Jason and Family

The big event since last time was Kelsey's baptism. It was fun to have Mom, Dad, and Mindy in town and Kelsey was pretty excited to be baptized. As Mom mentioned, they were able to stay home and take care of the kids for us so Jen and I could go out together. We hadn't left the house alone together in over 6 months. We have people in our ward who have offered to help but it is really hard to trust someone else with keeping up with Parker's care. As much as we appreciate the offers of help, I'm not sure some of these people really understand what they're volunteering for. So having Mindy here with Mom and Dad made it easier for us to finally try going out. At least we knew that Mindy had a good idea what she was in for. Everything went fine. We went to dinner and spent the night at a bed & breakfast in town and then drove out to Raleigh to attend the temple. It was nice.

Everyone has been sick around here lately. It is so hard to keep everyone healthy with Kelsey at school and Connor in preschool. Little colds that might inconvenience most kids can really be bad for Parker. He's caught a couple things in the last month or so and has fought through it ok without having to go the hospital. It makes for some long nights but a long night at home is better than one at the hospital.

I'm in completely over my head at work this term. Teaching 8 courses, designing two shows, and working on my research grant. I enjoy the work but I think I need to slow down a little bit. Sometimes I forget how to say "No". I guess that's the danger of having a job that you love. I'm opening another show next week and then going straight to Savannah, Georgia for a conference where I'll be exhibiting some of my design work and some papers I've co-authored with my research partner from Wake Forest University.

We went to the Ward Halloween party last night. The kids all dressed up as Indians (Native Americans for the politically correct out there). We had a lot of fun. I won the "Hottest Chili" award and the kids got a lot of candy. Even Parker figured out what was going on and got some candy for himself!