October 2021

 

Another October in the books ... adventures, eating, etc.  Here's the recap:

• Mexico Adventures: Landon and Sol were off to Mexico at the end of the month. More pictures in November's update ;) 
• Gray's Getaways: Gray his St. George for some RZR riding, and also went to the sand dunes. He, Keaton and Cooper had a quick trip to Seattle to visit Kolby and Jami. Their return trip was scheduled for late Sunday, but their flight was canceled, so they stayed another night and were able to rebook in the morning. The trip worked out perfect with Cooper's school (finals the week they left, but it was easy to finish up early, and no school Monday). Keaton's work missed him Monday, especially as they didn't have Cal either ...
• Catching Covid: Our first immediate family Covid connection, Cal and K8 got sick and tested positive. While they'd had the J&J vaccine, both felt pretty yucky and lost their sense of smell. They are recovering and ready to re-enter the world.
• Kitties: Landon took the two kitties in to the vet for a visit and some dental work. They were not happy little kitties. Meow!
• Basketball: Most of Colton's games have been in Utah County, which is too far for Jen to travel, so when there was a local tournament (Bingham High) Jen was happy to go grab some video and cheer the team on ... despite the $30 entry fee. Colton has been going to school early to shoot, and has open gym after school as well. Lots of basketball, and tryouts coming up next month.
• Social Sophomore: For Colton, school is sports, social ... then studies. While he is getting good grades, it's all about basketball and hanging out with friends. He and his friends hit a haunted house, and he's often out late on weekends (much to a tired mommy's chagrin, although he can often get a ride home afterward which helps).  He went bowling with Aunt Olivia and the cousins too.
• School Stuff: Cooper's school has been going smoothly. Jen isn't nearly as involved as she was the last two years. Still helping some with English (although beyond the brainstorming and nudging, this assignment was all Coop ... Literacy Narrative). Colton was struggling a bit in AP Physics, so Jen has become his personal tutor there (as she basically took high school physics with Cooper last year). 
• Food: Grayson continues to make gourmet meals - smoking, sous vide and on the grill. Fun things like cheese dips and popcorn too - pictured are three different popcorn kernels. Did you know that when it comes to popcorn, there are two types, BUTTERFLY and MUSHROOM. We'd discovered mushroom popcorn a while back and fell in love, but then found a light/white butterfly kernel we adore too. With Halloween around the corner, candy corn has come out, and with the cooler weather, we had our first official soup&breadsticks of the season. 

Jen continues to make sourdough loaves two-three times a week as well. Zumba is still going strong, but the change in the weather has had an impact on pickleball (we were early morning players, and while it has been nice enough later in the day, that hasn't fit into the schedule quite as well). Coop jogs miles on the treadmill almost every day. When Gray isn't making marvelous meals, he is busy with work and RZR stuff. Keaton has been working hard, finishing up his class at SLCC and is still jumping out of airplanes. Still a lot of Pokemon Go going on too.

Although we had a pretty good pumpkin year in the garden (one of the few things that thrived) no one got around to carving jack-o-lanterns this year. Didn't get our jack-o-lantern cookies made either. We had trick-or-treaters come both Saturday and Sunday nights. It was lovely weather for it!

Here's the recap "one second" style ...