2023, November 20-26

We celebrated Thanksgiving with new friends, and Eliza got friendly with some new horses. 

Eliza had the chance to look after some local horses, and this week, the owner's wife invited her to feed them while the family was out of town for Thanksgiving. She even got paid! Here she is on Monday taking Raunchy and Jack on a ride around the field where they live.

Thanksgiving preparations started early with some make-ahead items. Hallie found some good recipes and got supplies, and Mike cooked some of them up early in prep for the next day. 

On Thanksgiving morning, Mike took Eliza over to Raunchy and Jack's and helped her feed them. 

Here we are, enjoying Thanksgiving dinner with the Melos, Lisa, and Marcos. Landon is clearly happy about the goodies he's about to eat. 

Friday morning dawned cold and snowy. We only got an inch or so. Winter has finally arrived.

Even with the weather, Eliza was enthusiastic about feeding the ponies. 

Good ol' Fergie found Eliza's blanket covered behind to be comforting.  

We took a couple of days switching over from the fall decor to Christmas decorations. Seems like the Holidays came up out of nowhere!  

Landon is studying for his learners permit and hopes to get on the road learning to drive for reals in the next couple of weeks. 

2023, November 13-19

Mid-November brought new activities and rain. 

We took Ferg to the vet for another follow-up visit and a booster for one of his vaccines. Hopefully we won't need to go for another year. This old cat is getting expensive!

Here is Landon dutifully studying using his phone. Oh, wait. He's watching YouTube.  

Eliza had BUH in the afternoon. Hallie took Kai for a walk at Bartholomew Park while she waited. 

This photo makes Kai not look like Kai. 

Eliza learned how to make a pumpkin roll. She was kind to share with Hallie. Both girls thought it was very yummy!

On Tuesday, Landon had a doctor's appointment. He's now 5' 9" in shoes. Eliza had to tag along, so Hallie had both kids get their flu shots. Our neighbor used to work for our pediatrician. Julie has since moved, and it was definitely different going to the doctors. 

Mike went to a workshop to finish his application process to be a substitute teacher in the Nebo School District while the applications he has sent in continue to go through their process. If nothing else, subbing will get him a foot in the door at the district.  

We made real progress on the Disney Parks puzzle this week, finishing it by Friday. 

A lady Hallie knows boards horses a couple of blocks over, and she gave Eliza permission to pet and interact with them. The horses' names are Jack and Raunchy. Jack is not so sure about us coming over. Raunchy is more amicable to Eliza.

Hallie has been helping collect tickets for the local high school musical. On Friday, we went with the Melos (our Chilean friends). Three of Hallie's students were in the musical Newsies, and one of our good friends, GianMarco, played Crutchie, one of the leads.

Eliza got more time with the new horses on Saturday and Sunday. 

Hallie took Priscilla over to Ream's on Saturday, and they bought Thanksgiving goods and popcorn. In Chile, they're more used to sweet rather than savory popcorn, and at the musical the Melos were surprised when the popcorn they bought at the concessions stand was salty. Priscilla bought several sweet mixes at Reams. Hallie has so much living vicariously through her friend. It has been a good new friendship for both women.

Hallie and Eliza went to Gma and Gpa M's to help out with Christmas cards. We didn't do our Sunday Social due to inclement weather. The Sunday Social may actually be coming to an end due to our weather changing. It sure was fun while it lasted. Before you know it, the fun will be here again!

2023, November 6-12

All in all, we had a rather quiet week at home. 

The parents went to chat with Landon's school counselor for his annual 504 plan update. We saw this cement sack which is where the name of the Springville Red Devils comes from.  

Here is Landon eating a plate of chili for dinner. He tends to eat what is in the can/box contains rather than the serving size. Servings are optional to this growing boy.

Hallie saw these turkeys in the area around BUH. In addition, she got some good views of the fall leaves and sunset near Bartholomew Park. 

Ferg is such a love. Here he is suckling on Hallie's coat. 

Later in the week, Hallie saw deer at BUH. 

Coming back from Yates Place on Wednesday, Hallie and the girls saw a flag they couldn't identify, so they called Mike. At first he thought it was a Brazilian state, but then he discovered it was for the NYPD. 

Coming home from TKD, Landon and Mike saw a string of bright lights in the sky. This blurry image belies the separate little lights that turned out to be a string of Starlink satellites.

Every so often, Mike gets brave enough to take a selfie. Hallie wonders why he's squinting. 

He's been doing Duolingo for over a year and updated his avatar to match his new look. Eliza says his hair isn't brown enough (or maybe the beard has more gray than Mike would care to admit). 

Maybe this is a better rendering (Go, Utes!). 

We're making progress on the puzzle Hallie got from Amanda. Landon's friends helped partway through the week, Mike helped later on, and Amanda came by on Saturday (with homemade Nanaimo bars!) and helped some more. In the end this puzzle will be circular. It takes a bit more thought than a lot of other puzzles. 

Hallie and the highschoolers made fancy snowflakes this week to decorate the classroom. Thanks to Grandma M who sent her the idea.

 

One of Hallie's favorite Barista/Friend Cassie was substituting at our local Starbucks. When Cassie makes Hallie her protein enriched drink, Cassie thinks it is funny to put all of the sprinkles/sparkles/syrups on top that they have. Here is Friday's festive drink.

Here's Hallie at the school play where she saw Amanda's parents coming to watch another grandchild. If you want to come see Newsies we highly recommend it and you will run into Hallie either taking tickets or working the concession table.

Here's Eliza and the other rodeo riders from last week's rodeo. 

On Saturday, the local supermarket had a birthday party for its bakery department. We danced for cookies and got discounted donuts. Hallie was actually happy and having fun. 

Sunday morning, Ferg warmed up to Eliza. We had five of the six of us cuddled together on the couch at one point. 

Later in the day, Dad and E went up to Michael's for the holiday craft. It was kind of a letdown because it was basically a blank card with a cutout circle and crayons for the craft.  

We ended the evening with s'mores. After being outside for two hours it eventually was cold enough we decided to call it done.