Halloween

Happy Halloween!  Halloween keeps changing every year for us and the numbers keep get smaller and smaller as the kids head out with friends to Trick-or-Treat instead of going with us. The outfits too are getting more and more different for the older ones. But it is always a fun time for all.

This year Emily decided to be Anna from Frozen and also used the costume for her Sadie's dance the next day.  She and her friend, Spencer, went as Anna and Kristoff. Colby found this light up face mask online and decided to buy it for his costume.  The mask lit up with different face emojis and designs.  Logan came up with his own superhero dude as a costume.  This superhero is one he designed and made up with Annalynn and James while hiking in Glacier. Charlotte originally wanted to be Jessie from Toy Story but finally decided to be a cute cowgirl in general. Brooklyn had a great idea to be a chicken for Halloween.  Don't ask me where she came up with that but I sewed up a chicken costume for her to wear and it turned out great.  And Russell and I were Mexico tourists with our ponchos and sombrero.

Brooklyn's chicken costume was actually quite easy to make even though I made up the pattern as I went along. Don't ask me to recreate it because I don't know if I can.  I basically made a simple hooded poncho out of fleece and then added the red comb, yellow beak, and button eyes.  The feathers are a feather boa just hot glued on the arms to make it look like wings.  The finishing touch was the yellow dish-washing gloves for feet.  She just wore the gloves for feet for the picture because they were quite tight and not really practical for walking around outside.  Brooklyn loved it!

Our little cowgirl/farmer and her chicken had a great time dressing up and attending all of the Trunk-or-Treat events in town.

The first Trunk or Treat we attended was the Griffin's Auto.  The Youth Council helped out with this so after helping them get all set up, I took the girls around to all of the trunks/booths.

They loved collecting candy and prizes from all of the booths.  Everyone commented on the cute chicken.  The chicken costume was molting a little bit though so we could follow the trail of feathers to find Brooklyn. 

A few days later, we had our annual Ward Chili Cook Off party.  Each year a winner is crowned for the best chili, corn bread, and dessert.  I always bring something for each category, just so Colby knows there will be something he can eat, but I never win anything.

Well this year was a little different!  This year I won First Place for my corn bread!  I was so surprised because, like I said before, I never win anything.  The usual winners must not have entered anything because this was not even my best corn bread.  In fact, I wasn't even going to bring it because it didn't turn out as good as other times.  But here I am with the trophy!  Miracles do happen.  Ha Ha!

Carving pumpkins was pretty fun this year.  Each kid picked out their own pumpkin and designed their own face to carve.  They all turned out awesome. 

I remember when we spent the whole night carving everyone's pumpkins and now everyone but Brooklyn carves their own pumpkin. They all have their own personality and ideas. 

We were glad Becca came over to help us and be part of this fall tradition for our family.

While the other kids were in school, Brooklyn and I went to the Hyrum Museum and participated in the Trick-or-Treat around the Museum.

Once again we gathered many molting feathers from the chicken costume but she was the favorite of the crowd.  Brooklyn was able to learn about a printing press and press her own Halloween card using the press.  She also made this funny witch mask that she wore all day so then she was a chicken witch.

Logan had a Halloween band concert which was his first ever band concert.  

Unfortunately, he did not play with the band but he did perform a number with all of the percussion kids.  They did a great job and have been learning a lot in percussion class.

Brooklyn had Let's Play Music class on the day before Halloween so all of the kids in her class got to dress up for class.

The kids were so cute in their costumes and everyone loved the chicken.

At school, Russell and I helped with Charlotte's class Halloween party.  We played musical chairs and "Don't Eat Frank!"  All of the kids loved it and were really good sports during both games.  Afterward, all of the parents met outside to watch the Halloween parade.

The Halloween parade and Thriller dance are a yearly tradition for the school and all of the kids love it. It was a fun day for us all. 

Finally, Halloween night came and the three oldest took off with their friends while the two youngest stayed with us to go Trick-or Treat.  Emily and her friends headed to Wellsville to hit up those neighborhoods while Colby and Logan and their friends ran through our neighborhood.

While we were out we also gained some more friends of Charlotte's so they went around with us. The night was actually pretty warm so we were able to stay out longer than usual and get to more houses.  Brooklyn ran the whole way knocking on every door she could.  Charlotte wanted to keep going too but her cowboy boots were not the best choice for walking long distances.  At the end of the night, all the kids had a great time with their friends. 

Like always, they came out on top with a whole lot of candy.  There was way too much to eat so we saved most of it for our gingerbread houses in December.  Happy Halloween!

Xcountry championship meets

 Emily continues to run and run and run with her cross country team.  Over the last few weeks they have participated in three championship meets and performed really well.

The first championship meet was the Region meet at the American West Heritage Center.  This is Emily's favorite course and she was excited to see how well she could do.  Her team also wanted to do well because the results of this meet determined which teams would go to Divisionals.

The team's goal was to stay together as much as possible and push each other to do their best.  Of course Lilly was way out in front but the rest of the girls were pretty close to each other.  This worked well in their favor and they were really strong at the finish.

