Appreciating Nature...Most of the Time

One day soon after school started, my workout friends and I headed up to Wayne's Loop in Mendon.  Half of us wanted to walk/hike and the other half wanted to bike it.

It was so amazingly green...like we were in Hawaii or something!

Some of the pics I got from friends are a bit blurry but I still wanted to include them...

We had such an amazing time!  It was awesome and we can't wait to do it again!

We lost Chanelle for a bit but we were all reunited and all was well.

Andy took the boys up to Idaho Falls one Sunday evening and they stayed with Dan and Becky in preparation to hike Table Rock the next day.

Dan and Macy and Jake and Tyler Andrus joined them and they had a fabulous time!

It was hard but they made it and were all the better for it :)

One Monday night in September we had the most ridiculous wind storm!

It kept us awake and did so much damage!

Andy realized early in the morning that the Corolla was in danger.  He went out to find the basketball hoop embedded in the windshield :(

South Cache was canceled and so Matt joined me for a walk around the neighborhood the next morning.

So many trees down!  It was seriously crazy!  It smelled like Christmas because of all the people out chainsawing their pine trees that had fallen.

We were lucky we got away with just the windshield and our old rabbit hutch that had blown over.

One recent evening, Andy asked Matt to go wind up the hose and put it away.

He caught Matt in his effective method but Matt didn't want to be caught so this is him running away :)

 Abby captured a beautiful sunset with her phone one night before heading over to the church for her Young Woman activity (the first in person since mid March and COVID)...

School Starts and Sunday Socials

Well, school started up as usual this year even though we hadn't expected it to with COVID still being and issue.  Business as usual but with masks!

Ben's in 6th grade...last year of Elementary :(

Matt's in 8th...last year of middle school.

Abby's in 10th

And Josh is a Senior!

What!?!?!?

I had warned his bus driver and teacher that Ben wouldn't wear a mask.

I had tried to put one on him a few times before and within a few seconds he always tried to pull it off.

Imagine my surprise when Ben's teacher sent me this picture the first afternoon of school and told me he had kept it on all day!  He looks thrilled doesn't he?

I was amazed!...and continue to be amazed that he continues to wear them for the most part.

The other day at church he pulled it off a couple of times but he cooperated after a bit.

And this is now a view in our laundry room...

Thank you to my mom for making 50+ masks for the family!

As mentioned in my last post, we've had weekly Sunday visits from my parents.

At first we just visited at the front door but lately they've been coming to the back patio and we enjoy some time together visiting.  Ben loves getting outside and it's lovely to visit with family!

 

Lots of Stuff!

Ben...he always equates Sundays with seeing "Bapa" and "O" so he will often go sit and wait on the chair in the front room and wait for them...sometimes for hours...and sometimes he falls asleep :)

Just a cute pose I found him in while he watched one of his movies...

I can't remember what got them doing this but they were comparing the sizes of their feet...

Caught Josh at work at the D.I.

He makes a cute employee :)

I was able to help Laura with another funeral.

She put me in charge of the two standing sprays while she did the casket spray.

It was fun doing something different and I decided I like the process of standing sprays!

It was the funeral of a young woman that was in a car accident in Young Ward.

She somehow drove into the Israelson's pond and wasn't able to get out.

Super sad and literally close to home.

I was honored to be able to play a small part in the services.

On a Saturday afternoon at the end of August I ran into Smith's Marketplace for a few minutes.

When I came back out there were a man and a woman waiting for me.  She was his sister in law and speaking for him since he didn't speak much English.  He had tried to park next to me and somehow run his truck into the van...and another car parked in front of me.

She said he worked at an auto body shop and wanted to fix it on his own without involving insurance.  

Well, it's taken over a month but we're actually taking it in today (for the second time...the first time they had ordered in the wrong part) to be fixed.  We'll see how it goes :)