the grovers - patently awesome

2024-01-31

Thanksgiving

There were a lot of Hendricks cousins in town for the holiday (all of Patty's kids and most of Jim's), so we had lots of occasions to spend time together. First was a game night at Rachel's house on Wednesday, November 22. We ate snacks, Miriam retired to the basement to hang out with Cooper and Maddy, the rest of us played games upstairs. Jackbox, as always, was a hit.

Kelsey and Winnie laugh and play games while drinking sodas at Rachel's.

We spent Thanksgiving day (November 23) at Grandma and Grandpa Scott's. This year I outsourced all my usual Thanksgiving prep since I had one arm still in a sling. Rebekah made rolls (and didn't kill the yeast despite not letting the milk cool down before adding it). Ana made pies. I sent Miriam and Winnie over to help Grandma Scott with whatever prep she needed. We ate a delicious meal.

Grandma finished telling us about a few of the dishes we were using for Thanksgiving. Some were from Marie, her mother, Some were from Martha and Alice, her grandmas. Some were from Annie, her great-grandma.

Ana napping after the meal.

Rebekah napping with her head under the back cushion.

Seth napping on the floor.

Miriam reading.

The day after Thanksgiving (November 24), we went to Anne's house in Rexburg to eat pizza and spend time with all the Hendricks cousins. Mack would be speaking in church and starting his mission within days, so it was fun for the kids to interact with him before saying goodbye.

Cooper, Miriam, Winnie, Ana, Rebekah, Mack and a couple of Papworths playing games in the living room.

And the day after that (Saturday, November 25), we did our usual Christmas tree hunting, but not in our usual spot. We've been going by Fall Creek for as long as I can remember, but we've felt like the good trees are farther and farther from the parking lot and therefore harder to get to. Seth and I had gone a week or so before to scout out new possible areas. We found a good one just past Pine Basin that would not require any snowmobiles or four-wheelers, so we took the family there this time.

Ana cut down the tree this year. Seth supervised and pushed.

Hiking back down the hill close to the road. There wasn't much snow.

Winnie getting a shoulder ride from Miriam.

Family selfie after getting a tree. My arm was (still, of course) in a sling, so I had to borrow Seth's big ski coat and zip it up with one empty arm of the coat flopping around. I fell headed down the hill and jarred my elbow, which made me stop and wallow in pain for a couple of seconds, but no lasting damage was done.

Then later that day we stopped by Grandma Susan's house to see Lizzie's brand new puppies. With Roscoe as the father, these are purebred labs. Grandma and Grandpa were worried when they all came out dark (Roscoe is a yellow lab; Lizzie is red) because they worried that another dog may have impregnated Lizzie and the dogs would be mutts, but it turns out that red labs often have dark puppies.

The puppies were residing in a plastic pool lined with an old sleeping bag in Grandma's office.

Miriam with a puppy.

Rebekah with a puppy.

Ana with a puppy.

Andrea with a puppy.

Seth with (guess what?) a puppy.

Winnie with a puppy. They made the cutest little squeaky noises.

2023-12-22

Fall miscellany

Swallowing a rainbow: Tuesday, August 29

Rebekah pretends to eat the rainbow visible from our driveway.

Tasty burger: Wednesday, August 30

Rebekah poses with her Crown Burger in Utah. Andrea and Rebekah went to Utah for a couple of days so Andrea could have lunch with a few of her college roommates. We stayed at Aunt Susan's house overnight.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple: Thursday, August 31

Rebekah and Andrea pose outside the Oquirrh Mountain Temple on that same quick Utah trip.

Black beauty: Thursday, September 7

Rebekah shows off an amazing find at D.I.

Eastern Idaho State Fair: Saturday, September 9

Andrea, Winnie, Ana and Seth check out the petting zoo at the fair. Rebekah had just moved to college, and Miriam opted to stay home.

Sub selfie: Thursday, September 14

Andrea before heading out for her first sub job of the year: a half-day at BHS choir.

