Halloween

 Miriam had the opportunity to spend Halloween in Boston with Jason's family, so we had to adjust some of our holiday plans so that she could be included before she left. On Monday, October 24, Miriam invited three friends (only two could make it) to come to our house in costume to play games and watch Hocus Pocus 2.

Kaitlyn, Miriam and Kyree.

That evening, we carved pumpkins and then put them in the garage and crossed our fingers that they'd still look good on Halloween.

Winnie carving her Mockingjay pumpkin.

Seth helping Miriam carve her porg pumpkin.

Rebekah carving her Gollum pumpkin. She dyed her hair with leftover dye the Saturday before. 

Ana carving her mind flayer pumpkin.

Everyone with their jack-o-lanterns.

Obligatory silly face picture.

Jack-o-lanterns aglow. From left to right: Ana's mind flayer and Will pumpkin (from Stranger Things), Rebekah's Gollum pumpkin (from Lord of the Rings), Winnie's mockingjay pumpkin (from Hunger Games), Miriam's porg pumpkin (from Star Wars: The Last Jedi).

We took picture of everyone in their costumes at different times, but here's a recap of what everyone dressed up as for Halloween.

Miriam the Jedi. Seth made her a lightsaber hilt from plumbing parts at Home Depot. 

Rebekah as the Dread Pirate Roberts.

Ana as Princess Buttercup. These two wore their costumes to school on Friday, October 28 and made sure that Mr. Haroldsen and Miss Pilgrim got to see them. They were duly impressed.

Winnie the spooky ghost.

Seth as Weird Al (circa 1982). 

Andrea as a Wordle.

Rebekah, Ana and Winnie wore their costumes to school on Friday, October 28. Seth, Winnie and I went in costume to the Fairview fall carnival on Saturday, October 29. Winnie dressed up again to go trick-or-treating with her friend, Annalise, on Monday, October 31. Ana had a group of ballroom friends over for pizza, cider, spud nuts, games and a movie (A Quiet Place) on Monday, October 31.

Miriam, on the other hand, left Idaho Falls on Thursday, October 27 to stay in Salt Lake, then flew out to Boston on Friday, October 28 with Grandma Susan, Grandpa Dennis, Aunt Rachel and Cooper to visit Jason and his family and to spend Halloween with them. They played games including Dungeons and Dragons, they went to the the aquarium and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and they went trick-or-treating at Beacon Hill. Miriam had to catch an early morning flight the day after Halloween, but was home Tuesday afternoon.

Jason, Cooper, Rachel, Dean (Lily), Grandma Susan, Miriam and Max (Calvin). 

Miriam petting a ray at the aquarium.

Miriam with Jason's cat sitting on her lap.

Playing games at Jason's.

Riding the subway.

Miriam in her costume on Halloween.

Miriam as a Jedi, Max as Sailor Jupiter, Dean as some plant zombie thing, Jason as the Nowhere King, Cooper as Scooby Doo, Rachel as Velma, Grandma Susan as a fat witch (her words, not mine). 

Marching Band

 Marching band is a way of life in the fall. Especially if you're a drum major. Which Rebekah is. In fact, she and her partner Bradley Storms were the first-ever drum majors for the newly formed High Desert Marching Band, a composite band of Bonneville and Hillcrest students. These kids had spring camp. They had fall camp. They performed at halftime during five football games. They traveled to and performed at five competitions (Highland, USU, Minico, Madison, ISU). Seth and I hauled their trailer to the Madison competition and helped move equipment on and off the field. We had everyone (minus Miriam since she was gone ... more on that later) come to the ISU competition to see the entire show.

The show this year was "Connections." Rebekah got to start by conducting at the front, then trading off with Bradley and running to the back, then running back to the front and finishing there. She certainly got her steps in.

Conducting during halftime on Friday, October 7.

Practicing in the warmup area before performing for judges at Madison on Saturday, October 7.

Rebekah and the other leaders of her band standing in the drum major circle following the Madison competition.

Saluting at the end of their halftime performance on Friday, October 14.

Running to the back of the field (and spotting her photographer mom) during the halftime performance on Friday, October 21.

Directing from the back during the same halftime performance.

Hauling in her stand before the ISU performance on Saturday, October 29.

Receiving third place in their division at the ISU competition.

The season ended with a barbecue for the kids at Bradley's house on Wednesday, November 2 (it was held outside, so Rebekah didn't stay too long due to the temperature), and a banquet for the kids and their families on Monday, November 9. I shot picture of the seniors throughout the season and put together a quick slideshow featuring all of them. 

Idaho Falls Symphony Young Artist Competition

 Rebekah was amazed when she found out she was a finalist in the Idaho Falls Symphony Young Artist Competition. Only five high school students and five college students were chosen as finalists, and most of them played strings. Rebekah spent hours practicing both on her own and with our neighbor who accompanied her on the piano. On Saturday, September 17, she was the first of the five to play "Morceau Symphonique" at the Civic Auditorium. 

Ruth and Rebekah on stage performing.

Rebekah on her trombone.

Miriam, Ana and I in the audience. Grandma and Grandpa Scott, Grandma Susan and Seth were also able to come watch.

She didn't end up winning, but it was still quite an accomplishment for her to make it that far. (The winner will get to perform her solo with the I.F. Symphony accompanying her in the spring.)

Winnie is 10!

 This kid got a whole weekend of birthday. First we had her family birthday dinner on Sunday, October 2 at our house. It was nice enough that we ate outside. Uncle T and Aunt Rachel and their families were out of town, so it was just us, the grandparents, Uncle Doug and Great-Grandma Hendricks.

