November 2018

November was pretty great here at our house.  First an update on our missionaries:

Seth was thrilled to successfully finish his 2 transfer mission and get his 2 year mission call and find out that he would be returning to the Nevada Las Vegas mission after doing a 3 week stint in the Provo MTC, which he was less thrilled about.  He reluctantly left his mission, flew to SLC on Nov 14 and caught a shuttle to the MTC, where he spent the next 3 weeks trying to learn things and make that time useful.  He very happily flew back to Las Vegas yesterday, December 4.  I asked him in an email the day before if there was anything he was going to miss about the MTC, and he just responded, "I will miss nothing about the MTC." :)  He was definitely excited to get back to work as a missionary and back to a mission president and people he loves!!


Very happy about his 2 year mission call!! :):)


Seth and his companion, Elder Lu with "some hispanic DJ" :)


I got this picture in a text from Seth's cousin, Trevor, about an hour after Seth got to the MTC - good to see he had people looking out for him while he was there.

Devin continues to serve his heart out as a missionary in Northern Phoenix.  He has been very busy and continues to give it his all.  We are so beyond excited to welcome him home later this month!!



We had two big events in November.  First was Thanksgiving in Park City with all of the Ririe family, which was so much fun, especially since everyone was able to be there (except Seth and Devin, of course) and it was so much fun to be together!!  We had a delicious Thanksgiving meal together, played lots of games, went for walks in the falling snow, got caught up, and really enjoyed time together.





These are the only pictures I took before I left the party in Park City. ;)

Here are a few that Bryce took after I left. Obviously, we need to be better about taking more pics at family gatherings. :)







I spent the last week of November on a much prepared for and anticipated trip to NYC with my sister, Kristi, to sing with the South Jordan Chorale and 10 other choirs from around the country in Carnegie Hall under the direction of world renowned composer and conductor, Mark Hayes.  It was a once in a lifetime experience I will never forget to get to sing beautiful, sacred Christmas music with a 275 member choir and 50 piece orchestra in the famed Carnegie Hall - I"m still pinching myself a little. :) So so amazing!!



Besides rehearsals and the concert, Kristi and I also did tons of other fun stuff in New York and I would highly recommend going to NYC during the Christmas season - the city does not disappoint and we had a great time at all the museums with their beautiful Christmas trees and displays as well as looking at all of the window displays around the city.


Outside the Chase building


St. Patricks Cathedral


The Natural History museum

We also enjoyed walking through central park, and skating at the Rockefeller ice rink, which was something on Kristi's bucket list.






It turns out that Santa is actually a really good ice skater! :)

One of my very favorite things that we did (besides singing in Carnegie Hall, of course) was going to the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall.  I have to say that I went with pretty high expectations and this show exceeded them - seriously so good and so much fun!!



Well, that is our November.  I hope your December is filled with magic and fun and the light of Christ.  I love Christmas time!!

October 2018

October went by in a flash!! Here's a look at what our family was up to:

Megan is keeping super busy at USU between grad studies, clinical with her speech therapy clients, working in the lab and also working in the writing center on campus - she manages to stay plenty busy.  She also finds time to date, go to the football games and hang out with her friends.  We were happy when she came home for General Conference so we could spend some time with her in person! :)

Devin is doing great as a missionary in Arizona.  He's training 2 new missionaries and serving as a zone leader, so lets just say that his prayer to Heavenly Father that He give him something to keep him diligent to the end of his mission has been answered. ;)  He is happy and we are thrilled that he will be coming home the week before Christmas - best gift ever!!







Seth is also doing really well serving as a missionary - he writes every week about the miracles he is experiencing and how much he loves the people he is serving.  He also says he is getting in great shape biking all day every day, even if it is a little sketchy to bike down busy roads in Vegas. :)  Both boys are super glad that fall is here and that the temperatures have cooled!







