Fall miscellany

Snazzy: Sunday, August 25

Miriam wears Seth's hat outside the church after our meetings.

Math and piano: Monday, August 26

Miriam helps Winnie remember some of the math she learned the year before. Winnie was worried she wouldn't know how to do the math she needed to know in middle school. As it turns out, she was bumped from Prealgebra to Algebra I within the first few weeks of school.

Rebekah works on tuning the piano. 

Temple baptisms: Tuesday, August 27

The family poses outside the temple after participating in baptisms for the dead. We went after the girls' first day of school.

Wasp vanquisher: Wednesday, September 11

A giant wasp nest Rebekah found in our crabapple tree in the front yard.

Rebekah posing with the bucket of water that holds the wasp nest. She wore layers of protective clothing and her fencing mask while she encased the nest in a pillowcase. Then Seth helped her ziptie it closed before submerging it in water and weighing it down with rocks. It sat in the bucket for days. Then Seth dumped it onto the driveway. After a few minutes, the wasps starting moving. Apparently you can't drown wasps. So he poured lighter fluid on the whole thing and lit it on fire.

Fur stole: Wednesday, September 18

Seth poses with Toad on his shoulders.

Scripture study: ??? (I for the life of me can't find this in our album, so I don't have the date)

Rebekah reads her scriptures after going on a morning run. She would often use the porch swing as a reading spot, and Toad would often join her.

Homecoming parade: Friday, September 20

Miriam tosses candy from the ballroom float. She had to choose between riding on the band float or the ballroom float.

Ana waves from the Miss Bonneville float. She had to choose between riding on the choir float or the pageant float.

Biker gang: Friday, September 20

Andrea and Seth pose with their bikes after riding several miles through town mostly on bike paths during their date.

Sleeping on the job: Sunday, September 22

Andrea, Ana and Miriam take a selfie in front of a sleeping Seth in the foyer after church. 

Garage swamp: Sunday, September 29

The menagerie of Crocs in the garage.

Two black cats: Tuesday, October 8

Toad pouncing on a little bird in the front yard. The cardboard cutout of the black cat was part of our Halloween decorations, and it tricked us many times as we looked out our bedroom window and thought it was a real cat.

Mouser: Thursday, October 10

Rebekah holds up the dead mouse Toad left in the back yard.

Fairview Fall Carnival: Saturday, October 12

Winnie and Miriam pose next to a camel that was part of the petting zoo at the Fairview Fall Carnival. Since we didn't make it to the carnival last year (we were at Lagoon), Andrea took Winnie and Miriam tagged along this year. Winnie ended up choosing to spend most of the tickets on raffle items rather than games, but it paid off because we won a basket of Melaleuca products, a date night package with tickets to Idaho Falls Arts Council show and a gift card to McKenzie River Pizza, and two crocheted sea turtles.

Trying out a new look: Sunday, October 13

Rebekah's glamorous makeup (Ana's attempt at doing drag makeup) in a flattering .5 shot.

Kitty snuggles: Wednesday, October 16

Toad cuddles with Ana on the porch swing.

Getting dolled up: Monday, October 21

Ana trying out makeup looks for the Miss Bonneville pageant.

Gravity Factory date: Saturday, October 26

Winnie and Seth pose with the treat they got after jumping at Gravity Factory in Rexburg during their daddy-daughter date.

Cinching in and the Museum of Idaho: Saturday, November 2

Winnie really yanks the strings of the corset we got for Ana from Bindlandia. I think Ana wants it for Renaissance fairs? 

Winnie and Ana play with a simulator at the Museum of Idaho's space exhibit.

The lovely face Winnie pulled for her astronaut pic.

The girls using a simulator to sort through space garbagte.

Rebekah in the rocket simulator. She designed and then flew her rocket and scored the highest of any of our girls.

The girls writing on the Museum's wall of feelings.

Murder mystery party: Mo, November 2

Winnie dressed up as Juan Iron, a golfer with a drinking problem, before her murder mystery party with friends. (The bottle, by the way, has beer of the root variety.) Although Winnie initially didn't want to dress up as a boy, she later embraced the character and won best costume

Math homework: Monday, November 4

Winnie and Seth pose with the treat they got after jumping at Gravity Factory in Rexburg during their daddy-daughter date.

