AND THIS IS ME...lame old me....having to study while everyone around me was partying at the Eiffel! This picture shows my true, inner nerd.

This was our little family at the Eiffel Tower on Bastille Day...there was close to 1 million people there! Lucky we were living right across the street and didn't have far to go after the fireworks were over.

Life has been so busy for our little family! It doesn't seem possible that another semester is coming to an end. Jack started a Montessori preschool in October, so he has just completed his first few months. In a lot of ways, it seems like yesterday that this school year started! We are one busy family.

Brice has been teaching at a great school this year. It is one that is geared towards preparing the kids for college, so he gets a lot of good students. It is not quite the "inner-city" type population he had last year in his school. I think part of him misses it, but it is so nice for me to know he is in a safe school.

Like I mentioned, Jack has been in preschool and he is loving it! He learns so much. The other day, Brice had some Saturday morning church meetings, so I took Jack on a breakfast "date" to get some pancakes. He preceded to tell me about all the stuff he was learning, including everything about his 5 senses. A few days later, he pointed to my earring and told me, "That is not your sense of hearing mommy, it is just a pretty ear." Hilarious!

Now for the sad stuff we've been dealing with: Brice's mom was diagnosed with uterine cancer just after we got home from Paris. They started her on chemo right away, and she seemed to be doing okay - as okay as you can be on chemo, that is. One weekend, though, she just got really bad really fast. Brice's father had to make some tough decisions, and she ended up passing away. Brice and Jack were able to get some emergency flights, and Brice was able to be there when everything happened. I came the next morning. It was definitely not something that was expected, and it was hard to deal with. I am so impressed with Brice and how he handled the difficult moments...it really was, as his mom's bishop said, that family's "finest hour."

The bright spot: getting to see our families. Brice had a niece and a nephew on his side of the family that we got to meet, and I had two new nephews we got to meet. Brice was there for two weeks, and Jack and I came home a little sooner than that. We also got to see our good friends the Kramers and the Beatties - and they made us feel so loved in a time we needed to feel that way. The funniest moment was when Mandy came and knocked on the Kramers door to find Jack there with Lukas. They hadn't known we were in Utah, and we just showed up one night on the Kramers porch. We had Emily call Mandy and Brooks and tell them to come over. When we heard the knock, we sent Jack up to answer the door. There was a moment of silence, then Mandy's voice saying, "Where are they????" It was a good moment. We love those guys.

The bottom line: Families are forever, and this life is not a beginning or an end. We are so grateful that the Lord is aware of us, and that we were able to find a way to be with our families during this tough time. We are especially grateful for the example of Brice's mother, who was the epitome of love and service. We will miss her and feel her influence for the rest of our lives.

AND YEAH!!!! We get to come to Utah for Christmas!!! Let's hope there is some snow.
Love you all!!