Emily did amazing in this race.  She was able to get her PR for the season in this race.  She finished with a time of 22:08!  I know she really wanted a 21 minute time but she was pretty dang close with this one.  I think its pretty amazing! She also finished 4th on the team and was able to score some points for the team.  Both the boys team and the girls team did really well and qualified for the Divisional.

 

The Divisional meet took place a week later at Lakeside Sports Park in Orem.  This was a huge race that involved almost every high school in the state.  The Mountain Crest team competed against the other 4A schools in the first division.  There were 15 teams racing together and they needed to place in the top 10 to qualify to run at State. 

This was a rough course for everyone.  The weather was great but the course was slick grass and the finish line was really long.  Emily did well running a 22:54.  She was disappointed in her time but was still able to finish 50th overall and 4th on her team.  Even with the slower times, Mountain Crest was able to place 8th and qualify for State!  The boys' team also qualified for state so we will be heading to Sugar House Park in a couple weeks.  Nice job!

The State Cross Country meet was in Salt Lake at Sugar House Park.  This course has been the State course for many, many years, even when I was in high school. It is also a rough course because there are so many grass hills.  Thankfully though, the weather was good and it wasn't raining.  It seems like every State Meet I have been to it is raining.  

Emily was excited and really nervous to run in this race.  Last year she went as an alternate but this year she was actually running at State!

Emily did really well.  This race was hard for Emily.  She really had to focus on doing her best.  The 3rd, 4th, and 5th place girls on the team were able to stay together the whole time and then they finished within seconds of each other.  Emily was 5th on the team securing the final team score.  She finished with a time of 22:47.  She said it was not her best time and she was a little disappointed after her race especially after her coach congratulated everyone but her. Okay I was little mad at that too...  Anyway I told her she did amazing and to not let other people make her feel any less.  I told her that she needs to run for her and do the best she can and let everything else go.  As long as she gave it her all, she should be proud.  To even be able to run at State is a major accomplishment.

She felt a little better after that and she said this race she learned to focus on just running her best and having fun and not trying to please others. Way to go Emily!

Both the boys' and girls' teams did really well.  They all ran their hearts out and were able to celebrate their victories afterward.  Way to go Mountain Crest Cross Country!

A few weeks later, we all got to celebrate these athletes during the Cross Country Banquet.

Emily received a Varsity Letter certificate and was excited to celebrate with all of her friends.  During the banquet her coaches praised her for being hard working, willing to do everything asked of her, and the one to get things done.

This has been a great cross country season.  Emily has really improved a lot and made so many new friends.  These kids are really great individuals and I am grateful for their good and lasting influence.  We love Cross Country!

MTB State Championship: Cedar City

What a fun weekend for MC mountain bike team and also for us. Emily and Colby worked hard the whole season to get a chance to ride at Cedar City for the Mountain Bike State Championship. Emily was 31 overall in her division and she was stoked to make it to State. Colby was 2nd in his division and was also way excited to ride his Freshman year. 

It was a long drive down to Cedar as usual. Once we got there, we were all ready to get out of the truck. The weather was perfect for a good pre-ride. The trail was a lot of fun. There were some good technical spots that caught me off guard. There was also a large hill climb called Lucifer's Hill that was crazy. Colby said he thought it was easy.  I am glad that my bike stayed together and didn't malfunction. Once the pre-ride was done, we got back in the truck for the rest of the ride to St. George. This began one of the many times we made the trek from St. George to Cedar and back this weekend. 

The morning of the race came early because I needed to be to Cedar by 7:30 am. While I was at coaches' meetings, everyone else stayed in the truck and slept for a few more hours. Colby rode first in the Freshman B division. He was placed 2nd in our region so he was right up in front of the whole group of around 250 riders. It is fun to see him prepare for the race. He made game plans in his head and was super focused, then he put a smile on his face and said "I am going to podium!" What a kid. 

The race began and we all ran off to watch him in all parts of the track. I was just before the finish line by an awesome jump area. As I was watching, I was counting the riders. Once he came around he was in 13th place.  He needed a top ten finish in order to podium.  I yelled "Move it Colby you are in 13th!" He picked up the speed and off he went for lap 2. I went to the Coach Zone to wait for him to finish. When I saw him coming down the home stretch, he was neck and neck with another boy fighting for 10th place. Unfortunately, he finished less than one second behind 10th place. Man, he fought so hard. He was 10th place in my books when he came across the finish line. 11th overall at State is still amazing when you are looking at 250 riders in his group. A sad but funny story about Colby's race was when Colby was about 3/4 of the way done, probably a mile from the finish line, he passed Tiffany on the course. When Tiff saw him, she yelled, "Move it Colby you are in 11th place." Colby was about to pass the 10th place kid right at that moment but once the other kid heard Tiff yell, he turned it up and pushed harder which then made Colby's plan to pass much harder.  He had to push harder. At the end Tiff felt so bad for sabotaging his plan.  She was just cheering... It was such an awesome finish for him anyway. He gave his all that race. 

    Emily was also amazing in her ride. She was 31st in her JVB division. You could tell she was excited to ride. She told us that she was just going to ride and have a good time. I was excited to hear this from her. She had no nervousness when she got to the starting line. 

