Thanksgiving

We had a good Thanksgiving. We headed up to Eagle to spend the holiday with Mom, Dad and Brad. The kids were reasonably well behaved on the 6 hour drive there and back--Emily did melt down a couple of times. We went bowling at BSU and Peter Gordon, Hannah and Becca ended up in a dead tie while Mom soundly beat the rest of us. Peter Gordon went on rounds with Grandpa Pete and thought it was way cool. Mom took Chantel, Becca and Hannah to get their hair cut and they sure look cute. I enjoyed watching BYU beat Utah and it was pretty funny to listen to Peter Gordon telling Uncle Brad and Grandpa Pete that their team lost. Thanksgiving dinner was delicious--orange rolls, stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, jello, and turkey. The kids had a vigil to see how long the turkey would take to cook and it seemed like forever to them. We went on several walks and watched a couple of movies. Chantel and I also got out and did some Christmas shopping. On the way home we stopped at Steve and Marla's and they kindly fed us dinner. The kids were super happy--they got to see Uncle Steve and eat. This is a wonderful time of year. We are thankful for all of our many blessings--especially our little Emily's health.

Halloween

While Chantel and I were in lovely Hawaii Mom took charge of the Halloween festivities at our home. Mom had a lot of fun trick or treating with the kids. She also had fun taking pictures and sent us these delightful pictures of the kids in their Halloween costumes. Becca and Hannah make lovely China dolls, Peter Gordon is a stupendous Spiderman, and Emily made an adorable pumpkin. Enjoy.

Aloha

Chantel and I got back on Monday from lovely Oahu. I was doing research on the Church College of Hawaii at BYU-Hawaii and had enough frequent flyer miles to let Chantel come with me. Mom came down and watched the kids. They had an absolute blast. It was good for Chantel and I to spend a whole week together and be able to relax knowing the kids were in good hands. I spent several mornings researching in the archives and Chantel enjoyed wandering the beach or relaxing in the condo. We stayed at Turtle Bay Condos. We went swimming in the ocean, ate at some fun restaurants, went to the temple twice, and went to the Polynesian Cultural Center. We also went to a botanical garden in a volcanic crater and enjoyed wandering several beaches. It was hard to come back to work yesterday but good to be home. Enjoy the pictures.

We had an exciting weekend. We went to the BYU-Eastern Washington football game. We let the kids take a couple of friends and so we had quite the crew. It was raining lightly when we got to the game but it stopped about half way through the first quarter. Things got really dicey after the third quarter when it started to snow really hard. We bailed because the Y was up 35-7 and I went to get the car while the crew hung out under the stadium. It was fun times. Peter Gordon started pre-school last week and absolutely loves it. The picture is of him with his backpack already to go into the school. The other picture is of the kids busily drawing pictures on a quite Sunday afternoon. Emily is quite funny. She loves drawing but has to use pens or pencils--no crayons. Becca is busily preparing for a sonatina recital this next week (Nov. 3) and has memorized two parts of the sonatina. She is getting quite good at memorizing music. Hannah has started putting both hands together in her piano class and is having a great time. She really likes playing the piano. Chantel and I are surviving. Chantel has started doing puzzles again and Peter Gordon has been helping her. Special Collections celebrated its fiftieth anniversary last week and so I was part of a presentation talking about our collections. My Designing BYU exhibit opened earlier this month. It covers the philosophical and physical underpinnings of the campus.

A Snowy September Day

We woke up this morning to a driving rainstorm. It had calmed down a little by the time of Peter Gordon's soccer game and so we took him over to the park to see if they were going to play. He did play and got rather wet playing in the rain. The kids looked like they were having a blast--water and dirt combining to make every kids' favorite mud. Their only complaint was that it was cold. It was even colder by game time for Becca and Hannah. They both had their games called at the half because it was so cold. Now I am sitting in my office looking out the window and it is snowing. We have a good dusting of snow on the front yard. It has been snowing pretty consistently for the last hour or so. The kids have been having a blast as you can see from the pictures. Emily wasn't too sure about the snow and was finally starting to play with the kids when she fell down. Peter Gordon had great fun trying to catch snowflakes on his tongue and Becca and Hannah enjoyed twirling around with their friend Shayne. The weather in Utah never ceases to amaze me. We always transition so suddenly.

Gordon's 35th

I had a nice birthday one week ago. Chantel and the kids had a little party for me on Sunday. We enjoyed lemon meringue pie and I had fun opening presents. Mom had been down that week to visit Grandma Galloway and so she took me and the family out to dinner at the Red Robin. We enjoyed eating out on the patio. The highlight of the week for Chantel and I was getting to see President Hinckley at the BYU Devotional on Tuesday (Sept. 18). We were down on the floor about fifteen feet away from him when he came in. He talked about the 13th article of faith and it was really inspiring. It is a neat thing to have a prophet so close to us. Emily even got to shake Elder Hales' hand at a luncheon we went to afterwards--I'm a judge for the Brimhall Essay Contest and we were honoring Karl G. Maeser. Turns out that Elder Hales' wife is a Maeser descendant.

Daddy works for Cosmo

We have had a good week. Emily and Peter Gordon came up to campus on Tuesday to eat lunch with me and it was great to hang out with them. We sat out on some grass by the Talmage Building and enjoyed a little picnic lunch. Peter Gordon and Emily played with a little ball. They thought it was great to eat lunch with Dad. Dad thought it was pretty cool as well. I have been working on an exhibit at work that will talk about the history of Brigham Young University and one of the panels that I have put together is on the BYU Experience. It features images of athletics, mentored learning, and students enjoying the campus scene. It also has an image of Cosmo and, as you all know, Peter Gordon is obsessed with Cosmo. He saw the picture when he and Emily picked me up for lunch and spent most of his visit with me talking about Cosmo. He informed me that I work for Cosmo and that when he gets big he is going to work for Cosmo as well. My colleagues got a kick out of that. He is a pretty funny kid. Hannah is doing awesome at the piano. This week she is learning how to play with both hands. Part of her piano practice is singing along to some songs that will help her learn proper pitch and tone. The whole family joins in the singing--maybe we'll get lucky and it will help me learn how to sing as well. Becca is enjoying soccer but doesn't like chasing the ball all that much. She can really boot it though and so makes a pretty good defender. She is memorizing a piece to play in a recital on Saturday and is excited about it. She is more like her Uncle Brad than her Dad in the fact that she enjoys being on the stage. Chantel is trying to stay sane and was up until the wee hours of the night last night finishing the final installment of Harry Potter. I am having loads of fun with my digital camera and have been playing around with an electronic book that I checked out from the library. I've decided that I like the physical book better than the e-book. There is something about holding something tangible in your hands. Besides I like to skip around in a book. Yesterday we went to the Springville Art Museum after the soccer games and participated in a scavenger hunt. They had a list of clues and we had to find the right painting or sculpture. It was pretty fun. The kids also got to do an art project. A couple of the pictures are of the kids at work on their projects.