Football, homecoming, work/rewards, traditions

Scott represented his civil engineering firm at a career fair at byu recently. Elisabeth went down with him and helped him set up and then she visited her former roommates while he did his thing. 

Annabelle did powder puff this year and loved it! It was fun to go watch some of her games. 

We try to go to all the home football games. This weeks game was a military theme. 

We came across 4 moose that were just off the side of the trail on our way up. There were a couple of grownup Moose and a couple of calves, and the noises one of them made was something I'd never heard before, it was loud and a type of calling that almost sounded like a moan, over and over again. 

Annabelle went to Homecoming with her friend Owen. They have a good group of friends. They went to Boondocks during the day and ate at Fratelli's for dinner. 

For my reading groups this year, I started a reward system because I had a few really challenging  groups. It worked like a charm! Most kids want to earn stars to get a small prize (pencil, sticker, bookmark, or the use of a boogie board during class when we write), so even if the more challenging student didn't care about the stars, if most of the others kids did, it immediately elevated the entire group because the other kids aren't letting the challenging one distract or disrupt. 

Scott and I have had couple date nights for years (usually eating out and temple, or sometimes hiking or other things) and recently we decided to have a weekly family date night. We started this in September and weekly we go out somewhere: Menchies, shake shack, Devil & Angel dessert . We love Simply Thai! And date nights! And the temple! And family nights! 

General Conference; Maria de los angeles passed away, Fall colors

 Jane cheers at the high school football games most Friday nights. They did their mini cheer fundraiser during one of the half times. Note to self: next year, print out flyers for the fundraiser and have Jane deliver them in her cheer uniform to some neighbors with young girls. (she didnt' get any to come this year, but I only posted it on social media).

We were able to watch General Conference over the first weekend of October. Saturday session was mostly me, Scott and Nora (the other kids were working or had things), but Sunday we were all there. Nora made her traditional fort, and she invited Megan to join us for the second session. I cleaned the kitchen during some of the sessions (since I can hear and see the tv well from the kitchen) and cooked during some of them too.

Sunday, Annabelle brought down her diamond art and her and Scott worked on it. We got some special conference snacks(goldfish, pb crackers, snapd cheezit gummy bears etc), as always, and had brunch both days. Saturday we got Einstein Bagels and Sunday we had homemade cinnamon rolls and mini crustless quiche. This time I used the Lionhouse cinnamon roll recipe which was delicious. Next time I'll need to add a little more flour so they're not so flimsy when I put the dough rolls on the cookie sheet. 

Saturday, in between sessions, I brought Annabelle a bagel while she was working, and then I stopped by the Farmer's Market that's right there. There were several stands lining two sides of a street, and  I found a stand run by a couple of hispanic men and wanted to give them my business. I bought a bag of peaches and pears, both of which were delicious (although the pears needed a couple of more days to ripen). 

My half sister, Maria de los angeles, passed away. She was born in February of 1958, so she would've been 66 years old. I actually don't have any pictures of her here, but below are her older siblings, Esperanza(June 1954), Lupe(February 1942) and Jose Luis(January 1956). I was able to have an hour long phone conversation with Esperanza this week which was nice. I contacted her after her sisters passing and asked if I could call. I came with some questions and learned more about her, and her family. I got a voice recording of it and typed up all I could. Elisabeth was our translator which was so nice! I couldn't have done it without her. 

Even though September and the first couple of weeks of October were still warm and in the 80s-90s, it was Fall and I wanted Fall foods, so I've been making various pumpkin treats and foods. Most of these recipes come from CSE. 

Nora went on a trail run with Penny and I. We hiked up and jogged down Herriman Foothills and on our hike up, we came across this snake! Yuck! 

Family date/treat night! This week was shake shack (and I grabbed an acai bowl from Tropical smoothie cafe since I didn't want too much dairy since it makes me bloated and gassy). 

We went for a Sunday drive in Provo Canyon and went up to KYHV lookout point. The Fall colors during the drive up and once we got up to the lookout were so beautiful! 

Cornhole tournament champions, Bells Lower Falls hike, friends!

My dear friend Elisa L got a puppy! It's their first pet and it's the cutest. His name is Luka. Every Friday we have scripture class at her mother-in-law, Deanne's house and she's brought Luka the last few times which has been fun and we all take turns holding him. 

Scott had his annual family work party/BBQ in August. The last few years we've had a cornhole tournament as an activity and the last three years Scott and I have won! I've loved that the last 2 years they've had this party at a park that's only 5 minutes from our house! In years past, and for other work events, it's usually in SLC, so this is great! Nora, Megan and elisabeth came with, although Nora and Megan just stayed for the dinner portion and then asked me to run them home, which I did. I was grateful they came for a bit. 

Jessica and her family moved here from Indiana at the beginning of the summer and Jessica's daughter plays soccer with Nora sometimes so we've become sideline friends :). Since we both enjoy hiking, we decided to go for a hike together one Saturday morning. We did Lower Falls of Bells Canyon which is one of my favorites because it's steep but only 5 miles RT. 

Scott and I went to the Piano Guys concert! We were supposed to go with Romney's, they were coming up from Idaho for it and had asked if we'd like to go with them,  but they ended up not being able to come out anymore. Piano Guys were entertaining and fun and we love their music! If we ever go again, I won't do lawn seats again, or if we do lawn seats, we'll come really early and bring our folding chairs we bring to soccer games, because as it was, no one followed the rule about having your chair only be 12 inches off the ground or shorter, and we only got there about 10 minutes early, so everyone was there and set up with their big chairs which meant we couldn't see unless we stood. So we stood for most of the concert which worked, but next time, we'll try something different. 

Sunday is the only day we all actually sit down and eat dinner together. We decided to add in another family night, so we have one more night a week now where we all meet up and spend time together, and we thought we'd need to make it worth their while since they're all busy teens, so we are trying to go out somewhere once a week, whether it's a cheaper dinner, or just for dessert/smoothies etc. 

Week one we went to Menchie's frozen yogurt. Week two we went to shake shack. This week I think we'll go to Swig. 

Elisabeth and Nora went skateboarding out in the neighborhood and dropped by the Haggins who were home! So jealous they got to visit with our dear friends that we haven't seen in way too long.