October 2020

 October was a fun and adventurous month at our house - take a look:

Bryce and I continued our long hikes through the beautiful fall mountains as he prepared for his Grand Canyon rim to rim hike.  We hiked from Grove creek canyon to Battle Creek canyon and saw some of the most beautiful fall foliage - so stunning!!  We have loved hiking through the mountains this Fall!!

Bryce also hiked to the top of Box Elder mountain with his hiking buddies as a training hike.  It was a tough hike but pretty cool to make it to the top.

All of our children officially are adults now as Autumn celebrated her 18th birthday on October 11.  She celebrated with dinner and pumpkin carving with friends the night before her birthday and then had some friends and her brothers over for Sunday dinner and cake that Autumn decorated herself. :).We are so lucky to have Autumn as part of our family.  She is a little ray of sunshine and we sure love her.

For Autumn's fall break from school, Bryce, Autumn, Autumn's friend Teddy and I went to Springdale and stayed a few days in our friend's home there.  It could not have been more perfect.  The weather was ideal and we enjoyed hiking in Zion, playing in the swimming pool, strolling around main street, sitting outside at night and watching the AMAZING night sky, roasting s'mores by the fire, hammocking, playing pickleball at the nearby city park, playing games and eating delicious food.  We were all so sad to come home at the end of our pretty much perfect and relaxing vacation.

Bryce drove to the Grand Canyon with a couple of his hiking friends and starting early in the morning and hiking 24 miles in about 12 hours, completed the Grand Canyon rim to rim hike!  What an accomplishment! He said it was absolutely amazing and beautiful and super grueling.  They went from being cold enough when they started to be wearing coats to 120 degrees at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. We are proud of him!

For the first time in several years, all 4 of our children were able to go to their annual "Siblings Lagoon Day", and this year, they added a 5th person as Mitch joined Megan, Devin, Seth and Autumn for their annual tradition.  They had a great time riding rides and being together despite wearing masks and being as socially distant as possible from other groups.  I'm glad they were able to go in a year when so much has had to be cancelled. 

Everyone is still doing well in school and adapting as regulations and restrictions change.  Autumn is still attending school in person 4 days a week and has been able to dance with her dance team at several football games, all of which we are grateful for.  Devin and Seth are doing well at BYU and Mitch is surviving his last semester of graduate classes for his Masters degree.  

Halloween was fun this year, though we never did get around to pumpkin carving.  Autumn dressed as a grandpa for school with a few of her friends, then dressed as a tennis player with Teddy for another Halloween event and finally as a Christmas tree for a Halloween dinner with her girlfriends.

Meanwhile, Seth and Delaney dressed as Thomas J and Vaida from "My Girl" (one of Seth's all time favorite movies) and Devin and Beth dressed as Pugsley and Wednesday from "The Addams family". Megan said she dressed as Wonder Woman for her school, as all the teachers (deservedly) dressed as super heroes that day.  Hooray for Halloween and October!!