Ward Trunk-or-Treat

Our ward trunk-or-treat was last night. Jared was asked to do face painting all night and I ran the "lolly pop pull" booth. We also decorated our trunk and handed out candy to all the cute little kids. It was a lot of fun seeing all the clever and fun costumes. Jared and I dressed up as cowboy and cowgirl because we had already gotten costumes together for the murder mystery party. Jared talked to all the kids in a western accent and he called himself "Billy Bob the Cow Boy". The kids in our ward loved him! He was busy all night painting faces. He got some funny requests for face painting. One little boy wanted a potato chip on one cheek and a Cheeto on the other. Billy Bob was quite the hit!


This is a picture of Phil and Holly North. Phil and Jared were in the same mission and when we moved down here they were in our ward. It was a pretty cool reunion for Jared and Phil. Their daughters are Natalie and Elana. Holly sewed their super cute costumes.

Dog Bite

Jared was riding his bike to work this last week and just before he got to the school he passed a man walking his dog. The dog got a little scared and bit Jared on the leg. It was more of a scratch than anything but it sure scared Jared. When he got to school he went and asked the nurse about it. She said he should go get it looked at right away. Jared had to borrow a car from a fellow faculty member and drive to quick care. He got a tetanus shot. Meanwhile his art classes were canceled for the morning. When Jared arrived back at the school it was announced that art would be in session again for the rest of the day. It was quite the morning! Jared is hoping that this is his first and last dog bite.

Wild Wild West

Jared and I got invited to a Mystery Murder Halloween Dinner Party. Finding costumes was the biggest challenge. We ended up with costumes that came from Walgreens, Wal-Mart, the dollar store and Good Will. The party was on Friday night and it was so much fun. Our friends Colin and Ginny Moses hosted the party. There were eight characters in the story. Jared went as Elias Truest Heath (say that one fast and you will understand his name) and I went as Butch Chastity. Jared had quite the accent. He did great staying in character all night. Everyone acted out their parts well. You should have heard my attempts at sounding like I had a western accent. The murder mystery took about four hours to solve. There was a lot of good food and it was a grand ol' time. I love Halloween parties!

This was the whole group.

Colin was and Indian Chief and Ginny was a...well you can tell from the picture.

It is me ...Butch Chastity

Pumpkin Carving

We had lots of fun carving this pumpkin. We are rear'n and ready to win our ward pumpkin carving contest. Jared did most of the carving but all together it was a joint effort. Last year we didn't have time to carve a pumpkin so this is our first pumpkin carving together! It was so much fun as you will be able to tell from the video. Enjoy!

State Fair

Jared is such a sweetheart. He took me on a date last weekend. He picked me up from work with a change of clothes. Then we went to a great spot near the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport where Jared put some boards on top of the luggage racks so that we would have a great place to sit to watch the airplanes take off. He also managed to transport two delicious bowls of ice cream topped with wipping cream all the way to the airport from our house in a cooler. Some great planning if you ask me! We sat on top of our Jeep and cuddled while eating our delicious ice cream.


Part two of the date we went to the Arizona Sate Fair. It was opening night and the place was jam packed. We got in for $1 each! We went to the rodeo and watched the cow boys. I felt like I was in Idaho again. We also went on a few rides and ate some great food. Jared won a cute suffed dog for me. I loved the date! We both had a blast! I love sate fairs!

Banner Family Fun!

Mom, Dad, Jennifer, and Keith drove down to Arizona on Wednesday and we had an awesome time together. We went to the Diamondbacks vs. Cubs on Wednesday night. The Diamondbacks won! 3 to 1! It was a great game. We were in the nosebleed section but we really didn't care.


Thursday morning we went to a beautiful park in Tempe and had a picnic. After we got done eating we took some funny photos. It was quite entertaining.





We went miniture golfing after that and ended the night with a big birthday celebration for Jennifer and an evening swim in the pool. Jennifer turned 20! I can't believe it...I feel so old! She got an MP3 player that she was very excited about. Now she will have tons of music for the trip home.



Friday morning the family had to leave to get going to St. George, Utah where Mom and Dad are running a marathon. That was the sadest part of the whole vaccation. I hate saying goodbye. However, Jared and I are driving up to Idaho for Thanksgiving so we will see everyone again soon!

What an awesome weekend!