Fall color

October 2015

Here are some of the color displays in our yard in the fall:

This is a hibiscus plant that I planted last fall. The flowers are huge!

My mums got huge this year and took over! There are a few smaller mum plants in there that were totally taken over by the bigger ones. Some of the big plants were almost perfectly round in shape. In the background you can see some of our Halloween decorations.

Sidewalk art

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Some more art work with some sidewalk paint:

Utah Natural History Museum

Monday, October 5, 2015

When MJ and I went to the Natural History Museum of Utah for her field trip we were given some free passes to come back again. So we decided to go with the other girls while they were off-track. We were able to spend a little more time on some of the exhibits and it wasn't as crowded as when we went for the field trip which was nice.

Dressing up as pigeons

This was an exhibit that simulated different earthquakes across the world. You had to try and build a structure that could withstand the different earthquakes.

Digging for dinosaur bones.

This was a puzzle that we pieced together.

Bean Museum

Friday, October 2, 2015

The Monte L Bean Life Sciences Museum at BYU has been closed for the last year or so for some remodeling. We decided to go and check out the changes. I think a lot of it is still under construction because we couldn't find some of the exhibits that were supposed to be there and it had a couple of sections that were blocked off. It was POURING rain when we got to the museum! Afterwards we went and ate lunch with DH at his work - the girls love doing that. Blondie came with us because she was also off of school - I think Luke came too but I don't have any pictures of him.

Off Track Activities

The three younger girls were off-track for a few weeks in September/October. We made some swirly rocks with crayons and made some sidewalk paint. Here are a few pictures:

National Honor Society

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

M&M was inducted into the National Honor Society at her school. I'm not sure why she didn't apply for it for her junior year but I kind of pushed her to do it for her senior year. She almost didn't but with some extra prodding I was able to talk her into it. She found out at the end of the school year that she had been accepted but they didn't have the induction ceremony until September.

3rd Car

We told M&M that if she got her YW Personal Progress completed we would look into getting a 3rd car so that she could drive to school instead of me driving her every day. Well, summer came and almost went and school was about to start and we finally found a car that we thought would work well. It is a 2001 Toyota Corolla with decent mileage and is not a great looker so we don't care if it gets beat up a little for our teenage drivers. It has manual windows, manual door locks, no rear defroster and the paint has a clear coat that is flaking off. It is awesome! We bought it the first week of school and had to get a few things fixed up to get it registered - needed a new front windshield and some new brakes. It has been really nice having a third car and not having to drive her everywhere or have her take the van. It has definitely freed up some more of my time!

Nebo Competition

Saturday, September 26, 2015

I went with Luke's band to Payson for the Nebo marching band competition. (M&M's band did not compete at this one - they had an all day clean-up rehearsal instead.) Luke's band is competing at the 2A level this year (M&M's band is 4A). I thought they did really good for their first competition. I helped assemble some of their props and then with getting the band on and off the field. We then fed them before we left to return to the school. They didn't stay for awards because there was a school dance later that evening - which is unfortunate because they came is 1st place!! I think it was out of 7 bands! They were super excited! Apparently the band director dropped her phone when she was texted the results! The show is called Scheherazade and tells the story of a prince who selects a wife but she is in love with a commoner. At one point the prince and the commoner fight and the commoner is killed. I'll have to post a video of the show. Here are some pictures that I took from the sidelines:

Luke is just one of two clarinets in the marching band. If you zoom in on some of these pictures you can probably pick him out - he is the clarinet with glasses on and he is a little bit shorter than the section leader.

I loved these gold flags!

Field Trip - MJ

Thursday, September 24, 2015

MJ's class went on a field trip to the Natural History Museum of Utah up at the University of Utah campus. I was able to go as a chaperone. I was put in charge of MJ and two boys from her class. The kids had to answer some questions about a few of the exhibits and we also ate lunch there. It was a nice place - I had never been there before.

Weber Review

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Since we have two different kids in different marching bands, I will be splitting my time volunteering between the two. The Weber Review is held each year on a Tuesday just before the competition season begins. It is the first performance before judges and then they give feedback on ways to improve the show. There are no place awards or scores given out.

I haven't volunteered at this one before because Tuesdays are hard when you have young kids and your husband is working. This year though I was able to go because the younger kids are getting older and able to watch each other. Luke's band was performing during the daytime so I went with M&M's band that was performing in the evening. M&M's show is entitled Dead Men Tell No Tales and is a pirate theme.

M&M is in the line on the left (to the right of the flags) - second person back.