High School Choir Concert

Bruce and I were both sick (all through the Cider Festival too!).  But we powered through the weekend, and then had to spend all day Sunday sleeping, except for Sacrament Meeting and Young Woman's Standards Night.  We rarely get sick at the same time, but this time we were both down.  I got sick mostly because of lack of sleep.  I was only getting 4-5 hours a night, which isn't quite enough.   ha ha  I have been working on getting more sleep now to prevent this from happening again!


Mary had her first choir concert this week!  She perform with the Madrigals, shown here singing the Star Spangled Banner.

 And she performed "Eye of the Tiger" with the Show Choir.

 I thought I was taking a video and ended up only taking a picture!  Bummer...

Peter played his last soccer game of the season (well, outdoor soccer game, that is).  My friend Hoot Gibson took some great pictures of him playing a few weeks ago.

Bruce was the coach of his team, and enjoyed coaching with Larren, formerly the High School boys soccer coach.  Peter was the team Co-Captain of the team, and he did a great job as a mid-fielder and defender!


On Thursday, after I did a Raindrop Demonstration, I got a call from sister Angie telling me that my Dad had fainted and to go and help right away.  My parents live 10 min away, so Bruce and I jumped in the car and headed over there.  The paramedics were there by the time we got there, and he was conscious, but with very weak vital signs.  They took him in the ambulance to the hospital, but before they did, Bruce gave him a  blessing in which he said, "I bless you that you will be healed".  I have to admit that I was totally surprised by this, because I thought this was Dad's last day on Earth.  In the ER, they couldn't find anything wrong with him except that his kidney numbers were a little high compared to normal.  Well, he's 82 - shouldn't the kidneys be a little off?  :) 

Well, Mom and I brought him home.  He's all chipper in this picture, but he didn't look like that just an hour earlier!

On Friday night we came over to watch the BYU - Boise State game (way to go Cougars!!), and then when we went to go home, Dad had a moment where he wouldn't go to bed, was confused, and was talking about us following the right path to get our clothes.  Mom said it was stuff left over from working in the clothing disbursement in the Army.  At one point, I told Bruce to get up from the couch where he had been sleeping.  He was slow getting up, and was still sprawled out on the couch.  Dad pointed to him, looked at me and said, "Tell him what to do."  I laughed so hard at that - I laughed and laughed!  Mom said later that my laughter was like medicine to her.  She needed someone to experience Dad in this state, and it was good to laugh about it. It is indeed a miracle, however, that Dad is all right, and I thank Heavenly Father for it.

We've had beautiful fall weather this week.  The leaves all around have been gorgeous, including our own red maples out in front.  We are grateful to be surrounded with such beauty.

14th Annual Cider Festival

On the 19th of October, we had our 14th Annual Cider Festival! 

On Saturday morning we went to the orchard to pick apples.

The orchard overlooks this beautiful valley.  It is always inspiring to look out over this beautiful farmland. We always have a great time going out to pick apples.  These are the people that get the "full experience"!

Wes, Darcy, Jesse, Lucas, Mary

 This is Wes, who is my niece Darcy's friend, and this is the 3rd time that he has driven up from UT for the Cider Festival!  Thanks for coming, Wes!

Wes

 We got to meet Darcy's boyfriend Lucas for the first time.  He is from Sao Paolo, and has a Bachelor's in IT from a university there.  He served a mission in Manaos, in the Amazon, and now he is at BYU.  He was in Darcy's English as a second language class.  It was great to meet him and have them both here for the Cider Festival!  Thanks for making the effort to come!

Lucas and Darcy

 Here's Mary picking a big read apple!

Bruce, Lorena, Libby, Jesse, Mary, Darcy, Lucas and Wes

At 2:00 people started coming.  One of the most popular parts of the Cider Festival is the wagon ride.  Our friends Tammy and Lane are kind enough to lend us their tractor and wagon, and all the kids climb aboard and go down to the end of the lane and back on the wagon.  Bruce usually leads the wagon ride, but this year Lane and another friend Brian were kind enough to trade off driving the tractor.

Bruce

 Kids on the hay wagon ride!

My cousin Debbie came for the first time!  She recently moved to Utah, and it was delightful to have her travel up to be with us!  The night before, she helped me for hours mixing up doughnut dough and cutting it out.  I love being with my cousins.  For some reason, they are just delightful and make me laugh and laugh.  Thanks for your help, Debbie! 

Lorena and Debbie

 Jesse got here on Friday night with Darcy, Lucas and Wes.  We knew she was here when we heard the piano music fill the house, as only she can play it!  This is the best part of the Cider Festival - children coming home!

