Children, Cellos and Cowboys

Another much anticipated weekend has come and gone! Here's Saturday's run down:
Saturday
8:45 am - 11:30 am
Primary program practice - I was in charge of the program this year - a first for me. The practice was stressful but successful!

11:50 am - 2:30 pm

Cello recital - Isaac's very first one. He was so focused that he forgot to give me the nod to start the intro on the piano and started playing without me. Not wanting to interrupt his performance I let him continue to the end. And, as we had practiced so many times before the recital - he stood up, took a bow and sheepishly pointed at me with his bow to acknowledge the accompanist. Except I hadn't played a note. Everyone had a good laugh and thought it was cute. I don't think he was quite as amused but he got over it pretty quick. What a kid - there is just something deep within that won't let him break the rules!

4:30 pm - past my bedtime

The 15th annual Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Heber City - My parents have been attending this for years - and I was thrilled to finally get the chance to go. We went with some friends and had the chuckwagon dinner and saw the Bar J Wranglers. It was great, good old American fun. Good laughs and great music - and I don't even like country music that much! The Bar J Wranglers are a favorite at the festival for sure. They are very impressive! This festival goes on for one week every November. There are many performers, shops, dancing and food. It's quite the event! It's over this year but round up some cowboy boots and put this on your list for next year!

I am happy to report that the Primary program went great! No big mishaps - the kids rose to the occasion just like everyone promised me they would!

Halloween Tradition

One very special Halloween tradition is going trick-or-treating at Weston's 92 year old grandmother's house. It's not just a bowl of candy that she offers - but a treasure trove that she has been compiling for months.
This is what she offers up to the kids in her neighborhood:
Baskets of surprises to choose from. The surprises have either been wrapped by hand or taped up in one of the many boxes she has obviously collected throughout the year. Butter boxes, cream cheese boxes, toothpaste boxes, scotch tape boxes, etc.

Organized according to gender and age...
Or if the children would rather - they can select from one of several different craft projects displayed on her entry table. She has taken the time to complete each project so the children can see what the finished project looks like.

It's always a delight for the kids.


It is the cutest thing!! She has been doing this for years! (Jan - if you read this - how many years do you think she has kept this Halloween tradition?)

I have no idea what on earth all those little boxes hold! But here's the loot that came home with my kids: a leatherman (?), a film camera, a fancy pen and a coin purse. It is just such a charming thing - and let me repeat - she is 92 years old!

Halloween Review

Here is our Halloween weekend in review:
Carving Pumpkins - I think we decided that even though we thought it would be fun to have huge pumpkins - they were a little difficult to manage.


Similar to last year, the 6th graders were required to choose a historical person for the wax museum. She chose to be a wealthy Egyptian woman. The dress comes from my mom's costume collection left-over from her presentation so many years ago on "The History of Fashion." Wes altered it to fit Addie. The necklace comes from the same collection.

The Mad Scientist. He wore the goofy glasses to school but couldn't see through them well enough to wear them trick-or-treating.


Minnie Mouse - need I say more?
The turtle. Although she kept telling us she was a green pig.


She chose to be a nerd for the school Hallween party.

Vancouver - Part 2

The next day we drove to Granville Island. Granville Island is home to many art and craft galleries and a great indoor public market. I could have spent all day wandering through the stalls of fresh fruits, vegetables, bread, flowers and yummy food! Here we did some honey sampling.
Quite the selection of fresh pasta
The desserts...yum.

We then drove to the Lynn Canyon suspension bridge and went on a short hike. It was gorgeous!

It was a long way down!
That night we went to the U2 concert. Awesome. It was the last night of their 360 tour. This was the stage:
Black Eyed Peas opened. We barely made it to hear their last song, "Tonight's gonna be a Good Night." That's the only one I wanted to hear anyway. And literally we only heard it - didn't get to see it. Bummer. Here we are with 55,000 other fans.
We saw a fan run up onto the stage where he was immediately tackled by security. That was kind of exciting. Not that we needed any more excitement - it was such a great concert!
We flew home the next day. It was great to see the kids! They were well-taken care of by Jane and Chris. A big thank you!!

Sadly, we attended a funeral that night for "Streak" the frog. We were sad to see him go.
The rest of the evening was spent readying Halloween costumes for everybody. Welcome home!

Vancouver, eh? - Part 1

We just returned from four days in lovely Vancouver, Canada. Some friends invited us to go and see the U2 concert. I was absolutely delighted with this wonderful city! Wonderful views, great shopping, delicious food and did I mention we were sans kids? (Although I would love to return with the family someday.) The city will host the winter Olympics this coming February and the Olympic spirit was definitely in the air! It was a great time. Here are some highlights of our trip:
The very first night after we arrived the hotel notified us that our rental car was broken into. Someone smashed in the back window hoping to find our friend's GPS machine only to steal the window mount and cord. Welcome to the city!

The next morning we woke up bright and early to catch the ferry over to Vancouver Island. We parked our (new) rental car on the ferry and settled in for a one and half hour ride over to the island.

We killed the time playing Quiddler - until we saw the views outside!
We passed through several smaller islands until we reached Vancouver Island.

Downtown Victoria
We visited the Buchart Gardens. Amazingly beautiful! I can only imagine what they look like in full bloom!





That night we ate at a Hibachi grill. Rumor has it Bono and the band were eating in the restaurant next door! And we almost went there!! Our new Canadian friends, the Thompsons took this picture. He runs a whale watching boat and gave us his card. Now that would be a fun thing to do with the kids, eh?
More to come!

Fall Break - Part 2

Goblin Valley is a site to see for sure! The kids could not get enough of the crazy "mushroom" rock formations where they could climb, jump and hide.




A beautiful desert evening...
One last outing in the hills near our campsite
Can you spot the tiny hikers in the lower right side of the picture?
We discovered a large untouched sand dune - except for several sets of animals tracks
After some research we determined that these were porcupine tracks!









Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads - Henry David Thoreau

Fall Break - Part 1

With word that the kids were out of school for two days last week, Wes took the bull by the horns and planned a camping trip. He was determined not to the let the year slip by with the pop-up only leaving our driveway once! So we headed South and camped for two nights just outside of Goblin Valley. The weather could not have been more perfect and the landscape was stunning. I love Southern Utah.

We were lucky enough to find a campsite with this view:


Wes immediately spotted the small canyon in the white sandstone hills next to our campsite so as soon we settled in - we were off to explore!

Look at the beautiful rock formations! And that little girl is pretty cute too, huh?


Again...the cool rock formations...
We found quite a large piece of petrified wood.
And a lizard!

Back at camp - doing some Jedi maneuvers
Unfortunately the heater in the pop-up wasn't working but we had lots of blankets and tried to stay cozy. Good morning! (That's the kids' side of the trailer)
Friday we hiked Little Horse Canyon. This is a must-do hike that has only become easily accessible in the last decade or so. It has become a very popular hike for families and youth groups. However, it is still an amazing slot canyon that is worth seeing if you are in the area.





Cate spotted a black widow the size of a quarter!

We called this the "Wall of Faces"






The diverse rock formations were incredible!
The canyon can be part of a 6-7 mile loop but we just did a less than 2 mile hike up and back the actual slot canyon.
On to Goblin Valley!