2023, August 21-27

We're cruising along. Apparently we mostly did stuff related to animals this week. 

Here is Eliza on her way home from BUH. 

Here is Fergus cozying up to Landon's backpacks. 

Landon loves to give Ferg boops. 

Here is Kai chillin' on the front lawn on Tuesday. 

Here he is in the minivan. He loves to go on car rides. In fact, he jumped into a stranger's car as kids were getting out of Reagan Elementary! 

In BUH, Eliza embroidered a crescent moon and a star on this cap. 

The neighborhood dogs do like to socialize. On Wednesday, they all ended up at Sophie's house. 

As Eliza continues to develop, she has needed to graduate to a bigger girl's bra. Hallie took her to a fitting at a store Hallie has used for her own needs. The girls dragged Grandma M. with them for the fun.

Eliza won the award for the most loved human by the pets. 

Mike managed to get some kite time in on Friday. The wind trailing after the week's stormy weather shifted in a different direction. 

Some attribute the abundant rain and still-green fields to the Sacred Whale of 9th and 9th in Salt Lake. 

Hello, Kitty! Hallie had to capture this picture of Fergus checking himself out.

Hallie took Eliza to an animal shelter. Hallie saw a Facebook post that the shelter has close to 300 cats, and most of them are kittens. The shelter was in need of food, so Hallie and Eliza grabbed some kitten food and headed to the shelter. While there the girls signed up to volunteer at the shelter. We will see what happens.

E then cuddled with her favorite canine pal. 

We have several horses near our home, and it was fun to see how Kai and the horses reacted to each other when we took him on a Saturday morning walk.

At Dutch Bros on Saturday they celebrated National Dog Day by giving out a bandana to your pup. Hallie and our neighbor Becky and the dogs went to Dutch Bros to celebrate. Kai looks so sharp. He knew his dog mom thought he looked amazing. 

 

2023, August 14-20

Not tons of news this week. Landon started the school year, and we got a little rain from the tropical storm that hit the southwest. 

"Hey, girl." Fergus found a cozy corner in the bookcase where we store some towels. We couldn't find him for a bit. Fergus would do great at playing hide and go seek.

Monday late afternoon Hallie took Landon and his friend Sonny to Sophomore Orientation at the high school. In our area you go to the high school building in 10th grade. Trying to help Landon find his 6 classes (he has an A day and a B day, 3 classes each day) was a bit crazy. After the orientation we headed to the Springville Farmers Market for dinner. Yummy! 

On Tuesday morning, Hallie got trapped by the pets. It is not often that both pets will lie down so close to each other. We had to capture the moment.

Mike spied the neighbor's cat out of his house. Getting the cat back in took some skill only Eliza has, and our neighbor was grateful for the rescue. 

Eliza was kind enough to get him and return him home. 

Landon saw Stacey Harkey (formerly of Studio C and part of JK! Studios who made the movie Go West) down at the rec center, where Stacey teaches some fitness classes. Landon got brave enough to ask for a picture!

Hat head, amirite?

The neighborhood dogs all spontaneously got together to play Tuesday evening. We live in a truly great neighborhood. 

Summer ended for Landon on Wednesday, as he started at Springville High as a 10th grader. Mike took him on the first day. Once preschool gets closer to starting Hallie, will drive every day. 

Hello, kitty. Fergus is finding new spots to lie around during the day while Kai is around. Eliza spent two different shifts at Bridle Up Hope on Wednesday: Yoga and Art, then Art and Embroidery.

With the start of the new school year Hallie is back to taking tickets for sporting events. On Thursday afternoon Hallie, Eliza, and Lily (a neighbor) went to the high school to take tickets for volleyball.

Kai went back to his other family for a week on Friday. It is weird to not have Kai greet us at the door when we come home after having him here for six weeks.

After dropping Kai off, Hallie got her hair cut. This is the first time she has had bangs in a while. It was either bangs or shave the whole head. Jamie took the conservative approach and gave Hallie bangs. Later that day our neighbor and her daughter didn't recognize Hallie right away.

Friday afternoon Eliza went to a gardening class at Bridle Up Hope. Eliza said they researched about what kind of vegetables they want to plant for next year.

We had some friends over for a movie night on Saturday. Ferg liked having a fluffy spot on the floor. 

Outdoors, we got some rain in the afternoon and early evening along with a really bright rainbow!

We had colorful marshmallows as part of the Sunday Social this evening. Our new neighbors' daughter had her ninth birthday. So, of course we couldn't just do s'mores.  

2023, August 7-13

Happy International Left-Hander's Day! We had an eventful last full week of summer vacation. Hard to believe Landon starts school again already next week. 

Eliza had fun at BUH on Monday. We got some pics from Instagram. 

We had some weather earlier in the day, so the afternoon was downright pleasant. Kai played with the neighbor. 

Eliza enjoyed pizza from the local big box store. The grease looked amazing around her lips.

We've been getting lots of dragonflies in the neighborhood this year. We're grateful that they keep the mosquitoes at bay.  

On Tuesday, Hallie and the kids joined Grandma M, Carly, and the cousins at the Spanish Fork all abilities park. Again, the late summer weather proved a delightful complement. 

The cousins headed back on Wednesday, so this meant we also said, "So long!" until our next visit. 

On Wednesday, the kids leveled up at taekwondo. When they level up, they also show off their skills. We love Mr. Thorne (on the right). He really cares about the kids and has gotten to know them well. 

In between Eliza's and Landon's classes, Hallie and Eliza went to The Barn down the road. They bought some white chocolate and caramel-dipped dehydrated apple slices.  They were quite yummy, but Hallie thought they could do with slightly less of both the caramel and the chocolate.

Here is Landon showing off his skills. 

In the evening, our neighbor Gavin came over and paid Kai some attention. 

He also played with Kydee and Kohar's dogs. We have to keep Kai on a leash because he likes to run up to people walking their dogs in the cool hours. Some are OK with him coming up to say hi; others, not so much. 

Kai is a cuddle bug. Landon is a goof. 

Landon sent Hallie this picture via text saying Kai had fallen asleep standing up. Goofy dog.

We got some blustery weather on Thursday. Mike took advantage to go fly his kite. 

Hallie took the dog to the groomer on Friday. Hallie thinks he looks rather handsome.

Hallie and Alicia took a (relatively) quick trip up to Canada, stopping by Jack in the Box on the way up. 

Gotta get those tacos. A neighbor said to Hallie to eat one for her. So, Hallie had to take a picture and sent it to her.

Landon got a haircut. Mike took a photo for evidence. 

Hallie got poutine at the Costco in Alberta. She took a photo for evidence. 

Look at the lovely sunflowers down by the Jaker's corn field. Mike sees lots of them on his walks with Kai and his bike rides through the neighborhood.  

While Hallie was away, Mike made sure the kids kept themselves busy. Part of this included chores, and part included play outdoors. 

"Good night, Mom!" Everyone to bed. 

The pets kept Mike company in bed. So kind of them. 

On Sunday, Hallie made sure to stop by Timmy's for drinks and eats for the road. 

Mike has seen these ibises hanging in the marshy fields along his morning rides over the last couple of weeks. He decided to get some pictures Sunday morning. 

Hallie and Alicia passed through Dutton, Montana, on their way home. Fans of the TV series Yellowstone will get the reference. 

Mike helped Eliza set up a kiddie pool where she spent a lot of the afternoon. 

We had our Sunday Social in the evening. The warm afternoons have started settling down into pleasant evenings. The all-dressed chips were quite popular, and the ketchup chips were tried by everyone at the social. Hallie is grateful to Alicia for going on the crazy adventure with her.