November 5, 2023
We had a fun Halloween! It was a little strange to go to Hinckley's Halloween parade at his school and Kassie went and saw the two others at the Dry Creek parade. Addie was in tears when she saw Kassie…we think the day was very stimulating for her. But she ended up having a great day. She was determined to go trick or treating till 7:30 (about 2 hours) and we nearly did. Greyson asked if I would dress as a basketball coach (wear a suit) so I did. He is so funny. Kassie made some fun Halloween food for dinner including witch fingers for breadsticks and meatball eyeballs. It was a memorable and fun holiday. They hauled in a lot of candy, but all three kids were very eager to sacrifice to the great pumpkin this year.
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| Greyson's "smeller" invention |
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| Making witch finger bread with mom |
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| Coach and player |
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| Halloween kids ready to go |
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| Ready to get candy with Declan |
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| Brooke and Addie (Wednesday and Mal) |
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| Great pumpkin haul |
Greyson got a youth-size basketball which he was very eager to begin bouncing on the kitchen floor. Addie got a fuzzy pink fanny pack though she informed me you don’t wear it around your fanny these days but on your shoulder…apparently it is the rage and many kids even wear them empty. Hinckley was super excited about getting Dungeons and Dragons D&D and was not daunted by the 65-page rule book. I had to turn to AI to help me begin to understand how to start. Apparently, the games are at least 3 hours long.
The rest of the week was recovering from Halloween, including Greyson throwing up on the bus stairs poor guy. I went to Hinckley's maturation talk with the rest of the 5th grade boys which went well. Hinckley and Addie got haircuts that they were very excited about, and on Saturday they both went to a "bright ideas" camp in which they designed alien worlds and did other fun science things. Greyson was feeling better enough to play in his basketball game and sink some great shots!
October 29, 2023
This week I went to New Jersey/New York for work for a "simulation boot camp." Basically, that means I got together with members of my design team to learn more about designing simulations. I've been on a simulation project this year which is the first of its kind on our team and we will be doing more of them this next year so I'm excited! It was a good trip and my first time in the NYC area since high school.
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| Ground zero |
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| Playing in the leaves |
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| Floating head |
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| Costumes with cousins |
While I was out Kassie took the kids to a very fun ward activity the youth put on for everyone with fun games, a chili and pie cookoff, and lots of treats. The leaves have been falling and got 20 degrees cooler near the end of the week. Everyone got some time to play in the leaves and enjoy the colors. Also this week I put together a baptism for a woman from Columbia visiting her family in our ward. She doesn't speak English so it was tricky to figure out how to put the program together and get the pieces to align for the service on Saturday, but it all went really well and she seemed to feel the Spirit strongly. Our stake was reorganized today in stake conference and it was split. It is astonishing how much this area has grown in the last 15 years!
October 22, 2023
This week we went to a BYU chemistry show with the Kays and the kids were enthralled! Addie got to go up and mix some goo with her hands which she enjoyed. We all liked the balloons exploding and liquid nitrogen demonstrations as well. It was a hit.
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| Ready for the show |
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| Addie's demo |
Most of the rest of the week was fall break and our trip to Colorado. The kids had fun doing a variety of activities including Autumn crafts, a hike, movies, time with cousins, archery, and ceramics among other things. The Fall colors were stunning for our drive across the Rocky Mountains!
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| On the road |
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| Marshmallows in the backyard |
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| Liquid nitrogen ice cream at the cemetery activity |
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| Pirate Shep and Basketball Greyson |
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| Corn husk pirate |
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| Shooting arrows with Uncle Dan's help |
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| Link hits the target |
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| Princess dress ups |
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| Basketball boys |
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| Sleeping in the backyard tent with Grandad |
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| Tea with Grandma and Mom |
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| Happy times with Lincoln |
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| Rice Krispie zombies |
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| Crafts with Grandma and Burnside cousins |
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| Girls ceramics |
October 15, 2023
Monday we had Addie’s final cross country meet of the season in Provo. It was great to have so much family there to support her (including Rach)! She did a really great job and seemed to enjoy it. She was disappointed she didn’t get a medal or a ribbon at the end, it was clear she thought she’d get one. But she took it really well and seemed to be eager to do this again next year. Addie and Kassie had a fun date to Corbelly's (pumpkin patch). They saw the light show, played lots of fun games, and enjoyed all the sights and sounds. It was a lot of fun!
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| All done!! |
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| Running |
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| Fun date with Mom |
We had a good visit down in Provo on Thursday night to celebrate some October birthdays. It was wonderful to see Rach before she left on Friday and Trent after his knee replacement surgery. The kids were in heaven running wild in the backyard. On Friday Hinckley presented his final state report and float (like a diorama) for school. He was assigned to Nevada and did lots of research and work on that! He seemed to feel good about it. He continues to love swimming at the rec center on Tuesdays and Thursdays for morning workout and that is going pretty well.
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| Hinckley at his morning swim |
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| Pumping up a paper ball |
Greyson has been having some major fits about wanting to build yet another hoop. But not just any hoop, one with a metal pole and a glass backboard. There has been much weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth over this. He also made a paper basketball with tape and "Wilson" designs. He really wanted me to fill it up with the pump and was pretty sad when that didn't work out. He and I had a really fun date on Saturday going to Shoot360. The place is a modern basketball gym with some crazy technology that has you doing basketball drills with a life size screen that you can throw the ball against, as well as hoops that track the arc, depth, and positioning of each shot. It tracks it all and sends your analytics to an app on your phone. We just tried it out for the free trial hour and what was Greyson's favorite part? Just playing a half court "game" with Dad on a plain no tech court.
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| Drills at Shoot360 |
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| Jungle trail |
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| Eclipse! |
On Saturday I invited a neighbor over to help me begin installing some garage storage shelves and we did 1 of 2 which feels good. Everyone enjoyed looking at the eclipse which was really neat! Kassie and I went on a double date with a couple in the ward and played Pickleball and went for Indian food after. We realized this is the first time we've gone to dinner with another non-family couple in....years. Maybe since before we had kids?! It was a lot of fun. Today (Sunday) we enjoyed some fall leaves at the Jungle Trail in Draper and the perfect fall time weather. Soaking it up as much as we can before it becomes brown and cold.
October 8, 2023
October is off and running and we are enjoying the amazing colors all around including the snow capped peaks around Utah valley. Addie had her longest race (4k) of the season in Orem on Monday and did a great job pushing through on that! Greyson had his first basketball game of the season and was in heaven. He got to score a basket and snagged a few rebounds too. He was completely enchanted by it all. Hinckley supported both his sibling sporting events, and he and I enjoyed a date at Corbelly's (Thanksgiving point pumpkin patch). We got lost in the corn maze together and in an effort to get to a visiting circus act on time cut through the corn maze and stumbled out at a random place. We had a great time! Kassie took all the kids to a different pumpkin patch on Friday as they all had received free passes earlier this year.
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