October 2022

 The kids love General Conference weekend.  We do a few things each time we have General Conference.  We have a General Conference store that they can buy treats, crafts and/or 'coupons' for extra screen time, late nights, etc.  We also do a guessing game of who is going to speak, where temples are being announced, what color the choir is wearing, etc.  This time the kids built a big fort to watch conference.  It keeps things interesting for what is a long weekend of watching and they are pretty good about listening to most sessions.

Jaron had crazy hair day at school and although I didn't think he would do it this year at the last minute he decided to do it.  The girls missed their day when we left for California but they didn't mind missing it this year.

Our niece Ella got married this month to Holden Ward.  They were sealed in the Provo City Center temple and it was such a great day.  It was supposed to rain all day but they lucked out that the rain held off until they were done taking pictures outside.  That night was the reception in Sandy and it was such a fun night celebrating them and we're excited to have Holden part of our family.

Fall Soccer season for all 3 kids finished up this month.  They had a great season and both won lots of games and lost a few.  Jaron will continue on practicing and doing indoor but the girls will be done until spring.

Aria added 2 parakeets to our family this month, Coral and Luna.  She couldn't just have one this time and ended up finding a big cage and 2 birds on KSL Classifieds and we picked them up one night.  They haven't been held much so it's taking quite a bit of time to get them used to being held.  Most the time as soon as they see anyone they climb to the top corner of the cage and try their hardest to stay inside their cage.  I just know Aria will get them trained in no time.

We took our annual trip to Gardner Village to see the witches.  As much as I don't think they kids care that much as they get older as soon as I mention we might not go this year they get all mad and tell me it's a tradition and they want to go.  So we go and had a good time.

Halloween was a little different this year then previous years.  We had a ward trunk or treat party which was fun to see all the kids dressed up.  We carved pumpkins like we always do.  Shane helps carve while I roast pumpkin seeds.  We had a do it a year earlier because Shane was heading out of town for work.  Which also was kind of strange having Shane out of town especially on Halloween.  The other different thing was I had kinds in Halloween parades at 2 different schools at the exact same time.  With Shane out of town that made it a little tricky.  Luckily Jaron's was broadcast online and he said he didn't care if I was there.  I cared so I sent my mom to go watch while I went to Ridgeline to see the girls and watched Jaron's online.  It all worked out.  That night we had our pumpkin pizza and the kids went trick or treating with friends in 2 different groups.  Both had a good time and I stayed home and passed out candy.  Aria was a bird (very appropriate for what her interests are right now.)  Siena was a vampire bat (she always wants something that won't stand out or make a big scene.) And Jaron insisted on being a soccer ball.  I couldn't find one his size so I ended up making it.  It was kind of a pain but I loved that it turned out and that he was so excited about it.  Hope he wears it every year! :) 

Fall Break Northern California

 For Fall Break this year we decided to go visit Grandma Glover and see some more sights in Northern California.

We drove to Quincy on Wednesday and was able to get there in time to do a short hike to what we thought would be a waterfall only to be disappointed that the drought is so bad that there was no water.  It was still a fun and very pretty hike though.  That night we had pizza with Grandma and Grandpa Jim and had a fun night talking and catching up.

The next day we hung out with Grandma and Grandpa in the morning and then headed over to watch Quincy High School boys soccer game (just happened to be a weekday, middle of the day game)  We only stayed for 1/2 of it because they were killing the other team.  We then stopped by a park and then decided to hike the big Q that is right above the High School.  That night we had dinner and hung out.  The kids loved stacking cards across the living room and were very entertained for a long time with that activity.

The next day we woke up early and headed towards San Francisco.  We stopped at the Jelly Belly Factory and took a tour.  It was fun for the kids to see an actual factory and how things go through all the different stages to get made, packaged and shipped.  We of course bought some jelly bellies and enjoyed a little train ride around the parking lot.

After that we headed into San Francisco.  The kids were super excited to see the Golden Gate Bridge but like it is so often, it was covered in fog that day.  So we drove across the bridge but unfortunately didn't get to see how big and amazing it is.  We then drove down Lombard street and then walked around Pier 39 watching the Sea Lions, eating Donuts and seeing Alcatraz from afar.

The next day we spent the day at The Great America amusement park.  We got some really cheap tickets but apparently so did everyone else and it was so super crowded.  But we rode some fun roller coasters and had a good time.  After we left we drove to a hotel just outside of Yosemite.

The next day was a long day but we had a great day in Yosemite.  We entered on the south end and exited that night on the East end.  We started with a walk around the Giant Sequoia's although the kids loved looking for chipmunks more I'm pretty sure. Then we drove into Yosemite Valley and saw El Capitan.  The kids loved watching the rock climbers and we had just shown them the movie Free Solo right before we left on our trip.  We ate lunch and then we hiked to Vernal Falls.  Siena didn't want to go to the top as it gets very steep with lots of steps so we stopped at the footbridge but the others kept going and made it to the top.

The last day we drove home but stopped at Great Basin National Park.  It's known for their cave tours but since we had just done the ones at Mt. Timpanogos last month we didn't do that.  We ate lunch, took a drive and a short hike to a very low lake but had fun splitting our drive home up a little.

We had a great trip.  It's always fun to see Grandma as she isn't able to come visit us since Grandpa Jim doesn't travel well and shouldn't be left alone.  So we love being able to see her.  The trip was a lot of driving and the kids did great.  We were happy to see some new sites as well.