So I'm back for what seems to be my monthly update. Since a lot of things have happened, I'll try to keep the blog semi-short, I don't want this to be a novel!

Iowa is funny. I'm not sure yet if it is funny haha or just kinda ya know funny. For example, we had to go buy a snow shovel. Every shovel was either black or yellow, Hawkeye colors. Oh, and Iowans take the passing lane seriously, so seriously that you'll see a line of cars pile up at a light in the right lane with no one in the left lane. That's for passing only! I do love all the church signs everywhere. I look forward to the updates every week. Here are a few of my favorites.

"Forgive your enemies, it messes with their heads."
"Trouble sleeping, try counting blessings."
"Give Satan an inch, he'll be a ruler."

Ahh.... gotta love it.

Other going ons...

Ethan flew to California where he finally took his last set of National Board Examinations. Hooray, no more tests and studying! BTW, shout out to the Reddings for letting the guys study at their place, so sorry they trashed it! We will be making a trip to Cali in a couple weeks for graduation. It is going to be crazy, we fly to Vegas, drive to LA, go to graduation, drive back to Vegas and fly home... all in 4 days! FUN!

Maddy has been teething. You can see her two bottom teeth poking out. I haven't been able to get a pic, I'll keep trying. It's been a cranky time for her. Now I've noticed she has a runny nose... there maybe more fun ahead yet. Maddy has been growing like crazy and although she can be cranky she is also a crack up. Here are some videos of her eating, playing with the penny saver, and laughing a my singing.







What was really fun was Ethan's cousin Kelly and her daughter Mariah came for a visit! We hung out, hit the outlet malls, and unfortunately Mariah got croup. A very eventful visit. Maddy and Mariah became BFF as evident by these pics.


We also had the opportunity to give talks at church, where I played a nasty trick on Ethan. I always go overboard on my talks and end up talking for too long. So, I told Eth I wrote a short talk and let it in the printer. It was two paragraphs long and I summed up my topic in one sentence. I had Eth going for 2 days. I gave the talk as is to the whole congregation who freaked because they thought my talk was going to be one sentence! I'm sure the Bishop was sorry he asked me to talk! I did say just kidding pulled out my real talk, and spoke for my allotted 15 min. Ethan was relieved and everybody had a good chuckle!

So, as I mentioned before we bought a shovel, we had about 3 inches of snow and Ethan enjoyed shoveling OUR driveway! That will probably be the last time he enjoys it. I did also suit Maddy up and take some snow pics. Unfortunately I lost the mittens that match her hat, sad day! So she couldn't stay out side for too long.

Finally, Ethan begrudgingly agreed to take our Christmas family pics. It was rather difficult with Maddy, so Lola didn't make it into the final cut. Sorry Lola, we still love you!

So, there's life in Iowa. We are excited for the next few weeks. Walter is coming, flying to Cali, and I'm going home to NJ for Christmas. So my next post should be real good! Love you all!