New ward; New callings/ Halloween family night

We had a busy Halloween family night but we managed to fit it all in. Our original plans changed for the night after the news we received Sunday. Our ward was at 731 members and it was time to split it up and make a new ward. We are now a part of the new Burton ward in the Kaysville West Stake. A new bishopric was put in place and Jeff was called to be the executive secretary. Bishop Hansen didn't waste any time and called for a meeting Monday night. We were all invited to his home for dessert after family night and then the men excused themselves and went into another room and began their first meeting as a new bishopric. With all the work that needs to be done to form a new ward, Jeff did not return home until midnight and poor Madi was up waiting for him still to help her with a school project. So Jeff came home from work Monday after being in surgery all day, went straight to the pumpkin patch with us, then over to the bishop's, then home to help Madi until 1:30, then had to get up at 6:00am this morning for another early morning surgery. Bless his heart - all for the love of church and family!


What a blessing this calling will be for Jeff and for our family. Jeff is working with a group of really good men - very spiritual, good father's raising great children along with their wives, and they all enjoy a good laugh. As the brethren were set apart, each prayer was so individual and so inspired. I know that each of those men are where the Lord wants them to be at this time.

As for our Halloween family night, we had a good time. We started with a Halloween dinner which included frightning fingers as the main dish, made some witches brooms out of pretzel's and fruit roll ups and muddy buddies to take to the bishop's house for dessert. There is nothing like Bishop's pumpkin patch around here so we had to start a new tradition. Friends from our ward have their own pumpkin patch so we went to theirs. They had all types of pumpkins so we chose a variety this year . They also gave hay rides pulled by horses not tractors and handed out cookies. What was really neat was visiting with the Stenquist's(the farm owner's) and visiting with all the other people that we know that came to the pumpkin patch that night too. The Stenquist's Pumpkin Patch will be a fun tradition to look forward to each year.

Jeff - exec. Sec. , Spencer Prince - 1st counselor, Devon Hansen - Bishop, Kurt Cottrell - 2nd counselor, Claron Alldredge - ward clerk

Angie Cottrell, Me, Cindy Alldredge, Joan Hansen, Tamra Prince

Jeffrey and Hayden

Anne and Aubry

Kids table

teen table

Jeffrey, me, Mikayla and Madi at the entrance to the Stenquist's pumpkin patch

The girls got to pet the horses

wagon ride around the farm

Madi just wanting to be in the picture

All my cute kids ready to eat

Jeff and Jeffrey playing doctor

I had to put some pictures of this up because it is a common scene at our house. Jeff and Jeffrey Have fun playing with the instruments and implants Jeff sells. Unfortunately Emma and Olivia's dolls are used as their patients. Sometimes the girls like to join them so I guess they're ok with their dolls having a few holes in their head. Jeff is preparing Jeffrey to be a neurosurgeon so they can have a nice working partnership someday and Jeff will know he always has a doctor using his equipment.

Our first visitors

How excited we were when we received a call Saturday from Susan saying she and Scott were in town and wanted to come by and see us! It was fun to have them here and visit with them and Rusty who is back here already attending BYU. Thanks for coming by Sue, Scott and Rusty! I guess I'm not being fair to Kiera Davis who was really our first visitor from home. Kiera came by in July after EFY and spent the day running around shopping in Salt Lake with Madison and Mikayla.

Some of our first outings in Utah

During the summer we visited a few tourist spots. The first is Antelope Island where there are many Bison roaming, among other animals. The road you drive on over the lake smells so bad it is almost unbearable. Then, once you get to the island the bugs are so bad you can't even get out of the car - but at least we can say we've been there. We also visited Mrs. Cavanaugh's chocolate factory and the immigration trail up in one of the canyon's. I don't have any pictures but we also went to the cemetery where many church leaders are buried and to the church museum where we found items that were owned by our ancestors. I love all the church history sites we can visit along with my own family history back here.

Jeff's Birthday

For Jeff's birthday his friend Matt came down from Idaho with his family to spend the day with us. It is fun to live closer to them and be able to see them more. Later we went to dinner with Matt and Amy along with Nathan and Tanya and Tom and Holly. Nathan is my cousin and Tom works with Jeff. It was a fun day.

Gardner Village with Angy

I was able to meet up with my good friend Angy who was a roommate of mine at BYU. She lives here in Utah also so we will be able to see each other more often now. She introduced me to this great place called Gardner Village. They have great places to eat and fun shops. They go all out on their decorations for the holidays and have fun activities for the kids. It is decorated so cute that I am taking my kids back with me for a photo shoot. Check it out on-line, it's Gardner Village in West Jordan.