Mid October

Jason and I escaped to Las Vegas by ourselves for a long weekend, where he had a meeting for work. We left the kids with family here in North Carolina. It was pretty pathetic...Jason was getting up at the crack of dawn to run, then going to meetings all day, so we were sound asleep by 10 every night. And I did a lot of napping while he was away during the day. We had a gorgeous view from our hotel and a comfortable bed in a quiet room. That was about all I needed.

We did manage to meet up with Leanne's brothers and their wives for dinner one night. They are so fun. I ordered a vegetarian dish that could have fed the whole table.

One night we drove up to Washington to see my sister and her family and their new place, and to visit Jason's grandparents. In between the two we received a call that our BYU/North Carolina friend DanaLee Fox had passed away after an elective surgery. She was Jason's age and a good friend, and I miss her. A bunch of friends from BYU came to the funeral and some of them stayed at our place before or after. It was great to catch up with them, although not for a great reason.

The day after the funeral we hosted the Y-Guides troop here for a camp out in our backyard. They set up their tents on the empty lot behind our property and built a fire in the woods in our yard. They had a GREAT time and all made it through the night in their tents. I was expecting to wake up to eight 6-year-olds and their dads all on my living room floor. Random photo of Colin and Madeline being affectionate. They get along more often than not.