November 2021

Before we get on to the things we did in November, just have to post these 2 pics of our Halloween festivities that I failed to mention last month.  First, Bryce and I dressed as a Christmas tree and present for the YSA Halloween party:

And Autumn and her friend, Maci, dressed as boys for their Halloween party. (I think Autumn could pass as Justin Beiber when she dresses like a boy. :))

Bryce and I went to the temple one Saturday morning with a group of YSAs from our ward. It was pretty wonderful to be in the temple with some of the people we have grown to love so much over the past few months.

Bryce and I also got to go to a BYU basketball game courtesy of Marriott who gave the tickets to a few lucky Ancestry.com employees. We enjoyed a yummy dinner before heading to our awesome seats to watch the super exciting game. Autumn and her friend were at the game, too, and they came down from their nosebleed seats in the student section to join us at halftime when the seats next to us were still empty. It was super fun, especially since the Cougars pulled off an awesome win!

We made it on to ESPN - does that make us famous? :)

Devin and Levi were super excited to attend the grand opening of the WinCo in Logan (getting cheap groceries is a really big deal when you are on a college student budget) and had fun feeding the ducks.  And in exciting employment news, Devin was offered a job working at a microbiology lab in Cache County, so he said goodbye to his thankfully short-lived job at Walmart and is back to working in the lab. :)

Autumn traveled to Idaho with a couple of friends to go to BYU-Idaho's dance concert since their good friend, Emmy, is on the dance team there and they wanted to see her perform.  

She also went ice skating in SLC with Teddy, and got to hang out with her best friend Jacee when Jacee came home from Hawaii for Thanksgiving.  She was super excited to decorate her apartment for Christmas with her roommates. The difference between boys and girls in college apartments is staggering, in my opinion. 

The best part of our November came when all of the kids and spouses came home for Seth and Delaney's wedding on November 19 and stayed through Thanksgiving. First, the long-awaited for wedding of Seth and Delaney! The night before the wedding, Delaney's Granny Nancy took all of the family and close friends out to dinner so we could get to know each other a little better before the wedding. It was such a fun time and we loved getting to know Delaney's family a little better.

On November 19, we had the civil wedding and a really fun reception.  It was just beautiful and Seth and Delaney felt like everything was perfect, so that's a win. Megan officiated their civil ceremony and did such a beautiful job, Devin was one of Seth's groomsmen and Autumn fulfilled all of her little girl dreams by being their flower girl. :)  Unfortunately, we haven't gotten the professional photos back yet, so all I have to share are a couple of snapshots from my phone and a few from the disposable cameras.  The venue and everything was so beautiful - I can't wait to get the real photos and will share them next month.

This is Levi doing calculus at the reception when he didn't want to join in the dancing. :) For those of you who don't know, Levi is getting his masters degree in Applied Mathematics and loves theoretical math.

The next morning, Seth and Delaney were sealed for time and all eternity in the Mt. Timpanogos temple. It was a small and happy event and was the perfect ending to a really, really great weekend.

The rest of Thanksgiving week was also super fun!! We played lots of games, decorated the Christmas tree, ate tons of food (I swear I went to the grocery store every other day to get more food!), went to the movies and just hung out and laughed a lot.  We took family pictures on the coldest day of the year so far and everyone was troopers about ripping off coats long enough to take a few quick photos before quickly bundling back up in between shots.  Here are just a few of our favorites:

Love these 4 amazing human beings so much!! <3

We also took our annual trip to the Christmas lights at Luminaria at Thanksgiving Point. It just gets better and better every year and is one of our most favorite Christmas traditions! (Devin took up crocheting and made the Shrek hats for Seth and Delaney as a wedding gift because those 2 are obsessed with Shrek)

Of course we ate too much at Thanksgiving dinner at Jeff's house.  It was all delicious and Brittany and Alysha outdid themselves with table decorations that I really should have taken a picture of, but didn't. It was a very fun day together with family.

On November 28, we went to Teddy Chester's (now Elder Chester's) missionary farewell.  He did a really great job and started home MTC the next day.  He is called to serve as a missionary, assigned to the Barcelona, Spain mission.  He will be doing 2 weeks home MTC and then going to the Provo MTC for the last 4 weeks before he heads to Spain or wherever he is assigned during these uncertain times. He's going to be an awesome missionary and was so very excited to start his missionary service. 

