Halloween Time

We had a really nice & easy Halloween. There weren't any church activities for our ward, so we just stuck around our neighborhood. I wore my costume from last year (which barely fit around my baby belly), Jon dressed up as himself (dental student), and Lincoln was a three-eyed monster. His costume had the cutest pot belly. It was adorable. It was a 3T and barely fit in the torso, though. Isn't that crazy? I think he takes after me and my dad with the long torso. Poor kid. At least he'll sit tall. Oh, have I mentioned that Lincoln is off the charts on his height? That definitely comes from the Willison side! He's past the 100 percentile. I'm so proud. That'd be so cool if he stayed that way. I might not make him a runt after all! Back to Halloween... Lincoln went trick or treating for the first time. He did a great job knocking on all the doors and saying thank you. It was fun to see all of our neighbors and catch up a bit.

Reactions to Prop 8

SALT LAKE CITY
7 November 2008
cited from http://www.lds.org/

The Church issued the following statement today:

"It is disturbing that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is being singled out for speaking up as part of its democratic right in a free election.
Members of the Church in California and millions of others from every faith, ethnicity and political affiliation who voted for Proposition 8 exercised the most sacrosanct and individual rights in the United States — that of free expression and voting.
While those who disagree with our position on Proposition 8 have the right to make their feelings known, it is wrong to target the Church and its sacred places of worship for being part of the democratic process.
Once again, we call on those involved in the debate over same-sex marriage to act in a spirit of mutual respect and civility towards each other. No one on either side of the question should be vilified, harassed or subject to erroneous information."

SACRAMENTO
7 November 2008
(This news release was issued by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento)

The following statement was released today by Bishop William Weigand, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento and former Bishop of Salt Lake City, in response to attacks on (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) for supporting California’s Proposition 8, defending the traditional definition of marriage:

“Catholics stand in solidarity with our Mormon brothers and sisters in support of traditional marriage — the union of one man and one woman — that has been the major building block of Western Civilization for millennia.
“The ProtectMarriage coalition, which led the successful campaign to pass Proposition 8, was an historic alliance of people from every faith and ethnicity. LDS were included — but so were Catholics and Jews, Evangelicals and Orthodox, African-Americans and Latinos, Asians and Anglos.
“Bigoted attacks on Mormons for the part they played in our coalition are shameful and ignore the reality that Mormon voters were only a small part of the groundswell that supported Proposition 8.
“As the former bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, I can attest to the fact that followers of the Mormon faith are a good and generous people with a long history of commitment to family and giving to community causes.
“I personally decry the bigotry recently exhibited towards the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — coming from the opponents of Proposition 8, who ironically, have called those of us supporting traditional marriage intolerant.
“I call upon the supporters of same-sex marriage to live by their own words — and to refrain from discrimination against religion and to exercise tolerance for those who differ from them. I call upon them to accept the will of the people of California in the passage of Proposition 8.”

This is a really tough issue for both sides. It's understandable that homosexuals are feeling wronged and are hurt that California, and other states, voted to not let them have the same rights to marry as heterosexuals. This is such a sensitive issue and can invoke a lot of hurt feelings. I like what the Church pointed out, though, in its statement. We as Americans have the right to vote according to our religious views, just as others are free to vote in opposition of those views. And it's okay. It's part of the democratic process. Gays may not understand our position. That's fine. But to target Mormons in such a hateful way is not the answer. We are not going around hating on gays. We are trying to protect the sanctity of marriage in the way that God organized it in the beginning with Adam and Eve. We all need to be tolerable that other people will have different views than us without being hateful to them. It's part of our right as Americans to have our own opinion and speak openly about it. Like I said, it's such a tough issue that invokes a lot of painful feelings. I hope that the situation in California gets better soon. Right now, it seems kinda scary to be a Mormon there with so many hateful protests going on.

Jon & Lincoln

Little Lincoln

Fall Family Portraits

We took some professional family photos for the first time. We used a friend from our ward that's trying to start up here own business. I wanted to do it when all the leaves were changing colors here. I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out. We still need to do some fine tuning on them with light, but there are definitely some cute ones. It was a fun experience. It took us a while to figure how to get Lincoln to smile with us. We tried using 'cheese', but the word 'surprise' ended up really working for him. So funny. Hope you enjoy!

Family Shots

Jon would just like to note here that he really doesn't weigh 300 lbs., it's just a bad angle. His wife would just like to note that Jon has never looked better. He looks hot with his 40 pound weight gain. You can't say that about too many people! Okay, maybe with those beautiful pregnant ladies you can, too (according to Jon, who is a little biased).

Okay everybody, which one is your favorite?

Trains, Pumpkins, and Headless Horsemen!

The big cheese. The leaf was so cool, though. It was bigger than my head!

Hmm... what looks so different in this picture? Can you see it? The horseman is headless! It is one of the best costumes I've seen ever! It looked so believable and proportionate.

This is the classic tantrum face. Mercy me. We tried taking a shot with Nanee and Lincoln tried to tell us (without words!) that he was sick of taking photos. At least Nanee got some lovin' later on the train.

The Chicago Skyline

... and Jon with our surprise anniversary dessert. The restaurant brought it out without us even asking. Pretty cool.