That day we hit almost all the rapids perfectly. we went strait through this mini whirl pool. and all the other boats with 16-18 year-olds got stuck in it. after we got off the river the boys and i found thins big mud hole and we played in it for hours.
I went on a river rafting trip in June. we started of with a hike to Delicate Arch. After that we went to sand dune arch and spent a couple of hours there playing in the sand, and climbing up the arch. However my dad didn’t climb and took pictures of the climbers. (he’s afraid of heights) In the sand pit Brian started to do front flips off a rock outcropping. Tanden almost broke his leg on another rock.
After that we went back to camp. Then the next day we packed up and went to the meeting point for our river rafting trip. Then we jumped in the river to get a taste of the water. It was cold. Then we got the boats in and started our first leg of the journey.
Every year around Utah Valley 5th and 6th graders learn songs and participate in a wonderful patriotic program – “Hope of America”. It is part of the Freedom Festival that Provo puts on every year. One of the largest 4th of July celebrations in the country. Basically lasts from April to July. Lately whenever I’m at an event where the National Anthem is sung, I get very teary eyed and choke up. Every year I gain a greater and greater love for our country.
James has loved being in choir this year for this very thing. In fact, the practice CD that he brought home is one of Anthony’s favorites. One of the songs Anthony piped up, “This is my favorite one!” and he sang right along. When I told my mom about this program she said, “Oh good! I’ll get to go to things like this soon!” We are excited to have her up here soon enjoying her grandkids.
During the program there were also other performers, including a group of grandmas ages 50-94 that got out and danced on the dance floor! It was amazing! I bet if Aunt Dawna wasn’t in a wheel chair with polio, she would have been one of those grandmas out there! Dave said, “They should get a group out there with their Jazzy’s (brand of motorized wheelchairs) and do a choreographed thing!” Also on this performance, Jacob was totally jamming out! It was so fun to see him so excited. He loves anything that is music and moving. But he’s 2 – so that’s to be expected. 🙂
Also was a dedication to our soldiers who fight for our freedoms. At the end of that dedication, Benjamin (7 years old) leans over to dad and says in a very serious tone, “Dad. When I grow up I’m either going to be a miner or an army guy.” I smiled. Well, it would probably be safer to be an army guy! Benjamin being in the military is something that I’ve always known might happen anyhow. One of those things that you can just sense with your child. Maybe he’ll be in army intelligence with his Chinese language abilities! (Though he certainly wouldn’t be able to go on recon missions with his blonde hair!)
I’m looking forward to the next one in 2 years from now when Anthony will be in 5th grade and participate in the choir. And mom will be able to come to it too!
December 21st – massive snow storm:
Anthony braves the storm to survey the damage:
Building gingerbread houses:
The Utah Valley Symphony had their annual School Concert today. LaReita having injured one of her fingers with a knife was unable to play. So instead, she took James and Anthony out of school to attend the concert with her. After years of playing in the concerts she finally go to sit next to her boys during this one. Although cutting her finger so severely that she couldn’t play wasn’t the plan.
Some pictures from the concert: (not only was it for children but there were also children performing!)
Traditional Halloween didn’t really happen this year for lots of reasons. It was celebrated on Sat the 30th. It started hailing at prime trick-or-treating time, so there weren’t many that came. It was just plain miserable outside. We didn’t even get our traditional fire set up out front. AND we forgot to get a picture in all their costumes. Oh well.
One notable thing was that James bought his costume this year with his own money! It was $21.34 and was a Star Wars character – like Jango Fett, but something else. This year Samuel wore a different costume each day of the week. Ben finally settled on wearing the orange jumpsuit prisioner costume and a blue wizard-looking hat. So he was the “Prisoner from Azkaban”. Yeah. Nobody realized it until we told them, then they smiled. Pretty ingenious for a 6 1/2 year old (who just finished having the book read to him). Anthony was himself, which made costuming easy. And Jacob just stayed inside with mom while she made homemade tomato soup, grilled cheese and fresh apple cider. LaReita’s cousin (well, 1st cousin, once removed) Jonathan Mitchell* was the door handler. Dave drove in the car being the back-up for the boys and friends Carlos and Cesar as they ran through the cold drizzling rain.
*Jonathan works for Dave and LaMont in the Find-A-Code business. He and his wife moved to Washington this summer. He came back here this week to do some conferencing with Dave.
We’d been promising the boys that we would go to the Lagoon amusement park all summer long and we finally found a free weekend. Mom took Jacob and Sam on the kid rides while dad had to endure the roller-coasters with James, Anthony and Benjamin.
First day of school pictures with dad. James in 6th grade, Anthony in 3rd, Benjamin in 1st.
