Mannheim Steamroller

Last night Sean & I went to the Mannheim Steamroller concert. It was so fabulous! They played many of our favorites. They are pretty understated in their playing. Although they have six people plus 2 brass and about an 8-person string section, they don't spotlight the one instrument playing the melody. It was fascinating to watch them and try to figure out whether it was the systhesizer making that sound, or one of the many instruments they play. Jackson and Almeda Berkey both play the keyboard. We loved trying to figure out who was playing what part. Anyway, it was great! What an awesome start to the holiday season.

They're celebrating their 25th year of Christmas concerts. What a treat!

Go Yankees!

I know all of you Yankees fans out there are just as excited as we are for this game #6. GO, YANKEES! We just saw you in your brand new stadium about 4 months ago! Make us proud and win the world series!

Fall Fun

Sorry all these pictures have halos around everything. I just looked at my lens after downloading the pics to my computer and discovered some grimy fingerprints all over it.



Jamison turned 14 on October 7! That Wednesday was a very busy day, and we spent most of the evening at Tristan's football playoff game at Davis High School. Once Jamison returned from his practice and we returned from Tristan's game (they won!), we celebrated with a coconut cream pie from Marie Callender's. Happy birthday, Jamison!




We partied the following Friday in the back yard of some neighbors. Jamison invited a bunch of friends from school, and I counted 17 who showed up. It's the first time for about ten years that he didn't mind inviting both boys and girls! (He's growing up!) It was fun for Sean & I to meet some of the kids he's talked about from school. The yard has not only a great fire pit for roasting hot dogs & s'mores, but also a terrific tree swing which swings out over a hill, which drops down as they swing out. Almost everyone had a great time: about five minutes after arriving, one of the boys from the ward fell off the swing and broke his arm. (It's the same swing Raleigh broke her arm on two years ago.)

Football



See the long gray sleeves in the middle of the pile? That's Jamison. His team is doing awesome! They haven't lost a game all season. Playoffs are every Saturday now; they're out if they lose. Today's game was the first time a team has scored on them this year; the final score was 40-16. It's very fun watching these kids play!



This shot was from last week's game, when they played another Layton team. Our team had to wear the white jerseys. Jamison was #42.





Sean had to move the chains during that game. Father/son powwow.



Normally Jamison's # is 45.





Tristan was #93. I say "was" because his season ended last Saturday. His team won more than they lost, so they got to the playoffs, only to lose last week to West Haven. He had a good time.



There's nothing like watching your kids play a sport or perform. I love it.

Jenni's Birthday



Jenni's birthday was a week later on the 14th. She'd never seen my brother-in-law Pat's office, so we went there to celebrate. We had Bahio's for dinner, plus cake & ice cream and presents. Pat made this awesome sign for her birthday, which I hope she keeps up in her room all year. It's only one year out of your whole life that you're 34!





Our Anniversary Trip

Our wedding anniversary was Thursday, Oct. 15. For our anniversary "trip," we left early Friday morning to meet a work friend of Sean's who owns horses, for a horseback riding adventure in the Uintah mountains.



Sean rode the palomino, Belle, and I rode the dark brown horse, Lady. Kent rode a reddish-brown horse named Laddie.

We unloaded the horses at Christmas Meadows and saddled up. The drive & getting all of the equipment ready took the entire morning--we were on the trail by about 1:30, headed for Lake Amethyst.

Lady was a great horse. Nineteen years old, she was obedient and sure-footed on the sometimes steep and rocky trail. Several boggy spots had manmade log bridges across them. Our horses didn't love going on the bridges. Kent had spurs for Laddie, who he was training, and she cooperated most of the time. Lady, used to following other horses on trails while hunting, was fine going on bridges as long as she was right behind Laddie. However, the few times we weren't right on Laddie's tail, I had quite a time coercing Lady to get on that bridge.

Sean's horse, Belle, although a pretty docile animal, definitely had a mind of her own. She hated those bridges, and more often than not I'd look back to see Belle and Sean tromping through the deep muck, due to Belle's aversion to the bridges. She didn't want to follow very closely behind Lady, so Sean was often several yards behind us.







My view from Lady's back.

