Brian and Amanda Lain

We were so busy this month that we almost forgot to celebrate Halloween!! We bought a bunch of candy in case we have trick-or-treaters, and carved our pumpkins today. Brian did a great job on his pumpkin, and made it look really scary. Amanda is not near as methodical (or patient), so hers says “Boo” on the front, has a bat on the left side, and a ghost on the right side. The pictures of Amanda’s were too dark to see, but Brian’s looks awesome!

Brian and Andy (Amanda’s cousin) went to the X-Cup (go to www.xprizecup.com for more information) to see the latest developments in rockets and space exploration. The event had neat space simulations, models, and even had a robot who played soccer. Click here for more pictures.

A lot of Amanda’s family got together in October for a little reunion. Amanda’s sisters had not seen each other in a long time, so meeting at Amanda’s grandmother’s house was a great place to meet up again. So, there were Amanda’s grandmother and grandfather, Amanda’s two sisters and sister-in-law, Amanda’s two neices and nephews (aged 5, 3.5, 3, and 2 mo), plus 3 dogs, 1 cat, and 1 rabbit. It was quite the madhouse–and rarely any silence–but it was a lot of fun.
Below is a picture of the kids and grandkids (left to right: Laura (older sister) holding her newborn baby Luke, Amanda holding Laura’s daughter Natasha (3), Kassy (younger sister) holding Nicole (3.5), and Melissa (sister-in-law). Brad, Laura’s son, is on the floor with the red hair.) Click here for more pictures.

Kassy, Nicole, Amanda, and Brian went to Albuquerque to the annual balloon fiesta. In addition to seeing hundreds of hot air balloons, we rode the world’s longest tramway to the top of Sandia Peak! At nighttime, there is a “glowdeo” where they fire up the balloons, then they do fireworks afterward. It was all really neat, and we were very glad Kassy and Nicole could join us! (Here they are below in front of a giant chile!) Click here for more pictures.