Debby and I met Donnie, Brett, Sarah, and Chance for our 2nd annual Christmas in Las Vegas. It was a blast. The boys played some golf, the girls did some shopping, we all went to the NFR, attended the Cirque Du Soliel (Mystere'), and made several buffet's for dinner and breakfast. Debby and I found the Las Vegas Temple and what a view. As you can see it is majestic. The elevation of the Temple is about the same as the Stratosphere, so it overlooks the entire Sodom and Gomorrah. We stayed at the Treasure Island Casino and I couldn't resist taking a picture of the girls at a slot machine named of all things "Hot Flashes". The group picture was at the Mystere'. We are looking forward to having Justin home next year so he can participate in the fun.

Bradock rode his first horse today and I got this picture at home before Donnie and Brett left to have Thanksgiving dinner with his family. We went to Cyndi's home for Thanksgiving dinner. It was so much fun since everyone was there. Nobody left hungry. Young and old seemed to have a good time. Thanks Cyndi!

Debby and Donnie ran the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning and each improved their times from the year before. The middle pictures are the girls finishing the last 100 meters. Can you find them? It was very hot that morning but as you can see, both survived to run another day.

Bill got a little time off saturday afternoon, and we went to the Snowflake Temple. It was a very relaxing afternoon and nice to spend it together in the House of the Lord. We will have more next week since we're going to Mesa for Thanksgiving and Debby and Donnie are running the Turkey Trot and the boys are playing golf @ Sunland Springs Village. The first week in December, we will all be in Las Vegas for the NFR. Will post more pictures then.

Donnie, Brett, and Bradock came up for a visit and we all went to Taylor for the 1st Annual Cody Hancock Invitational Bullriding competition. Uncle Gayle and Uncle Jack and Nathan came to watch the competition. The cowboy standing in the truck is Cody Hancock. All of the riders invited were either World Champions or cowboys going to the NFR finals this year. Later at home Bradock was monopolizing Justin's favorite three toys, Mickey, Ernie, and the donkey. He then took over PaPa's recliner. Sure was a lot of fun having them visit.

Pagosa Springs

Debby and Sarah went to Colorado this past week with some of Debby's friends. They stayed at the Hot Springs Resort in Pagosa Springs. They had a lot of fun and soaked in the hot tubs all day.

This is the footing and stem wall of the new condo we are constructing at Sunland Springs Village at Signal Butte and Baseline. The condo across the road is the model. We are hoping it will be completed before Justin gets home. We are excited to get a new home in Mesa.

The Watts Family along with me and Elder Mackey just before the baptism

This past saturday, Debby and I attended the baptism of the Watts family in Payson. Jenny, the mom, is an OB nurse I work with and have had the privilege of sharing the gospel with. The missionaries were able to visit and teach the gospel message and the entire family have accepted the gospel. I had the blessing of baptizing Jenny while the missionaries baptized Andrew, Anna, and Adam. The two youngest children are also very excited about getting baptized when they are old enough. It was such a spiritual and blessed event for this family that I will cherish for a long time.

Chance and Sarah came up for the weekend and brought their dogs, Dott and Doobie. Bandit and Tex had a fun time remaking friends. Chance and Dad got to play 7 holes of golf @ the new Bison Ridge Golf Course and Dad had to return to the hospital to deliver a baby, but it was fun while it lasted. Chance and Sarah returned to the golf course and finished up the rest of his game.

Sarah finally realized that Dott is a little chubby! But you have to agree she's sooo cute. If you blow up this picture you will find that Dott's tongue is hanging out as usual. It was fun having them here. We are going to Mesa this friday to finish the interior design on the new condo. Hope it will be done before Justin comes home.

We recently went to St. Louis, Missouri for a medical conference and Donnie and Bradock joined us there. We had the opportunity to go the St. Louis Temple. It was not constructed until after we left Kirksville and the Chicago Temple was the closest to us then. The St. Louis Temple is positioned like the Washington D.C. Temple in that it very visible from the highway that runs next to it. As always, the grounds are immaculate and Braddock was so attracted to those red flowers. He was so much fun on the trip.

After the conference, Donnie and Bradock returned home and we went to Kirksville to visit the medical school. The home we lived in was still there and the young couple ( newlyweds then) that we sold the home to still own it. They have remodeled it, adding a new floor above the garage, and now have two children themselves. We visited Justin's elementary school, Greenwood, and found it completely boarded up. The elementary school and junior high schools that Donnie and Sarah went to are still around. The YMCA that Sarah spent so much time doing gymnastics is still going strong. We learned that that there are now two wards in the old chapel that we attended in Kirksville.

Leaving Kirksville, we headed for Nauvoo and Debby showed me the grave of Ute Perkins, the great grandfather of Franklin Monroe Perkins. The Nauvoo Temple has been rebuilt for about five years now and it is still beautiful and the time to visit is early October since only 50 people are there and the weather is wonderful. We had a lot fun with the missionaries there and their jobs. I could enjoy the blacksmith's duties. Finally, the last picture is the cellar of Levi Ward Hancock. Notice the stone work. Looks like this skill continued all the way to Taylor.

We also explored the cave discribed in Mark Twain's book, "Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn". We had a very good and relaxing time.

I started this blog for my parents. They need to start updating so that Justin my brother can see photos of them. He has gotten permission on his mission to see just our immediate family blogs. He has asked that my parents start their own blog and so I decided to help them out by starting it for them. Now they have no excuses not to have one cause it's already here. This is just a family photo taken before Justin's mission and before Bradock was here. I included one of Bradock so everyone can see what a cute baby he is.

Sarah