June 2014

Our first month of summer was fun and busy.  We are definitely enjoying the break from school!!

Devin is really enjoying working at Firehouse Subs and the library.  We went to Firehouse one evening when he was working and got to see him in action making sandwiches. :)

We had my nephew, Brandon, and his wife, Nicole move in with us for the month of June when they unexpectedly had to move out of their old apartment.  It was fun having them living with us for a few weeks!  After much searching, they found an apartment in Provo that was just right for them and moved out on July 8th.  Autumn especially was sad to see them go.

Autumn spent her one week of summer off of dance doing a hip hop dance intensive called Lovolution.  She danced various styles of hip hop with some very fun and talented instructors for 6 hours each day Monday-Wednesday.  She was exhausted and learned a ton.  Then, on Thursday, the dancers spent the entire day filming a hip hop music video at various locations all over the valley.  They had 4 different dance themes – Asian, Latin, Bollywood and Haitian and they had different locations, costumes, hair and make up for each style.  Autumn had to be in SLC at the Paul Mitchell salon at 7 am to get her Asian hair and make up done, then it was off to the International Peace garden in West Valley for the Asian shoot, then back to Highland for Latin hair and make up and the Latin shoot, up AF Canyon for the Bollywood shoot, then back to Highland to have Haitian hair and make up done and to shoot the finale.  She wasn’t done until 9 pm – exhausted and happy.  We got to see the premiere of the music video on Friday evening and it turned out pretty awesome – Autumn sure loved the experience!

We have been trying to do something fun as a family every Friday that we are in town and have enjoyed visits to the new Natural Curiosity Museum, the Dinosaur Museum and farm country so far.  We also visited a Farmer’s market where we got to sample waffles from the Waffle Love truck – yum!!

Bryce and the boys went to High Adventure for a week in Moab and Glenwood Springs, Colorado.  They had fun biking, hiking, repelling, white water river rafting and visiting an amusement park in Glenwood Springs.  They came home with lots of fun stories to share.  I think they had the most fun repelling, but conquering the slick rock bike trail in Moab is definitely a huge deal for all of them.

While the boys were gone, Autumn and I enjoyed some girl time together.  We decided last minute to have an overnighter in Park City and had a good time riding the Alpine coaster and alpine slide as well as doing some hiking, movie watching and shopping. 

Autumn went with the other Activity day girls to a day camp at Camp Jeremiah on what must be the coldest day in June history ever.  After trying archery, some water activities and having a picnic lunch in freezing rain, they finally gave up once the thunder and lightning started.  Autumn still had a great time despite the freezing weather.

Megan continues to do great as a missionary in Houston.  June started out really rainy and has since turned super, super hot and humid – good thing she is unflaggingly optimistic and cheerful – I’m not sure I could survive being out in the heat and humidity nearly all day every day.  She celebrated her 20th birthday on June 24 and her year mark on July 3. :) :)

Notice the awesome watch tan line in the above picture – Megan has never been tan in her entire life, until now. :)

On June 25, we started our 12 day vacation to the Northwest by driving to visit my dad in Seattle. We toured around the city for the next 3 days and had so much fun visiting the Ballard Locks, the EMP museum, the American Girl doll store, Pikes Place market, and taking a cruise to Tillicum Island where we enjoyed an Indian feast and story-telling and dance program.  It was a really fun few days and so nice to be cool for a change. :)

The picture above was taken at the EMP museum in front of a green screen exhibit.  Devin had no idea that I was attacking him with a hammerhead shark, which just makes his expression that much better.

We drove to Tigard on June 29, where we spent a couple of days with Grandma and Grandpa Ririe before driving to Sunrivier for the Ririe family reunion.  While we were in Tigard, we decided to follow Tami’s example and hike the 4T’s trail, which we really loved!  We were blessed with a crystal clear day and were able to see Mt. Hood, Mt. Ranier, Mt St Helens, and Mt Adams from the highest point on the hike.  Grandma and Grandpa didn’t join us for the hike, but met up with us at OHSU and took the tram, trolley and train rides with us, which was lots of fun.  We also hiked up to Oneonta Falls on a very hot day and enjoyed the gorgeous and bone chilling hike up the river to the falls.  After the hike, we had a picnic lunch up the gorge and really enjoyed the scenery. 

You will have to tune in next month to hear about the Ririe family reunion in Sunrivier since technically that was in July. ;)  Hope you all have a great month!!

May 2014

Oh my, what a May!  I think May could rival December when it comes to activities that keep us busy, but it sure is fun – take a look:

I’m not sure we ever saw Autumn in May with all the dancing she was doing – a Company Showcase, her last competition of the season, separate Ballet and Jazz recitals along with their extra rehearsals, and tryouts for next year – it’s just a good thing she loves dancing so much! We were so happy that Grandma and Grandpa Ririe made it for a short visit on their way home from their cross country trip and were able to be there at her Ballet and Jazz recitals – what a treat!!  Autumn is excited about her new team for next year!  She was supposed to have a week off before summer classes start on June 9, but she begged to take a week long Hip Hop dance intensive for that week, so we just keep dancing on…

Seth celebrated his 14th birthday with a pretty low-key day with family eating all of his favorite foods and enjoying his new clothes.  Bryce ordained him to the office of a Teacher the following Sunday.

Mother’s Day was made even better this year when we got to spend an hour Skypeing with Megan. She is doing so great and really loves being a missionary.  It was awesome to be able to talk with her and to see that she is really just as happy as she seems to be in her letters.

