Pictures of Adam

We thought you'd like a few more pictures of Adam.  This is him with the afghan Lauren crocheted for him, and two pictures after his bath, in his dog towel.  

He and Lauren are doing well.  Thanks for all the well wishing!

Fall Funtivities

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We've had a busy but fun fall so far.  The kids have loved playing in the leaves and Grace is a big fan of halloween (the fun part not the scary part).  Hope you all had a great time!

Happy Halloween!

As many of you know, Halloween is one of Lauren's favorite holidays. We didn't get dressed up this time, but we carved some fun pumpkins and the law students and spouses in our ward got together for a "witch trial." Witch trial is a card game where players act as lawyers and defend or prosecute people for silly crimes - like sunbathing or "the ole' hocus pocus."

We've carved Jack Skellington, the Linux Penguin, and other stuff in the past, but I thought Mario & Peach turned out pretty well for having drawn them freehand. As you can see, Peach looks better unlit, and Mario looks better lit - so it goes.

Happy halloween!

Amber's Birthday Tribute

Into the World

She comes into the world in autumn blaze,
A ray of golden promise to brighten our days
Her love, hope, and piercing innocence,
the power of Light.

Her small hands hold grains of Eternity’s sand,
To seed our memories of our own homeland,
She, our daughter and sister too,
The power of Truth

Her heart beats the rhythm of firstborn courage,
a pilgrim to set the course for heritage,
she risks the pains of error first,
the power of Sacrifice.

Her eyes shine with Heaven’s clear reflection,
unspotted by the film of sin’s pollution,
She frees the starlight of our souls,
the power of Forgiveness

Her sleepy breath exhales an angel’s lullaby,
the notes capture time, let our spirits fly
amid sparkles of dreams forgotten,
The power of Joy

Her tiny soft fingers grip strength to our heart,
trigger noble conviction, never more to part
from the power of a child’s faith to
the Promise of God.

Dedicated to Amber Cain Walker for her 36th birthday
by and from Mom

Our family is very lucky having Amber as the eldest daughter and big sister to her five siblings.

She is a pillar in the foundation of our family circle and in her family.

Fun little getaway to Bethany

Much fun was had by all who attended the Cain girls Bethany Beach mini vacation. However, it did feel incomplete without Cara there. The weather, for the most part, was cooperative and we spent lots of quality time together. The girls even threw me a shower for Baby G, which was so generous! Here are some pics from the trip.

More Birthday Stuff

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It's a Bird! It's a Cat! ... It's a Dog?

As you all know Michael and I lost Ninja this past August. Awhile later we went to the local SPCA to look at dogs and ferrets. We had no intention of getting another cat as it was much too soon for us. However, try going to an SPCA this summer and not seeing a cat was impossible, so we looked around. We got to the kitten room and it was filled with solid black kittens, very much like Ninja. At first it was hard to look at them, but they were too cute to resist as all kittens are. So we played around with them still not intending to adopt any. As the day wore one our reserves wore thin and one little kitten stuck out and we kept coming back to the room to watch him scamper around. After some discussion in the sitting area we agreed to get him. We were not sure how it would all pan out, but we were sure we would love him.

He was nameless for the first full day, but Mike had decided on a name secretly. Playing his favorite game I had to guess what the name was... after numerous incorrect guesses he gave me the clue " He looks just like one". I still had no idea so Mike gave in and told me,
"Shadow, duhhh". Immediately we discovered that Shadow's energy at the SPCA was only half. When paired with Elouise (after some adjustment period) the two run throughout the apartment and cause all sorts of mischief and a lot of cleaning up.

After a few weeks subtle hints began to show that made Mike and I pause. Some of his behaviors were very dog like. He would beg for food, no matter what we were eating. He would wag his tail from side to side. He would give kisses on the nose. And then one day he played fetch...






Shadow is a great cat, he loves to snuggle and play and meow meow meow all day long. He and Ninja could have been brothers based on their appearances, but their personalities are very different. Ninja can never be replaced, but Shadow is a great addition to family.

P.S. Shadow continued to play fetch for another ten minutes after I stopped recording. He will only stop if you stop, just like a dog.

Marshall videos

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Saying Goodby to Summer

Ok, Some of these Pics I put in the smile box but mom can't print them out for her "book" which surely must be giant by now.  Grace and Marshall are enjoying the last few "offical" days of summer.  Grace will be loosing some weekday playmates as they start school this year or will be going back.  She starts pre-school next week three days a week.  Marshall is a speed demon when it comes to crawling and he's starting to wave HI.

Summer Fun

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Pics of the Kids with friends, Maggie and Sadie Taylor and Crystal and Amber Mattson,

Pictures from Sheryl & Mike's Wedding

We just got these off our camera. Better late than never.

Trip to Cincinnati and More

We had a nice trip to Cincinnati last weekend. We went to an art museum Friday afternoon, and a Reds game Friday evening. The Reds lost, but we enjoyed the game and saw some nice fireworks.

Saturday we went to the National Underground Railroad Museum and then the Cincinnati Zoo. The zoo was neat, but it was 95°+, and 100% humidity. Lauren was a bit uncomfortable, but we liked the animals. We ranked it third, of our list of 3 zoos we've seen together, just after Memphis with St. Louis being the best (and free!). We also had Skyline Chili, a regional chain specializing in excellent Chili.

We also went up to Indianapolis with Ron & Karen. We went to the Indiana State Museum, we had some passable Cuban, and we took a long inadvertant tour of the city.

Anyway, here are some pictures:

This is the state capital of Indiana

This was the art museum, the art was nice, but the arrangements were superb

Lauren's First Major League Hotdog

Great American Baseball Park (seriously, that is the name of the park)

Fountain Square in Cincinnati

Lauren in front of the National Undergrown Railroad Museum (those colorful shrubs are full of peppers)

Hippo or Rhino? I forget. Either way, it was big.

Cincinnati Zoo had some great cats

Trip to North Carolina

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