Fall feast

 

The weather cooled to a high of 60 degrees yesterday. The leaves are changing and the sun is setting earlier. I love Fall. And I love making soup in Fall. (In fact, I remember when we lived in Australia sometimes Todd would come home from work in October to soup for dinner when it was 100 degrees outside). 

Yesterday evening was a real treat for me. While I made pumpkin black bean soup and homemade rolls, Mary made a batch of chocolate chip cookies and Ben made Cheesy chicken soup.

Family, Food and Fall. I love it all!

Texts about Michael

It has happened twice this month that I have received a nice text and a picture of Michael from people I don't know in Washington.

I can't express how my heart skips a beat to see his smiling face and know that he is happy and being taken care of.

I am so grateful that he loves his mission and the people he serves.

This is Michael's new companion. They traveled to the mission together and now they are zone leader companions together. 

U of U game

Todd and Luke were invited to attend the U of U game with my parents.

They rode the Trax train to the stadium which was a treat for Luke.

It was a hot day and Luke's neck was a little sunburned but they had a great time and the Utes won!

Guest bedroom

Last summer our guest room became Michael's home MTC room.

All of my craft things have been moved to the guest room while my multi-purpose room is being remodeled.

Todd changed the light to a LED light so I can see better.

Ta-da! It's a little cramped but so much better now that I can see!

Hopefully my multi-purpose room will be finished by the end of the year.

Until then I'm grateful to have this space.

Early morning at the temple

Our kids have late start school on Fridays. Last Friday we were able to get them a 6:00am appointment at the temple. Not a single complaint from these three about having to get up early on what would normally be a chance to sleep in. They were thrilled to attend the temple and we all felt the special spirit that comes with starting the day at the temple. What a blessing to be able to return to the temple. We missed the temple so much when it was closed due to COVID.

Cone of shame

Our sweet Nana was spayed last week. The surgery went well and she seems to be fine except that she hates wearing the cone of shame. She looks at us with those puppy eyes and it's hard to make her wear it. However, we took the cone off briefly last night to clean it and she immediately started biting her incision area so the cone is a necessity. FOR TWO WHOLE WEEKS. We're not even done with ONE week yet. Wish us luck. 

BHS Homecoming 2021

 Homecoming week was a lot of fun.

Ben wore a hard hat and hit the rock as Senior class president in the Homecoming assembly. I didn't get a picture until after but you get the idea :)

Ben and his date for twin day at school.

Homecoming football game.

Ben is the 'taxi' cab driver. He delivered the game ball with Melvin.

Mary all chalked up for the game.

Fireworks following the game. Bingham won by the way.

Lighting of the B.

Our cute kids after the game.

I took this picture of Ben after he spent the morning decorating for the dance and before he got ready for his date. He crashed on the couch for a bit. My cute Ben! Love this kid!

Ben and his buddies before the Homecoming dance.

Ben had a blast at the dance. He and his friends included a few kids that didn't have a group which is why they had such a big group and I think it is also why they had such a good time.

Ben and his darling date.

Sunday afternoon- not even 24 hours after the Homecoming dance, Ben was asked to Bingham Ball (the next dance in November).

Also the day after Homecoming, Mary asked to Bingham Ball! That's right! Our Mary will be 16! I can't believe our sweet Mary is almost 16!

Visa to Ecuador

When Michael called on Monday morning he sounded a little discouraged. He had received an email from his MTC companion and he is on his way to Ecuador this week. We sent Michael's paperwork off about 2  months ago for it to be apostiled. Michael said that if we don't receive it back soon, it will be too late in his mission to be able to go to Ecuador. While we were talking I asked Michael to stay on the phone while I went to check the mail. I told him we had a busy weekend in Cedar City and with Stake Conference so we hadn't checked the mail. Neither of us could believe it when his paperwork was in the mailbox! The last piece of paperwork was in our hands.

That afternoon I went to Todd's work and we verified that we had everything for Michael's visa. Then we over-nighted the paperwork to the church travel department.

I know that this is in the Lord's hands. If the Lord needs Michael in Ecuador then the visa will come through. If not, he will continue to do great things in Washington.

Cedar City mountain biking race

 I had the opportunity to take Ben and Luke to Cedar City last weekend for their mountain biking race. Todd was unable to go because he was speaking in the leadership session and adult session of Stake Conference on Saturday. Todd stayed home to be a dance Dad (and speak in Stake Conference) while I went to Cedar City to be a mountain biking mom.

We left right after school on Friday to make it to Cedar City in time for the boys to do a pre-ride of the course.

Look at the beautiful sky when we arrived at the pre-ride.

Cafe Rio and hanging out in our hotel room.

We were the first ones to breakfast. We had to leave the hotel at 6:30am for Luke's warm up at 7:00am.

Luke getting instructions from his coach.

Luke was discouraged after his race. He felt like he was passed by a lot of riders. I love this picture of Ben giving his brother encouragement. It turns out there was another group on the course at the same time. Luke started in 16th place and finished in 18th place. He wasn't passed by as many people as he originally thought. This was Luke's last race and he had a great season.

Way to go Luke!

Me and two of my guys.

Getting Ben ready to warm-up for his race.

During Ben's warm-up, a crazy lightning/rain storm rolled in. The race was delayed for an hour and we huddled under the team tent to stay dry.

Thankfully the weather cleared enough for Ben's race. Ben had an awesome race! He started in 30th place. He finished in 26th place.

Luke climbed to the top of a huge rock to get a picture of the last stretch of the race.

Way to go Ben!

Love that helmet hair!

We left immediately after Ben's race so we would be home in time for me to attend the adult session of Stake Conference and for Luke to attend 2 (yes 2!) basketball games. We pulled into our garage at 6:15pm. I showered, washed my hair, and Mary blow-dried my hair while I put on some make-up. I made it to the church by 6:55. Todd's talk was amazing. Ben hurried Luke to his 7:00 and 8:00 basketball games.  We all slept so well on Saturday night. What a weekend!

This was the note that Sara wrote for Todd. Too cute!