Well, we rode for about 3 hours, some of it extremely rocky and steep--a little scary at times from the back of a horse. I wish I'd been more brave to use the camera from horseback, but I didn't feel like it was exactly safe to have both hands off the reins and saddle horn to take pictures! I only did it once and got the one of Sean (I had to turn around in my saddle!) and my horse's head.

Both Sean & Kent had been to Amethyst before, and Sean kept saying that the terrain didn't look very familiar, the further we went. Eventually we decided we had missed the fork in the trail which we should have taken to the left to get to Amethyst, and instead had been heading in a general right-hand direction up the trail we were on. So we figured we were close to a different lake--I have no idea what it was called. Not Ryder, not McFetter's, but something I'd never heard of. We were at the top of the mountain, in about a foot of snow, and we knew the lake was close.

Here's the lake where we stopped and ate our sandwiches & chips:



You don't see it? Well, neither did we. I was getting pretty anxious to get back home to the kids by that point, and Sean was worrying that we'd not get off the mountain before dark. So we stopped and got off the horses for a quick potty break in the trees and some food. Ooh, the stiff muscles! And we still had to go back down!




We're wearing the latest style in hunter orange, of course!

Back down the trail. The horses knew we were headed back. Everywhere they could when the trail wasn't too rocky or steep, they walked or trotted faster than they had on the way up. Partly due to the downhill slope, I'm sure. It's interesting riding a horse downhill; you have to stand up in the stirrups with your heels down, and lean back--that is, if you don't want to fall off the front of the horse. It can also be scarier than uphill, I think. Ginormous rocks all crowded together so that you can't even figure out where you'd step with your two human feet--on top of a horse that has not just two, but FOUR feet to figure out--with you on top! One scary time in the middle of huge rocks, my horse went down. Yep, that's right, on all four knees. My feet came out of the stirrups, and I yelled in a panic, "We're down!" My feet were touching rock on both sides of Lady. Kent said, "It's OK, just stay there," and Lady stood right up and kept picking her way through the boulders.

Another time when we were going what Kent calls a foxtrot gait, which is kind of a trotting speed, downhill, poor Lady stumbled with both front feet. A little nerve wracking to feel the front end of the horse suddenly lurch down! Poor girl; I'm sure her old bones were getting tired by then. But she got up and kept going.

Sean had quite a day trying to convince Belle who was boss. She tried going her own way up the trail all day long, not to mention going the hard way through bogs & streams. She turned all the way around a couple of times while waiting for Laddie and Lady to cross the streams (in places we walked right through streams halfway up to the horses' knees). Belle needed to be in the rear because she had a tendency to kick other horses. One time, though, she came up too close to Laddie, who shied and kicked at Belle.

We made much better time downhill. We got back to the truck just after 6:00, and Sean & I picked up our own car in Kamas around 7:00.

What an adventure! Definitely a day we won't forget. Beautiful scenery, more time than I've ever spent on horseback in one sitting, and just an overall great day. My rear end won't forget that trip for awhile either--I wonder how many days till I stop hurting? But it was an awesome anniversary trip!

School Update

Since school has started, I hardly feel like I can catch my breath! It feels like there are too many things to do, and not enough time.

School is good. Jamison & Raleigh are in 8th and 7th grade, respectively, and started school at a brand new jr. high. They have A/B days, with 4 different periods each day. This may be hard for them (each class is 1 1/2 hours long), but as a parent, I really like it. I like the variety, but mostly I like the two nights for homework. Of course, as in the case with Raleigh's pre-algebra class, the teachers have a tendency to assign twice as much homework as they normally would, so it takes two nights to finish it up anyway. But, overall, it's all good.






Tristan's in 5th grade and Sabra's in 2nd this year. Their teachers are good, school is good, just busy. Fifth grade has more responsibility and projects for Tristan--over the weekend he will be making a paper-mache volcano--but if he just remembers everything, he does well. Sabra's adjusting to having spelling tests for the first time in her life. Last Friday was her first attempt, and after missing half of the words, she was convinced that she needed to study a little harder this week.






And I'm in school too! As the music teacher at Tristan's & Sabra's school. I see each class once a week for 45 minutes, except the first grades, who I see twice a week for 30 minutes each, and kindergarten, who I see for 30 minutes every other week. Having seven different grades to prepare for, coming to me in random order throughout the day, with no breaks in between except for a 30-minute lunch, has been challenging. It's a little like teaching school for the first time, in that each day and week is a surprise as to what works and what doesn't. And of course, what works for one class may flop in another! But I'm enjoying it. And it really makes my Tuesday afternoons and Fridays, when I'm not working, extra valuable.

