevitably, everyone wants to sit next to Mom. This year was no exception.

In the end, it ended up the same way it did last year. Not single picture worked out. The solution? … a composite image. Hopefully, you'll never see where. : ) ↓

[Click on any image to enlarge]

To help the kids unwind a little we had everyone make goofy faces. Unfortunately, after we unleashed the goofy looks, they lever left. 2007 Family pictures ended soon after this was taken ↓

The fall leaves are beautiful this time of year. For all those not enjoying a New England style October please enjoys ours. ↓

The colors are awesome this time of year. Drop by and enjoy them with us. : )

Business Travel to Ireland

This past week I had a business trip to Ireland. Much of the time there I spent in long business meetings. However, we had a couple "team building" exercises that allowed me to take out my camera.

I started my trip on the West Coast of Ireland in a city called Galway. While there we took a ferry over to Aran Island.

While there, someone suggested the best way to see the island was to rent a "horse and trap" (horse in carriage). You may notice it the island has very few trees, and an endless supply of rocks.

[Click on most images to enlarge]

Rocks, Rocks, and More Rocks. ↓ Everywhere rocks.

After spending a couple days in Galway, the group headed to Dublin on the east coast. While there we took an afternoon to the Glendalough in Wicklow, Ireland. There we had planned a 10-12km hike up a to a mountain peak called the Spinc.

It is during trip like this that I am reminded of my need to exercise. : )

It is higher than it looks... at least it felt that way hiking up it. : ) ↓

If I don't looked tired and out of breadth your not looking close enough : ) ↓

Once to the top, the views were outstanding. ↓

Finally, and gratefully we headed down the well laid out trail.

Notice how everyone had matching backpacks : ) A should fire way to see this is a "team building exercise" : )