November 2020

 November was pretty quiet around our house.  Devin and Autumn both quarantined at our house when they tested positive for Covid, so we were all on lockdown for a couple of weeks in November. We did have some fun before and after being confined to our home (and even some fun during quarantine, though I didn't take pictures of all the games we played :)). 

Autumn started the month with a girls choice dance with a group of friends from school.  They all dressed up as Guy Fieri from Food Network.  Autumn was pretty proud of the costumes she put together for herself and Teddy, and they had a great evening out together.

While Autumn and Teddy were having fun at their dance, Bryce and I took Devin, Beth, Delaney and Seth to see "Murder on the Orient Express" at Hale Center Theater.  It was a great play and we had a fun time together!

As mentioned earlier, Autumn and Devin both tested positive for Covid early in November.  They both had mild symptoms (runny nose and one day fever for Autumn and a mild cough and one day fever for Devin) and recovered quickly.  Bryce and I thought for sure we would get it, but we came through the whole thing with no symptoms and negative Covid tests. We still stayed away from Grandma Ririe when she came for a Thanksgiving visit as a precaution, and were sad that we didn't get to spent time with her when she was here.

After quarantine, Autumn was lucky enough to get wristbands to be able to attend the 6A State Championship football game and cheer on Lone Peak in the final game of the season. We are so thankful that Autumn was able to attend several football games this year and dance at halftimes and then was able to cheer on her team at the State Championship. It would have been perfect if Lone Peak had won the championship game, but you can't have everything, I suppose.

 We had a very quiet Thanksgiving with just me, Bryce, Devin, Seth and Autumn. But we still enjoyed all the yummy foods, played a lot of games together and also put together hygiene and infant kits for a local organization that distributes them to refugees.  It was a really fun day, even with just the 5 of us.

Megan and Mitch came home the day after Thanksgiving and we had a lot of fun together that weekend with tons of games, a little shopping and our traditional outing to see the lights at Luminaria at Thanksgiving Point.

That's it for our November! Loving the Christmas season so far - I'll tell you all about it next month. :)

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!!

September 2020

 September marks the beginning of my favorite time of year, especially in Utah - FALL!!  We were able to enjoy the mountains and cooler, but warm and sunny weather a lot this month, which has been awesome. Take a look:

We ended August and started the month of September with a visit from Grandma Ririe, which we all loved.  We enjoyed doing things like going for walks, meeting up with some of the Provo grandkids for dinners, playing games and going to see "Little Women" at Hale Center theater.  We enjoyed having her visit and were sad to see her go home to Oregon.

I went to Springdale (just outside of Zion National Park) with some of my quilting friends for a few days to sew and enjoy each others company and the beautiful scenery of that area.  I had a lot of fun, enjoyed some gorgeous runs through Zion and got some quilting projects done.  A wonderful few days, for sure!

Grandma enjoying a nap under one of our quilts :)

Megan and Mitch are still doing well in Logan.  Megan enjoys the speech therapy side of her job, the paperwork not so much, but she is enjoying it overall very much.  Mitch, who graduates with his Masters in Computer Engineering in December, was just offered a job at Marvell Semiconductor, Inc, a programming company located in Boise, Idaho where he interned this past summer.  He will start working remotely in January and then he and Megan will move to Boise area once Megan finishes up her contract at the end of May.  We are excited for them!

Devin and Seth are both doing well in their classes at BYU, most of which are online, which isn't ideal, but they are managing okay.  Devin works 3 afternoons/evenings a week at a microbiology lab in Lehi and Seth is working doing custodial at Heritage Halls at BYU.  Devin is also in the process of applying for grad school programs as he will graduate with his BS in Microbiology in December.

Autumn is doing her best to enjoy her Senior year of high school despite the craziness of all the Covid restrictions.  She loves to spend time with her friends and took a weekend trip with a few friends to Jackson Hole, Wyoming that was a fun getaway.  Her high school recently moved to a hybrid schedule of teaching where half of the students attend school in person for 2 days while the other half do school online and then they switch.  Hopefully it won't be too long before they can return to school full time in person.  She still loves to dance and perform and we are so grateful those programs haven't been cancelled. What a year!

Bryce and I spent a few days hiking through the mountains as he prepares for a rim to rim hike in the Grand Canyon in October.  We have seen some absolutely beautiful scenery hiking through the mountains.  Streams, lakes, mountain peaks overlooking amazing vistas and just stunning fall colors.  We sure love Utah this time of year!!

Oh yeah, and we also had some close encounters with the wildlife. We saw several moose - one that passed by us on the mountain just above the trail where we were walking - it was huge and probably only 6 -10 feet away from us. :)  We also watched these 2 moose grazing and butting heads.

Bryce celebrated his 53rd birthday, and he and Autumn and I took an afternoon drive through the Alpine loop and enjoyed some delicious lunch at Sundance.  Oh, and Autumn and I both cut our hair short this month and we both love our shorter hair. 

That's it for our September. Here's to another gorgeous month in October. :)