Obviously October

October is one of my favorite months.  It is the reason people move to Arizona. The weather is beautiful, warm during the day and cool at night.  The flowers love not being parched and they show their gratitude with the most beautiful blossoms of the year.  We have had a lot of activities this month, such as Primary programs, of which we only got to attend two, but we heard others on the phone.  I finally finished (except for corrections and additions) Grandmother and Papa's book, so I'm hoping to get it published by Christmas.  Dad and I have been serving in the Temple and Dad has been working in the yard and doing books for Grandpa and Joel.

We have some very special birthdays in October, Shannyn, Mary, Rylie and Joel.  So happy birthday to all of you who had the good sense to be born in October!

Shannyn on the 9th

Mary on the 11th

Rylie-14 on the 15th

Joel on the 19th

General Conference is always a weekend that we look forward to as a spiritual boost, especially when we get visits from kids and grandkids.  Esther and Shad and their family came for the weekend, and of course, that meant that we had a party the whole time they were here.  Rachel enlisted Esther's and Dad's and Tony's and my help in preparing for an enrichment activity that she had planned, the cousins all played together, we got to know Jared, the newest family member, and we watched Conference together.

Soren and me in our "Go Biggs or Go Home" shirts.

This month was fair time.  Everyone had a great time, as always, but the highlights of the fair had to be the prizewinning entries and the performances by our kids.  DeWitt's show choir performed at the fair

Mary asked Lillian to go on rides with Carson and Lindsay

Camille, Brynlie, Brianna, Lindsay, Carson

Rebecca, Lillian, Rylie, Luke, Isabel, Polly-I think Mary must have been taking this picture.  For some reason I don't have a picture of her at the fair, but she was there, carrying around Baby Jared every where she went.

Polly's prize-winning entries

Lillian's prizewinning entries

Luke's prizewinning Legos

 Brynlie, Camille, Brianna with their performance ribbons.  Brianna sang a song from "Tangled" in her Rapunzel dress that Mary made.  Rylie was the twins' manager.  She talked them into singing, telling them they could win a ribbon, neglecting to mention the cash prize.  She dressed them up, practiced the song with them and made them banners to wear over their shoulders that said "I love America." As her cut, she kept the cash prize and they were thrilled with the ribbons.

Isabel with her performance ribbon.  She wore an "Afro" wig, had bell bottoms and sang a 70's song.

Docker was given the Aaronic Priesthood and ordained a Deacon by his dad, and assisted by Dad and Levi.  You can tell what an important event this was by Docker's being willing to sit and have his picture taken.  While we were there, Dad went to Levi's track meet in Tempe and we also went with Joel and Steph and Esther and Shad to see "It's a Wonderful Life" at the Hale Theater.  It was very well done and we sure appreciated Joel's getting tickets for us and the Browns.  Another thing we did while we were in Mesa that weekend was to attend a viewing for Anna Richey.  Do you all remember her from St. Johns?  She was one of my best friends there, and even though she was Grandma's age, we had a lot in common and really became close through our various Church responsibilities together.  Her children were all there and asked about those of you they knew.

We had a two-week maintenance closure of the temple, so we went to Mesa a couple of times.  Dad invited all the Mesa kids to go to Falcon Field to see the airplane museum.  He was so excited and loved every minute of hearing the World War II stories from the 90-year-old tour guide and exploring the inside of the planes.

Dad and Joel putting in a little garden spot, with some expert help from Crew and Bridger

On Mary's birthday, the Safford girls got together for her birthday lunch...she chose pizza and fettucini.  Here are her gifts.

Dad went to a condo board meeting in Mesa this month, and brought home Joel's John Deer lawn mower tractor.  Wow!  Like a kid in a candy store.  Dad has just had so much fun with it already.  He got busy and planted winter grass so he would have plenty of lawn to mow.

 Dad and the Richins kids

Dad and the Alder kids

Another thing Dad did this month was go to a tamale making class with Rebecca and Rachel.  He then got busy and made his own tamales...and I have to say that they are absolutely the best I have ever tasted!  Of course, he let me spread the meat and I made sure there was plenty of meat on each tamale, so I, at least, take credit for that, but he did such a good job and Rebecca was so impressed that she got busy and made tamales too.  And you know Rebecca, she made dozens and dozens of them and even made green corn tamales, which I have never tasted before, but were amazing!


Halloween Pics:

Polly and DeWitt treating Scott.  Polly is "static cling!"

Lillian in Polly's soccer clothes

Allison and roomies

Richins kids...see how chunky Jared is?

Brianna on "Scary hair" day

 Isabel is Peter Pan

 Camille is Sleeping Beauty

 Rylie is ??? scary

 Brynlie is Rapunzel

Luke is a vampire

 Marlie is a vampire

 Ellie is a witch, Soren is Spiderman

 Bridger is a bum

 Tayte is a dead D-backs fan, I think

 Harrison is a crazed wizard?

 Crew is a happy gorilla?

 Hayden is a murder victim

Reygan was a doctor, complete with scrubs and a stethoscope.  But for some reason, the picture I took of her didn't show up.  Look for her in the background in Crew's Halloween picture.