The funny story for her this race was her good luck ritual of putting a tattoo on her arm and cheek. The times she did not do this, her bike had issues or she wrecked. Well, in all the preparation for the race, she almost forgot her tattoos! Logan had to run back to the Pitzone and get one for her. By the time he got back to the start line, the towel was almost too dry to put on the tattoo. All was well though and off she went. 

I went to my normal spot and tried to see her. As she came around the first lap she had a bloody knee. As she rode passed the family cheering section near the finish line, everyone was wondering what had happened to her knee.  She still had her game face on though and kept going onto her 2nd lap. She did amazing and finished strong. If I remember right she was about midway in her group. 

I asked her about her knee and she told me she slid out twice. I was so proud of her because, in the past, this would have crushed her, but she took the high road, got back up, was strong, and had a blast. Good job Emily!! We took her back to the Pitzone to get cleaned up. While cleaning the road rash, we found out one of the Logan High girls in Emily's group also crashed and got some road rash. The trail was really getting churned up and slick!  

We spent the rest of the day just cheering for the other riders.  It was so low key and fun.  We got to cheer for Tyrel in the Senior Open division as he rode for fun.  One of the kids on our team was able to podium in the Senior Open division so that was amazing to see him finish out his mountain bike season on that high.

We took some fun pictures at the venue and each of the kids picked out a State hoodie to wear proudly.  This was a fun race and a great experience for each of the kids.  

A few weeks later, we had our Mountain Bike Banquet and the kids received some fun awards.

Colby and Emily were awarded Varsity Letter certificates for qualifying and participating at State.  Each rider was also awarded a specific award from the coaches.  Emily received the "Sunshine on a Bike" Award.  Colby got the "Upcoming Star Mechanic" award. Logan received the "Laser Beam Focused" award. 

It has been a fun mountain bike season but we are glad to be able to take a break for a while.  Good job everyone!

Fall Break

Fall Break was a fun weekend with the family just enjoying being outdoors. We stayed home during the break and did a little stay-cation and had a great time. 

On Thursday, we traveled up to Idaho to go to Lava Hot Springs.  As part of our Get Out Passes, we got to go to the hot pools at Lava Hot Springs for free. It was finally a good time go when the weather was just right. We got to Lava Hot Springs and had a quick lunch at the park before headed to the pools. 

There were multiple pools at the Hot Springs and each pool was a different temperature.  The pools are naturally heated through geothermal energy and they all felt good. The pools ranged from 102-112 degrees.  We tried each pool and finally decided the 102 and 105 degree pools were the best.  The others were just too hot.  We all felt like we were being cooked if we sat in them too long. You could only sit in for like 5 minutes and then had to get out. Brooklyn was telling us the whole time "It is hot Mom." We stayed in the cooler pool the majority of the time.  The pools did feel kind of relaxing though like a nice warm bath.  We just laid around and soaked for a while.  

After we were done, we took a stroll down the main drag and found an ice cream and candy shop. The ice cream scoops were square not round! We laughed at the fun old candy they had for sale. Eventually we got back on the road and headed to the American West Heritage Center for another fall activity. 

It has been a long standing tradition to go to the corn maze and try not to get lost. 

This years maze was difficult. It took us a bit to get out. We all had fun running around in the dark and getting lost. The only thing that went wrong was, Brooklyn and Logan got put in the stockade for going the wrong way during the corn maze.  Ha Ha!

Saturday was the Fall Harvest Festival at the American West Heritage Center so we all returned for more fall fun.

Emily and Colby were working in the concession stand during the Festival so they got to miss out on all of the fun activities Logan, Charlotte and Brooklyn got to do.  First we were able to milk the cow.  Logan was a pro because of his practice during the summer.  Charlotte wasn't sure about it but did give milking a try and did great.  Brooklyn was totally willing to pet the cow but did not want to try and milk her.  Next we headed to the cider press and were able to crush some apples as well as see how apple cider is made and pressed.  While at the farm site, they also got to shell some corn in the corn shelling machine and help the Center make feed for the chickens for the winter.  No trip to the AWHC is complete without multiple train rides and pony rides.  Brooklyn and Charlotte got the chance to ride the ponies. That is their favorite thing to do. Sadly Logan is too old and big to ride the ponies so he just got to watch with me.

When we were finished on the farm side, we moved over to the pioneer side for even more activities. Near the mountain man cabin, we were able to throw some tomahawks.  Logan is getting better at his hatchet throwing skills.  Charlotte also had fun with this activity.  I was able to throw the tomahawks as well and for the first time ever, I was able to get one to stick!  I know there is a trick to getting the tomahawks to stick in the target but I don't know what it is so I go off of luck.  I have taught the tomahawk rotation a few times and I can demonstrate the form correctly but making one stick is something I need to work on.  I was excited to finally be able to land a target.

Our next stop was the pioneer cabins where we were able to make corn husk dolls.  Each of the kids made a doll and they turned out so cute.  The girls have been playing with them for the past few days.  

The rest of the Fall Break weekend was spent relaxing and hanging out at home.  It was nice to have a break.