Exhibit night and a concert: Thursday, November 14

Winnie poses at Praxium with her Ancient Egypt artifact and a zombie escape project. Once a trimester, students at Praxium get to spend an evening showing off what they've been learning about with their cross-curriculum projects. After showing off her exhibit, Winnie went straight to Rocky Mountain for her first trimester band concert (which was covered in another post), and then our family went to ...

... a concert at the Colonial featuring Postmodern Jukebox, a group of musicians who take popular songs and perform them in different musical styles. We're all fans of the group, so it was an amazing concert. We bought the tickets before we knew when Rebekah would be leaving on her mission, but it worked out perfectly for the six of us to go.

Girls on a couch: Friday, November 15

Winnie and Miri on the couch in the living room. I think I took the picture because they were cutely cuddling, but I'm not sure why Winnie chose to pull that face. 

Pizza Pie Cafe: Monday, November 18

Everyone in the family (minus Miriam who had come earlier with friends) at Pizza Pie Cafe during a ballroom fund raiser. Rebekah, as a proper home MTC-going missionary, wore her dress and tag to the restaurant.

D&D: Sunday, November 24

Seth and the girls play Dungeons and Dragons one last time with all of them before Rebekah leaves for the MTC.

Arts and crafts: Monday, November 25

Rebekah installs her art project on the wall of the shop before going to the MTC. She found the jaw bones while hunting in Island Park and brought them home to clean and bleach.

She stained the plaque, attached the jaw bones and added the decorative yarn and flowers.

Stick it: Tuesday, November 26

Winnie reaches to remove the giant sticker I placed on her back. The sticker had information about donating to St. Jude's or something like that; it came in the mail with some return address labels. Winnie had previously stuck it to my back, but I sneakily removed it and put it on hers. She didn't realize it until we were in Provo for lunch before dropping Rebekah off at the MTC.

Thanksgiving

Three Thanksgiving dinners. That makes for a great Thanksgiving season. Especially when they're not one right after the other.

The first, of course, was the day of Rebekah's farewell. That's covered in another post.

The second was Thanksgiving itself. We celebrated (as usual) at the Scotts'. Our family and Tyson's family joined the grandparents for a delicious Thanksgiving feast on Thursday, November 28.

Winnie helping Grandpa slice the rolls we made.

Seth napping on the couch (as usual) after dinner.

Ana reading her book.

Miriam playing Uno with Easton, McKall and Bennet.

Winnie and Oakley playing Twister.

Two days after Thanksgiving (Saturday, November 30), we had our annual Christmas tree hunt. We went the same place as last time, but this time we decided to bring Peach. Seth (as usual) found our tree first. We got it cut and returned to the truck, then Tyson settled on an enormous specimen. Seth and Tyson hauled that to their truck. Dad had wandered off on his own to find their tree, and I think he finally found it about three counties over. Tyson and I wandered for a good long while until we finally figured out where he was and helped haul it out.

Easton, Winnie and Oakley hang out in the snow.

Miriam and Andrea in the parking lot at the Mike Spence Canyon Trailhead.

Seth and Peach in the truck. Peach had a good time, but there was a lot more snow than we anticipated, so she mostly stuck to the established paths rather than wandering through the white stuff.

Ana, Peach and Miriam at the truck.

Then we gathered at our house for the extended Grover Thanksgiving meal on Sunday, December 8. Grandma Susan, Grandpa Dennis, Grandma Hendricks and Rachel's family all came to our house, but Grandma Susan and Grandpa Dennis prepared almost all the food. It was easier to host at our house because we have more space but we're close by, and we don't have two rambunctious inside dogs.

The food was delicious, but apparently I neglected to take a single picture. 

Rebekah leaves on a mission

Rebekah spoke in church on Sunday, November 17 in preparation for leaving on her full-time proselyting mission in Reno. She talked about the blessings and covenants of the temple for unmarried members. Sister Garner and Sister Anderson (fellow brass band members), Elder Voda (a high school band friend serving as a service missionary) and Abby Huber (another high school/college band friend) all attended in person, and several friends and family members watched her talk over Zoom. Then we had an early Thanksgiving dinner at our house (with all the grandparents, Rachel's family, Tyson's family, Cathy & Greg and Anne & Jim) before going to the stake center so she could be set apart by President Solomon. 

