Did I say week?

'Cause I really meant month. And I've had this post title in my head for the last week Sara, so no plagerism going on here.

Here's the rundown.

Dan's grandma died October 13, which necessitated a quick trip to Apple Valley. Quick in the sense that we drove down on Friday and back on Sunday. The driving--not so quick. Good thing our boys are really good in the car. Even if Nate was so, so sad: "Mom, I can't believe you changed my whole life! I just want to go home." Highlights included:

**Spotting the "Astrid Wash Bridge" near Barstow (we laughed and laughed; see my attempt to document the bridge sign at 80 mph):

**Forgetting our church clothes (hanging in the closet) and hurriedly buying replacements at The Mall of Victor Valley. It was not an easy task in such a locale.

**Meeting new cousin Pearl:



**Watching two of my boys stretch and execute earthworms at the graveside service. I'm pretty sure Great Nana would have gotten a huge kick out of that.

Then we had Gabe's birthday on the 26th (more on that in a separate post) and the whole Halloween thing (again, more coming later). I love Halloween, but when did it become a three-week long celebration? We had the ward party, the three school parties, in addition to the actual trick-or-treating. And that's not even counting the elders' party and the friends' party that we missed because of the funeral. Next year, I'm setting limits! We also squeezed in a trip to the dry pack cannery to stock up on food storage, and Peter's blessing on the 2nd (you guessed it). And we just got back late yesterday from Nate's EUA at UC Davis (yep). I'm already halfway through the parent-teacher conferences this week, so I've got a little time to download my photos. So please be patient, I'm hoping to be writing very clever posts with lots of pictures soon.