Jason went camping with Rich and Trevor up above Tibble Fork one Friday night. It was raining a bit, but that didn’t seem to stop or bother them. The next day they four-wheeled and motorcycled up near the back side of Snowbird. Jason loved it! Jason left his keys in Parker’s truck (who came up Friday night, but didn’t stay the night) so the boys and I picked him up from Richard’s parent’s house. We chatted there for a bit, then went and got the keys from Parker in Saratoga Springs. And then it was off to Trevor’s house where Jason’s truck was parked. It ended up turning into quite the parade of homes.
One Sunday afternoon, our boys spontaneously started playing with the Sites boys who were also outside. They all had a blast, and that began a friendship that lasted for months (especially Colson wanting to go over and play with Fielding and Elijah since he had no other friends he could go and visit within walking distance.)
We started swimming lessons at Orem Fitness Center. We went Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Charlie was at 4:00 pm and Colson was at 4:30 pm. They would take turns free swimming in the pool while the other had his lesson. I would sit with Jonah and watch. I really lucked out because one of Erin Markle’s friends (I met during our hiking group in the summer), Risa, also happened to be there for swim lessons at the exact same time! Her son (also named Roman) was the only other kid in Charlie’s swim class. It was great! It is so random because, if you remember, last time we had swimming lessons, Erin Markle’s kids also happened to have swim at the same time too! It’s crazy! It’s even more crazy since Risa was traveling all the way from Spanish Fork to come to the Orem swim lessons.
Colson in those goggles kills me!!
Charlie with the back float
I had a fun Girls Night with my PG friends. We went to dinner at Taqueria 27 and then did some shopping at the Traverse Outlets.
And then it was Colson’s Birthday! I will do another post on that, separately.
Colson had a preschool field trip to the Home Depot. I was not feeling well that particular day, so he caught a ride with his teacher, Miss Laura. They all had a fun time.
The next day, I still was not feeling well, so Nancy came to pick up Colson and Jonah so I could rest at home. Dad ended up taking the boys to swim lessons that night, and George and Nancy surprised them by staying to watch their lessons.
Since it was getting colder outside, we decided it was time to hook up the Wii again. We close it all up for the summer when the weather is nice.
We celebrated Colson’s birthday with extended family with a Sunday dinner. We had Brandalee’s Chicken with Rice, two green salads, rolls, Texas Sheet Cake, and ice cream. The kids played Mario Kart while the adults played Sequence and Love Letters. Then we opened presents.
Bryton, Jaleah, and I celebrated Bryton’s birthday at Seven Brothers.
Jason started indoor soccer with Brett Gunderson, Mike Monson, John Tanner, and Elijah Nimmer.
Jason had a very fun Youth Conference at Aspen Grove with the Young Men.
I stayed busy planning, prepping, and putting on the Temple and Priesthood Preparation Meeting.
We had Johnny and Amy Thackeray over for Sunday dinner. We did some Sous Vide tri tip steak with mashed potatoes. They brought a green salad and chocolate peanut butter Rice Krispies. We also played a game.
Once swimming lessons ended, I was happy with how well they did and that they seemed to enjoy it. By the end of the session, they were happy going to lessons. They both probably need to repeat their levels, but I was just happy they did it. Charlie was very brave, but needs to keep his legs straight while he kicks. Colson did not like jumping into the water and submerging his head while swimming in the deep end. But he did really well in the shallow end swimming underwater.
We set up the Christmas tree! This was much earlier than normal, but we wanted it to be ready for us once we returned from Thanksgiving Break (we didn’t want to lose any precious Christmas season time!) We were also busy with lots of Thanksgiving meal and weekend preparations. I will write a separate post about Thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving decor:
you can see Jason with the tree in the mirror
After a perfectly fun Thanksgiving weekend with the Arbons, we were back home. That Monday night, we put up the other Christmas decorations. Jason put up the Christmas lights on the house. We set up the Tuttle’s special nativity gift; for family night we talked about the inscribed Christmas story as we set it up. We found out this was especially needed while decorating when Colson saw the nativities and said, “Oh, this is in the wrong box. This isn’t Christmas stuff.” In Colson’s mind, Christmas meant Santa, snowmen, and presents. We had to step up our parenting game and make sure our kids were learning the real reason for Christmas.
At the very end of November, Bryan got set apart and left for the MTC. We had a brunch at Magleby's the morning he was being dropped off. It was special being together as a family. Bryan was mentally and emotionally ready to go. Nothing was holding him back. His strength was very impressive.
Charlie and Colson started an indoor soccer season with Lindon City. They had practices and games on Wednesday and Thursday nights. They were just in an old church gym (that was converted into a city building).
Here are more pictures from the month:
Colson's Thanksgiving Program:
Left over Halloween goods:
Fun Fall crafts:
haircut time
scavenging leftover cake bits
Charlie treats his buddies like family...his schedule for the month even includes a lot of their parties:
...and birthdays...
Jason's latest toy
Jonah had a little photo shoot with Tess Thackeray:
Now, I'm not sure how these pictures came to be in the November folder (I do not believe these were taken in November), but for the sake of keeping the memory, I am going to put them here:
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