Brody is Brody

You can tell how much Levi and Daynen got into Halloween
About as much as Shadrach and Porter!  These look like they were taken at Daniel and Connie's ward.  The amazing thing to me is how warm it looks...green grass, lightweight costumes...and it snowed like crazy last night!

Jonathan

Shannyn

Analynn

Albert

Emma

Parker

Devynne is a rainbow!

 Thomas is a Mexican

Kirtlyn is a rock stary

Hyrum is Batman
The following don't even need a caption, do they?

We had a wonderful visit from Joshua this month.  He is considering enrolling at EAC, and everyone tried to make him feel at home so he would actually do it.  DeWitt even arranged a blind date for Josh with some cute girls who are granddaughters of President Crockett.  We took him to the Ward chili cookoff/Halloween party, (where, by the way, Dad's beans won the "they ought to sell it in stores" prize!)  We had a family dinner on Sunday, in Safford, and a cook out in Mesa on Halloween.  He and I paid a visit to Grandma and Grandpa, then we left him at Joel's because we had to go back for Temple service.  He flew out on Wednesday afternoon for Omaha.  We already miss him.

Josh and Rachel

Josh and Rebecca

Rylie w/Jared, Brynlie, Brianna, Josh, Camille, Polly, Lindsay, Isabel

Josh and Mary

Lillian, Josh, DeWitt

Josh and DeWitt with their dates at Rebecca and Scott's pavilion

Josh even went out to Discovery Park to help DeWitt with his Eagle project.
And talking about his Eagle project, here are some more pics from their day of hard work at Discovery Park.  Grandpa went out to help, too.  Here are Josh and Scott and Grandpa, leveling out land for a pathway.

 DeWitt marshaling his troops and rewarding them with food!

This is what the pathways looked like when they were finished.  It was really a lot of work but it will be nice for visitors to have a safe, level place to walk.  Good job, DeWitt.

Dad's chili award

After dinner conversation

Grandpa, Josh, Grandma

Cookout crowd: Erika, Levi, Reygan, Steph, Joel, Dad, Josh

Jeremy and Shad

Josh and Esther
News from around the family:
First of all, our little 4 1/2 pound peanut has gained weight.  He now weighs 7lb 10 oz!!! Maybe even more, by now. He's six weeks old and almost chubby.

Allison's tennis team when they played in Grand Junction, Colorado

Ok. This is a funny story.  Joel got Levi two tickets for the Taylor Swift concert in October, and he held a facebook contest to see who would get the companion ticket.  He had girls all over the place, bringing him cookies and cupcakes and decorating his room and his lawn and his car and giving him gift certificates and posters, all to win his favor.  He got down to the last two and couldn't choose, so his dad bought another ticket and he took them both.

Yes! That is Levi in his bunny suit, and his friend and his date.  You need to go on facebook and see the video of Taylor Swift giving him a hug.  His face speaks a million words.  It will definitely make you smile.

Thomas lost his first tooth and got a whole peso for it.  Actually, he has lost two teeth now.

Thomas and Jenn's family had to deal with Scarlatina/Scarlet Fever this month.  They did all they could to keep their sick kids entertained.  You can tell how much they're suffering, can't you?

Rylie went with her choir to a FAME workshop in Mesa.  Jeremy also took Reygan along, so they are both in this picture.  See if you can find them...ha ha.

This is Stetson with his mission president and wife.  He doesn't speak English, so Stetson is going to learn Spanish really fast!

Dallin and his companion on the streets of his town in Argentina.  A couple who had served there 11 years ago, had gone back to visit and saw these missionaries on the street, took their picture and sent it to Rebecca.  What a happy surprise!

DeWitt dressed up for "Cowboy Day" at school.  Isn't he handsome?

During their fall break, the Brown kids, along with some Maryland friends, went to see some of the Arizona sights.  Here they are at an old west village that had a crazy house, defying the laws of gravity.

Hayden and Tayte on their schools "Nerd" day.  Aren't they the cutest, most iconic nerds you have ever seen..besides Albert, that is? (Go back and look at Albert's Halloween pic)

On parents' day at BYU homecoming, Devynne got to meet and talk to Cecil O. Samuelson, the president of BYU and general authority of the Church.  Her parents came, bringing Jonathan, and Pres. Samuelson commented on Jonathan's BYU clothes because everyone else was dressed Hawaiian style for the luau.

Daniel ran for the school board, against the incumbent, in the Glenwood Springs district, covering an area larger than just Glenwood.  He was forthright and very definite about his stand on the issues, even disagreeing with a tax increase that everyone else favored.  But Daniel was Daniel and didn't back down on what he believed.  HE WON!!!  64% to 33%
The tax increase even passed, but people had so much faith in Daniel's integrity that they elected him overwhelmingly. He projected so much common sense.  I think he ought to run for president.

What a month October has been!  I'm so out of breath that I can't even imagine facing November, and here we are already in it.  We are having a family Thanksgiving for anyone who can come.  Hopefully, the weather will be beautiful so we can have it outside, if not, I already have the Stake Center reserved.  We love you all and are amazed at all you do.  Keep us posted on your activities.  TAKE PICTURES!!!