Feliz Navidad

We had our Utah Christmas get-together at Sue's last Sunday. We were festive! Per Lady Di's request, I took photos. 

Here's a glimpse of what went on:

Mike and Aimee, looking good! (I am not being facetious. Aimee runs 5 or 6 miles a day, so she really is looking good.)

The kids worked on making snowmen and Christmas tree decorations. Here's our grown-up Gracie at work (and notice the twin behind her--yaaaaa!). 

Jake and Addie, proud of their work. (Gracie and Addie were dressed in matching dresses and coats. So cute.)

Tag and Macy, doing what they do best.

They were willing to pause and give a smile for Gma and Gpa.

Thanksgiving in the Northwest

I haven't posted in a really long time so I thought I'd finally share of few of the pictures that we took at Thanksgiving. Stuart and Annette and gang came up and we had dinner at my parents house along with some friends of ours. It was a lot of fun and a lot of food. New to the menu this year was a chocolate banana pie (Annette of course made this--DELICIOUS), fresh homemade cranberry sauce (made by our friends), Kimchi stuffing (I'm sure Grandpa is cringing at the thought--but it was very tasty) and some Tofurky (compliments of Kathryn--except she wouldn't even eat any :) It was decided that it most resembled dog food though I'm not sure how anyone would know that...
Thanks to all for a great Thanksgiving. Now maybe I'll get Christmas pictures posted before Valentines day :)

Halloween blues cont.

The Band video is on Zach 1 and Zach 2

Halloween blues

So I realize it's a bit after Halloween, but I just received a link to video footage of "The Band", featuring Stuart (aka Flea) on bass. This was their first gig, played at open mic night at the stake center on Halloween. Some of you may recognize the members of "The Band". That's Stuart to the left (outside of the spotlight), Bishop Dale front and center, vocals, Zach Odil (with the cape) on guitar, and Mark Simnit on drums. I don't know the 2nd guitarist or the harmonica player. Prepare for some jamming!! Enjoy!!

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http://www.fial.com/bob/5thfriday/pages/movies/october-2008-movies.php

Hello Family

I just wanted to answer a few questions about my beautiful, talented and lovely fiance Sarah.
She is originally from the Fresno Area but her family moved to Vegas for her senior year of high school. She is the third of three girls and is the only one who remained single long enough to go to a bar. She served a mission, Spanish Speaking in Toronto, so she is fluent in Spanish but not from serving in a Spanish speaking country so no need to feel threatened grandma. She is 28 years old a little over a year younger than me. (yep I will be thirty this year I'm getting old). Her mom is from Henderson and her dad is from Idaho.

She works for a non profit right now and works part time as a photographer which is why the pictures she takes and or edits are so great. Really look how great the one of the Bellagio fountains is.

We are planing on getting married the 2nd of May at the Manti Temple with a simple reception that night in Salt Lake. We know that not everyone can attend and if you can't we still love you and won't think anything less of you. We really just wanted to keep it low key, and just like the idea of manti. It is where her parents where sealed and like having the wedding in the middle of nowhere.

As for the other quesitons I can come cook a turkey Sym, but it was not that special honestly. The one uncle Rich made was better I'm sure. Also we got the ring at an antique store in downtown Salt Lake, it is a gold band with a platinum setting placed on top of it with a third carrat stone. People seem to care about this stuff. It was not forged in the fires of mordor but we can come up with a good story anyways. All we know is that is an art deco piece probably from the 1920's.

I am sure that I am missing something so just ask questions away and we will try our best to answer it.

Joel

Tryptophantastic

Hello Harris Family. Here is a simple photo documentation of Joel and my (the name is Sarah by the way) Thanksgiving with my family.

Joel cooked the turkey (the amazing turkey) and most of our dinner by the way. A little overkill in impressing the family? Maybe. The food? Delicious.

In true Vegas resident fashion, the family hit one of the classier locations on the strip to check out the conservatory and fountains at the bellagio.

Joel seemed to win over my nieces and nephews to boot. My niece Gracie is a flirt so it wasnt so difficult. On his shoulders one minute and kicking him in the shins the next.

Joel also worked as my photographic assistant as I took pictures of this cute little family.

At one point he asked my sister Christina to shoot a couple pictures of us.......just for kicks and giggles. And something about being quick with the shutter.......

