The Mergenthaler Family

We got a nice Halloween package from Grandma Mergenthaler with Halloween shirts, candy, a decoration, and a book of Halloween crafts. Ricky was so excited when the package arrived, he said, "I'VE BEEN WAITING MY WHOLE LIFE FOR THIS!!!!" He wore his new Halloween shirt for two days straight (even overnight). I finally got him to agree with me that it was dirty and needed to be washed, but before I could get to washing it, he got it out of the hamper and put it on again. Andrew likes his shirt, which says, "Wild Man" on it. He points to the picture and shouts, "Wild MAN!!" The girls were excited to find out that their friend Katherine has a shirt like theirs. She came over to play and we took a picture. Thank you Grandma!!

You'd think that it would be no problem for me to get a few pictures of the deer we see in our yard EVERY DAY here, but it's harder than it looks. I wish I had taken a picture of Rick's (brand new) car when he got hit by a deer--yes, he was hit--not the deer. Here's what happened. He was driving home one evening and he noticed some deer on the side of the road. They were getting ready to cross, so he slowed to a stop. The deer stopped too. Then, all of the sudden one of them just ran right into the side of his car. We think because the car is black the deer thought it was running away from it or something. Stupid deer!! Anyway, we do have LOTS of deer here. Our pictures (and our wallets) prove it.

Yep, I'm officially 30. Rick has been telling me for a few years now, "Well, you are almost 30." So, actually being 30 isn't much of a shock. We had a little family party on Sunday. I got everybody warm hats as "birthday presents" to prepare us for winter. Mom got me the latest book in the Eragon series. Rick got me a watch, new scriptures, and another book. I haven't started reading either of the books because I know that when I do, there's very little chance any work will get done around here. Anyway, it was a fun little birthday party. I took pictures of the kids before church that morning. I think they look pretty cute!