October

What a month!

School time is full, busy learning and building!-- 

Colton, Daxton, and Sierra built this train ramp, testing it and retrying it, until the train ran all the way down!  Good team work, guys!

Seminary class writing their General Conference quotes in the church parking lot.

Ryah: "Don't look beyond the mark.  He is our mark!"--Dale G. Renlund

Janson: "What a wonderful and marvelous blessing the Book of Mormon is."--M. Russell Ballard

Sierra has started taking music lessons!  We told her she could choose what she wanted to do, and she decided on violin! She is SO excited!

She is using Janson's old 1/2 size violin...and it's SO cute how thrilled she is that she gets to go WITH Janson to violin lessons. And he is so sweet with her. Of course, she's just beginning and he has been taken lessons for almost a decade...but he's going to play a duet with her and play Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star!

Such a good listener! She's doing great.

This was fun....discussing Come, Follow Me and learning about the armor of God!

We made our own helmets, breastplates, swords, etc...

Colton, Sierra, and Daxton--

And Janson--

And Ryah--

Sierra's been busy losing teeth! (The two front teeth are up next...oh, my heart. My girl is getting big!!)

Jonnie working with Colton on some piano--I love that scene.

I've had a couple of appointments recently, and had to be gone for part of our school-time.  Janson and Ryah would have their classes, and the younger 3 really stepped up and carried out with the assignments and work I left for them to do.  They did great work!  And they shared with me, upon my return.

Comparing and contrasting two different books--

Learning about Joan of Arc and coloring a picture of her--

They made a poster for science of the different types and examples of heat transfer--

They do great!

Soccer season has begun for Daxton and Sierra.  They were VERY excited and they are really loving it.

I love watching them play! They are both quite clever, and they are hard workers!

Ryah got these white shoes for her birthday, with the intent to decorate them. She planned out what she wanted to do, and then went to work!  She is very creative and fun!  And now she has some fun shoes, too!

She LOVES music!  So she drew and painted piano keys, music notes, and an ipod...

And they are colorful and VERY fun!  She is a clever girl.

Janson's big day came!!!  He has been training for months for his very first half marathon.

Vacation Races is my brother's company, and they do an amazing job.  So, we signed Janson up for the race at Lake Powell.  He has been very diligent in his effort and training.  He had done a great job and he was ready!  

The whole family drove up to Page, Arizona on Friday.  We went to the registration, to get his bib number and sign in.  He also got his shirt and other treasures.  They had a place where all the runners could sign their names, so Janson added his...

His signature is in green, right in the middle there....

We then changed and headed over to Horseshoe Bend, with the attempt to get some family pictures.  It was a "thrown-together" idea of mine....and my awesome, flexible family made it happen!  I won't post all those pictures now, but here is a quick snapshot we took of all of us by the lookout--

The sun was setting and it was a really nice night!

Exploring around, the kids climbed up on this rock and a number of them wanted a picture.

Colton--

Sierra--

Ryah--

Janson doing the "Lion King-lift" with Sierra--

That was impressive.  And then Daxton wanted Janson to lift him....and he did!  Yeah, that was REALLY impressive.

We grabbed some dinner and then tried to get to sleep, so we'd be ready to get up at 5:00 a.m. on Saturday--October 14th--RACE DAY!

We were there bright and early, ready to cheer Janson on!

Janson was ready to go, well-prepared.

Months ago, he thought he would be in the Orange Wave (3rd group), but in training, he had achieved the run under 2 hours, so he set a goal to finish in under 2 hours.  So, instead, he lined up with the 2nd wave group, the "Green" group.  

Here he is at the start of the race!

It also happened to be the day of the solar eclipse.  We got to watch the race AND the eclipse!

We didn't get to see him on the trail, but Vacation Races takes pictures and posts them on their site, and you can get them for FREE (which is awesome).  These were some of the shots they got--

These were the ones we got near the finish line--

I was waiting near the finish line, to capture his crossing the line.  And I'll admit, I got a little choked up as I spotted him nearing the end.  I was so proud of him, how he prepared, how he pushed himself, and to see him succeed at his goal.  AND....He did it!  He came in under 2 hours!!!  His time was 1 hour, 57 minutes! He did so great!!  So proud of him.

He rested for a bit, and we talked and watched the eclipse...

And much later, they had the awards ceremony.  In Janson's bracket (15-19 year old boys), he placed THIRD!!  He was one of, if not THE, youngest boys out there, and he placed third!!  We also learned that overall, he was the 46th runner out of 640!! 

Third place!!! (he's the second from the right, in the red shirt)

First half marathon, 3rd place, solar eclipse--good day!

All the kids enjoying the eclipse.

