October 2011

Well, while the kids are all out trick or treating, I thought I would get a jump on our October blog. It’s been another great month full of crazy fun activities.  Here’s a sampling:

Megan participated in the All-state choir and we all went to her concert in the Salt Lake Tabernacle.  The choir was comprised of 750 high school singers from all over the state and was directed by Mack Wilberg.  The concert was amazing and the choir really raised the rafters, especially on their final number, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”.  It was amazing!  Megan also put on a Disney concert as a fundraiser with the Chamber singers and it was lots of fun!  Megan and I also participated in a women’s choir for our Stake Conference and got to sit directly behind Richard G. Scott at the conference – it was pretty cool.  Definitely a month of choir! :)

Autumn celebrated her 9th birthday with a fall carnival birthday party.  The girls had a lot of fun doing crafts, playing carnival games and having Devin make them all balloon animals.  Hard to believe she is already 9 years old.  She also became the third member of our family to have braces at the same time this month, which makes her look way too grown up!  She will only have to wear them for 6-9 months and then we’ll see if she’ll have a second round when more of her permanent teeth are in.

Seth finished up his season of flag football and had a great time with that again.  He played a lot more defense this year and really loved going in for the “tackle”.  Seth also played Ichabod Crane in the 6th grade play, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and did a fantastic job with that as well.

We had our fall break from school.  Devin and Bryce went with all of the rest of the young men on a camping trip to Escalante area and had quite the adventure when their group unexpectedly had to hike 6 miles farther than they planned through some very rugged country and ended up having to find their way at the end through the pitch blackness before being “rescued” by the Bishop and Young Men’s president.  It was scary at the time, but has ended up becoming the stuff of legends. :)

While Bryce and Devin were off on their adventure, the other kids and I had fun around home.  We went to see a dance production called “Thriller” that was one of the best productions any of us have ever seen!  It was scary and funny and just tons of fun!  We plan on going again next year and taking Bryce and Devin with us.  We also went to visit the corn maze and the witches at Gardiner Historic Village. Oh yeah, and Megan spent a lot of time filling out college applications – what?!

Devin continued rehearsals for “Charlotte’s Web” and is really excited for performances to begin in a week.

We all celebrated a much warmer than normal Halloween – we were actually complaining about being too hot at Bryce’s company Halloween carnival in the afternoon.  This year, Megan sewed a cape for Devin’s Frodo costume and then decided to sew another one for herself and went as Little Red Riding Hood.  Seth decided to be a minion from “Despicable Me” and Autumn was a gypsy this year. 

Happy Halloween and hope you have a great November! :)

September 2011

September was warm, sunny and dry around here and felt much more like summer than the beginning of fall.  We had a lot of fun and the month passed too quickly – here’s a sampling:

We spent part of Labor day visiting the Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake.  We had a great visit – Devin, Seth and Autumn were all selected to be part of the Bird show, and we loved feeding the sun conures.  They are beautiful and very greedy little creatures!

Seth started his flag football season and has been having another good season.  He has a very good coach this year and he and his team have been playing well together.  I haven’t taken any pictures yet, maybe I will remember next month.

Megan has been busy with choir – fundraising for her New York trip and performing with her Chamber choir in a Patriot’s Day concert that was really amazing!  She is also a part of the All-State choir and has been attending rehearsals for that several afternoons.  The choir is directed by Mack Wilberg, who also directs the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  Her performance is this Saturday at the Salt Lake Tabernacle and we are looking forward to going to that concert.

Seth and Autumn both participated in their school’s annual Hawk Walk to raise money for their school.  Autumn walked/ran 3 miles and Seth, who ran nearly the entire time, completed 5 miles.

Autumn also decided to try out again for a part in “The Nutcracker”, despite the fact that she is already practicing more than 7 hours a week for her team with The Pointe.  This year, Autumn was called back for a second night of auditions and then cast as a party girl, which means that she is in almost the entire first act of the ballet.  She is so excited and can’t wait to start rehearsals in two weeks.  That girl never gets tired of dancing, and if any of you are looking for a fun thing to do at Christmastime, you should get tickets to see her in “The Nutcracker”. :)

We all particpated in a 5k (or 2.5k fun run in the case of Megan, Devin and Autumn) to benefit The Christmas Box House, which is a charity that Autumn’s dance studio is sponsoring this year.  It was a fun thing to do, especially since my dad was in town for the weekend and joined us as well.  Seth trained for the 5k and beat his last 5k time by 4 minutes.  He has decided he loves running and will go for a run after school a couple of times a week just for fun. 

Megan had her Senior pictures taken – here are a few of her faves.  I can’t get over the fact that she is a Senior!  Happy and sad all at the same time.

Bryce celebrated his 44th birthday on the 29th.  We planned a party that included Megan getting the night off of work and Autumn leaving dance 1 1/2 hours early so we could enjoy dinner as a family and have a fun evening with all of us in the same house at the same time.  It was pure heaven.  Bryce received a gift he has wanted for years and has spent the last several days reading instruction manuals and starting to put his new remote control airplane together.  He and the kids have been practicing flying it on the computer and can’t wait to get out with the real thing.

The highlight of the month was Devin’s Eagle Court of Honor.  It was a great evening and Devin had tons of support from aunts, uncles, cousins and one grandpa who was able to make the trip to be here.  We are so proud of Devin and all his hard work over the past several years to meet his goal of earning his Eagle Scout award.

Hope you all have a great October!