2023, February 6 - 12

Everything is super-duper at the Owens house. We now have a twelve-year-old to join our full-blown teen. 

To start the week, Eliza, Noelle, and Hallie took a trip around Provo to look at the murals and to collect fun stuff from gumball machines. The girls favorite was the stickers at Peace On Earth Coffee.

Fergus decided Eliza's doll bed would make a good perch. Landon wanted to take his picture. That's when things started getting weird. 

This is a separate weird pic of the cat. 

Eliza went all camo on Tuesday. Hallie tried to convince her to change one of the camos, but that was a no from the girl.

 

The snow sculpture maker updated his work. 

At BUH, Eliza made a zipper pouch. 

 

Wednesday morning, the kids noticed Fergus was acting strangely, chittering and staring at the wall. Turns out, he spied a spider. Was it a bold jumping spider? Who can tell? Anyway, the cat managed to avoid knocking over Mike's LEGOs and did not kill the spider, who crawled over to the door and presumably into the cold.

  

At BUH, some wild turkeys crossed Hallie and Eliza's path. Thanks to Google, the girls figured out what the birds were. Otherwise they would have had no idea.

Another weird blepping Fergus pic. 

For her birthday, our friend Julie made Eliza this horse-and-cowgirl-themed caramel layer cake. Eliza and Julie consulted and it was very yummy! Thank you Julie!

Eliza had fun making some impromptu art.

 

Hallie took Eliza out for a trip to the BUH shop in Alpine. Eliza had a lot of fun spending her own money and was very careful trying not to spend over her limit. Customer Service was top notch, and we even were given a tour of the barn and met all the horses!

 

Nice view!

Here is the girl with her gear and her cake prior to us going out to eat at Texas Roadhouse, where the wait staff gave her a big ol' Yee Haw!

  

Back at home, we sang, ate cake, and watched E unwrap presents. 

Landon likes giving Fergus boops and has decided to nickname him "Booper".

At BUH, Eliza got some horse time. Fridays are her favorite day of the week. Here she is learning ground work that they use on bigger horses.

Hallie worked the basketball game Friday and left the people at home to fend for ourselves. Mike made the frozen pizza she left because somehow Landon has yet to learn how an oven works. The pizza box came with a wearable mustache. Mike sent this picture to Hallie and it made her not so exciting night funny.

Saturday morning dawned with colorful skies. The day did not end in fowl weather. Mike worked in the afternoon while everyone else chilled out. 

Part of chilling out included drawing. The kids had a fun time bantering back and forth about drawing. Hallie had to capture something that doesn't happen often.

Eliza got cards and gifts from family. She was thrilled! 

Fergus chose to bless Hallie with his presence on her lap. It doesn't happen often.

We went over to Gma and Gpa's to watch a pretty entertaining Super Bowl. Eliza showed off her gear and goofed around with Gramps. To Eliza it is warm outside. The rest of us (as Grandpa is showing you) feel that it is quite a bit cooler than she may let on.

2023, January 30 - February 5

One month down, already? We said some goodbyes, shared some pics of hobbies, shoveled snow (again), and met some nice puppies. 

We got snow to start the week and to end the week. Mike shoveled the driveway when Hallie left, but by the end of the day, you wouldn't know it. Chill earlier in the week gave way to above-freezing temperatures later on. 

Hallie and Eliza met three Cavapoos this week. Hallie thinks it's a sign that we need to co-own one. Fergus may not agree. 

At the place where she gets her nails done, the couple has some pretty cool LEGO sets. Hallie mentioned that we also are LEGO enjoyers. 

Eliza isn't always a fan of just sitting around while Hallie chats with her manicurist. Good thing she has access to Mom's phone. 

At BUH, some elks came to visit. 

Mike helped Landon with his math homework. He has to admit that sometimes this is hard for Mike too. 

Landon had Kentucky Fried Chicken for what he thought was the first time tonight before TKD. He enjoyed it but found it a bit underwhelming. To be honest, Mike was too. Landon had gotten all excited about fried chicken as part of a writing assignment he has in English. 

Here are Hallie's heart arrow nails. So festive! 

Mike accidentally color coordinated the dishes as he was loading them. When he actually paid enough attention to look down, here's what he saw. 

Here's cavapoo #2 at Hallie's preschool. 

Eliza thought it was funny how zonked out Fergus was while he was sleeping on her while she and Dad did school. He was deep in Slumberland for sure, until he wasn't. 

Coming back from taking Landon to school, Mike and Eliza saw this city truck carrying something unusual in its bed. Can you tell what it is? 

Eliza had her last day (at least for now) at Guide 'N' Gallop. She framed this image she made as a gift for Afton. 

The snowy peaks from Mike's office window sure look majestic. Everyone else is sick of the snow, but Mike hasn't minded it (so far). He nearly slipped a couple of times this week, so winter's welcome may end sooner than later. 

Here's E on Dante at GNG. Dante and Nugget were Eliza's two favorite horses to help train at GNG. Eliza was very tender hearted leaving on Tuesday.

Besides puppies, the high-school-student teachers have brought other pets to the preschool to show the littles. 

For a while now, Mike has wanted to invite Hallie to lunch at the Pendulum Court Café on campus. It opened for the semester this week, so they had a lunch date! We had a French dip sandwich and BBQ chicken salad, which we took back to Mike's office. Hallie took pics of his display to show her manicurist. 

Landon went to TKD on Wednesday. As he is interested in Asian martial arts and philosophy (as far as a 15-year-old is interested in those things), he asked Mike to borrow The Art of War from the local library. On his walk around Costco while he waited to pick the boy up, Mike found this copy in the books section. Landon was impressed particularly by how it looked, suitable for display with his swords. 

Mike likes how the new Utah flag will be a meme magnet. 

Unfortunately for Landon, he again experienced back pain while at TKD, which means he's not taking it easy enough. Mr. Thorne basically told him not to come back for two weeks so he could rest up and heal. Fergus is holding the boy hostage. 

Hallie and the Springville JHS PTA prepared food for the faculty for parent-teacher conferences. Mike took Landon to visit his teachers. The kid is doing pretty well, all things considered. 

When Mike went to pick up Eliza from BUH, we came across a couple of stray deer. 

Look at the kitty! So peaceful. Earlier in the day, he took advantage of the relatively warmer weather to murder and eat two voles, whose guts he left for the hoomans to deal with on the doorstep. Thanks, Ferg! 

A gentleman in the community, Jerry Gardner, uses the ice that accumulates around his house to make colorful ice sculptures. Here's what he made this week. 

On Sunday afternoon, snow began to fall again. Before too long, it covered the streets and sidewalks. Time to stay in!

 

Hallie has worked several nights at the high school. It works out well most of the time. This week she took tickets for a dance show, basketball, and musical theater. Every so often folks from the community she has known come through the lines and it is exciting to reconnect if only for a minute with them. She also met her third cavapoo of the week at our neighbor's house. Maybe she and Eliza will get their fix by going over there to visit.