Cone of Shame, Solo, Chip Challenge, Fall Colors, Surprises, Fall Break, Band Concert, Work Party

Another two weeks have flown by.  Daniel had a meet two weeks ago.  He was not participating in this meet, but he went to support the runners who were participating.  To pass the time him and a friend decided to try the ‘Paqui One Chip Challenge’.  There is an individually wrapped tortilla chip that is extra spicy.  The chip is made with Carolina Reaper peppers and scorpion peppers so it is REALLY HOT--it supposedly ranks roughly 2 million on the Scoville heat units. For reference a jalapeño pepper ranks around 2,000-8,000 on the Scoville scale.  You are supposed to eat the extra spicy chip and wait as long as possible until you eat or drink anything else to cut the heat.  Daniel didn’t last very long--haha!!  To prove you did eat the chip it turns your tongue blue.

He sent us a copy of the video.  He ended up drinking all of his Slurpee, most of his Sunny D drink and his mouth was still on fire--haha!

 I have been working all over the place these last few weeks.  Just this week alone I have logged roughly 800 miles which is crazy!  I did find myself down in Orem and Provo 3 different times.  Aaron loved that because that meant I could stop by the BYU bookstore and pick up a few things for him--haha!  I ended up driving past the old Enrich building where me and my friend, KiLee, used to work back when we were single and roommates.  Seeing that brought back a lot of memories!  Enrich used to be a natural supplement company.  I worked with keeping their master formulas updated and appropriate for distribution in the United States.  It is now out of business, though.  It was a fun job.

I also got to drive from a clinic in Provo over to a clinic out in Kamas which meant I drove through Provo canyon.  I got to see Bridal Veil Falls which was beautiful especially with the fall leaves:

I got to drive by Deer Creek which was REALLY LOW because we are still having a drought:

The Fall colors were very pretty to see through Provo canyon:

In between my Provo clinic and my Kamas clinic I stopped and had a quick lunch at Dairy Keen in Heber.  I got a salad instead of a Train Burger (aka heart attack burger) and chatted with Josh on his P-day via Messenger while I ate my lunch in Heber in a parking lot.  Then I headed off to do my clinic in Kamas.  I got home about 10 pm that evening.  It was a long day.

I also got to drive up to Green River, Wyoming, too, last week.  At least this year there wasn’t any snow, yet, which I was glad for!

I did get this text about Josh last week.  Wahoo!  I had to make sure they were really talking about Josh, though--haha!  When Josh lived with us he NEVER kept his room clean.  Maybe there are miracles in this world--haha!

It was time for Sarah to get her labs drawn again.  Things are looking about the same.  She will have a follow up in about 6 months.  I am so glad Sarah doesn’t mind getting shots or her blood drawn.

Columbus Day was two weeks ago.  Aaron had the day off from work since it was a holiday.  We ran errands together and then went out for lunch at Olive Garden to try the never ending pasta bowl.  It was a fun day.

The following Wednesday I worked at the Senior Expo clinic in Layton.  As we were starting the clinic I was surprised to see my Mom.  She was at the expo and happened to see me working.  How crazy!  It was fun to see her and chat for a few minutes.  Later that day Aaron came to get his Covid Booster shot from me.

The next two days was Fall Break.  We tried taking the kids to SeaQuest, but the line to get inside was HUGE. We decided to try going there another day because we all HATE super crowded places.  We did wander around the mall for a bit and then went to Pizza Pie Cafe for lunch.  The next morning we tried SeaQuest again and the line was even longer than it had been the day before.  We instead went hiking up Farmington Canyon on the Automobile Graveyard trail to see the fall leaves instead.  They were beautiful!  Here’s Sarah, Noah and Daniel on their way:    

The kids were faster hikers than Aaron and me so we stayed together and they stayed together until Daniel decided to start jogging up the trail.

Daniel needed to do a running workout so later on in the trail he took off jogging and made it all the way to the second waterfall:

On his way back from the waterfall he ran into Sarah and me and we got to check out three of the very old wrecked and rusted out cars.

Noah stayed with Aaron at the first waterfall so they weren’t with us when we saw the old wrecked cars.  Daniel decided to run back down the trail which left Sarah and me hiking back down together.  

Again the fall leaves were pretty!

When we got back to the first waterfall everyone had started hiking back to the car so we didn’t run in to them until we all got back to the car.

We love to do this trail in the fall.  We try to hike it every year.