Football season is in full swing with the boys, and in fact, there are only two more Saturdays of regular season games. Tristan is on a better team this year, with some good coaches. They've won about half of their games, which probably means they won't be in any playoffs. But Tristan's having fun, so that's good. He plays on the line, although this year he's not an X-man (the heaviest group on the team).

Jamison has the same coaches he's had since we moved to Layton. These are a fantastic set of guys, great role models and excellent coaches. The head coach has two of his sons as the offensive & defensive coaches, who were football stars themselves in high school, plus another assistant coach. This team has shut out everyone they've played so far, with a couple of scores like 54-0 and 45-0. They'll definitely be in the playoffs, and hopefully will make it to the mini-bowl, which takes place on Halloween.
Jamison's not been on the offensive line very much this year, because he's not as bulky as he was in the past. He grew about 4 inches last year, so we're still waiting for the bulk to catch up with him.

Sean just got back, the last two weekends, from helping staff another Wood Badge scout training course. That takes up a Wednesday through Saturday for two weeks in a row, but it's a highlight for him, and something he really enjoys. Of course, that means that he pays for it now, being back in town and back on call for awhile. No wonder he hasn't put our new shed together yet (which we've had since summer started). This man has no time.

Over Labor Day weekend, I went up to Park City with all seven of my sisters for Swiss Days and a fun sisters' getaway. It's the first time we've ever done that, and it was amazingly great. We got no sleep, but had time for plenty of talking, laughing, and shopping. I have seven fantastic sisters! Unfortunately, Mom and my sisters-in-law couldn't make it, but we're hoping for all twelve of us next year!!

The girls are taking tumbling this year--Raleigh just mastered her front walk-over and is working on that back handspring, and Sabra is going for the perfect round-off. And Raleigh, Tristan, and Sabra are all taking piano--Sabra had her first lesson last week.

The puppy's great! She's a sweetheart, and definitely the center of attention at our house. Still working on 100% house training--we don't let her on any carpets yet, but overall she does pretty well. She can sit and stay, and understands "drop it".

I just found out that we'll be having both ward girls' camp and youth conference next summer (rather than stake), so I'm feeling a bit of pressure to come up with locations and dates for both of those activities. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know!

So, that's our busy-life update for now. As long as I have it on my calendar, and as long as I CHECK my calendar, we seem to keep it together pretty well.

New Addition

We've added a new family member--a puppy! She's a Miniature Schnauzer and is 7 weeks old. Bella. She's adorable; we're all totally entranced with this new baby!

New York, New York!

And other great New York/New Jersey cities as well......

Our trip was great! Although I must say right from the start that it's a far different "vacation" when you have four kids in airports, cars, subways, and in tow, than when you plan a couples getaway, like Sean & I did five years ago. I'm home now and feel like I need a vacation from my vacation. But we had a fabulous time, so really there are no complaints.

Day 1: (Saturday) Flight from Salt Lake to Rochester, NY






- The kids' first time that they can remember flying. Pretty uneventful, except that I flew on the smallest plane I've ever been on, between Cincinnati and Rochester: two seats on one side of the aisle and one single seat on the other side.






- We arrived in Rochester and picked up our rental car: a Dodge Caravan minivan. Luggage & kids all fit just fine. Then we headed to Palmyra & Grandpa & Grandma.






- It was awesome to see my parents after 1 1/2 years! They're doing great as site directors at the Hill Cumorah visitor's center and other church history sites. We walked up to the top of the Hill, took pictures of the Angel Moroni statue, and looked down to where the pageant would take place hours later.




- Maddie & Megan, my brother Mark's two oldest girls (12 & 10), arrived just an hour or so before pageant started. They were in Palmyra the whole time we were; it was great for my kids to share experiences with cousins too!





- The pageant was absolutely wonderful! We would highly recommend the pageant experience to anyone!!

Day 2: (Sunday)
- After going to the Palmyra ward, which is a beautiful building across the street from the temple, we visited most of the church history sites.



The Palmyra temple


The rock wall that was built by Joseph Smith, his father and brothers. This is right by the temple.



