Catching up with the Barnums. 
Here's some of what's been going on.

Christmas!

Kate and Ben hosted us at their new apartment on Christmas Eve. 

We had a gingerbread house making adventure. 

When I learned that Kate wanted to do cookie cut-outs, I 3d printed a Baby Yoda cookie cutter.  About half way through cutting out the cookies Kate said "Is there anyone that doesn't want to choose Baby Yoda!"

Jared always makes his pretzels so exacting. 

We formed our yearly Christmas ornaments out of foam clay on Christmas Eve and then painted them on Christmas day. 

Everyone's turned out so well! 

Other things

I finished the Elsa dress back in December and Ruth did one Heroic event as Elsa.  We learned that we have to rework the wig so it is not so heavy and it holds it shape better but I'm happy with how the dress turned out. 

Ruth and I did Hero Saturday at Thanksgiving point with our Heroic friends. 

Last weekend Kate, Ruth, and I got together for lunch and talked about baby and wedding plans.

We took Kate shopping for some maternity clothes.  We thought she looked like a beautiful greek fertility goddess. 

We have a new addition in our house, the cardboard Baby Yoda.  Baby Yoda sometimes joins for dinner and joins Ruth on the couch to play video games together.  Jared is not a fan of the Baby Yoda because sometimes early in the morning it frightens him.  

Big Changes

Baby Coming! 

Kate and Ben announced a few weeks ago that they are expecting their first baby in April. So far things have gone really well with the pregnancy.   We are all so excited!

Ruth Got Engaged

This is breaking news as it only happened a couple of days ago.   Quaid and Ruth got engaged. He popped the question at the State Capitol where they went to sophomore prom together.  There is no date yet but they are looking at May or June. 

Kate Graduates and Kate and Ben move to Ogden

After a very long and often trying time at BYUi Kate has finished all her classes. She is ready to teach English or ESL and maybe some other stuffs. Kate was accepted to do her student teaching for Weber School District so as soon as classes were done they packed their bags and moved to Ogden.  Kate will start student teaching in January.  Meanwhile, Ben will be looking for work in Ogden and taking the last few online classes he needs to graduate. 

Becky Stars a New Job

After a soul-sucking 3-month job hunt, Becky started working in the office of a small company that designs and manufactures prosthetic limbs.  So far Becky has really liked the job, but she has hated the 45-minute commute.   

Christmas Concerts

Both Jared and Becky had Christmas concerts.  Jared played with the Jazz Band, Percussion Ensemble and Concert Band.  Becky sang a Christmas program with Kenzington Singers.  

Happy Birthday Jared

Jared turned 17 this past week. Ruth made cookies and decorated to celebrate and we went out to dinner.  Jared got a new electric guitar.  

Pumkin carving. 

Chuck got really serious with his.

I've been applying and interviewing for jobs. So far I've been offered jobs I don't want and have been turned down for jobs I do want.  I am learning some things about myself in the process and what way I want to go with my future career though.

We got Peache's and Link's cage all cleaned out and winterized. 

Here are our pumkins. 

Here's a summary of what's been going on with us the past month or so. Ruth and Jared are well into their school year.  Jared had his first band concert at the new high school. Ruth has already finished her mid-terms. We celebrated Ruth's birthday a few weeks ago.   Ruth also spent a few days in St. George with her boyfriend over her fall break.   We spent a Saturday enjoying the fall leaves doing an orienteering course (we were super slow but we did finish!  We got better as we went).   Chuck and I also walked in a march against child abuse. Chuck spent last week in Minnesota, visiting his family there and participating in a cancer walk for his sister Ann.   He spent a few days with Chaz and reports that Chaz is doing well and he and Jeramy are looking at maybe moving soon to a different part of town.     Meanwhile, I've been job hunting. I have nearly 30 applications out at this point and am just waiting for things to happen. I have another interview in a few days.

Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for Ruth's birthday.

We played Betrayal at Hill House

We found all the map points!

The fall colors were just starting.  That is Chuck in the picture. 

Marching in Salt Lake in a rally against child abuse. 

Jeremy and Chaz

Ruth and I have done a few HEROIC events this month

Photo Highlights from FanX
(More pictures of us wearing costumes)

The week before FanX Ruth and I volunteered at a Cosplay scavenger hunt. It was fun to stamp people's cards when they found us and interact with them in character. 

Day one of FanX 

When batgirl turns 40.  Ha ha! 

I put some time in volunteering at the HEROIC booth. By taking photos with convention-goers we raised over $500 for local refugees over the course of the convention.

n Friday Ruth debuted her She-ra cosplay. She had worked so hard the few weeks before the convention. It was a super complicated costume and she made it all by herself. 

When cosplayers sit next to each other.  Ruth and I had struggles with our shoulder armor always bumping. 

Ruth was really popular with little girls. She kept getting stopped over and over to take pictures with them. Ruth would talk to them and let them hold her sword.  

We were so excited to meet up with other Avatar cosplayers and take pictures together! 

Kaitlin and Ben made their own costumes and they looked great!

We always have to take pictures with the Star Wars folks.  

Ruth looked amazing!

We love cosplaying together.  We were stopped for pictures all the time. 

While in line to take our professional photos, we practiced a lot of different poses. 

I snapped this photo just to document the fact that Chuck and Jared came to hang out with us on Saturday.  

If you are willing to wait in line, FanX provides free professional photography for all the cosplayers.  I think this is an amazing service and we had so much fun taking these. 

Someday Ruth with photoshop some fire in my hand so I'll look extra cool!  

Ruth's She-Ra has such impressive shapes! You can tell she is a designer. 

Shout out to Ben and Kaitlin for making this amazing Blue Spirit mask. People really liked it. 

Kaitlin had the best poses!  She also did some dancing for us while we waited in some of our panels.

What I love about our cosplaying together is that we have so much fun! We had fun conspiring together as we made our costumes and then bringing it all together for the event.