Mary, Jesse and Lorena

 And of course it's always a treat to have my Mom and Dad here.  Mom helped me all Thursday afternoon to make doughnut dough, and she had the idea to cut out the doughnuts and put them on cookie sheets in the fridge.  We've never done that before, but it was a great idea!  Thanks, Mom!

Mom and Dad - Jean and DeeAnne

Every year in my Journal, I list the names of all the people that I can think of that came.  This year I listed over 180. 

I regret that I don't have any pictures of the press or the doughnuts!  I am so busy frying doughnuts and talking to people that I'm not good at taking pictures.

I big shout-out to David Kofoed who fiddled for us while we square danced.  You're awesome David!

And now, I need to switch gears and post pictures in remembrance of our Quaker Parrot Cutie-Pie.

Jesse bought him clear back in 2007, as best we can recall, so we had him for over six years.  It was Joseph that took over his care, and Joseph loved this bird!  He would feed him and cover him every night, and say "Love ya Cutie-Pie!"  Jesse took care of him for five months after Joseph left, until she left to go to college, and then Peter has taken care of him since June.  So he was well-taken care of until last week when Peter and Bruce went hunting, and then, unfortunately, no one took care of him.  This is one of my worst nightmares, that I'm supposed to be taking care of an animal, and I don't do it, and it dies.  Well, it's a nightmare no longer, it was real.  (To be fair, I was never put in charge of him, but still...)

We found him Friday morning, the day before the Cider Festival.  It made for a tough day.  He laid in state all that day, and the next, until we could finally bury him on Sunday morning.  We buried him with a big rock over his grave, right by the one we put there for Lady our horse.  It's been a rough year for losing beloved animals.  Joseph was a good sport when I wrote to him about it.  I don't think he'll mind if I share what he told me.  He said that when Buck (the other Quaker Parrot we had) and JJ (a cockateel) died, he was really afraid that Cutie-Pie would die too.  He continued, "I said a prayer, and Good Heavenly Father who cares about the little cares of a 13 year old gave me the assurance that He wouldn´t let Cutie Pie die until I was gone. That´s why I loved Cutie Pie so much. Well, he´s in a better place now! Plan of Salvation!"   I was grateful he was so forgiving.

And here's some pictures from Bruce and Peter's hunting trip.
Peter getting his gear ready:

Road trip to get there:

Sunset on the first night:

Awesome view from the mountain top:

Sunset Day 3:

Their tent:

They saw some elk, but never got a clear shot at one, so the four-year streak continues...

Peter and Libby had their first band concert, too - yes - this is all in one week!

Homecoming 2013!

We've had a wonderful week!  I didn't get to add these pictures in last week, so I'm adding them this week.  Between Conference Sessions last week, Bruce recruited our help to put up the hay shelter.

Libby, Lilly and Peter

Peter getting a kiss from Lilly.

This is the classic, "Mom, take my picture..."

Now there's a good-lookin' man!

Buck!

It was a beautiful fall day, and it was fun to work outside together!

Here we are watching Conference:

Random picture of Libby and I:

Our beautiful fall tree in front of the house:

Peter made this collage for me for my phone.  I love it!

Here is Mary and her friend Josh on "Twin Day" at the high school, part of the Homecoming Celebration.

I got a text from Jesse saying that she was having a hard time concentrating on her Theory Homework.  I told her to do go into Dennison's Hookup to get her right and left brain working together:

And she sent this picture back with, "You want me to do that in the middle of the HFAC?"

Ha ha!  I replied, "It's none of your business what other people think of you!"

Libby got a medal at school for winning the Minute to Win It activity of shooting the cans with rubber bands!

I'm a new Great-Aunt! Josh and Rachel had their baby!

Harper Hazel was born on October 10th, weighing 6 lbs. 11 oz.

 I am so happy for them!

This week was buckin' hay time!  Bruce, Peter and Mary worked hard!

I drive the truck, and this was my view of Peter bucking hay on to the trailer.

Mary - You GO GIRL!

No lack of "fire power" pictures here!  ha ha

Saturday night was Mary's Homecoming date with Nathan!  Jesse made this collage for them.

And I took these pictures before they left the house.

These are the "Helpers"!  Thanks Tori!!

I love these pictures from Joseph that he sent last week:

The shoes on the bottom are one day in Pocito and the shoes on the top are 6 months in Ogden.  Ha ha!

This is a classic picture!  I can't even tell you how much I love this wooden bridge picture.  It reminds me so much of my mission in Bolivia!

Our Bishop asked us to start repeating the following scripture out loud as a family after family scripture study in the morning:

"Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life."  3 Nephi 5:13

And in our prayers, we are praying for missionary experiences.  This week in our family we are focusing on inviting people to come to our Cider Festival and getting ready for that!  Yeah!