Idaho Falls Symphony in the Park: Saturday, September 16

Miriam and Andrea at the annual outdoor concert at Freeman Park. We ate Pitmaster Barbecue and listened to the symphony play some popular Broadway tunes.

Cat hat: Monday, September 18

Toad wears the hat Winnie wove for him on her loom.

Homecoming parade: Friday, September 22

Ana waves from the ballroom float during the annual homecoming parade.

McKall poses with the mysterious can of liquid we received from one of the homecoming floats. Seth and Andrea watched the parade at Summit Hills Elementary and found McKall (who teaches 1st grade there) so we could stand by her and visit for a minute.

Furry friends: Friday, September 22

Peach and Toad nap on their mat in the shop.

Tautphaus Park Zoo: Saturday, September 23

Winnie gets up close and personal to the serval.

Seth, Andrea and Winnie swing near the penguins.

Andrea and Winnie on the swing. Rebekah had received free passes to the zoo for playing a gig there with the Jazz House Big Band. She used one ticket to go on a date with another friend who also had free passes. We used the other three passes for us.

Dying pants and snuggling a cat: Monday, September 25

Ana dyes fringe pants for her Latin open costume.

Andrea and Toad hang out on the porch swing.

D.I. treasures: Friday, September 29

Seth and Rebekah pose with the awesome masks they found while shopping at D.I.

BYU-Idaho date: Thursday, October 5

Ana and Andrea in the jungle room at the BYU-Idaho greenhouses.

Posing with some of the apples we picked at the orchard where we also ate our picnic dinner.

Ana and Andrea meeting up with Rebekah at a jazz jam session in the Snow building. We were just stopping by to hide some homemade goodies in Rebekah's instrument locker when we heard music coming from one of the rooms and investigated. We found Rebekah there.

Blast Off! date: Saturday, October 7

Miriam tries her hand at the claw machine while Winnie and Seth watch.

Eating Orange Leaf after playing laser tag, rock climbing, mini golfing, air hockeying and arcading at Blass Off!

Shirt cat: Saturday, October 7

Miriam smuggles Toad into the house and her shirt.

Bring a stuffed animal to work day: Wednesday, October 11

Seth poses with his Cthulhu doll that Rebekah crocheted. Seth and his coworkers had a contest for the best stuffed animal, and Seth won.

NJHS induction: Wednesday, October 11

Miriam is inducted into Praxium's chapter of the National Junior Honor Society during a ceremony at the Rocky Mountain auditorium.

Vaccination lag: Friday, October 13

Ana sleeps on the couch after getting her COVID booster the day before. Those seem to hit her hard. She stayed home from school that day.

Peach porch time: Saturday, October 14

Ana, Winnie and Miriam hang out with Peach on the porch swing.

Winnie's handicrafts: Sunday, October 15

The family shows off the hats and socks Winnie made for us on her loom.

Pocket cat: Saturday, October 21

Toad fits nicely into Ana's oversized hoodie pocket.

Fairview T-shirt quilt: Wednesday, October 25

The T-shirt quilt that I made (Frances Merrill quilted it for me) to donate to the school's fall carnival silent auction.

Back to BYU-I: Thursday, October 26

Ana carefully pores over all the minerals and gems in the Romney building. We went back to BYU-Idaho because when we had our date there earlier in the month, the planetarium show was sold out. Ana really wanted to learn about black holes, so we came back up only to find out that the show was sold out again despite us arriving earlier to get tickets. Luckily they had a second showing that we were able to make.

Corn maze: Friday, October 27

Andrea and Winnie pose at the New Sweden Farm corn maze. Andrea dropped her credit card somewhere (not in the maze) and had to pick it up later once she realized it was missing.

Shoulder cat: Friday, November 3

Toad on Seth's shoulders in the shop.

Stake dance: Friday, November 10

Seth DJs a stake dance at the Kearney Building. The stake YM and YW presidencies asked if he could do it rather than paying $600 for a professional DJ.

Dylan gets a body: Saturday, November 11