A four-generation photo before Rebekah leaves on her mission. Grandma Hendricks is Rebekah's last surviving great-grandparent.

On Monday, November 18, Sister Grover began her home MTC experience. That meant she spent the whole day on Zoom meetings in the music room learning all about the mission rules, virtually meeting and studying with her companion Sister Burris, and teaching.

Outside the Idaho Falls Temple after attending an endowment session together and with the Scott and Grover grandparents. I failed as a companion to my home-MTC missionary by almost leaving her when she stopped to talk to an elementary school friend. She grabbed me before I could get too far. 

Rebekah educating Toad in the home MTC experience on Saturday, November 23. Rebekah ran out of contacts that weren't already packed in her suitcase, so she wore glasses for the last couple of days at home.

After saying goodbye to grandparents, our family woke up and started the journey to Provo on Tuesday, November 26. We ate lunch at Chick-fil-A (Rebekah's choice) and said our goodbyes at a nearby church (which I thought was a staging area for missionaries since the Provo Temple parking lot is closed for the new temple's construction but was actually in use for a funeral luncheon) where we shot pictures and took turns hugging Rebekah before going to the MTC and dropping her off in the parking garage.

Eating Asian cabbage salad in the garage for breakfast. I asked Rebekah what she wanted for her last three dinners at home before she left for 18 months, and Korean beef was on the list. I surprised her by making this cabbage salad to go with the Korean beef because I knew it was one of her favorites. So she made sure to enjoy it while she could. 

Everyone in the car on the way to Utah.

The family at Chick-fil-A.

With her sisters at the church before dropping Rebekah off at the MTC.

With her parents.

After dropping her off, we went to BYU so Ana could go on a scheduled tour of the campus. I accompanied her and rode around in a golf cart with a family from the San Francisco area and our tour guide, Sam. Ana is planning on attending BYU-Idaho, but she figured it wouldn't hurt to see the campus of the other school she applied to. While we did that, Seth took the other girls to the Bean Museum and the paleontology musuem. After the tour, Ana asked if we could go inside the library and the geological science building. (The tour only took us around the outside of the buildings.) Winnie and Miriam waited in the van while we walked to those buildings and checked them out.

Ana and Andrea on the golf cart. It drizzled all day, so we had the plastic walls on all four sides of the golf cart. 

Then we made the mistake of traveling to Lehi during rush hour so we could go to the Thanksgiving Park's Luminaria display. The girls weren't sure what we were getting into ("We're going to a light display? We bought tickets for this? What do we do ... walk around and look at lights?"), but Luminaria turned out to be a great experience. There were acres of grounds to walk on with incredible displays. They even piped scents into the different themed areas (pine, peppermint, sugar cookie, etc.). There were interactive displays, and a whole area with statues depicting scenes from Jesus' life with another depicting the Iron Rod and Tree of Life.

Under one of the light tunnels.

Under a giant tree of lights.

Interactive light-up stepping stones that changed color as you walked on them.

With some of the Jesus statuary.

At the Tree of Life.

After Luminaria, we went back to our hotel and had a late dinner. Our room didn't have a microwave like I thought it would, so we had to go to the breakfast area in the lobby to use their microwave to heat up our cans of soup. The next morning, we headed to the outdoor heated pool where Ana and Miriam each lasted about two minutes. Winnie and I alternated between the pool and the hot tub for a while with Seth occasionally throwing snowballs at us (he forgot his swimming suit, and it had snowed during the night). We asked the girls if they were interested in going anywhere else in Utah (the aquarium, Temple Square, etc.), but everyone was content to head home.

It was different coming home and knowing that Rebekah wouldn't be there for the next 18 months. There were signs of her absence everywhere.

Winnie feeling sad at seeing Rebekah's empty bunkbed. Ever the planner, Rebekah had stripped the bed before heading to Utah the day before.

But, of course, we're happy for her and proud that she has chosen to dedicate these 18 months to serving the Lord. Rebekah has been planning to serve a mission for years, and there's no place she'd rather be right now despite the hard work and the uncertainties. 

As a joke, Ana placed sticky notes on Rebekah's face on our family picture wall. We were going to see how long it took Seth to realize what she'd done, but Miriam took them down the next day. He hadn't noticed by that point.