Concerts

Marisa had a couple of concerts this fall.

She is in private lessons where they play about a thousand versions of twinkle twinkle little star.... She just passed them off which I'm sure she is happy about.... I am.

They had a concert with another group and that stage was packed to the gills with little violinist.  They sounded pretty good.

Marisa is also in the school orchestra and she had her second concert with them. She is improving very quickly and she practices hard. It's fun to watch her play and enjoy it. I hope she likes it as much as I did as a child. I guess I still do like it.... I keep going.

Fall

I was out raking leaves one day and this kid came to join me and was helpful... and fun and cute.

So we decided to do the neighbors leaves too. It was a fun afternoon.

Halloweeners

I can sense that Halloween is changing round these parts pretty soon.

I'm not sad.

The kids did most of the pumpkin carving themselves. No complaints here.

Marisa just asked me to buy her some wings and she would make what she had work. That was nice.

 Ezra just wants to be something that no one else is going to be. He went with the attention grabbing blow up guy thing that you might see in front of mattress store. :)

I was happy to give my money to Target to make that happen.

They joined their friends and pestered the neighbors for candy and came out victorious.

The End

Southern Utah Triathlon

After the triathlon in the summer that I enjoyed so much I decided I wanted to do another.

I picked the southern Utah triathlon because it gave me a reason to train over the summer.

I ended up getting sick a few weeks before the race though and I completely underestimated the temperature of the water. So I wasn't quite as successful as I was hoping. But I still had a great time.

My friend and neighbor Lauri came down to St. George with me which ended up being such a blessing.

I nearly froze the death in that water. I made it, but I couldn't feel my fingers afterward so she helped me change and tie my shoes so that I could get on my bike. If it had been up to me, I would have just stood there shivering. I really should have had a wet suit.

Once I was on the bike things were really looking up.  It took about two miles and my chain falling off to get feeling back in my hands but it came and I started passing all those people who flew past me in the water.

The bike portion really is my favorite.

Then it was on to the run. My tingling feet were not happy about running, but I made it.

After that nonsense was over Lauri and I headed into Zion to do some hiking.

We settled on Angles Landing and it was so fun! And, absolutely beautiful!

We had a great time and it was nice to have a friend who was willing to play around for a bit.

Next time..... wet suit

In fact, the next weekend I participated in the super sprint triathlon at the rec center and got third place for the women. What a difference that 80 degree swimming pool made!

Turning 11

This one is well on his way to growing up!

He turned 11 and will soon be in Young Mens! My Stars!

For his birthday we ate at District Thai, had the normal cake and ice cream afterward and he got to open up his presents.

I can't believe he's 11!

We also had his favorite turkey dinner but we saved that for the Sunday after his birthday.
This kid is so fun to have around. He's funny, stubborn, super smart, insightful, thoughtful, helpful, cute, determined, messy, cuddly and just plain nice to have around. Happy birthday buddy!

Fall Break 2019

Our fall break was limited because Roman had a volleyball tournament over the weekend.

So we decided to make it a sort of stay-cation in Salt Lake City. The first day however, while Shane went to work, we made sure to go to our local pumpkin patch.

In Salt Lake, we decided to go see the Utah State Capitol and tour the conference center and quickly take in Temple Square and the church history museum.

It was nice to take some time to just explore what we usually rush by.

We stayed at a hotel because it was a two day tournament. The kids had a good time eating at Panda Express,  swimming in the hotel pool and watching T.V.

I will talk about volleyball soon, but I will give it it's own post.

The next day Shane, Marisa and Ezra drove home while Roman and I stayed behind for the games.

We took the train home and got home just in time to bundle up and go to a BYU football game in the freezing cold and rain. I figure we might as well live it up. It was an exciting win against Boise State.

It wasn't a big deal, but we had a little fun in there which was nice.