November

There's a cute old couple in our ward who is assigned to minister to us...you know, be our friend, check in on us occasionally to see how they might be able to help us.  Sister Weidman actually went to nursing school with my mom in the 60s.  Anyway, they cut down their flowers in preparation for winter and decided to bring us an armful.  Literally, an armful.  Super sweet of them.  I only used maybe a half of them and put them in some vases.  They lasted a good week.  

More pretty yellow fall colors on one of my morning walks.

I finished my painting of little Josh in November!I like how it turned out. Now on to painting little Chelsea.

Matt and I went to a BYU basketball game the night before our big trip to Mexico.  We had a little more packing to do, so we didn't stay for the whole game.  It was fun, and it was free!

I'll skip over our vacation to Cancun in this post and move onto Thanksgiving.  We hosted my family here at our house for the big feast.  Everyone pitched in with food, but we did the turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, a pie and a couple other things.  Lots of work.  Plus housecleaning and buying some more tables and chairs. It all turned out nice, and it was good to be with family.  I really missed having my own kids here though.  It's just not the same without them. 

That's it for November! At least for pictures. 

Bits of October

I love our views from our Provo neighborhood.  It is constantly changing... the light, the clouds, the leaves, the snow on the mountains.  Beautiful.  Here are a few from the month.

I went on a little outing with my sister Kristen.  We went to Fashion Place Mall in Murray to pick out some eyeglasses for her.  We decided on some cool red ones.  Then we went to a new-to-us soda shop called Thirst and got some of their tasty treats.  I took a pic of our food but not of us together.  Darn.

There are still some of these people still out and about.  Matt had to snap a pic of this guy.  We saw him again the next week at Target.  He stood out... because how can one miss the pink mask?

We went to a BYU football game and had a blast despite the rain and the team losing to Boise State.  

Luke and Marisol finally came back to Utah together.  They needed to get married here in the States, so we witnessed and celebrated that in Hebe's and Carley's backyard one evening.  Her parents and sisters also came from Mexico for the wedding.  It was a mix of cultures... In and Out burgers and a mariachi band.

My Uncle Larry passed away unexpectedly.  He's the first of my parents' siblings to die.  Kristen and I drove up to Rockland, Idaho for the funeral.  It was good to see my nine cousins from that family as well as other Fillmore extended family.  Larry and Liz are back together in heaven.  That made it more of a happy occasion.  

Halloween came on Saturday the 30th because we live in Utah.  I sat on the doorstep for two hours and passed out candy to the many cute kids that came by.  I made us the perfect dinner for the holiday: the best sloppy joes on homemade buns with potato chips and ate it in between trick or treaters.  

Here are random pics of the fam in October. 

September

I hardly took pictures this month.  So sad.  I stayed busy with cooking, baking, a little painting, finished up my geography class and started a new family processes class, chores around the house, a "favorite things" relief society activity, reading my book of the month (this month it's on women's sexuality!), going out to lunch with friends, morning walks and some barre workouts, watching baseball and BYU football with Matt in the evenings, giving a relief society lesson, making dinner for a neighbor, going to the temple for sealings and an endowment, FaceTiming with all of my kids, family dinner at my brother Jeff's house, and lots more.  It's been a good month.  The air conditioner has been off for most of it and we've used our attic fans a handful of times.  The cooler weather has been nice.  I'm glad that fall in Utah is here!

I started off my September with making Grandma Laura's snickerdoodle cookies with one small adjustment of exchanging butter for the shortening that she used.  Oh YUM! They are the best ever.  

Matt and I decided to spend a day at Lagoon...just the two of us.  It was fun!  We did the rides that we wanted to do, ate the food that sounded good, and left when we felt like it.  Doesn't get any better than that! We even got to walk around the little museum displays in Pioneer Village because we didn't have kids with us that would pull us in the opposite direction.  Our fav rides are Cannibal (crazy and intense!) and the Rocket.  We like the Re-Entry option of being dropped.  Here are the only pictures we took.

Michigan/Chicago Trip

We visited Chelsea, Spencer, and Piper for a week in August.  This was my third time there this year since I had been there to help Chelsea when she was feeling sick.  This was Matt's first time visiting them. We flew into Chicago and went straight for some deep dish pizza for an early dinner.  Soooo good!

Matt had booked us at an historic hotel called The Drake.  It was right on Lake Michigan, and we had a corner room with an awesome view.

After checking in, we got on a train and headed for the Cubs game against the Brewers.  Brewers won, but it was so fun to be at Wrigley Field.  It was terribly hot and humid at the start of the game.  

Feels like 106 degrees!! Crazy.  As people started filling in around us and as I was feeling weighed down by the humidity, a little bit of claustrophobia set in.  Just in the knick of time, a huge storm blew in.  The game was paused for about an hour and half.  Luckily we were sitting in a sheltered place and didn't have to get up to take cover from lightning and heavy rain like thousands of other people.  It was quite entertaining to watch the beautiful black clouds, lightning, and the deluge of rain.  Lots of people around us cleared out and the temperature dropped significantly which all helped me to feel better.

Feels like 72 degrees!  Much better!  That black sky wasn't black because it was night.  Nope.  It was black, ominous clouds.  

After the lightning moved on and the heavy rains stopped, the field crew squeegeed gallons of water off the field, and the game resumed.  It was a very late night by the time we got back to the hotel.  

We rented a sweet minivan (yes they can be sweet!) and drove to Stevensville, Michigan where we found the Calls waiting for us.  We had a grand old time playing with Piper at their home and at the parks.  Matt and Spencer golfed at a super nice course, Golf Club at Harbor Shores.  We all had a beach picnic one day at Lake Michigan and had fun in the warm sand.  A few of us had fun in the cold water (no one over 30!).  We ate brunch twice at a cool little restaurant called Oaks Eatery in Three Oaks, MI.  Blueberry season had just ended, so we picked blackberries instead at Stover's farm.  Piper loves to look up books on the computer at the library and then go find them, so we did that one afternoon.  We also enjoyed going to church with them on Sunday where Piper wore a mask for the first time.  Then Chelsea made us yummy dinner, chilaquiles.  On our last evening before going home, Matt and I drove to a lookout point in St. Joseph and watched the sun set over the lake.  Oh, and most importantly, we offered to babysit Piper while Chelsea and Spencer ran off to Chicago for the night.  Matt and I let her fall asleep on the couch and then transferred her to her bed so that she wouldn't be more upset than she already was when her mom wasn't there for the bedtime routine.  All routine went out the window, and we watched Alladin.  The next morning we watched Big Hero 6 and then picked up branches in the backyard together.  Chelsea and Spencer came home after lunch with Albanese gummy bears and chocolates from the factory. And all was right in the world again for Piper!  

It sure was hard to say goodbye to that little family.  

We drove back to busy and congested Chicago and stopped at Portillo's for a Chicago Dog and a chocolate cake shake.  Then we flew home to smoky and hot Utah.