Here she is saying "cheese" for the camera.
Mom and Brooklyn sporting some retro aprons.
One of the many toys Brooklyn received.
The gals - we missed Tiff in this picture. She had already left for home - she wins the "Mother of the Youngest Child" award. Tyler was about a month old at the time!
Angel befriends bumblebee! This was our first costume party on Saturday night. It was some sort of fall ball at my parents ward. Littered about the lovely parking lot that night was popcorn, hot dogs, chili, kids in costumes, and of course, the church-wide tradition of trunk-or-treating!
Round three: the night crawlers! (As if twice wasn't enough!) This time the hunting grounds were grandma and grandpa's neighborhood! (Notice even my dad dressed in his best stripes for this one!) Brooklyn became quite the professional trick-or-treater, practicing all the proper etiquette. She knows the proper greeting at each stop, "trick or treat," (in her words, "treat-treat!") and with some prompting, she also thanked each neighbor before we left. She does need to develop the self-discipline to not grab a fist full of goods from each candy bowl that came within reach, or extend her open hand for more candy after someone already deposited her allotment into her bag. We'll work on that for next year...
"Aw, man! I gotta share my ride with these big orange balls. Who's idea was this?"
What happened to the comfortable and spacious wagon I knew only moments ago?
Well now that I've been booted from my ride, I guess I'll feign some interest in the pumpkins. After all, I'm sure my gramma needs my expert advice on which ones to take home.
Weeeeeeee!
Take a look at those facial expressions on the slide! I don't know which one is more hillarious! Okay, they're both pretty cute!
Below is a picture of us with Crystal and Joshua, our dinner-table neighbors. Crystal was in my English class all four years of high school. She ended up majoring in English at Cal State Long Beach and now is working on her Master's Degree there. Her hubby she met in her Italian class. He confesses taking another semester of Italian, just to get to know her - hey it worked! P.S. She looks exactly the same as she did in high school!
Good ol' Craig Williams! My memories with Craig date back to 5th grade in Ms. Hagan's class! He is really sweet. It was great to see him. I wish Genesee would have come! She would have loved seeing all of these people too!
This is Courtney Rainey. She majored in English. Now she's working on her masters in Art History so that she can fall back on teaching if nothing else works out in the fine arts realm. I am happy for her because she has definitely stayed true to herself, she is pursuing her goals, and she is independent and happy. 
So how do you like the new bib? Pip thought it was just another hand-me-down, Tina didn't even notice it. Finally before Jim left for his meeting and after the meal was finished, we made my dad read it out loud. Later when Jeff read it, he thought it was an eye-test because we made him read it first without then with his glasses on, just to see how blind he was. We had to point it out to Calvin after we had him take the bib off, then back on again. Carol still doesn't know because she was at a baby shower, so Caden will tell her tonight.
Brooklyn had a great time at her first real birthday party. Games included duck-duck-goose, throw a waterballoon at the "thirsty" tiger (drinking fountain), and pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. Brooklyn loved running around with other tots like herself. And of course, she couldn't get enough of those cupcakes and ice cream!
Brooklyn loves to "read" the Friend magazine. I point out familiar objects in pictures, she repeats them, then she makes up an nonsense story. It's pretty cute that she's already so interested in books and magazines - what an studious gal!
Here's the whole J.Mac Clan at Chili's last Friday night celebrating mom's good news! Even a "little raise" at work is worth a huge celebration! Way to work it, MA! We're happy to celebrate the good times with you!
Pip and Jeff -the newlyweds are still smiling after ten months of pure bliss in paradise. (left)
We spent a week at this great ranch near Stockton with some of Stephen's siblings and their families. Mark and Tracy's Family, TJ and his boys, and Eric all went up to Tracy's grandparents' ranch. Our days were filled with lounging in the pool, frequenting the local bead stores in town, assembling giant jigsaw puzzles, feeding the horses, and venturing out on wild truck rides. In the evenings we shared delicious dinners (and desserts of course!), played games, and watched movies! 
