2022, October 10-16

We ended the first term, and the house and neighborhood feel more like fall. We have open doors to let in the pleasant breezes. We seem to have gone to at least a few restaurants this week and celebrated Landon's birthday a little early. 

The fall colors to the south can be seen clearly (once again, the photo doesn't do them justice). 

A friend of Hallie's from her mission came down from Canada to visit with family and friends. We managed to get some time in on Canadian Thanksgiving Monday with them over at Heber Hatchets. Hallie finds it more fun to chat than to throw hatchets, but we also find it better to do something than to eat something.

 

Fergus likes cozying up now that we're leaving the windows and doors open. 

Eliza continues her training regime on the miniature pony. Eliza thinks it is funny to bug mom with the horses. Hallie isn't so comfortable around the horses, but you know we do things for our kids we don't always like or want to do.

Eliza enjoys helping the newbie riders learn how to look after the horses. She got an extra day in at the barn. Having lessons early in the day leaves extra time to work and play at the barn.

Eliza likes catching Landon with the camera and trying to get him to smile. 

Eliza and Dad took a walk north of the house out to the dirt trail near the creek. The rabbitbrush and mustard are in bloom, and the honeybees are busily at work.  

The water is really low on the creek. 

Back at home, Fergus is ready for his closeup. Eliza thought it was funny to make him look like he was wearing a bra. 

Here's the view of the locust tree and Y Mountain in fall form from Mike's office. The other trees are late turning color this year.

 

On Thursdays, Eliza rides a larger pony. This week, she also got to drive a four-wheeler all by herself! 

While she was riding, Mike and Hallie had another impromptu date up in Lindon at the Lindon Farmers Market. We shared some poffertjes (Dutch pancakes) we'd been eyeing at the Springville market for a few weeks and a corndog. Earlier in the day Landon had his six-month check up and received his COVID booster and flu vaccine. 

Ferg was blepping, and Landon wanted Dad to catch it, but Ferg was too wily. 

With fall break, Landon had a visit with friends from the Blas family.  Emma (Mom) took her boys and some friends to an activity center and out to eat and then headed back home to hang out. We are so glad Landon and Sonny are still friends after all of these years. In the morning Landon has an oral appliance that has given him problems. On top of his arm feeling sore from vaccines his mouth now hurt because the appliance needed to be recemented. Lucky boy!

The rest of us went to the Spanish Fork food trucks, which are not as well attended with the earlier evenings. Eliza impressed some of the locals with her acrobatic skills. Even though she doesn't do gymnastics anymore, she still has mad skills. Some boys told her to do a back flip off the top. Eliza, thank you for not listening to them.

(In between these two shots, she did a back flip off the swing.)

Landon got a fancy knife as a gift from Grandpa O. this week. He was impressed. No smile but a great mug for the camera.

On Saturday, we celebrated Landon's birthday at Asa Ramen in Orem. Everyone tried something different. Grandpa and Grandma M. will be out of town for Landon's actual birthday. Everything was yummy!

On the way home, we were treated to a colorful sunset. 

Landon received an early present of the latest book in the illustrated Harry Potter series. 

His friend Ethan recently had to move, so Mom took Landon and Corbin out to get him some gifts for a birthday care package. Taking two teenage boys to Smith's and Dollar Tree can be quite the laugh and quite the adventure.

Whatever this look is, we're just going to go with it. Look we caught a smile from both teenage boys!

Considering this is how they spent most of the afternoon, getting out and doing something for a friend was a good thing. 

We're counting down the days to Halloween with a fun little "advent" calendar Hallie found online. 

Eliza and Mom have wanted to have a fire pit to try out a new s'mores maker Mom got a couple of weeks back. We used the fire pit with charcoal, so it didn't turn out quite as we expected, but we had graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate, so who's complaining?