2022, September 19-25

Fall has officially come to Utah. We have started transitioning into the season's activities.

We don't have many photos this week, and for some reason several have a cat in them. 

Here Fergus sits with one of his favorite humans. It is funny that Landon has really taken a notice more of Fergus in the last year or so. It is nice to see them bond.

Landon has quite a bit of work now that he is in high school. Here is some of his math. Remember slopes?

Eliza decided she wanted to start decorating for Halloween. 

Landon decides sometimes he can still be silly. We make sure to have a camera ready just in case. 

Eliza got the chance to ride a miniature pony this week. They seem well-sized to each other. This is Nugget. It interesting to watch someone train a four-year-old pony. An adult can't ride a miniature, so Eliza's trainer has to ask a lot of question to see what is happening as Eliza rides. Eliza and Nugget got going quite fast, and Eliza laughed the whole time saying how much fun she was having.

Mike had the first of a four-part year-long professional development series up in Park City on Thursday and Friday with Jordan School District sponsored by his college. We're learning about the ethical and moral purposes of education. As a get-to-know-you activity, they had to make a map of what they feel makes the US unique. There are lots of things both profound and trivial. Mike went with how big the country is and how easy it is to travel and live in lots of places. 

Eliza replaced herself with a covered table. Eliza is very busy. We like it when she can figure out things on her own. This fun blanket is one she received at her sleep study last week.

She had another chance to go riding on Thursday. This is Ronan. Ronan and Eliza did something called Neck Reining. It is a way to train a horse on which direction to go. Eliza said it was a bit frustrating, but we liked watching her not give up and how she works hard and listens well to her trainer.

Fergus found Eliza's lap. The kids sure enjoy when he picks one of them.

 

Hallie has started her new job at the preschool at Springville High. So far, she's having a lot of fun! The High School students run a preschool for local three- and four-year-olds. The time goes by fast. She has never formally worked with preschoolers before, so it will be fun to learn something new.

Eliza continues to walk Kai. He's almost as big as she is. If you look closely at the picture, you can see Jaker's in the background. Jaker's opened this weekend, with all the attendant traffic. We look forward to going down soon, even though they hiked the price up to $6 per person this year. 

As Landon frequently uses his VR in the front room. We're waiting for him to hit the fan as he does his moves. It is funny to watch him fling his arms around and to hear the accompanying soundtrack, but we have no idea what he is doing. 

A couple of parting shots of the kitty: 

Here he is in Eliza's hiding place in the hall linen closet. This is a first for him. No one knew where Fergus had gone to today until we were putting away laundry and we found a surprise.

In the evening, we had a fire pit and s'mores. With the shorter days and relatively cooler temperatures, it was perfect. 

(Also, Mike saw birds -- cranes, maybe? -- in the field to the west of our house.)

2022, September 12-18

We have cooler fall weather (finally!), Eliza had a horse show, we went to a concert, and both kids went to a sleep study. 

Eliza convinced Mom to take her and our neighbor Hailey to Bartholomew Park. We had a visiting duck. 

Later, Eliza and Hailey rode over to the Springville Farmers Market, where they met up with Mom and Dad and got some presents. 

On Tuesday, Eliza continued practicing for her show Saturday. 

After therapy, we went to The Soda Mix, a local soda/cookie shop. Unfortunately, some of the cookies were underbaked. We've seen this from more than one shop in the area. We get doughy, but raw?

On Wednesday, Hallie and Eliza went to the Hobble Creek Barn Boutique. Seems like E found something she liked!

We finished painting the birdhouses from last week's art festival. 

On Thursday, Hallie and other PTA members helped out at Springville Junior High's parent-teacher conferences. 

Mike took over duties of taking E to her riding practice. She's getting there! 

Hallie made more delicious cobbler. We had so much, she froze one for later. 

On Friday after picking up E from Yates Place, Hallie went to harvest some fruit of the vine from her parents' garden while they're out of town.

In the evening, we drove up to the Sandy Amphitheater to watch one of our favorite bands, The Lower Lights in concert. Landon got a bit of a rest in after his conditioning day at gym. 

This lady asked Landon if he'd be willing to take a picture of her and her friend. Mike did a double take and realized we were sitting next to none other than singer Hilary Weeks! Hallie was a total fan girl, and when she called Uncle Riley about it, he was super jelly. We had a blast at the concert sharing something we love dearly with the people we love. 

Afterwards, at Crown Burger Landon thought he'd try some balance beam action. 

Saturday morning dawned way too early. Eliza and Hallie headed over to Guide N Gallop in preparation for her show up in Lindon. 

She did well for a first time out, earning a third place in equitation. The show went on for a long time. Hallie and E were out for about 10 hours all told. 

Where'd Eliza go? And how did this table end up in the middle of our floor?

In the evening, Mike took Landon up to Primary Children's Hospital for a sleep study. Let's just say neither one of us slept all that well. . . .

Landon used a chunk of his money to buy a Meta Quest. It arrived in the mail Sunday. He seems to enjoy it quite a bit. 

Eliza had her sleep study on Sunday night. Hallie took her, and they made a few stops on the way up. Mike sincerely hopes Hallie gets a better night's rest than he did. Sleep tight, you two!

Landon got a parachute cord bracelet as a little gift from the hospital for his study. Eliza got this fun blanket.