This is Halloween

Four events in Celebration of Haloween this year.

Rocker theme at Sedona Dental Arts

Caroling at the elderly care center for the primary folk.

Trunk-or-Treat at the church

Trick-or-treating in Clarkdale

I asked SEVERAL times about our Halloween plan -- they gave me ZERO feedback.  2026 = costumes from the bucket.

WAY less candy this year.  YAY!

Our Homecoming Football Game was on Halloween night; Maddie was nominated  as part of the Court, but she lost in votes.  She's wonderful.

One trick-or-treater next year.

October Ends

 Ocotober is quite lovely in Arizona.  Our weather sits in the upper seventies which means lots of time outside.

Maddie's school flag football team completed their season 11-1.  We attended her games near and far.

The game in Flagstaff was frigid.  Windy, 55* and just plain miserable.

We endured.

Barely.

Luckily, we came home to a scrummy dinner and warmth.

Grandma always has ice cream for us on Sunday nights.  It seems strange that it's dark at 6pm now.  Grandpa often talks strategy with Maddie.  He is explaining a play he created and named, "Studentbody."

Sunday games.  Maddie won this Catan round -- Molly was one point behind.

One afternoon the family left at 4pm for a rappelling adventure (post BYU game) and didn't quite anticipate that the sun sets earlier now.

Bushwacking in the dark -- glad I missed it.

The yard comes back to life in the fall; it seems like there is always so much to maintain.  Hop Sing painting the grow boxes.

Propagating plants and baking pumpkin bread.  

Molly's #9 Birthday

This little miss is nine today!  She's amazing! She's a wonder! She's a dream!

Molly was pleasant all day.  She could barely fall asleep last night -- she must have kissed us sixteen times each.  Her magnetism practically pulled the north and south poles together.

We were up early to include Maddie and Austin in the birthday festivities.

NINE!

This year she shopped on Amazon and put her presents in the cart.  She guessed each gift correctly, and then Eddie stepped in to explore and make all the new gifts work.

Her new camera will hold invaluable truths.

Pancake art for breakfast.

School and presents happened all day -- so much restful delight.

"I want a white cake with buttercream frosting and strawberries on top."  She baked the cake, whipped the frosting and decorated it after hulling the strawberries.  Capable.  Incredibly capable.Molly's Song

Of course our favorite and resident grandparents celebrated with us.

That evening Meg, Andy, Sister Maisie Babcock and Elder Nicholas Babcock facetimed and harassed her silly.  Cackles, giggles and chortles were ringing out from our "bigs" that live far away.   

Here is the list of our favorite things about Molly:

Dad: "She's growing up really well."

Mom: "She is gentle and wise.  She's mostly happy and readily takes correction."

Meg: "She's a sunshine girl.  She's a happy-shining light."

Andy: "Molly chooses to be good. She's a follower of Jesus Christ and it shows."

Maisie: "Molly has written to me to most on my mission.  She's makes me feel so loved."

Nick: "She can take teasing for a really long time -- until finally she breaks -- but it takes a while." 

Maddie: "She works hard and is good at a lot of things: piano, gymnastics and reading."

Eddie: "She's always ready to play a game."

Ryan: "Molly can easily take a joke."

Grandpa: "Molly is a happy girl."

Grandma: "Molly is sweet and kind. She's very smart."

The day ended maxing out her new Jump-it!

We love our baby.
 

Fall Break

We spent a glorious TEN days together -- HOME!  I didn't allow any friends or outside distractions, which meant we fell in love again.  In love with outside, in love with organizing, in love with bowling, in love with take-out and in love with each other.  Proof:

Loving summer herbs thriving in fall planters.

Loving the HUGE harvest moon.

In love with the reality that I can abandon this project.

In love with reading all eight Emma M. Lion novels -- for the the fourth time.

In love with my siblings -- time enough to send texts and reconnect.  My five brothers have half a dozen sisters -- they will certainly never be deemed as unimportant.

In love with rainy football games.

Especially in love with the boy who caught a winning touchdown.

In love with the daddy who took us to dinner four times over break.  Chipotle.

Rising Canes

G's Burgers

Panda

In love with this alum who went to watch the Cougars win -- in a freak monsoon that drove the faint of heart away.

In love with new music.

Bowlers.

In love with four people with the same size shoe -- Meg can be added to this quartet.

In love with the fact that I didn't use the bumpers once, nor did I throw a gutter ball!

In love with spontaneous fun.

In love with terrifying rappels.  (Our 9.5 mile adventure in which no one complained.  The day after Molly did comment, "My legs kind of hurt today."i

In love with my "little" friends who still fit in the grocery cart.

In love with temple goers and Phoenix sun.

In love with the fact that we didn't wait for Top Golf and went shopping for three hours instead.

In love witth children who decided that they wanted to go camping.

So they did -- complete with smores and laterns.

In love with spaces that are dejunked and organized.

In love with supportive grandparents.

In love with our resident big girl that stayed home all week.

In love with the glorious youth of our stake attending our best dance to date -- no pictures of the trophies.

In love with the poster making crew that was so happy to make HOCO posters.

 We were so happy being in love.

Sister Babcock loving her companion,

Elder Babcock loving his companion.

Andy loving the rocks and this dude.

The Armstrongs loving each other and pumpkins.

And Andy.  They love Andy.

Finally, loving those P-day calls that mean everything.