Thanksgiving . . .

The kids, R-, and I have very much enjoyed our vacation visiting with the family. If Lulu had it her way we would be moving back immediately. After saying good-bye to Grandpa on Saturday she cried all the way to the airport not wanting to leave the valley or her cousins. You should all be very flattered she loves you all very much. Happy Holidays! -CRW

Modern Homes Tour . . .

Last Saturday I had the opportunity to shoot a bunch of pictures for a Modern Homes Tour which was hosted by my sister-in-law. This is my version of the advertising poster for the homes tour. I'll see most of you in Salt Lake soon! -CRW

Keeping the status quo . . .

R- and the girls are every upset with each and everyone of you! You aunts and uncles have let them down horribly, and they only have you to blame. Our girls ever since finding out that R- was pregnant have desperately been hoping for a baby brother, but all their hopes and dreams of having a boy in the family other than dad were dashed on Wednesday when the ultrasound tech announced that R- is having a girl. I know what your thinking as you sit there reading this, "How is that my fault?". It all boils down to status quo! You in all your exploits have never given any thought that Heavenly Father is trying to keep a balance in this family. When one of you had a boy or two those following had girls. And vice versa if there were too many girls someone was going to have a boy. S- having a boy on Sunday tipped the scale to being heavy on boy cousins and so . . . fated my family to having a girl. Hence forth I purpose that anyone planning on having anymore children needs to consult with the rest of the family on what type of child they want, and only when they find someone else wanting a child of the opposite sex to their desires should then try and conceive. This will help maintain the status quot that God has put eternally in place on us, and I'm SURE will guarantee you will get the sex of the child you want.

As for me, I wanted a girl all along, and hold no ill will toward any of you. -CRW

Halloween . . .

When asked what they liked best about Halloween the girls all said, "Trick-or-Treating". Above is Lulu, Red, and cousin decked out in all their Halloween glory. With the amount of candy they got, they should be sick for months. Happy Halloween! -CRW

Breaking the Bank . . .

Well it happened a lot sooner than any of us dreamt, but Red lost her other front tooth! She IS going to be singing 'All I want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth'. We still have two months though, so maybe they'll start growing in by then.

Just before church on Sunday Red popped a big piece of caramel (. . . a little pre-Halloween treat) into mouth and started chewing. A couple of bites into it and, POP!, out comes the tooth stuck in the caramel. R- had to fish the tooth out of the sticky blob of sugar while Red rinsed the blood out of her mouth. Of course all this happens on Sunday right as we're walking out the door to go to church. And of course Sunday night comes and the only cash the fairy has is a $10.00. So at this interest rate Red should be able to retire right around the time she loses her last molar. -CRW

Japanese Maple in Fall . . .

Being one of my favorite trees year round, it is also one of my favorite subjects to shoot. -CRW

Red's Tabloid Headline . . .

Sources have confirmed that late this evening Red was the victim of a, "Just let me check to see if your tooth is loose" pit maneuver. Other wise known to parents as the "lie and yank", this maneuver was skillfully applied when Red showed her loose tooth to her mom shortly after dinner. "It was just hanging there and I knew if I got a good hold of it, it would just pop out", dodged Red's mother. Hearing Red let out a horrified scream after her mother had started, Red's father recounted his account of events while drying dishes. "I knew R- must have yanked pretty hard. Red was kind of whimpering after wards and her sister was trying to console her; recounting tales about a tooth fairy or something." After the yanking Red was quickly rushed to the bathroom sink where she swished cold water for several minutes. After the bleeding stopped she spent several minutes looking at her self in the mirror. "I'll be just like the Christmas song", she said to everyone. "My other tooth is loose to, so by Christmas I'll have both my front teeth missing." Later that evening she did pull her Dad a side and confided, "Next time can you pull my tooth. When mommy does it, it hurts a little." -CRW