Sneaky September

Ok. So if you are wondering why this month is called "Sneaky September," it is because all month I kept thinking, "This is such a slow, laid-back month.  I have hardly even taken any pictures except for the birthday kids."  Then, boom!  All of a sudden, things started happening.  DeWitt's wisdom teeth, Rebecca's abscess, Jared Thomas Richins, and then, of course Stetson going off to Argentina.  We also started off this month in Omaha  and even though I blogged a little about that last month, I will mention it again here.  Also, Tyson was called to serve in the Bishopric in his ward, and we had a visit from Melissa Brooksby Crider's family.  Then, of course, Dad and I had our twice-weekly Temple service and he has been working diligently on Joel's and Grandpa Hiatt's finances.  I have almost finished Grandmother and Papa's book this month.  So, all in all, September was busy...no surprise there, I guess.

Tony

Shadrach

Our birthdays in September are Lillian, who turned 15 on the 3rd, Rebecca on the 8th, Shadrach, who turned 14 on the 12th, Tony on the 19th, Jared, who was born on the 21st, and  Docker, who turned 12 on the 30th, and who will be receiving the Priesthood the Sunday after Conference. These would not go in order, for some reason.  I worked and worked on them, then finally decided to give up and let you just sort them out in your own mind.

Lillian    

Rebecca

Jared Thomas      

                                                               Docker

We started out the month in Omaha, welcoming Joshua home from his mission.  I blogged about it a little bit last month, but I want to mention it again here, as it was mostly in September.

 Here are the beautiful Nathan and Shauna Biggs kids, all together again.

 Hannah is driving and doing well, according to Grandpa, who let her drive him around one day.

Here, we are all at the Kanesville Tabernacle, just across the river from Winter Quarters.  Dad, me, Albert, Nathan, Porter, Shadrach, Joshua, Daniel, Hannah.  It was here that  Brigham Young was sustained as President of the Church, where Oliver Cowdery came back into the Church, and from here, the Mormon Battalion left.  You had a gggg-grandfather and two gggg-grandmothers who lived here at that time.  They were Abel and Almira Lamb, and Catharine Reese Clawson, Grandmother Rhoton's grandparents.  TheLamb's oldest son, Lisbon, went with the Mormon Battalion as did Catharine's oldest son, John.  The Lamb's younger son, Joseph Smith Lamb was Mae's father.  Catherine Clawson was Mae's mother's mother. So, in short, Grandmother Rhoton's parents each had a brother who was in the Mormon Battalion.

We celebrated Lillian's 15th birthday with a swimming party/cookout.  She generously allowed her little cousins to help her blow out the candles on her cake.  Yes, cake.  She had her traditional pumpkin pie on her very day.  We were in Omaha, so we didn't get pie and had to settle for cake.

Rebecca's birthday, on the 8th, was commemorated by lunch with her sisters, her mom and her dad...and Lindsay.

Then we celebrated Tony's birthday on the 19th. Actually, we celebrated on the 18th because Rachel gave him Diamondbacks tickets for the 19th!

It was the 21st that Mary went to Mesa to have a sonogram to see if her baby was, indeed, growing as it should.  Her doctor here, thought it measured too small.  And sure enough, the sonogram showed the same thing.  So, the doctors recommended that she go right in for a C-section delivery and allow the baby to grow on the outside.  So, September 21st is Jared Thomas', (aka Zonko) birthday, instead of October 13th.  Mary and Jared are doing great.  He is so beautiful.  He looks so much like Carson. Esther was able to be with Mary in the hospital, and Mary appreciated having her sister there.  Esther especially enjoyed being a part of things that she used to always be across the country for.  Joel and Stephanie and Jeremy and Erika's family all visited her in the hospital. Dad and I were there, too.  And, of course, ever faithful hubby,  Tyson, never left her side.

We had a visit from Melissa and Brad Crider this month.  He had some business to do in Safford, so she and her kids hung out at our house.

The Relief Society Broadcast this month was especially good.  President Uchtdorf's talk about things we should not forget in our lives was so inspiring.  I hope all my beloved daughters, daughters-in-law and granddaughters were watching.  I know that at least Rebecca and Rachel were, because we were all there together.

Afterward, we went over to see Mary and Jared

 And, yes, it is just what it looks like...she was giving that 4 pound baby his extra-high-calorie supplement in a cup!

We have had to go to Mesa several times this month, once for my 5000 mile checkup on my knee, once to have an MRI to see if my back was causing my knee to still hurt, once to have the doctor tell me that it is causing it to hurt because I have a misplaced disc and a couple of compressed discs and arthritis...yada yada yada, then again to see if the anti-inflammatory medicine he gave me was working.   So, we have had some opportunities to spend time with the Mesa kids and grandkids.  We have enjoyed that very much.  We had dinner with Joel and Steph's family one time, dinner with Jer and Erika's family one time and lunch with Esther and Shad's family another time.

 After dinner, we relaxed on Stephanie's new furniture.  As you can see, by looking at Crew and me, it is made for people with long legs!

 Jeremy and Erika's kids on crazy hair day, the day after we ate dinner with them.  At least, I hope their expressions were not the result of time with us!

This is in lieu of Grandparents' day.   We decided that we would hit Dad's favorite...El Pollo Loco...instead of the school cafeteria.

The last time we were there, we went by Docker's to take him his birthday card.  He is turning 12, today, actually, but we knew we wouldn't be there for his actual day, so we wished him a happy birthday a few days early.  He didn't seem to mind.

Rebecca and DeWitt had a traumatic month, toothwise.  DeWitt had his wisdom teeth removed.  His friend Patrick Eady did, too, so they recuperated together at DeWitt's.  Actually, they didn't suffer too much because they had visits from several cute girls, bearing milkshakes.

Rebecca had to have some extensive oral surgery on an abscessed tooth. I was in Mesa with Mary, so Dad brought her a milkshake after his shift at the Temple.

Each of our families have been busy this month.  Daniel and his family went to the Diamondbacks' game when they played in Colorado.

Here is Parker getting someone's autograph. Maybe you can tell who it is.  I have no clue

Rebecca's and Rachel's kids have been busy in soccer.  

And Scott is building new apartments...mostly all by himself, with help from DeWitt after school.

We have pictures from Allison and Devynne, two of our college kids...and would love to have some from Bethany and Josh (most of the pictures I have of your families are ones I got from you.  So if you are not on here, it is because I haven't had pictures from you of the things you are doing.)

It looks as if they are loving the college life, doesn't it?

Thomas' family celebrated Mexican Independence Day

Esther's family played in the summer rain

Dallin's home away from home

Stetson at the MTC before he left for Argentina

Stetson made it to Argentina!  These are the 20 new missionaries that all arrived at the same time.  You can barely see Stetson on the right, but he looks happy.

Esther and Shad came for General Conference, a day early, so they made the September cut-off.  Dad put Bridger and Luke to work mowing the back yard.  He bribed them with the promise of  buying more Legos to have here.

Well, I have to go because Conference is starting.  I so look forward to it every time because it seems that my spirit needs the boost, about every six months, that it gets from conference.  Then it fills me up and I'm  good to go for another six months.  I hope all of you enjoy it and that it lifts your spirit as it does mine.  Next month is sure to be another busy month, certainly a good one.  Start planning for Thanksgiving, here in Safford.  I know Daniel and Nathan already have plans, but the rest of you could plan to come here.  If any of you want to or can stay over, we are planning to have a family temple excursion on Friday after Thanksgiving.  It's not a command performance, by any means, just a nice thing to do together if you can.  Let us know.