October 2014

October is my favorite month in Utah – warm Autumn days, gorgeous fall colors, a break from school and one of my favorite holidays.  This October did not disappoint:

We celebrated Autumn’s 12th birthday by getting up early and going to the Mt. Timpanogos temple to do baptisms for the dead, something Autumn has been counting down to for a while now.  It was a near perfect experience being in the temple with 3 of our 4 children and doing baptisms for some of our ancestors.  It will be absolutely perfect when Megan gets home January and we can all go together.

We also celebrated with presents, dinner at Los Hermanos and an evening at “Thriller” with Odyssey Dance. Still having a hard time believing my baby is 12, but so it goes…

Devin wasn’t able to join us for the evening birthday celebrations because he was at Lone Peak High School’s Sadie Hawkins dance with is friend Jessica.  He had a good time going with a group of his superhero friends.

We attended both Devin and Seth’s choir concerts – their choirs sound awesome already this year.  Devin found out that the Chamber Choir was selected by audition to be the featured choir when they sing in Carnegie Hall in NYC next spring, which means that they get to perform several songs alone before the large choir from all over the country performs.  It’s a huge honor and Devin is excited for the experience!!

Megan continues to love life as a missionary.  She is so busy right now and loving every minute of it.  We love her!!

The highlight of the month was a Fall Break trip to Arizona.  We started our trip with a visit to the Grand Canyon – it really is as spectacular as everyone says it is and we loved hiking along the rim for several miles and enjoying the views. We spent our first night in a hotel in the Grand Canyon Village.

The next day, we drove to Phoenix where we enjoyed our “3 temples in 1 day” day.  I think the kids were even more excited for this day than they were for the Grand Canyon. We drove 3 hours from the Grand Canyon to the Phoenix, Arizona temple, which was in the middle of it’s open house.  We took a tour of the temple (it’s absolutely gorgeous – the kids want to go back to do baptisms after it is dedicated), stopped to get some lunch and then drove 45 minutes to the Mesa, AZ temple.  We did baptisms there, which was especially cool for me because the Mesa temple was the first temple I ever attended as a 12 year old Beehive living in Albuquerque, NM.  If you ever have a chance to go, you really should – the baptismal font is simply amazing.  After taking some pictures outside the temple, we drove about 20 minutes to the Gilbert, AZ temple, which was just recently dedicated this past summer.  We didn’t have time to do baptisms there, but we did walk around the grounds and get some pictures as the sun was setting.  Gorgeous end to a spectacular day!

We then drove 45 minutes back to Scottsdale where we enjoyed the next 2 days at the Rob and Kim Ririe 5 star resort and spa.  I highly recommend staying there if you are ever in the area.  We attended a rodeo, went on several hikes through the amazing desert surrounding their home, relaxed by the pool, went swimming, enjoyed spectacular views of both the day and night skies and had some great food provided by our hosts.  It was seriously one of the most relaxing and fun vacations we have had recently.  We all loved exploring the desert and can’t wait to go back for another visit.  Thanks Kim and Rob!!

Bryce and the boys enjoyed a weekend campout to Cassidy Arch where they did some pretty spectacular rappelling.  I have decided after hearing about this area from Bryce who went earlier in the year with some friends and now Seth and Devin that we need to plan a family trip out there once Megan gets home so we girls can have some fun, too.

We ended the month with another warm, gorgeous Halloween.  We carved pumpkins, with Bryce carving a special tribute to his daughter in Texas and the kids all dressed up.  Devin dressed as Link from the Nintendo video game (he did get mistaken for an elf occasionally, but just said anyone who was nerdy enough knew who he was), Seth dressed as Calvin and carried Hobbes around all day (when Megan got news of this, her response was, “Finally!! I have been waiting for Seth to dress as Calvin and accept who he truly is!”), and Autumn dressed as Little Red Riding Hood.  The kids all went to their various parties and trick or treating activities with friends while Bryce and I had my nephews Ben and Brandon and their wives over for a party of our own.  It was a fun night and a great month for all.

Hope you all have a great November!!  Blog you then!!