Sunday, July 30, 2023

2023, July 24-30

Summertime is already too hot to handle. Our van needed some TLC, and we spent lots of time inside. 

On Monday, we celebrated Pioneer day with (pizza) pie and (root) beer, namely Brigham's Brew, from Lemon and Sage. 


One of Mike's heraldry friends added him to a hand-drawn armorial. Mike hasn't had as much opportunity to do art lately as he doesn't have the digital tools anymore. Sad. 

Aww! Look at the sleepy puppy! Hallie took the picture to show Diamond how cute Kai is. 

Eliza had Taekwondo this week and she even had two taekwondo parties. Landon practiced with the black belts one day this week and realized he has a lot to learn. Good for him.

We didn't take a lot of photos of our activities this week. On Thursday evening, Mike's work had a BBQ at the house of one of the owners. We all came (even Kai!). Well, Fergus had other plans, as is his wont. Mike appreciated getting the chance to get to know his new co-workers and their families better. He knows the owners from when they were all kids. Here is Mike with their dad, who remembers him as a much younger person, and who thought Mike was his dad for a minute when they were reintroduced about a month ago. 

The heat is no joke! We've been doing a lot of staying indoors and only taking the dog out while it's relatively cool. 



Hallie learned how to use the new scoreboard this week at the high school. Computer and touch screen is the name of the game. The new scoreboard will be exciting as Hallie got to see how it works at another high school in the area. It is crazy to think the start of school is right around the corner.

Saturday morning Hallie and Eliza went and saw the Haunted Mansion with Hallie's friend Amanda and her family. It was a good movie.

Hallie had a bit of heat-related car drama on Saturday and Sunday when her car wouldn't start. We called AAA twice and ended up getting the battery replaced. Fortunately, it was still under warranty from the last time she had to have it replaced in December 2020.  


Sunday, July 23, 2023

2023, July 17-23

In the Barbenheimer debate, we went west. 

On Monday, we stayed in the shade. Eliza attended another BUH friend's birthday party, and then they headed to classes at BUH.

In the evening, we went to see the premier screening of the final version of JK Studio's Go West. Landon said that he laughed more with this movie than he has in a lot of others. It will be releasing nationwide in August. We also saw promos for other movies at the theater. 




After the movie, the cast had a Q & A with the audience and photos on a red carpet afterwards. 





Here's a photo of Eliza with her friend Dayton at the fundraiser his family did.

She had a Yates Place activity at Bartholomew Park. The pond water was refreshing, but otherwise the weather was way too warm. It was so "warm" that Hallie almost threw up from the heat after packing up the car on her way to go get Landon. Eliza and Landon both did Taekwondo on Tuesday.

Hallie saw this rainbow while driving.

Here is Landon after a long day of work. He worked several days this week. He really liked the way his hair looked and asked Hallie to take his picture.

Hallie helped out at her parents' house while they were away up north in Montana. Fruits of the vine are ready for harvest. 

Landon helped out with the lawn. 

Mike saw this unusually sunlit fire hydrant while walking the dog. He thought someone had spray painted it before realizing it was just the glinting sun. 

Mike has had to find times to ride his bike when it's not so hot out. He got out bright and early on Thursday, and caught these shots of the mountains to the south. 



Thursday morning Eliza spent her four hours interning at Guide and Gallop. It has been so hot, and Eliza doesn't complain one bit!

That same night Hallie and Eliza went up to the Days of '47 Rodeo at the State Fair Grounds. All of the proceeds from tickets on Thursday went to Bridal Up Hope. 



The lady below is Shelby. Shelby runs the Bridle Up Hope shop and is truly an amazing individual. We need more Shelbys in the world.





Eliza ran into one of the other Bridle Up Hope participants that has moved away. They were excited to see each other.







The women pictured below are the Cowgirl Collective that Eliza met two weeks ago. So fun seeing them in action.





This year Eliza and Hallie witnessed their first drone show. Hallie said it was actually quite exciting.








On Friday Eliza did Softball and Gardening at Bridle Up Hope in the afternoon. When Mike got home from work, we watched the beginning of the Miami soccer game where Lionel Messi played his first game. We then switched it over to the Women's World Cup Game where the United States Women's National Team played and won against Vietnam. We did catch Messi's goal winning shot at the very end of his game. Once you learn about some of these sports, it is really fun to get into and cheer for them.

On Saturday, the girls went to the Mapleton for its Pioneer Days Parade. Hallie and Kai ended up walking for a long time in the heat before finding Eliza in the parade. During the hunt for Eliza, Hallie ran into several people she knew. Parades can be so much fun, especially when you get to cheer on your favorite participant. Poor puppy drank a lot of water when he got home. Here's a cute house Hallie saw en route. Eliza ended up sitting in this front yard on the way back to the car while Hallie went to get the car. Someone who lives in the house came out and offered Eliza a drink. How kind!


We saw the new Barbie movie with Landon's girlfriend. It was fun. Not Go West, but fun. 

Sunday we talked to Grandpa and Grandma Owens and capped the night off with our party in the alley. Our group started small, but we had a couple of people stop by who had never been before. Towards the very end a new family who moved in from Chile just yesterday came and joined us! The family was so nice, and we are so glad their kids came out and played basketball so we could invite them all over.