That's it for our November.  Have an awesome month and we'll update you next month. :)

October 2021

 October is always one of my favorite months here in Utah and this year October did not disappoint.  Here's a look at some of the things we did:

I went to Springdale for a few days with my friend Michelle and we enjoyed the warm weather and of course, some sewing.  It was a fun and relaxing few days, but I didn't take any pictures to share, which is a theme of most of the things we did this month, I'm afraid. :(

We threw a bridal shower for Delaney and had some of her friends, plus local family (those that could come) and Delaney's Granny and aunt come.  Plus Megan was in town visiting with her besties from college, so they all came too, which was super fun! Again, forgot to take pictures, but it was a fun time for all!  We also did our final walkthrough of the wedding venue and Delaney and I went shopping for center piece items and took her dress to the alterations lady for a few final alterations.  We are getting so excited for the big day!! Only 3 weeks to go!

Autumn had her fall break from UVU and she and I decided what better way to spend a fall break than with a trip to Hawaii to visit Autumn's friends, Jacee and Hannah, who are going to school at BYU-H? We boarded a plane on her 19th birthday and headed to Oahu.  We spent the week in Laie and did lots of fun things!  Well, to be completely honest, I did a few fun things with Autumn and her friends and then had a great time reading an entire book on the beach and enjoying some of my favorite spots from when I was a student at BYU-H. It was a really fun trip down memory lane for me. :) I did take a few pics of this week. :)

We went to the Dole pineapple plantation on our way from Honolulu to Laie:

We also spent a day together at the Polynesian Cultural center and had all kinds of fun there:

Unfortunately, Autumn smashed her toe using the rhythm sticks in Fiji (as only Autumn can), so we also got to have First Aid patch her up.  They were super nice about it and even commented on how it was nice to have something else to do besides treat burns on the fire dancers. ;)

Autumn, Jacee, Hannah and I went to visit the Byodo temple, which was super cool:

We also had fun exploring BYU-H campus and the Laie temple:

And Autumn, Jacee and Hannah had a lot of fun exploring the island while I enjoyed some of my most favorite beaches close to Laie when I was a student.  It was really so much fun!

And of course we enjoyed some shave ice and other really yummy food!

While Autumn and I were enjoying some tropical sunshine, Utah had its first pretty significant snow storm.  Logan got so much wind and snow that Devin and Levi were without power for about a day.  It has since warmed back up and we are enjoying some beautiful fall weather.  Devin says he and Levi worked and went to school.  They also went to a corn maze, but didn't take any pictures.

Bryce helped Seth carve this jack o lantern

So that he and Delaney could take this super fun pic

Seth and Delaney also went to a Bleachers concert in Salt Lake City and did a ton of homework and worked in between all of that.  Seth also went with Beth to an art exhibit in Salt Lake City called Beyond Van Gogh, which was a super cool immersive art exhibit that let you feel like you were part of Van Gogh's paintings.  Bryce and I went a week later and we all really enjoyed it a lot and learned a lot of things about Van Gogh and his art that we didn't know.  Seth and Beth took way better pictures than Bryce and I did, for sure:

Megan and Mitch went for a hike in McCall that ended up being just a little longer than they planned, but still fun. :) They are always game for an adventure.  They also celebrated Mitch's birthday with a sushi dinner.  

Bryce and I went to a couple of plays this month - Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap" at Hale Center Theater (so good!) and a very small production of "The Frankenstein Story" which is a new musical written and directed and produced by friends that Seth had in high school.  It tells the story of Frankenstein as told in Mary Shelley's original book and the story and play were actually really good. We enjoyed it more than we expected to.

Autumn continues to perfect her "living away from home" skills.  She is getting better at cooking for herself and I love it when she FaceTimes me with questions about cooking or to show off her dinner creations.  She is also serving in her ward as a family home evening group leader and is being diligent despite the obstacles. :) She is loving her classes at UVU and is thriving in Provo.

Oh, and Frankie got us in the spirit of Halloween :)