So yeah, Thanksgiving was good. I look forward to meeting you all soon. I kinda like this Joel guy.

Smile!

Here are some recent pictures of Satchel and Nina. (We don't have any Halloween photos because the kids had the flu that day. )

Satchel's love of wheels continues. Any car toy is good for him because he'll spin the wheels and then watch and watch, trying to figure out how it all works.

Nina is showing off a fall collage she made. This girl loves the art projects.

Hey Hey it's the Harrises

A few weeks ago we went up to Todd and Keri's for Sunday dinner. Sue and Rich were there too.  I took a few pictures for Gma to add to her photo album. (I can't believe the twins are going to be NINE in January!)

Kayla was baptized this past Wednesday evening October 22nd. It was a wonderful baptismal service and the spirit there was very strong. There were a lot of ward(s) members and friends that came to support Kayla and share this special day with her. She'll be confirmed tomorrow in the Bellevue 8th (singles) Ward. We're so happy for you Kayla and proud of your decision to follow in the footsteps of our Savior.

Exciting News!

I'm sure that you have all heard by now that Mike and Kayla are engaged! We're so excited for them and have really come to love Kayla as a member of the family (I'm not sure if that's good or bad-but it's love). And sometimes I wonder if she knows what she's getting herself into (Ha, Ha,) but Mike has grown up a lot in my eyes over the past few weeks (not that I didn't think he was a grown up before..) anyways, I'm so happy for them both. Another exciting piece of news is that Kayla is getting baptized tomorrow! So there will be more pictures to come after that special event. Congratulations, we love you guys!!!
And of course I had to include a picture of the ring. It's beautiful--the picture doesn't do it justice.

Vida a la Y

Hey Everyone!
I thought I would take the time after an inspiring genereal conference to update everyone since it has been a while since I have posted anything. I love BYU, The life in the dorms is so much fun. Although I do have to admit too many people on my floor play guitar hero, halo and warcraft way too late at night. And I have no idea why the person across from my room plays irish bagpipe music at midnight; but besides that its great. I had tryouts for the BYU Racquetball the second week of school and I made the team. I have to get up at 5 a.m. on monday, wednesday and friday for conditioning and practice at 6. I will playing in many tournaments throughout the state of Utah this year with the team. The team will be playing in the Utah State Univ. tournament in two weeks. I also know that I will playing a tournament in Ogden at the Gold's Gym there on the 16th and 17th of January, and a doubles tournament in South Jordan in Nov.
My classes are fun despite the fact that I have to read tons for my science classes. My BoM class is really interesting and easy even though I accidentally signed up for an RM class. Thats basically all that is new in my life here at BYU.

The Pilot

Last Sunday our ward had their ward conference. One of our dearest young sisters, who happens to be a temple worker on Saturday afternoon and is the YW president in our ward gave a talk. It was a sweet talk about standards and how we should represent the church wherever we are. But the thing that stood out in my mind was the story she told. Now this young lady worked for a travel agency [she helped us find a wonderful resort to stay at our last closure]until a couple of months ago when the new manager wanted all the women to wear 'skimpy' outfits to work. Well, Lin did not approve of that at all and rather than do that she quit. She was distressed about not having a job, but within days she had a new and better job working for Copa Airlines. So I know that she knew the story well and I would like to pass it on to you.
It seems that a woman passenger on a particular flight became very stressed and agitated as the plane she was on experienced some turbulance. It lasted about twenty minutes or so and I'm sure to her it seemed much longer than that. After she was able to quiet down and control her emotions she noticed that the young boy seated next to her had remained calm and quiet the whole time. She turned to him as asked, "Why were you able to sit so quietly and remain calm during that scary time?" The young boy looked up at her and quietly said, "My father is the pilot." It seems that before the flight the father had taken his son aside and explained to him details of the trip. He had also explained that it would be possible sometime during the flight they would experience turbulance and then went on to explain what turbulance was and that he should not be afraid, it was just part of the flight and happens frequently. The boy knew who the pilot was and had great faith in what he had been told and thus was able to remained calm and quiet during the turbulance.

I loved the story and I'm sure each of you can recognize the symbolism of that story with our lives and of course we too know that our Father is the pilot and I'm sure He taught each of us before he sent us on our journey. It is just that we have had a veil drawn over that teaching. but with faith we too can remain calm no matter the turbulance we might experience in our flight.