Cache Valley in the fall is always beautiful
Recently turned teenager
Family fall hike
When the white dog finds the muddiest, grossest water.
When your outfit matches the outdoor colors
Last volleyball games of the season.
Grandpa Ruben came for a visit and was able to watch Ellie.
It was a fun few matches.
Prov Canyon and fall colors
As a consolation for the canceled Bob Firman Cross Country meet the team traveled to Cedar City for an overnight trip and meet. They were treated with a trip up to Cedar Breaks where they encountered a snowstorm, which no one was prepared for clothing wise. The next day was sunny and warm enough for tanks and shorts.
Ethan has grown since the last time he saw Grandpa Ruben.
Looking for Ethan in the senior fall sports picture.
Everything senior related makes me cry these days.
We enjoyed having Grandpa Ruben with us for about a week.
Last regular region cross country meet of the season.
It was at Sky View which is always a meet that seems to have the craziest weather. This meet lived up to the reputation. It was FREEZING. Cold and windy, BUT Ethan ran an awesome race. He came in first for Ridgeline (granted the fastest kid on the team was gone this day), but he still came in before other teammates he doesn't usually beat. It was so fun to watch him and it helped us forget about the cold weather. Grandpa Ruben said it was his good luck.
Notice Ethan's place right here, he ended up passing all of these boys plus a few in the final stretch around the track.
Way to finish so strong Ethan!!!
That night the snow brought in by the cold front began.
and the next morning we woke up to over 8 inches of wet, heavy snow.
My friends and I still went out early and ran. We actually enjoy the snow covered roads, there's usually a calm, quiet through the streets on a snowy morning like this.
But when it is OCTOBER and there are still leaves on trees, a big snow storm like this causes a lot of damage. As we ran we heard trees cracking and breaking all around us. In fact, we were stopped taking a picture and heard something breaking right above us. We dodged the huge branch.
While running we all received messages and phone calls from schools about late starts and later some school closers. The snow damage caused down power lines and power outages around the valley.
My school district ended up cancelling school and then both Ethan and Ellie's schools canceled school due to power outages. It was a good day.
However the damage took weeks for the cities to clean up afterward.
We had a great time hosting Grandpa Ruben. Luckily part of the time he was here was during our fall break. We took a day to go in to Farmington for some shopping and lunch.
The snow storm of October also caused damage for our internet. We went without for about a week which also meant we didn't have any of our TV streaming. Thankfully we had phone hotspots we could use.
Ellie loved volleyball so much she decided to tryout for a club volleyball team.
She was very nervous, but she went to tryouts, did her best, and made a region team.
Way to go Ellie!!
Ellie's young women group went to the North Logan pumpkin walk for one of their activities in October.
Region Cross Country meet.
In the past Ethan has traditionally done pretty well at this meet.
This year he ran as part of Varsity. He had a good run, but would have liked to have done better.
I think he still had a personal best on this course.
So proud of this kid and the work he has put in over the years to this sport.
Sad to see this last race on this course for him.
For weeks Cooper has had issues with one of his legs. We haven't known what he'd done to it. We finally took him in to the vet. First they gave some meds and said to keep him less active for a while to see if whatever was hurting would heal. The medicine he was on seemed to make him extra hungry and kind of high strung.
He's always been one to get into things once in a while, particularly if we had been home with him for awhile and then go back to our routine where he is left alone. This behavior was a little more than even that.
One day this is what Kelly found:
dishes and pans from the sink and kitchen spread out around the kitchen and living room and he had wet on the stair well. Cooper never has accidents in the house. We have noticed that the medicine has also made him drink a ton of water so we had been aware to take him out as much as possible, apparently it wasn't enough.
Blacksmith fork canyon.
The location of more runs than I could even count.
Last December, the day after Christmas, I signed up for a marathon that takes place in November.
This was my last 20 miler of the training for this marathon.
It started out nice, but ended up pouring rain.
My sweet friend Katrina joined me for the start, but had to leave for mom duties that morning.
I didn't mind running alone even in bad weather as I've trained for many marathons on my own.
However, as I got out of the canyon and was feeling pretty miserable, I noticed what looked like my friend who was still recovering from COVID (she had a really bad case of it) walking her dogs. I thought, how lucky to run into Sandy right when it's feeling miserable. It was such a treat and surprise to see her and get to run a bit with her.
After a short time with Sandy, my other friend, who is recovering from a foot surgery comes driving by. I thought, this is not a coincidence and it dawned on me that these two were tipped off that I might use a little pick me up from some friends. Well of course Lee who doesn't get slowed down by much joined me in the pouring rain on her scooter and scooted along the last 3-4 miles. It seriously brought me to tears the surprise and joy to see these ladies. I'm was feeling pretty blessed with these friends of mine. Such a reminder that we can do tough things but it's always so much nicer to do hard things with good friends along the way.
With my teaching schedule I leave a few hours after everyone else. Many times I look at this dog and feel so sad to leave him. This is his "feel guilty for leaving me" look.
Ethan and I headed up to USU for a future college student night.
They were said to give scholarships on the spot and had booths from all of the colleges set up. Oh and there was free Aggie ice cream.
We found out that taking concurrent classes does not mean you are already registered and then Ethan was able to talk to the college of engineering reps and the business college reps. He also confirmed what scholarship he qualifies for with his current GPA and ACT score. Now to finish up his application.
Oh, and this made his mom cry.
Carving pumpkins at young women activity
More lovely fall in Cache valley.
The fall colors may be gone from the mountains, but they are still around in the valley.
Recently guitars and supporting equipment have been filling our home.
Kelly is pursuing his interests and according to him, bucket list items.
Ellie asked if she could drive the Razr some time. Dad said yes and took her out.
They drove around the new section of subdivision going in down the street.
She can barely reach the pedals and the gear shifter is a little tough to maneuver, but she managed to not crash into anything.
