This year we met at the temple to celebrate Christmas and Evelyn's birthday. The lights were pretty for sure, and I was prepared with my mini-tripod to take pictures. Check out the pictures, the group shot turned out especially well.
So Christmas Pizzas have come and gone once again, but I am sure that we will all remember how much fun they were to make. This year I made the sauce from scratch, and some basil pesto from scratch. I don't know if they were really any better, but Christmas Pizzas has never really been about just eating pizza. This is one of my favorite Christmas traditions and I had a great time.
Remember when we first started the tradition of the Christmas Pizza? It was 17 years ago in 1991. Check out how much those pizzas have evolved (not to mention all of us).
Mark's kids
Corey's kids 
to look a lot like Christmas! Dale got the lights up and I got all the decorations up (except for the ornaments on the tree) because I was looking for some stuff to use at our ward Christmas party (because I am the Activities Committee Chairman). Yea, so that’s a good side effect! And Dale and I spent the last two days over at the Fuller’s making the Polar Express out of the “Heward” machine (I can tell I’m going to have to post a picture….). I still have to go over and do some final touches by myself because, alas, Dale had to go to work! 
So speaking of Dale, the hard worker; he gets up way before the crack of dawn, quietly eats breakfast and gets ready for work, and then gently wakes Scott and I for scriptures and prayer. And we finished the Book of Mormon (again) this morning! Then Dale leaves at 6:30 AM and I roll over and try to go back to sleep. But I don’t. I lay there and think of EVERYTHING in that weird state between awake and asleep! Stores I have to go to, lists of things I need to buy, recipes I have to try, politics, the state of the world, family, thank you notes I need to write, appointments I have to make, projects I have to finish and the list of things I need to do them, and what was that dream I didn’t finish?, what product should I try to clean my fiberglass shower floor? Finally at 7:15 I get up, make my bed, get dressed, and have a healthy breakfast of coaches oats and an apple. “All those things I was thinking of that made it impossible to get back to sleep; I might as well get up and get them done,” I think. Except now that I am standing up, all the blood has rushed from my brain and I can’t remember a thing!!!! 
Well, gotta go. I have to go rub a pork roast. Our ward party is this Saturday, and I’m still testing recipes for our main dish! Ryan had dinner with us Monday (we ate one of my test recipes that didn’t pass muster), and afterward we found tonight’s experiment. Well, it better be the one, because I don’t have time left for any more experimenting. If it’s delicious, I’ll post it….I remember back in 1987, when we lived on Zamora drive, I got a red tent for Christmas. I enjoyed that tent from the moment I saw it. It was fun to take on campouts (like to Panguitch Lake, or Valley of Fire) and have my own little space. I always shared it with one other brother. I also remember setting it up in the room and then we would also drag the old Zenith TV into the room and play Sega games from the inside the tent. I think that I wasn't the only one to enjoy that Christmas gift. In some ways I think that it allowed us all as brothers to have all those little adventures that makes growing up a little more fun.
The public has spoken and the new ruler of the free world is Barack Hussein Obama. Together with a democrat controlled House and Senate Obama will take us places we have never been before. In memory of this occasion I made some backdrop images. Rest assured that there will be Change as Obama promised. That might be reason to also be vigilant of politics.
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Scott and I dressed as Mario and Luigi (respectively) for Halloween. Although we didn't win the contest at work, we were some of the better costumes. We even entered in an online costume competition. Maybe we will win at that one. (Todd Williamson is Toad in case you couldn't guess, and he is holding a paper for the competition).
I am sure that you have all noticed that things are getting pretty crazy as the election is coming to its gritty end. "He says" - "That one says." I am not sure if any of you have heard of the Fairness Doctrine. It is in my opinion in direct violation of Freedom of Speech. Look it up if you would like. Basically it says that conservative media outlets and liberal media outlets should have equal airtime. It is proposed by leftists and is a direct attack on conservative radio.