Winnie unwrapping the earrings we bought for her. She also received chalk and an earring holder from Grandma and Grandpa Scott, cash from Grandma Susan and Grandpa Dennis, cash from Uncle Doug. And we let her pick out a phone case and ring from Amazon.

The group watching Winnie open her gifts. Seth, Grandpa Scott, Grandma Scott, Winnie, Grandma Susan, Grandma Hendricks, Grandpa Dennis, Uncle Doug, Roscoe, Rebekah, Analee. (Miriam is there too, somewhere.)

Miriam and Ana putting candles in a cinnamon roll for Winnie. Ana made cinnamon rolls with and without raisins for General Conference, and Winnie decided she just wanted those for her birthday cake.

Then she invited some friends over to watch the movie Sea Beast and eat Little Caesar's on Monday when they didn't have school. Even though we didn't inform her friends it was a birthday get-together. Sheerah still brought cash to give her, and Annalise brought American Girl doll clothes.

Winnie and her friends take turns holding Ginger. Winnie, Annalise, Cora, Nora, Drystin, Sheerah.

Then on her actual birthday, Winnie went to school, then went to the piercing/tattoo parlor to get her ears pierced. She picked out earrings that "looked like opals," then we went to Orange Leaf for a treat.

Winnie and Andrea with their Orange Leaf, and Winnie with her newly pierced ears.

Homecoming

 Both Rebekah and Ana got to participate in the homecoming parade, so I chased them down and shot pictures at Summit Hills Elementary, Discovery Elementary and Rocky Mountain Middle School on Friday, September 16.

Ana and her ballroom friends on their float.

She found me and waved.

Rebekah on the band float.

She strapped their class mascot Douglas onto her trombone with bandanas.

Ana performed with the ballroom team during halftime that night. We were boxed in by spectators, so I only shot pictures from the stands.

Ana (third from right) performing "I Need You," a lindy, with the rest of the Bonneville ballroom team.

Drake Creek and then Grove Creek and Drake Creek Loop

 The kids were back in school, but the sun was still shining, so Peach and I tried out a new trail by Victor on Wednesday, September 14. It's only 3.1 miles out and back, but it does climb over 1,100 feet in elevation. We were supposed to be graced by views of Victor and the Tetons at the highest point, but we were completely surrounded by fog. It was still a beautiful trail.

Peach and I at our summit.

The fog around us.

Peach tuckered out in the back seat on the way home.

A week later, my childhood friend Brooke asked if I was up for some hiking. I asked if we could do the Grove Creek and Drake Creek loop so I could check out the backside of the trail. That ended up being 8 miles and over 1,700 feet of elevation gain, but the day was clear and sunny, so we could see everything Peach and I failed to see the first time. 

Selfie on top. 

Hunting camp

 We made our usual trek to Island Park for Labor Day weekend so Seth and Rebekah could look for forest beasties and the rest of us could enjoy camp. We left for camp on Friday, September 2 after the girls finished school and Seth finished work, and we all came home Monday, September 5 after lunch.

I took a small side trip on Saturday to meet with the Wirkus relatives who came to see the Egbert family dry farm in Tetonia. My great-grandparents owned the property, and it has since been passed on to their kids and then their kids. The grandkids are in the process of selling it, so my mom and some of her siblings came to look over it and swap memories.

Seth forest selfie.

On the dry farm with the relatives. Aunt Maryan, Uncle Dean, one of their daughters and two of her daughters came, along with Uncle Paul and Aunt Janice, Uncle John and Aunt Marta, and my parents. This is at the site of the house. You can see the Tetons in the background.

Meanwhile back at camp ... Ana crocheting and Miriam reading on Saturday.

Hudson, Winnie and Kelsey playing with the plastic farm animals Seth's cousin brought for her toddler son. He was kind enough to share them with the older kids.

Peach and Ana at the quarry on Saturday.

Dennis, Rebekah and Seth hunting on Saturday.

Winnie eating on Sunday. We attended church at Mack's Inn, then came back to camp for Grandpa Dennis' annual Dutch over dinner.

Ana, Bekah, Grandma Scott, Aunt Marta, Uncle Jon, Grandpa Scott and Miriam visiting after dinner. Grandma and Grandpa Scott are always invited to the dinner, and they brought Marta and John with them.

Peach sitting on the log table next to Ana and Miriam to get away from the other dogs at camp on Monday. She's not much of a dog dog; she's a people dog.

One of Chelsy's dogs at camp. Between Wildes, Papworths, Grovers, Grovers, Doug and Messengers, there were eight dogs at camp at some points.

Andrea going on a four-wheeler ride with Miriam on Monday.

Winnie, Ana, Bekah and Miri playing Xoom Cubes.

They were trying to use all their cubes to make words relating to their father.

Rebekah had halftime shows and marching band competitions that prevented her from returning to camp later in the month, but the rest of us went back up on Friday, September 23 and came back in time to go to our ward on Sunday, September 25.

Miriam, Peach and Ana enjoying the fire on Saturday.

Peach getting loves.

Winnie showing Grandma Susan something on her phone.

Winnie hugging a tree.

Grandma Susan, Winnie and Miriam rode hunting for deer on Saturday evening.

Then Seth returned to camp to spend the whole week of September 26-October 1. While Seth didn't bring home any meat, he still had a great time.

Dennis, Seth and Susan hunting on Monday, September 26.