Summer is gone...fall is leaving...here is our blog...finally...

Hi Everyone!
Let me fill you in on the details. My brother Ben is engaged to his girlfriend, Sarai. We are really excited for them. Mark has taken a new job with a new firm that will be less time at the office, no travel, and less stress at home. We are REALLY excited about that. We are doing really well and are all healthy and happy. I know that I promised to stay more updated on our blog, but I have gotten behind once again. Sorry. Enjoy the updates and make sure that you see them all. You may have to hit "older posts" to see them all.
Love, Mark, Rachel & Meira

Halloween with Cousins in Colorado

Meira has been watching mommy put on her make-up every morning. One morning while I was getting ready Meira found a pen and decided to put on her own "eye liner." Visiting my sister Shauna and her family in Montrose, CO for Halloween was so much fun. This is some of her family standing in front of their new pediactric dental office. Derren & Shauna have done an amazing job incorporating a pirate theme for kids.

She looks scared, doesn't she? I think it was the flash that took her off guard. This picture was taken in a kids haunted house at Thanksgiving Point. It's not the clearest, but it was cute.Thanksgiving Point had a Scarecrow Festival. We went with our friends Dan, Jill, and their two kids Ceili & Keller.We took our little ones down the huge blow-up slides. Meira squealed with delight and immediately said, "meh, meh!" (more more) when we reached the bottom. Little Levi. He's 2 months younger than Meira.

She loved these glasses. They really become her.

Grandma with all of the grand kids...and Daisy. Alyssa, Josalyn, Levi, Meira, & Katey.

Here's our cookout night. We had s'mores with all of the Halloween candy as the chocolate. The Reeses Peanut Butter Cups were good.

Mr. Camper

Mom really cooked her hot dog.

Grandpa finds a rock to take a break from all of the walking.

Trick or Treat

Pebbles & Dino!

She has a real dog bone in her hair.

Daddy walks Meira and Dino through the costume contest.

The fly and the spider. The Spider can't keep his eyes off the fly.

All of the loot! Lots and lots of candy.

My pumpkin that won 2nd place in our neighborhood carving contest. I won a $50 Visa! I think the other pumpkin carver had more friends that were voting for them. ;-)

Gardner Village Starting the Halloween Season

In our opinion, one of the most fun things to do during the Halloween season is to walk around Gardner Village to see all of the funny looking witches and decorations. Meira really liked the witch hats and the pumpkins. She especially liked this little stool in one of the stores though. Anything that is her size really makes her day. I could see why living in such a big world. :-)

My Mission Trainer Comes to Town!

I am sure all of you have had people who have come into your life who have made your life better forever. One of these people in my life is my trainer, Alli Condie Louthain, from SLC, UT. She lives out of state now and came to visit her home last week. We were able to spend a few hours together at Gardner Village looking at witches, trying to keep children entertained, all the while catching up on nearly 4 years of absence. We could be apart for years and reunited feeling the same love we felt as we served together. She is one of those people who know how to make anyone in their presence feel loved and special. I learned so much from serving with her. I love ya Zolonda!

Pumpkin Patch

I don't know what it is about pumpkins, but they are just fun! Meira has been facsinated with them ever since pumpkins have begun showing up all over the place. She calls them "Butch" (pronounced with a short "u"). She got to take a minitature pumpkin home the night of our pumpkin patch outing and giggled all the way home with excitement.

Visiting "Gaka" (Grandma) in the Fall

Mark has been traveling a lot lately. Occassionally when he travels I will go up north to visit one or both of our families. This weekend we went to my mom's house and enjoyed the fall weather and scenery. We spent most of the day outside in the Hyrum Canyon.

Splash Park!

Meira loved the splash park this summer. "Gaka" (Grandma), Molly & Reuben came with us.

She waits for the water to spray out.

No fear of the water at all!

She ran from spray to spray. Here she is in action!

Molly & Reuben had fun too.

My Childhood Friend, Judith & Family Come to Visit!

Judith and I were connected at the hip in our youth and we would still be if we weren't so far away from each other. She still lives in Colorado and came for a visit on Labor Day with her husband Russ and her daughter Noa. We grew up together playing Barbies, riding horses nearly every weekend, swimming at the lake, flirting with boys, eating lots and lots of food, and just having fun. We always say how happy we are that we stayed kids together for so long. Great friends are so hard to find. We are so glad that we found each other. Judo McJackson, I love you.

Of course, there's hope that our little girls will grow up loving each other as well. They really liked each other when Meira wasn't teasing Noa with her toys. :-) She would offer a toy and take it back as soon as Noa reached out to grab it. No, I did not teach her that. We are working on sharing.

One of our favorite activities as teenagers was having modeling shoots. Of course we had Mark take some pictures while we strutted our stuff. The rain cut our shoot short.

I don't remember what we were laughing at, but this picture is awesome!

We went with my mom, Molly, Reuben, and Grandpa Rayback to the ice cream factory. Little did Judith know that a hungry mouth beneath her would like a bite too. :-) This picture was too cute. It would be hard to not be able to feed yourself first. I know all too well that that is true. Mommy got the first bite this time.