2023, September 18-24

Had a bit of upheaval this week. 

The kids had the day off from school on Monday, so Hallie took our new neighbors and Eliza bowling. 

Eliza went riding at BUH. She also showed up on their social media. Bridle Up Hope has a mini rodeo coming up in November, and Eliza is wanting to do well.

While walking Kai, Mike saw this big girl hanging out. A bit spooky, but we hope she's a successful hunter. 

Eliza also had BUH class on Wednesday. They baked muffins. 

Kai's such a cutie. We don't feed him from the table, but that doesn't stop him trying to get a morsel or two. Or to wonder what Landon is doing at the table. It is homework.

Eliza has enjoyed class at Yates Place. Here she is doing science. The boys seem afraid to ask her to dance during ballroom class, so she gets to dance with the teacher, who will be on Dancing with the Stars in the near future. 

Landon has an online fitness for life class, which means he walks down to the rec center and uses the gym there. 

Mike got some bad news about his current job this week, and he will need to start looking some more (or hope one of the feelers he's put out works out). If anyone reading this in the next few days has ideas, feel free to pass them along!

We're seeing quite a bit more fall color in the mountains. A couple of our trees here in the neighborhood have started to turn too. 

On his ride Sunday, Mike saw this group of sandhill cranes. Speaking of things that fly, we had several planes and helicopters fly over the house toward the mountains this weekend due to the Wings and Wheels show at the Spanish Fork Airport. 

Our buddy Kai: Peek a Boo! We think he was pining for Eliza who was playing outside with the neighbors.

2023, September 11-17

Another week has gone by. We stayed close to home as the week's activities unfolded. Kai came back, and both kids advanced in taekwondo. 

Eliza continues to enjoy learning new ukulele skills. She's been practicing the song Lava from the Disney cartoon. 

Hallie got her new sunglasses and glasses this week. She hopes to get used to this prescription more quickly than the last. She is not a fan of progressive lenses. Well, she is not a fan of wearing glasses in general.

Hello, happy people! Hallie had been texting Diamond earlier and thought it would be fun to send her a group selfie.

Here is a fancy meal someone ate. It is not as fancy as Mike was led to believe by the picture. The back story is Hallie's mom and dad had seen the chef for the Nephi hospital on TV. For a while Marilyn has been wanting to go and try a meal there. Why not when Hallie has to go pick up meds? Today's entree was carne asada fries.

 

Here are Hallie's new glasses. 

 

We had some nice evening weather on Thursday and spent time out front eating peach ice cream that Marilyn had made. Landon said, "Why didn't I try this sooner? It is yummy!"

Landon showed off his fruit ninja skills with apples Hallie and Eliza had picked earlier in the week at the orchard next to BUH. 

Kai came back on Friday. We think he's happy to be here. Lots of happy whines, tail wagging, and pants. 

Hallie treated him to a puppuccino at Dutch Bros. 

He's probably weirded out by all the attention, but you can never tell with a dog. 

The kids at Yates Place learned about cloud types in their science class. 

Hallie and Mike did some garage organizing over the weekend. Fergus thought he should help out. 

For whatever reason, we're not sure if these creations of Eliza's ever got scanned, so we're posting them here for posterity. 

Eliza and Dad rode bike and scooter while Kai trotted along to the Civic Center Park so they could participate in the Springville Arts Festival on Saturday. They painted rocks, made prints, and judged sidewalk chalk drawings. 

Eliza and Mom got some yard sale finds in the afternoon. 

In the evening, Fergus kept Hallie company as she waited to pick up Landon from a get together he had with friends. Earlier in the day, he and a friend made a custom flower arrangement for Ais. 

Sunday morning, Eliza joined Mike downstairs in the morning and then fell back to sleep cozied up to dear ol' Dad.

 

Our week ended with talking to Mike's parents and our Sunday Social. Hallie's friend Amanda joined us for the first time. We love getting to chat with our neighbors.

2023, September 4-10

Labor Day led into stuff, some of which got photographed. For some reason, a lot of it had to do with the cat. 

We got an update of photos from Landon's camera. He likes to take selfies and pics of his friends.  

He had his first unit quiz in math. He's studying geometry.

Here's another funny meme flag Mike saw this week. If you know, you know. 

Eliza officially started 7th grade on Wednesday at Yates Place. She's already been doing some online school. 

Hallie got new glasses. She's still trying to get used to progressive lenses. 

More pics from Landon's school. The way the kids do school nowadays differs substantially from when Mike and Hallie were kids. Both Landon and Eliza have online and in-person components to their school days. This picture below is Chemistry.

Fergus has blessed the Landon boy. 

He then went on to bless the Mama. Hallie subsequently fell asleep with Fergus on her lap.

He also got caught blepping. Been a while since we caught him in the act. 

Hallie saw a ladybug and caught it on camera. Eliza loves ladybugs. This fun ladybug came in with some high school girls while they were bringing in snacks for the preschool.

Landon thought his bangs were cute. 

Fergie loves a lap. Hallie is happy to accommodate. 

Hallie helped out at the football game. Springville played Timpview, and Hallie thought it was interesting how the boys from Timp came in holding hands. The visitors won. Hallie had not worked a football game before, and it was definitely a new experience.

Eliza had a BUH end of summer beach party up Hobble Creek Canyon way. She liked hanging out with friends and diving in the pool. 

The boy really likes the cat. Here we go again. 

On Saturday, Hallie and Alicia attended the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival. They got there kind of late for the majority of it, but they still had a good time. 

Heading home, they had food at the Crack Shack restaurant. The picture below is called UT Poutine. It was quite good. The slightly seasoned fries were really good.

Weather shifted into rainy toward the evening. It wasn't much, but it led to dramatic skies. 

After having his breakfast and a walk around the neighborhood with Mike on Sunday morning, Fergus disappeared when he got back home. At some point, we assumed someone let him back out, and then Mike heard heavy breathing in the corner of the living room. Here's where the kitty ended up.  

We ended the week with Hallie trying to make homemade spaghetti sauce from nearly six pounds of tomatoes given to us. It turned out fairly well. Hallie thinks she will try it in a different way next time. Sunday evening brought our Sunday Social in the alley. We had a smaller than normal crowd this evening, but we had one new friend come and her fun dog Phineas.