Later that afternoon we all headed over to Lagoon to enjoy some Frightmares.  Sarah had gone earlier with some friends and said she would meet us there when we got there.  We picked up Matthew took him to get his flu shot and covid booster and he came with us.  Here’s the rest of us as we were walking in.

We did some haunted houses.

For as brave as my family thinks they are, I was made to go through all the haunted houses first while everyone followed behind me--haha!

Sarah ended up hanging out with her friends for a lot of the time we were there.  She loved going on Cannibal with them.

We did meet up later that evening with Sarah.  It was a fun night.

Our garden is definitely winding down.  I was able to do two more batches of tomatoes.  I have one more batch that needs to be taken care of and then I think we are done with the garden for this year--especially since we had a hard freeze the past two nights.

Not all the kids have been available when I have been close by to get their flu shots.  I finally had to take Sarah to a clinic I wasn’t scheduled at to get her shot done.  Luckily, it was a CNS clinic and they let me give the shot to her even if I wasn’t working that actual clinic.  I had just gotten off a previous clinic not more than an hour before this, though, that’s why I was still in scrubs.  Sarah didn’t even flinch.

Sarah had a pumpkin painting young women activity last week.  She painted a Perry the Platypus pumpkin from Phineas and Ferb. 

Sarah and Noah had their first band concert this year.  Noah is loving being in percussion and Sarah still plays the flute.  Here’s Noah playing the xylophone or Glockenspiel in the beginning band:

Noah again:

Sarah got to play with the advanced band and in the jazz band.

We were pretty shocked to see that Sarah was playing a solo during one of the jazz band songs.  She didn’t say a word about it so we got to find out about it when we saw it in the program--the stinker!!

She nailed it!

Here’s her solo:

Here’s my two cute band kids:

This past Friday Aaron’s work opened up part of his classified building to a friends and family day.  This is the first time they have done that in the 11+ years he has worked there.  It was fun to go with Sarah, Noah, Daniel and Aaron to check out Aaron’s work.  They let us tour three different rooms that held three different projects Aaron has personally worked on.  One was an Anechoic chamber for Radar testing that Aaron designed and had built. Another room contained an actual F-16 that Aaron had converted into a test stand. It had equipment that plugged into it that would make the aircraft act and react like it was flying even though it was on the ground. A third room contained two giant domes that had F-16 cockpits in them that acted as F-16 flight simulators. Each cockpit and dome had 30 projectors to help simulate the sky and ground around you. Aaron was a supervisor in that group for around 6 months. He was so excited to show them off to us.  It was cool to see the things the things in person he has worked on through the years. It was too bad that they still wouldn’t let us take any pictures in the building.

Daniel got to take the ACT test this past Saturday morning.  He was a bit nervous, but I am sure he did fine.  Saturday evening we got to take Matthew to a class Halloween party.  A girl in his special education class invited the whole class to her house for a Halloween Party.  Matthew was SO EXCITED!  We dropped him off at 6 and picked him back up at 9.  He had a really fun time.

Saturday evening Sarah got to help out with a fundraising carnival for the school.  She got to help out manning a game station.  She was glad to help and get some volunteer hours in.  When she got done she got to come home and plan her class lesson for young women the next day.

They are really coming along with the Syracuse temple!  We drive by it every time we pick up or take Matthew home.  It is fun to see the progress since it is so close to our house--5 minutes away.

This morning Sophie had a grooming appointment.  I dropped her off at 8 am.  I picked her up at 10 am and brought her home to find her paw was bloody and she was missing a toenail.  I took her back to the groomer and they looked at her paw.  They then checked her holding kennel they kept her in while they were waiting for me to pick her up.  They then found the missing toenail on the floor of the kennel.  It had somehow snapped off while she was in the kennel and was bleeding.  They advised me to take her to the vet to get checked out.  The only vet that had an open appointments today was the ER Vet.   I work all the rest of the week so today was the only day I would have time to take care of this.  I even work later today so I was on a bit of a time crunch.  I took her in to the ER and waited forever to be seen.  When they saw her they just wrapped up her paw and told me to keep it clean and that it would be sore for a few days.  I am glad it wasn’t more serious, but had I known that I wouldn’t have bothered to take her in.  Anyway, they did clean and wrap up her paw.  She absolutely HATES it, and it appears to be sore but she got lots of treats when she got home so she is doing fine.

She does try to be extra dramatic sometimes because that seems to get her more treats--haha!

How can you say no to that face and cute bandage?!