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Another Heward officially joined the family on October 15, 2008. Analia Nicole Heward was born at a healthy 8 lbs. 1 oz. and 21 inches long. (Pronounced Ăh na lee' a)
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I wonder how many Youth Conference treks it will take before we will have walked to Zion?! Well, we're about 25 miles closer! Dale and Shelly were again Ma and Pa, and Scott was a Big Brother this time around. This year we trekked up on the Mogollon (Moe-gee-yon) Rim – Arizona’s "High Country." While the temperatures in the Valley of the Sun were in the high 90's, we enjoyed 70's and lows in the 30's. Practically perfect weather.... After assembling and loading our handcarts and eating a simple lunch, we hit the trail with gusto. Our "Family" included one of the Stake Presidency, so we were had the unenviable position as Last Wagon and the assignment to keep tabs on stragglers. We walked and walked and walked and walked and walked. We had a rest stop with a snack of granola bars, but somehow only received half our family’s allotment. No problem; we're strong! Up and down, sun and shade, rocks and mud.... We get word of another rest stop with apples! But by some horrible stroke of luck, they were all gone before the last couple wagons arrive. The sun dips below the horizon and on we trek; legs and feet are getting sore and on we trek; a beautiful moon rises lighting our way and on we trek. Finally we see flames in the distance – campfires? The pace picks up. Just as we close the gap in the train, we see men holding torches. They begin shouting mean things to us ‘Mormon varmints’ like, “You’re not welcome here,” and shooting their muskets and we have to move on! We finally pull into camp and are thankful that there is already a big campfire roaring and all we have to do is warm up our dinner. Just as soon as our family got some food into their hungry tummies, everyone fell exhausted into their bedrolls. We walked just over 16 miles that first day. The average for the actual handcart pioneers was 15 miles/day, but some days up to 25.
The second day the men were pulled out for the Mormon Battalion and the women had the challenge to work together to pull up a steep hill. That was when I definitely felt four years older than the last time I did this! That evening we camped next to a creek bed and some of our boys wanted to sleep in it. “No way,” I said, “a creek bed’s no place to be in flash flood country!” We had a great dinner of stew and scones, with honey and butter we made ourselves. After some square dancing and a family devotional, we hit the hay. At 3 AM it started to sprinkle off and on, and we “parents” scrambled to make sure that there were tarps over our family. Then the wind picked up and so did the rain, thunder and lightning! (Always remember that Momma Knows Best and never camp in a creek bed!) At 6 AM our trail boss came to each wagon and said, “Pack it up and head out as fast as you can.” Although the rain had let up, there were big, black ominous clouds in the distance. Our family was lightning fast loading our cart and we got to head out and not be last for a change! But our big brother from the Stake stayed behind to help until the last cart was out. The trail was a quagmire and after a few steps our shoes were twice as big as normal with caked-on mud. Then we’d kick it off just to start accumulating all over again! We admonished our family (a couple girls especially) not to let go of the cart because they would fall behind or slip and fall in the mud. A girl in Scott’s family asked him to play his harmonica while they walked that morning. I later heard that as he played “Come, Come ye Saints,” “A Poor Wayfaring Man,” and “Nearer My God to Thee” some faces were wet with tears rather than rain. At our final stopping point we unpacked, broke down the carts and loaded them on a truck and then were treated to a deluxe breakfast under a bowery. We had a damp, shortened solo time and then headed back to the Valley-O! We got to eat our Dutch oven peach cobbler with ice cream Sunday at the fireside. Two of Taylor Simons’ (Jerry & Ella’s grandson) awesome original songs were used for the slideshow! (If you’d like to hear them, let me know. We didn’t know how to get them on here….)
We look forward to Conference every year! Wasn't it exciting to hear the announcement of five new temples? It was comforting to hear words of encouragement when the world all around us talks only of doom and gloom. Scott went to Utah for a mission reunion. His former mission president, Elder Aidukaitis, is now a Seventy and spoke in the Saturday morning session. Ryan went to Las Vegas for his 10 year high school reunion. Mark and Caroline's family spent Saturday afternoon and Sunday with us. Braiden did a great job coloring the ties of the speakers! After conference we made Lollipop Cookies from the recipe on Heidi's blog!
