2020, September 21-27

 We had a pleasant week of running around like crazy people, per usual. We stayed local. 

For date night, we went over to the Holy Cow Boutique in Lindon. Mike got some ideas for decorating our growlers in a Halloween theme. We also got decadent bakery goods. So much for self-control! 

Eliza is doing amazing things at school getting herself up to grade level. She and Mike are trying their best to adapt to the new situation, and they have generally set a good rhythm. We're grateful that the technology brings with it tools that allow Eliza to surpass the reading challenges that come with her dyslexia and allow her to show off her grasp of the material she is learning. 

Hallie enjoys having her little buddy Lily come out with her on errands . . . while taking this picture Lily told Hallie not to crash the cart.

. . . and visits with friends at the gym. Hello, Ladies! We are so happy to have Coach Megan back at AirTime, and today was a fun selfie day.

We have had to retire the flag Mike bought when we moved here three years ago. We were going to buy a new one, but then Mike remembered he has the one from when he earned his Eagle Scout award. After some 30 years stored away with the other memorabilia, it's going to get some well-deserved use. 

Fergus enjoys his couch and red blanket. They don't belong to the humans who brought them into the office. No, not at all. :) Eliza adores Fergus, and that is why we have so many pictures of this crazy pest killer.

We had a couple of perfect kite-flying days this weekend. While Landon did a youth activity at a ROPES course and Eliza and Hallie joined friends at Jaker's, Mike went to go fly a kite. 

At Jaker's, the girls hung out with Hallie's friend from work Mijken and her son.  

Hallie showed off her nails that she got done earlier in the day. Eliza did a great job with the photo!

She's also ready for Halloween with sugar skull Toms. Eliza is jealous they didn't have kids' sizes. 

We joined Dwight and Marilyn for dinner at their house to enjoy some of the last of the season's Roma tomatoes in Olive Garden's Capillini Pomodora, Caprese, Italian Salad, and Baked Zucchini.

In the evening, we all realized that we'd gotten a bit toasted being out of doors, but it was worth the pain. 

On Sunday after online sacrament meeting, we went back out for another jaunt among the clouds. We were joined by the jets and a curious hawk. 

Mike could handle doing Zoom Elders Quorum this way all the time. 

2020, September 14-20

We kept busy through this last full week of summer. Warm temperatures and smoke from far off fires yielded some to a bit of cooler weather, but it doesn't yet feel like fall. 

Sometimes you just gotta take a nap, as was shown here by a couple of kids in Hallie's class. 

On Tuesday, we had date night at a macaroon and ice cream parlor in Orem called Macs A La Mode. We ate two. This one was watermelon, and the other was burnt almond chocolate. Delish! 

Then we picked up the kids from the gym. Per usual, Eliza had to mark Dad with chalk because he was wearing something dark. 

Such cuties! 

The postal workers were super busy this week delivering packages to our house. Some gymnastics-themed masks for the kids came. 

And so did a LEGO Hedwig, Harry Potter's faithful mail-carrying owl. Eliza (with help from Mom and Dad) had loads of fun assembling her.  

Eliza also received a personalized picture book chronicling her life from 2011-2015. We have been meaning to do this for a while, but Mike finally had the chance to push it through.

One of Eliza's writing lessons entailed visualizing winter. This is her take. 

Mike received a couple of heraldry-themed items in the mail. One was this signet ring, which Landon promptly stole and claimed as his own. 

It leaves a decent impression. 

However, Mike has other stamps he can use, so Landon is welcome to his early inheritance. 

The rubber stamp leaves a deeper impression anyway! 

Plus it's good for stamping things. 

We were disappointed to see that the 2021 BlackJack Competition has been postponed until 2022. Mike and Landon will have to get their restaurant ramen locally.  

Eliza made Hallie eggs. She was so excited to do it that she tried to set an alarm for 1:00 on Saturday morning. As it was, she woke up at 2:00 on her own. Mike awoke to the sound of clattering downstairs and had to persuade Eliza to go back to bed and finish breakfast at a more reasonable hour. 

Fergus always has the right idea. Everything is better with a nap! 

2020, September 7-13

Labor Day afforded us a shorter week at school. We started bright and early with gym practice and ended by watching Harry Potter battle Tom Riddle in the Chamber of Secrets. 

We had fires in Springville Sunday night. They caused a bit of a fuss but no damage around where we live. We've received quite a bit of smoke from the fires in California as well. 

Hallie looked after Lily on Labor Day while the kids did gym in the morning. This freed them up for play with friends in the afternoon. A few weeks ago the gym enforced a mask mandate, and so here is Hallie all masked up to hang out with Lily and to watch the kids.

On Tuesday, we needed to take the van into the shop, so Mike took everyone to school. Hallie got to witness our new good bye ritual, yelling out "I love you!" to Landon as loud and annoying as possible as he crosses the road to school. He has no first period class (yay gymnastics for PE!), so usually he's all by himself walking to campus. This is Eliza's favorite thing to do, and she was not with us when we dropped him off, so Mike took up the mantle.

Mike's laptop is suffering from a swelling laptop battery, so he needed to get a loaner while it gets repaired. Getting a new-to-him laptop is a mixed blessing that caused a few work hiccups this week.  

Hopefully his old laptop comes back! It'd be a shame to lose these stickers. 

Eliza got hold of Hallie's camera and played with its filters. Eliza doesn't get to practice with Morgan anymore, and so they cherish the few minutes they have together on Wednesday evenings.

She also made a comic for school that we had to figure out how to get sent due to issues with Mike's laptop and our printer. Technology is great except when it isn't.

We honored the fallen on September 11, and in the afternoon Eliza and Hallie brought her former schoolmate Dayton and his mom to Eliza's riding session. Dayton even got to go on his own ride!

Dutch Bros. opened in Sandy, so Hallie went up there and got tasty drinks, car fresheners, and stickers on Saturday! We have seen pictures that there will be one opening in Provo in not too long, and we will be glad not to have to drive so far. 

The kids were impressed by this yellow Corvette they saw while driving. It's the little things.

Eliza and Dad finished Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, so we had movie night at Hogwarts. Good fun for all! Also, Hallie and Mike finished their summer binge watch of The Big Bang Theory, thanks to many weeks' worth of checked out DVDs from the library, and (thanks to Netflix) the parents finished Reign too.