It was a bit of a crazy morning/afternoon.  Well Sophie wouldn’t leave her dressing alone.  She pulled it off and wouldn’t stop licking her wound.  That meant we had to pick up a cone of shame, some Coban, and some antibacterial spray to keep it from getting infected.  She is pretty pitiful right now, but hopefully it won’t get infected.

Shots, Sadie Hawkins, Games, Birthday, Meets, Fall, School Pictures

I am about a week behind.  Things have been a bit crazy around here.  Here’s a catch up of what’s been going on at our house.  The kids got there school pictures done.  We usually don’t order them because they are insanely expensive, but here’s the proof picture I got of Sarah.  It’s a bit blurry, but still cute.  Noah and Daniel conveniently lost theirs....

We had a family get together a few weeks ago to celebrate Grandma T’s birthday.  We met at Uncle Bryan and Aunt Michonne’s house for dinner along with Uncle Burke and Aunt Johanna.  For some reason I don’t have any other pictures of the get together except for Noah chatting with Grandpa T as they were getting ready to go home.  Noah was discussing coins and coin collections with Grandpa T:

Noah was able to go with G&G T to a coin show yesterday morning down in Sandy.  He had a lot of fun and came back more knowledgable about silver nickels and even had some new coin books to fill.  They had a great time.

It was Daniel’s birthday a week and half ago.  Aaron got Daniel 17 donuts to celebrate that morning.  Sarah and Daniel were the first ones awake so they got first pick:

Later that evening everyone had different places they all needed to be so before everyone went their separate ways we had some cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday to Daniel.  We were going to celebrate with a nice dinner the following Sunday, but we didn’t want the actual birthday day to pass up without acknowledging his birthday.

That Friday evening Sarah and Daniel went to the high school football game.  Sarah got to go because they 9th grade band was invited to play along with the high school band during the game.  Daniel just went with some friends.  The football night had a patriotic theme and looking at the forecast it was supposed to be a bit chilly. Sarah chose to wear subtle red, and white blue clothes.  She stole my Syracuse sweatshirt to wear......we are the same size in shoes as well and she likes to steal those, too--ugh!!  Oh well good thing I love her.  Anyway,  Daniel chose to go all out and wear this:

He did end up putting on a jacket and wore that most of the night since it was chilly.  What a crazy kid!!  He did get lots of mosquito bites as well.  

Here’s a few pictures of Sarah with some band friends at the game:

After Sarah and Daniel went to the football game Noah decided he wanted to have a late night at a friend’s house.  He left shortly after which left Aaron and I kid-less and alone for the evening.  It was so weird!!  We decided to turn it into a date night and make a Costco run.  We know how to keep the romance alive--haha!

Sarah’s seminary class does a small scale seminary Conference around General Conference.  Sarah and her friend volunteered to do a flute duet for a musical number for their seminary conference.  She was nervous, but she said it turned out all right. I am proud she signed up and performed because that can be scary!

Sarah also got invited to a friend’s Quincinera party.  This is a first for us.  Luckily, Josh has attended a few of them so Sarah was able to talk to Josh about it during one of his P-day calls.  The Quincinera will be in November so we have until then to figure it out--haha!

The next morning, on Saturday, was General Conference.  We listened to the first session just hanging out at home.  For the second session we decided to make a drive up to Logan through Sardine Canyon to enjoy the fall leaves.  They were beautiful!

We did stop by Gossner’s and picked up some shelf stable flavored milk, some squeaky cheese, and some other cheese cubes.  We did get some ice cream as well.  One of the flavors was jalapeño chocolate.  Aaron chose to get that one.  It was weird, chocolatey and spicy. 

I got one of my favorites--black licorice.  I love it and no one else likes it so it means I don’t have to share--haha!

The next morning Aaron made his traditional huge breakfast.  This time he made breakfast sliders.  He used Hawaiian Rolls and topped them with bacon, sausage, eggs, cheese and butter then smoked them after slathering them with butter.  They were really good.

Sarah and Daniel have been doing a few things with youth council.  They got to help out with a fund raising carnival for a local elementary school.  They also went shopping to pick up supplies for the city Halloween Pumpkin Walk.  Sarah also got to participate in a mock shooter drill at another elementary school to help police officers.  They are enjoying participating.

Aaron got to do parent teacher conferences this past week since I was at work.  The kids seem to be doing okay.  They have some procrastination problems with assignments and turning in things late, but we are now all working on that--haha!  The transition to Jr. High has been a bit rough for Noah, but he is doing better.  There is such a difference between elementary and Jr. High.  I am sure things will get better.