Wonderful day together!

Jonnie and Janson--

We had an engraving for Janson's 3rd place medal.  He likes the phrase, "Shoot for the stars, clear the mountains" but he couldn't fit all of that on it, so he chose "Clear the Mountains" with his name and his time.  Well done!

After the race, Janson grabbed a shower and changed at the hotel, then we visited a bit of the area before we left.  We spent some time at Glen Canyon Dam.  The kids enjoyed climbing to the top. :)

Janson and Ryah enjoyed sitting and talking.  I love how they get into their deep talks together.

Appreciating the view--

It was a great day.  I loved our time together, and supporting Janson!

The Ward had the Fall Festival on the next Saturday.  It was a busy day.  The festival was from 4-6, but Daxton had a soccer game at 4:00.  So I stayed with him, while everyone else headed to the festival.  Then, after the game, I took Daxton over to it and I picked up Colton, to take him to his basketball game.  I didn't attend the festival, but that's okay--I love watching my kids play sports, so I enjoyed that.  I also love having one-on-one time with them, so that was fun!

Daxton and Sierra (dressed as Hiro and Go-Go from Big Hero 6) at the festival:

Ryah (dressed as a DJ) with Haley Mulleneaux--such a cute picture of them!

The NEXT weekend, on Friday the 27th, we had our "Harry Potter Feast".  It's become a tradition for us at Halloween time.  We didn't do it last year, as we were on the road.  So, I added an extra touch this year, and wrote out "invitations" to them.  They liked that!  Sierra even had Colton later help her write one for me, to invite me to cook the feast! Ha ha! :)

But when it came down to it. they all chipped in!  And that made it even more fun!  They helped fill all the handheld chicken pot pies and the pumpkin pasties.

Sierra was all about dressing up.  She says she was "Ginny Weasley".

Action shot! 

Daxton, with the "Ron-smirk"--

Ron, Ginny, and Harry :)

We had our feast and watched the first movie (as that's the one Sierra has seen--edited, of course).  Perhaps next year, we will read her the 2nd and watch that one, and space it out for her. 

It was a success!

And the new recipe I got for frozen Butterbeers was a hit!  It reminded us of the ones we tried last year at Universal's Harry Potter World. YUM.  Great addition.

In piano, the kids' teacher gave them a piece to work on that involves all three of them!  It's "Joy to the World"--and I love it!  I love watching all 3 of them at the piano together....something about it just gets me choked up.  I guess my tender heart is increasing in tender-heartedness as I age. :)

Family Home Evening, the day before Halloween--we did some pumpkin carving (and my pumpkin seed baking--that's my favorite part!).

Janson kept the Halloween music going, and he helped me cut up all the butternut squash for our Halloween dinner the next day...while the other 4 each carved a pumpkin. They chose their own designs and it came out great!

From left to right:

Sierra wanted a "classic jack-o-lantern face"; Daxton did the Mandalorian/Yoda face; Colton did the Spiderman symbol; and Ryah drew a mountains and river scene....

Great work!!

Ryah and I wore the same shirt all day, so we had to take a picture! ;)

And then Jonnie got his on, too, so he joined the crew!

Our traditional Halloween meal--(orange) butternut squash soup, salad, and "Mummy dogs" (hot dogs wrapped in crescent roll dough). Good times.

Then, we got ready for trick-or-treating.  Colton as Spiderman; Daxton as Hiro; and Sierra as Go-Go.

Ryah, our cute DJ (although she just walked with us for a bit, and then went back to help Janson pass out candy to people who came to our house).

Janson and Jonnie dressed up as each other! They did it for the fall festival, too.  I love it! So fun.  They are exactly the same height right now, so they got the idea to dress up as each other.   Both wearing BYU hats, but Janson wears the longer crew socks and Jonnie usually wears ankle socks....Janson usually wears basketball shorts and Jonnie often wears khakis....and of course the shirts, "Best Dad Ever" for Jonnie and Janson's Thomas Jefferson shirt, "I cannot live without books".  So perfect for each of them!

We realized that the spider design Colton carved was just like the one on his costume--matching!

We took the kids trick or treating around the neighborhood, and there were some who really got decked out!  There was even a house that was handing out shaved ice!

It was a good time.

Ryah and I have also continued to volunteer almost every week at the English classes for the Taiwanese people in the area.  We have loved it. And recently, Janson has joined us and he comes every week now.  I love this experience that we share.  I enjoy serving, and I love that my kids are being given the chance to serve and learn about and appreciate other cultures and people and backgrounds....it's been a wonderful thing.  And it's just been a lot of fun, too!

And just like that, October has come and gone.  Lots of good things going on, and we are grateful to share in it together!