Autumn is keeping us busy, especially this month!  She and her PDC team danced at a couple of football halftime shows, and we had fun cheering them (and the football team) on:



Here are a few of the pictures from their dance team photo shoot back in August:







She also turned 16 on October 11 and celebrated by getting her drivers license:





Two days later, she went on her first date to Homecoming with her friend Dallin.  They had a fun time together, and in true Autumn fashion (for someone who is such a graceful dancer, she is a total klutz), she managed to knock a full glass of water into her date's lap at dinner.  Good thing Autumn also knows how to laugh at herself. :) Her date still tried to kiss her goodnight, which Autumn very skillfully dodged.  Bryce is looking into shotguns more seriously now...





Autumn, Bryce and I took a trip to Oregon over fall break to visit Grandma and Grandpa Ririe and had all the usual fun there.  We were glad that Tami took a morning to go to the Japanese gardens with us before she and Jeff left for Germany.





We enjoyed some spectacular fall weather in Tualatin and were there just in time to see the leaves changing color.







We also enjoyed some sunny, cool weather at the coast where we discovered new hikes and visited some of our favorite places.











The month ended with Halloween of course.  It was a quiet evening of answering the door for the trick or treaters while Autumn went to a Halloween party with a few of her hobo friends.



That's it for us for October! :)

September 2018

Here's our update for September:

Both of our Elders are doing really well!  Devin spent the month serving as a zone leader in the YSA area and LOVED working with young adults - it has made him excited to get back to school himself once he gets home. He was just barely transferred back to a Spanish speaking branch in Northern Phoenix where he is training not one, but TWO new Elders!  His last 2 transfers should be pretty exciting, to say the least. He will come home having served his entire mission in the Northern Phoenix area, and he told me recently that although most people call that area of the mission "trashy" and he can't deny that there is a lot of trash and some pretty sketchy people, that this area is where he has come to know his Redeemer, and that makes it beautiful to him.  Love that kid!!!





Seth continues to love serving the people in his area of Las Vegas, and he has so many people to teach that we can hardly keep up with them all.  We get random texts every once in a while from ward members where he is serving letting us know how great Seth is doing and how much they love him.  :) :) :)  He just finished his first transfer with the amazing Elder Day and found out that Elder Day is being transferred out of the area and Seth will be getting a new companion and will get to show his new comp the area, so on to new adventures!


This pic of Seth with cats and kids looks so much like him and it makes me so happy ;)


Seth with Abraham who was recently baptized, the same week as one Beth, another person he has been teaching was baptized.





Megan is doing great in Logan!  I talk to her on the phone lots, but she hasn't made it home at all this month - her schedule is pretty full!!  She did take one Saturday and meet Autumn at Lagoon for their annual "Siblings day at Lagoon".  They both had a great time, though they also missed having their brothers around. :)



Autumn stayed super busy with school, homework and dancing.  Her LPHS dance team performed their hip hop dance at one of the home football games - it was awesome and Autumn LOVED dancing at a HS game with her team:




Autumn with her 2 besties at the football game - Anna (in the white) is on the drill team and Jacee dances on PDC with Autumn

Autumn also traveled to Shakespeare festival in Cedar City with her HS dance team, where they competed a dance based on Ophelia's madness - the dance was so amazing and a great storytelling piece and the girls nailed it at the competition.  Autumn had such a fun weekend competing, taking various classes and playing with her team.



In other news for Autumn, she has been asked on her first date - gasp!  Homecoming is 2 days after her 16th birthday and she has been invited to go with her good friend Dallin.  They are going with a group of good friends, so I'm sure it will be a very fun evening for her.  Can someone please help me figure out how to stop these kids from growing up?!



Autumn and I took a Friday after school drive through the mountains to get lollipops at Sundance, which for some reason has been a tradition in our family for as long as any of us can remember.  The mountains are SOOOOOOOO pretty this time of year!!



While Autumn was in Cedar City with her dance team, Bryce and I took a little getaway to Park City where we did a lot of hiking through the beautiful mountains  and enjoyed a little time away.  The weather couldn't have been better and we enjoyed being outdoors enjoying the mountains.


We hiked a portion of the Mormon trail to Big Mountain pass - it was beautiful!






We also hiked along a mountain ridge above Deer Valley - this is looking down on the town of Midway - so pretty!

That's it for September!! :)