The Smith family log home, where Joseph lived with his family when he received the First Vision. Also the home where the Angel Moroni appeared to him.




The nicer Smith family home which was begun by Joseph's older brother Alvin before his death. Alvin wanted to build a better home for his parents to grow old in. (This is the view from the back of the home.)



The Sacred Grove. A beautiful forest which is left untouched even today. What a wonderful spirit is there!



- We toured the Hill Cumorah Visitors' Center. I think the kids' favorite part was the sample Book of Mormons in all the different languages, which are set out on a large round table. The kids were impressed that I could still read from the Portuguese one, with very authentic-sounding Brazilian accent (just ask them--they'll tell you what a pro I was). And I even translated what I read.


Day 3: (Monday)

We took Jamison & Raleigh to do baptisms for the dead in the beautiful Palmyra temple. It overlooks a view of the Smith property and the sacred grove. What a priceless experience!




- We drove about 30 minutes to see the Whitmer farm. This is where Joseph did some translating of the Book of Mormon, and also where the first church service was held on April 6, 1830. I didn't realize that the entire Whitmer family was involved in supporting the early church; the Whitmer daughters even married Oliver Cowdery and Hiram Page.

- A visit to Palmyra wouldn't be complete (I found out) without going to the Wizard of Clay. It's an absolutely amazing store full of everything you can imagine, handmade from pottery. It was a terribly hard decision to pick something. I finally decided on a beautiful casserole dish, which can double as a bread pan or serving dish.



- Grandpa took us all fishing at a couple of ponds on church property close by. Everyone caught at least one large-mouth bass. We did all catch-and-release that day, to the kids' disappointment. Maddie & Megan caught their first fish ever!





- We visited the famous Chill & Grill restaurant, where we ate hamburgers, fries, and LOTS of ice cream! Cheapest ice cream I know of--the bill for double scoop ice cream cones for all 10 of us was about $12. We liked it so much, we had to go again as we drove out of Palmyra on Wednesday.

Day 4: (Tuesday)




- Niagara Falls! It's only about 2 hours from Palmyra--well worth the drive. We went on the Maid of the Mist boat, which took us out to see both sets of falls. Good thing they handed us ponchos before getting on the boat; as soon as we had them in hand, the rain began. Those ponchos came in handy the whole rest of the day at Niagara Falls, since the rain kept on coming.



- After spending a small fortune on lunch, the kids were wet and basically wanted to turn around and go back to Palmyra, but Sean wasn't going to spend 2 hours in the car for an hour at the falls! He convinced everyone to walk over to Goat Island, which is out in the middle of the Niagara River, in between the two sets of falls. It rained the whole way, which wasn't too bad except for our feet. Squishy, wet shoes weren't very comfortable. The complaining wasn't too bad--and we kept reminding the kids that our Niagara Falls experience was becoming even more memorable!




- Our last evening with Grandpa & Grandma was spent shopping for plane treats for Maddie & Megan and car treats for the rest of us, at Wegman's store. We completed some laundry and packed up for the next day.




Day 5: (Wednesday)


- Grandpa & Grandma took Maddie & Megan to the airport early, while we finished packing. Then we said goodbye, glad that we'll see Grandpa & Grandma home in about 6 months, and started the 5 1/2 hour drive to Shamong, New Jersey, where my sister Michelle, her husband Steve, and their three kids (Sally, Adri, & Weston) live. The drive is mostly hills and trees. Lots of trees. We skirted Philadelphia on our way through Pennsylvania. We took our time, and arrived about 6:00 pm.

- We stayed that night with Michelle, Steve, & family. They have a wonderful house in a great neighborhood, all with 1+ acre lots, and surrounded by farmland. It was fun to see where they've been for a year, with one more to go (Steve is a dentist for the Air Force).

Day 6: (Thursday)

- Welcome to the Big Apple! We drove to Staten Island and left the minivan in an overnight parking lot. Then we were off to see the city. We did have one frustration as we went to buy Metro tickets for the six of us after getting off the ferry. After buying two tickets, the machine wouldn't take our credit card anymore. Who would have guessed that the limit for buying subway passes is TWO per DAY per CARD?! Obviously, New York is not set up for family travel! We eventually bought the rest using cash and a different credit card.



