October

We spent our 2nd October break at Lake Powell.  

We loved it so much last year, we decided that we

should double the fun and have 2 boats and more families. 

We parked our double wides right next to each other.

The left side was the party side and the right side was the quiet side.

 

After the sun goes down, Tom comes out.  

Having had melanoma removed by his eye, 

he doesn't take any chances and I love him for that.

We nicknamed him the vampire (only comes out at sundown).

We had to leave a day early to get back for Ike's volleyball tournament.

He is playing middle and loves playing for Club Victory.

Ike also had to speak in church on Sunday.  

I found his notes later that day.  He prepared it all on his own.

My girls have been busy with rehearsals for Secret Garden at the community college.

Unfortunately they had to miss Lake Powell because of it.  

They sure have had fun being in a production together and with

 their two cousins Janie and Tessa Geigle.

The churro truck is busy these days.

Meg and Ike help out when they can working in the truck and making the toppings.

Ike is busy right now with volleyball and basketball.  

I think we over scheduled this semester.  There can be too much of a good thing.

Summer was really excited to go with her friend Mitchell to homecoming this year.

Meanwhile in Brazil, Elder Farnsworth is doing great.  He has had a few bouts with sickness

but seems to be on the upswing and will probably have a killer immune system at the end of this.

We got to snuggle on my nephew Lewis while his mom and dad had an anniversary getaway.

It was hard for me to give him up.

Celebrated one of our favorite people, Denny Barney, for his birthday.

Love these people.

September

My nephew Rock Shill returned from his mission from El Salvador/ Belize.

This is one of my favorite family traditions-the airport welcome home bonanza.

Just last month we were sending his brother Luke off on his mission.

They missed each other by 3 weeks.  

This is Rock sharing some of his thoughts as we had our "well done" dinner.

Tom's older brother Ross Jr. passed away from brain cancer.

He was 59 years old.  This is his beautiful family.

I knew Ross and Lori before I knew Tom.  Ross was our family's home teacher and a young men leader to my brother Clint.

We loved Jr.  He was always so good to our family during some difficult times.

Pall Bearers

It is always so nice to have a place to meet together after the services.  

We had a beautiful meal awaiting us back at the church.

This was one of the pages of the funeral program.  I love this quote by Ross.  

He was a loving, thoughtful and extremely generous soul.  

Well our Summer bear became an adult in September.  

18 years of beautiful smiles.  

The Churro Thief made it's debut to help celebrate.

This food truck is a joint effort between Tom and his partner Chase Judd.  

If your scratching your head thinking --food truck.. churros??
I am right there with you but 

I have to say that it has been fun to see how excited Tom is about a new project. 

 It has been a learning process, building the truck and Saturday cooking and tasting sessions.

Meg has been hired to make all the toppings ahead of time.  Boston Cream, Chocolate Mousse,

Brown Marshmallowy Butter, Farnsworth Family Hot Fudge and Dulce de Leche.

Ike will be taking orders at the window.

Part of Tom's excitement for this food truck is that it will provide

some responsibility and involvement with the kids.

These cousins sang at church

"I Need Thee Every Hour" 

and it was beautiful.  They harmonize so well.
Music is definitely blessing our lives.
Isaac may disagree as they belt
out Broadway every morning as they get ready for school.

This guy hit his one year mark as a missionary.

He is happy, healthy and loving Brazil.  

I am so grateful that he has had this opportunity to serve and grow into a man.

We still have puppy Fritz and despite not being dog people, 

we love him... most of the time.

Azbrainfood starts back up in September.  

This is our 7th year and we are going strong and able to feed

almost 2500 school children each weekend.
We are in every Mesa public school that needs us
and parts of Gilbert, Fountain Hills, Tempe, Chandler and Scottsdale.

Chiquita banana donates around 2500 bananas once a month.

Every week Alpine Valley Bread Co. donates about 900 loaves of bread.

Sue and Eric go and pick it up in her trailer every Thursday morning.

Pastor Dave (in orange) leads the recycle gang and keeps us all laughing. 

There are so many different church, retirement and business groups that come together

to help make a difference in a child's life.