Bryce took the boys to Father’s and Sons and they had a great time camping, canoeing, playing with friends and ziplining into and over the lake. To no one’s surprise, Seth was the first to actually jump into the lake but others soon followed.  It was a fun weekend for them.

Seth and Devin both participated in our Stake’s musical production for the youth called “TURN” that was all about family history.  It was really good and both the boys loved being a part of it.  I’m not sure that Bryce loved that Devin wore his letterman’s jacket as part of a production on family history since it just makes him feel that much older. :)

Autumn spent a Saturday shooting a commercial up at Liberty Park for a gigantic bubble blowing thing.  She had a really fun time, and after several hours of creating, running through, popping and cheering on ginormous bubbles, she was a hot and sticky mess. I don’t think she even had to use soap when she showered when she got home :)

Devin started working his 2nd summer job (he will keep his job as a library helper through the summer since it’s just a few hours a week and is really flexible).  He will be working at Firehouse Subs through the summer and is really enjoying it so far.

We got to have Jessica come back and stay with us for a few more days to finish up her job as a dance teacher here in Utah, which was super fun for us – she is awesome!  We drove to Boise at the end of the month to celebrate her wedding to my nephew Ben in the Boise temple.  It was a really fun and busy weekend and we all enjoyed partying and cutting a rug at the reception!  Since Seth caught the garter and Autumn caught the bridal bouquet at the reception, I am thinking we will be having a double wedding here soon. :)

We experienced a bit of a miracle when Seth wasn’t hurt at all when he was hit by a car while riding his bike to school.  His bike was pretty beat up (it’s in the bike shop right now seeing if it can be fixed or if he will just have to get a new bike), but thanks to the fact that the lady who hit him hit his back tire and didn’t hit Seth straight on, Seth is fine. Hopefully Seth has learned to be more aware of traffic around him because even though he had the right of way, in a bike/car accident, the bike is always going to lose.  We are all feeling grateful.

Devin and Seth both had their end of year choir concerts, Seth ran the Jr. High’s 5k, and all of the kids finished out the school year with straight A’s for the year.  Now that school is out for the summer, we are all looking forward to a few months that are less scheduled – hooray for summer!!

April 2014

Where did April go?  This month just seemed to fly by!!  Here’s a look at some of the stuff we did:

Seth ran track some more and continued doing well in the 800m and mile races, even winning the 800m race for all boys 7th, 8th and 9th grades at one of his meets. He qualified for the region wide meet that was held the last 2 days in April and did well, especially considering the super high winds those days.  He is now officially done with another season of track.

We spent the first half of Spring Break hiking and playing around Moab and had an awesome time!  The weather couldn’t have been more perfect and we found some new hikes we had never done before that were gorgeous.  We took Sasha with us this time and she loved hiking around with us.  We also did a ziplining adventure on top of the red rocks around Moab that was gorgeous!!  We drove the really long way home and stopped at Capital Reef National Park for the first time, mostly just to cross it off of Seth’s bucket list to visit all 5 National Parks in Utah.  Ours was mostly just a drive through with a few quick stops, but Bryce spent more time in Capital Reef later in the month doing all sorts of adventurous stuff. More on that later…

Devin spent the second half of Spring Break on choir tour in Anaheim, California and had a great time visiting amusement parks with his friends and then attending a music festival and performing in an “awesome” concert with a bunch of other choirs from around the country.  He didn’t take any pictures, so the only one I have is one that his friend, Shea texted me when they were in Disneyland. :)  Devin was also thrilled to find out that he made Chamber Choir for next year and will get to follow in Megan’s footsteps when he performs in Carnegie Hall in NYC next Spring.

Autumn performed with a bunch of other 5th graders from all over the State in Provo Freedom Festival’s “Hope of America” at BYU’s Marriott Center.  It was an awesome patriotic musical program that Autumn’s class has worked on all year, so she was super excited to finally get to perform it.  Autumn was on the very front row of students on the Marriott Center floor, right in the center, so the day after the performance, she was so excited to see a picture of herself in the newspaper covering the story.  Below are pictures of all of the kids in their red, white and blue and yellow t-shirts to create the American flag and the picture that was in the newspaper of Autumn.

Seth went on a mountain biking campout with his scout troop and had an awesome time mountain biking, even when he took a major wipe out that left him skinned up pretty good.  He told me, “I always say, if you’re going to crash, crash big.” :)

Devin went to Prom with his good friend Shea and they had a great time!  Here’s a couple of pictures.

Autumn had more dance competitions and continued to improve and do well.  She is now getting ready for her final competition, all of her recitals and tryouts for next year.  Busy girl!

Bryce spent a weekend hiking and rappelling in Capital Reef area with a group of friends.  He had an awesome time doing some really cool rappels over arches and down deep canyons.  Unfortunately the weather turned super rainy on their last day when they were supposed to hike through a slot canyon, and since everyone knows a slot canyon is not a place you want to be in a rainstorm, they did a couple of shorter hikes instead and came home a little early.

Megan had another great month being a missionary.  I LOVE that nearly all of her letters home contain “I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY” somewhere in the letter.  We are waiting to hear if she will be transferred this next week and CAN’T WAIT to talk to her on Mother’s Day!

We had a fun end to our month when our soon to be niece (marrying my nephew Ben) came to stay with us for a week before heading to Idaho to finish wedding plans.  Jessica fits right in with our family and we have been having a lot of fun.  We’re looking forward to going to Ben and Jess’s wedding at the end of May.

I guess that’s it for April – happy Spring everyone!!