2023, October 30-November 5

Halloween came and went. The kids didn't get as much candy this year. 

Here we have Kai and Ferg warming up to Eliza and Mom. They're reading Spooky Stories to Tell in the Dark. 

Eventually Fergus found his own spot. 

Then he and Kai migrated over to Mike. It's a game of musical chairs in the living room. 

On Monday afternoon the neighbors and we cut Jack O'Lanterns in the garage. 

At school on Halloween Tuesday, Hallie and Eliza helped the preschool kids go trick-or-treating to different classrooms at the high school. Our friend Eliza was a Minion, Hallie a Gnome, and our Eliza a cowgirl.

They had a Barbie display. What kind of Barbie is Hallie? The cutest one, of course! 

Here are the school administrators dressed as the characters from Peter Pan. 

Here's Landon's truly scary Joker costume. 

We were ready for kids to come trick-or-treat. Both kids went out on their own to start the night. Landon actually went to a party and got no candy. Sad! Later, Mike took Eliza to another local neighborhood to collect some more goodies. 

Before TKD on Wednesday, Mike took E to the eye doctor to get her glasses repaired. They had enough time to stop by the new Spanish Fork library, where they found this giant deck of UNO cards. Eliza is crazy skillful at playing cards, and she beat Dad twice in a row, even with him knowing her tricks. 

Sadly for Landon, he and his girlfriend broke up this week. Landon saw the handwriting on the wall, but it was no less heartbreaking. We feel for him! 

On Friday, Eliza participated in a rodeo at BUH. She won second place in the barrel race, this after falling (with style) from Sundance (a lively horse) into one of the fences. She actually cracked one of the fence rails. We brought our Chilean neighbors, and they were impressed with both the showmanship and the realization that they were in the US.  

This is not Sundance. This is Big Mac. This draft horse is huge, and Eliza likes to ride him. But what are we talking about? Eliza loves to ride most any horse.

Sundance who got a little excited, below.

Sweet Lou who had never done barrels but helped Eliza win 2nd place. Eliza is easily adaptable when it comes to horses. On Sunday Eliza celebrated riding horses for 4 years. Hallie asked her what she has learned in her four years. Eliza said, "Not to be frustrated with the horse. The horse will feel your frustration and become frustrated too." 

We had a cute rodeo clown that sure did try her best to get us to participate and laugh.

Here are some of the leaders and participants during the awards ceremony.

We were quite blessed to have Grandpa and Grandma M, The Lundbergs, Kris Kelly (the teacher Hallie works for), and our neighbors. Below is Priscilla. The weather was perfect! The food was perfect! All of us had a great evening after what seemed like a long week.

On Saturday, the kids went to the black belt demonstrations for Rise students. Their instructor Mr. Thorn earned his third degree black belt. On the left is Mr. Thorn. On the right is Master Kelly, the owner of Rise.

We had a yummy salmon dinner with our next door neighbors before having the Sunday social out back. Landon and Matt arm wrestled, and this time Dad Strength beat Teen Strength. 

The girls had a go too! 

We are grateful to our neighbor Lisa who lent us her fire pit. This last Monday, Hallie didn't see the old fire pit in the driveway where it had been cooling off. So as she pulled into the driveway the fire pit met its demise. Until Mike finds a new job there will be no new fire pit. Thanks for many years of service, old fire pit!