This & That

 Kai's family celebrates the 21st of September (from the song) every year. It's one of his favorite days of the year because they party together as a family. He was really excited to bring a cake in to celebrate with the librarians. :) 

Damon enjoyed playing flag football this fall. They played at Palisade Park and it was cold and windy every game with the wind coming out of the canyon. A couple games were especially bad and Damon and Jacob would bundle up in the blanket any time they weren't on the field.

Damon liked to hike the ball.

He enjoyed learning a new sport and especially liked having Jacob, Richmond, and Jaxon on his team.

There was a solar eclipse during Damon's last game, so it was fun to watch both at the same time. :)

Tessa and I went rollerblading on the Murdock Trail again and had a lovely Sunday afternoon together.

Damon saved enough money to buy himself a laptop!! He has been talking about buying one for a while now, and was so excited when he had the money he needed. He has loved playing Bloons with Rockwell and doing his homework on his own computer. Way to work hard for what you want Damon!!

Tessa has also been working hard at her gym. She was having a real mental block with jumping to the high bar, which was stopping her from progressing and learning new skills. Jana was so sweet and worked one-on-one with Tessa for half an hour after class one night. Then Tessa has gone to open gym every Saturday morning to work and practice and overcome her fear. She has mastered the skill, and been able to learn new skills now that she can jump to the high bar. They had a pass off day last week, and Tessa moved up to Level 4!! Way to work hard and put in the extra work Tessa girl!

Tessa worked at the Book Fair last week. She came home with this book she had bought for me. She said she had gone to the fair with her class the day before and totaled up the cost for this book and a book that she wanted. She took the exact amount when she worked there, but didn't factor in tax. She said, "I didn't have enough for both books, so I just got the book for you." And then I cried a little. :) What a sweet, thoughtful daughter she has always been!

Al, Mel, and I walked in Provo Canyon last week.

The clouds were really low that day and it looked really cool.

We love to walk here in the fall. We chose a good time, the colors were amazing!

Tessa painted a cute pumpkin at Activity Days.

I got to meet Clara! She is such a doll! Ataiya is enjoying being a mom and it was fun to see her with her adorable daughter. I am loving being a great aunt and having babies in the family again.

Paul and I went to the Nate Bargatze show with Audrey & Jason, Katie & Ben, and Jen & Blake (Katie's friends). We went to dinner at the Blue Iguana and then laughed really hard at the show. It was fun to get to visit with Audrey & Jason and hear all about their Europe trip to celebrate Audrey turning 40.

Rockwell had his first band concert of the year. He's still loving the clarinet and sounds great on it!

Grandma & Grandpa Ham came and it was really nice to see them. :)

Tessa and I went to Kenzie's baptism yesterday. Tommy and Mine's son was baptized as well, and I enjoyed getting to visit with all of the Ashby family at Katie's house after the baptism.

Dad's Birthday

Paul and I went to Tucano's for his birthday Thursday night. It was fun to have a date night just the two of us. 

I made Paul a mediterranean salad for lunch and took it over to his school. It was fun to see him a little bit during the day.

He opened presents when he got home.

The kids chose a lot of his favorite candies, and Damon wanted to write a card for him.

Paul's acting shocked by the tea towels since they were delivered without any sort of box or package, so he saw what they were when he brought them in from the porch. Haha. He's been wanting some new ones to use when he makes tortillas.

He's been frustrated with the knives we have for a while now, so I did some research and decided on a Ninja knife set. I made a place for the knife block in one of our high cupboards since Paul already cut his finger using one. They're sharp and not for kids!! Haha. 

It's been fun to watch him use the knives and want to show me how they cut everything like butter. I think he's happy with them. :)

Our wheelbarrow broke while Paul was moving some dirt to try to level our lawn last week. This one should be much nicer to use. :) He also got an edger he's been wanting for a while. He found it on ksl and plans on fixing it up. He was excited to save a lot of money, and also have a project to work on in figuring out how to make it work again.

We went to Cafe Rio for dinner and then chilled at home with an ice cream bar for dessert. Happy birthday Paul!! We sure love love love you!

Mom's Birthday

Paul went all out for my 40th birthday! I woke up to a tower of my favorite treats. Then Paul sent me back to bed while he got all the kids breakfast and drove all three carpools to school. :)

When everyone got home from school, I opened presents. I got the new Emily Ann CD.

A hummingbird jewelry box.

A beautiful hummingbird ring. One of Paul's former students makes these rings. Paul chose a green gem to match the color of the local hummingbirds we get. It's so cool!

Tickets to see May We All at Hale Center Theatre. It's a new play about country music, which is right up my alley!

And tickets to the George Strait concert, featuring Christ Stapleton and Little Big Town!!! That's going to be amazing!

I got so spoiled!!!

We grabbed some McDonald's for dinner and headed up the canyon to hike Stewart Falls. I was so excited to see the fall colors up there, and they definitely did not disappoint! Paul and I took so many pictures. :)

Tessa appreciates the beauty like Paul and I do. :)

We made it to the falls :)

Rockwell and I climbed up to see what the middle of the falls looks like. You can barely see us up there. :)

The views from up there were amazing!

We were racing the sun, so we couldn't stay too long at the falls.

We made it back to the trailhead right as we lost all sunlight. The kids did such a great job with the fast pace we had to do. They're tough cookies! We got some ice cream at Macey on the way home, and then Paul and I watched the BYU football game. It was a perfect birthday! Thank you family for doing all the things I wanted on my birthday, and for making this old lady feel loved and special. ;)