What we've been up to:

We said goodbye to Brent at the end of September. He was able to spend almost two weeks here with us before he left, which was wonderful. The kids have adjusted quickly, and just Mercedes gets sad once in a while. Cooper expects Daddy to come home at any moment, and talks about him often, but doesn't get sad at all. We're lucky to have two sets of grandparents to fill the void (which is the reason we're here, after all).

Cooper asks all day where Grandma and Grandpa are, and can't wait for them to come home and play with him. He goes to Costco with them every Saturday morning and guzzles down "the samples." He insists on watching "The Grinch" (Jim Carrey version) with Grandma every single night before bed (usually for 1/2 hour or so). It doesn't matter that he's now watched it 20 times, he still laughs and laughs.

Mercedes loves playing with her "BFF" Gabriella, who lives across the street. They've been playing together since they were two, and usually get along very well. She's enjoying school, and it's so fun to see her reading! She has the talent of getting along with almost everyone (boys and girls alike), and has made lots of good friends at school. She tells me that her teacher, Mrs. Rasband, is the very best teacher in the whole school, and that first grade is the very best grade. For Halloween, her teacher dressed up as a BYU Football Coach and when the kids got noisy she would blow her whistle at them and talk to them "just like a real coach."

Lincoln LOVES his Grandpa. He's learned to just look at a person and whine when he wants attention. If he's down on the floor, he'll try to climb up the person's leg. As soon as he sees Grandpa, the whining begins. And of course, Grandpa loves Lincoln to death. Grandma is a favorite as well. Lincoln is getting ready to start walking. He's determined to be independent, and to get into EVERYTHING, just like a normal almost-one year old. He's finally started swallowing a few bites of food every once in a while, which makes me ecstatic. His favorite seems to be squash. Not baby food, mind you. He won't have anything to do with baby food. He likes mashed up squash with butter, salt and pepper. Last night Grandpa got him to eat a little bit of banana too!

The kids also LOVE spending time with their Uncle Chris. My brother comes over every once in a while to do his laundry here, and the kids don't leave him alone for even a second! Cooper calls him "Uncle." That's all. Just, "Uncle." Sometimes he says, "where is the Uncle?" It's pretty funny. Chris plays with them on the swing set, watches their shows with them, and recently even participated in making up a song and dance with Mercedes. It's priceless.

Brent tries to call early enough to talk to them at least once a week, usually on Sunday night. He was really excited to talk to them last night and hear all about their Halloween. You know how some people like to not have tons of work to do? To Brent, not being busy is pure torture. Last week he hardly saw any patients, and was trying to keep busy by helping to do construction work. This Monday was his best day over there so far, because he actually saw 6 patients (which only occupied a morning). There just isn't a need to have so many dentists over there. One more example of how anything managed by the US Government is just a mess of wasted time and money.

The kids had a blast this Halloween. It was the first time that Mercedes has been allowed to wear a costume to school, and I think that they spent most of Friday "partying." My cousins came over on Saturday night and went trick-or-treating with both the kids for a little while, before taking Mercedes home with them to do some serious candy-collecting. On Sunday I had them each pick 10 (which turned into 20) pieces of candy to keep and sent the rest elsewhere. They were up bright and early Monday morning sneaking into their stashes.

Here are some pictures of Halloween morning:





And evening:



The Shaggy Dog, "Sharpay," and a little monkey.




Poor Lincoln only kept his costume on for a few minutes. He ended up with a fever that lasted two days. Thankfully, his fever is gone and just the head cold is left.


Mercedes on Friday morning before school:







(Not the best quality photos, right? Sorry - I'm terrible! I really don't know how to use our camera, but I did recently order "Photography for Dummies" from Amazon. Hopefully it will be delivered soon...)