I have been working a TON lately.  I have been all around.  Two weeks ago I even got the chance to go to Gunnison to draw blood, give Hepatitis B shots and to do TB testing on the new cadets at the prison.  In addition to that I am still doing a ton of flu clinics as well.  It’s been a bit chaotic since Aaron has had to pick up the slack since I am gone A LOT.  I worked yesterday morning and I came home to find Aaron and Daniel just chilling.  Daniel had fallen asleep on Aaron. Since that doesn’t hardly ever happen Aaron was holding still and enjoying teen snuggles even though he had to desperately go to the bathroom.  Eventually Daniel woke up and as soon as that happened Aaron beelined it to the bathroom--haha!

Josh is doing well.  We have finally replaced his debit card and Driver’s License.  He got a new temple recommend from his Mission President and a replacement MSF card.  However, he did tell us he has now lost his back pack that had his Spanish scriptures inside.  UGH!  He is now getting a replacement backpack and will now have to use his other set of scriptures.  This kid--I love him, but he can drive me crazy--haha!  I always like to see the pictures the Mission President and wife posts.  Josh the giant is not hard to pick out in the pictures--haha!

Aaron posted this to his Facebook wall: "A friend and former co-worker of mine Joe Zaelit was in Chicago over the weekend with his son. He posted something saying he was there and I told him that my son was there on his mission. It was cool, even though Joe and I have different faiths, he met up with my son and his mission companion and gave them some money for food. Joe did, however, have Josh make the "U" symbol since Joe is a huge Ute fan and I am a huge BYU fan. It is really nice when people look out for your kids, especially when you can't be there.” We were so grateful he was able to meet up with Josh.

Aaron still loves Josh despite the ‘U’ symbol--haha!  Josh knew that would bug Aaron--haha!  I was just happy that someone got to see Josh in person and see that he is doing okay.

I did a clinic down in North Salt Lake last week and drove past the Diesel Brothers garage on my way to work.  That was cool!  I was stopped at a stop light and took a quick picture:

Daniel had a meet two weeks ago down in Layton.  It was his last meet of the season.

He has enjoyed this season of Cross Country:

Here’s the cross country friends:

After the race they all went to Pizza Pie Cafe and demolished their all you can eat pasta and pizza bar--haha!

All of us have been every which way so when Josh called for his P-day call we answer wherever we are.  This time I was at work, Sarah and Aaron were at home and we talked to Josh while he was driving.  He put his phone down so he wasn’t looking at us, but we could still see his glasses and the top of his head while we were talking:

We celebrated Daniel’s birthday last Sunday.  It was two days after his actual birthday, but this way G&G T and Matthew could be with us.  Daniel asked Aaron to make crunch wraps and then we had store bought chocolate birthday cake.  Daniel requested his cake be store bought instead of homemade so that’s what he got.... We enjoyed visiting with G&G T at dinner:

Grandpa had gone to lunch with his two brothers a few weeks earlier and had gotten some polished rocks.  He brought them to dinner to show us and tell us about them. It was pretty cool:

I usually give all the kids and Aaron a flu shot every year.  However, we missed the clinic by our house so I waited until I was at another school by our house. That happened this past Thursday.  However, Sarah had dance and Daniel had to work so only Noah and Aaron came by to get their shots.  It was still fun to see them at work:

Noah was taking the picture of Aaron so he made sure he got the money shot shot picture as I gave Aaron his shot--haha!

Daniel got asked to the Sadie Hawkins dance.  He took it off the porch without taking a picture so this is the only picture I got:

He answered her back a few days later.  He made sure to buy a package of 120 Solo cups and stacked it all over her porch with the help from two other guys.  He said, “I won’t let you go ’Solo’ to Sadies”.

Noah got a chance to go to the temple with his Deacon’s Quorum to do baptisms this past week.  

They got treats afterward.  He said it was great!

It is getting closer to Halloween.  We are trying out Youtube TV for a month.  The nice thing is that it comes with a DVR so we can record shows to watch later.  Since it is getting closer to Halloween we have been recording edited TV versions of old Halloween shows and watching them as a family.  We watched Halloween 1 and 2 and just last night we watched Friday the 13th.  All of them are edited so they aren’t too bad to watch.  Sarah still doesn’t enjoy scary movies so she will usually read while we watch, but Noah and Daniel seem to be liking it.  I am trying to remember other scary movies to watch so we can set them to record.  

Matthew is enjoying his last year at Vista.  He is really looking forward to his graduation and already inviting people to his graduation although it won’t happen until April or May.  He is a funny kid, but enjoys life.