First stop: the Empire State Building. Lines weren't bad--we'd bought our tickets online before leaving home, which helped. It was awesome to see the city from all angles from 86 floors up!

- We checked into our hotel and left our backpacks in the room. The Fairfield Marriott Times Square upgraded our room to a penthouse suite--it doesn't hurt to be a travel agent!--32 floors up. Nice view. Nice room, although we didn't spend a lot of time there.

- Raining. I tried calling Yankee Stadium to see if our game was sold out, got no useful info, so figured it was still on. Off we went.

- So far this travelogue says nothing about the difficulty of having a 7-yr. old walk as far as we'd gone thus far. Although we were taking as many subways as we possibly could, there is a LOT of walking in New York. Even the walk from our hotel to the subway we took most often was 3-4 blocks. And the subway tunnels and stairs seem endless sometimes. It often felt like we walked farther underground to get to the train we needed, than we walked above ground to enter the underground subway system. Sometime during the waiting & walking at the Empire State Building, Sabra asked, "Why couldn't we just stay and play with Sally and Adri?" Obviously, her parents' idea of a once-in-a-lifetime experience was not the same as hers. They really need to make a stroller big enough for a 7-yr. old.

- And while I'm editorializing, I need to also say a word about the stress of taking four children through the streets and subways of a city with over 8 million inhabitants. Sean usually was the point man out in front, followed closely by Jamison. Raleigh was usually somewhere behind Jamison, Tristan alternated between walking in front of me and behind me, and Sabra was most often holding Mom's hand. I tried to be the caboose whenever I could, so I could keep my eye on everyone. Getting onto the subway trains was probably the worst, although I found if I was always the final one on, it helped my stress levels considerably.




- Yankee Stadium!



It's the inaguarual season of their brand-new stadium. The new stadium is beautiful, and our seats were great--in the bottom section next to the third base side, only 20+ rows from the field. Wonderful! We had time to wander and eat...and then more time to wander and eat...and then MORE time to wander and eat. The game was scheduled to start at 7 pm, and eventually started at nearly 10. We had a great time, and were so glad we'd waited for it to start! The Yankees played the Oakland A's, and, happily, won, 6-3.



We left after the 5th inning, when the score was 4-3, and got back to our hotel at 12:30 am. Long but fun day.

Day 7: (Friday)



- Statue of Liberty: we didn't go inside, just took the ferry to Liberty Island and walked around taking pictures.



- Ground Zero - a relatively short walk from Battery Park where we exited the ferry. Five years ago it actually looked like Ground Zero: a huge chain link fence surrounded a wide open expanse of dirt. Signs around the chain link fence recounted the details of 9/11. Now it just looks like a construction site surrounded by a chain link fence. I'm sure it'll be a wonderful memorial when it's finished, but currently it's not much to write home about.



- We walked over the Brooklyn Bridge. On the Brooklyn side is a superb pizza place, Grimaldi's. We just had to try the pizza. Definitely worth it.

- Chinatown, and buying souvenirs for the kids.



- American Girl doll store. Sabra got a Just Like You doll (blonde hair, blue eyes), and Raleigh got the new Rebecca doll (born 1914). I have to admit, if I hadn't been buying dolls for my girls I'd have been tempted to get one myself. The girls are already talking about going back with their dolls so they can visit the doll beauty parlor, and maybe getting their (the dolls') ears pierced.

- Times Square, including the ginormous Toys R Us store. A must-see for everyone.

- Dinner at Ruby Tuesdays in Times Square.



- Ferry back to Staten Island as the sun set. Goodbye, New York City! Drive back to Michelle & Steve's.


Day 8: (Saturday)





- Beach day. We went with Michelle & Steve to Long Beach Island, Surf City. Michelle got us the fabulous sandwiches from Wawa for lunch. Everyone had a great time. Who doesn't love the beach??

- Steve, Michelle, Sean & I left our kids babysitting theirs and went out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Cheesecake is my favorite dessert. Both dinner and dessert were fabulous!

Day 9: (Sunday)



- We had a nonstop flight home from Newark that evening. Our flight was supposed to leave at 5:15, but didn't get off the ground till about 7 pm because of rain. So our 5-hour flight turned into seven hours on the plane, but we did eventually make it home. Ahhh, home sweet home.