Due to some ward boundary realignment, Rebecca's family and my cousin Angie's family are now in the same ward. Angie's daughter Ellie and Rebecca's daughter Caroline (both holding the cake) are now buddies.
With our Angel Studios Angel Guild passes we were able to see another free movie, Truth & Treason. It was well made and very interesting, but it left us a little down as we walked out of the theater. We like the feel-good movies with a happy ending.
We all cheered when Mom said she would go see a play at Hale with us once again. It had been a long time since she has felt well enough to do that.
The whole play was done in black and white and gray, with the writer/narrator being the only person in color. It was very clever and cute and fun.
Glen's mind was on the BYU game going on during the play, and he didn't even realize until he saw this photo that the set and people were all in black and white. So funny!!
Dinner afterward was at Red Lobster. We were all shocked Dad didn't order the usual coconut shrimp. We enjoyed watching him try to get his mouth around that big fish sandwich.
One day Mark popped in on me very unexpectedly. I had no idea he was even in town. He had been having some brother hunting/bonding time and stopped by on his way back from that adventure.
It wasn't long before both he and Michelle were back in town spending the weekend with us. They went with Dad, Mom, Nani and us to see the play Sister Act.
Once again, we were all very happy Mom was feeling much better and was able to participate in the day's festivities with us.
We ate dinner at Texas Roadhouse after the play. Mom and Dad were full of vim and vigor that day and wanted to continue on doing the next activity we had planned--going to Escape Boredom.
Glen and I have seen a lot of Ben's escape room business but had never participated in trying to escape. Everyone wanted to see what it is all about, so we booked a time for our group that evening.
We are happy to report we were able to escape in less than the hour time allotted--and without any hints.
We couldn't have done it without Glen, so we were glad he had decided to go with us after he had originally said he was going to go home and watch ball games after dinner. Yay to him for not being a party pooper!!
It is fun for us to see Ben's dream of opening up an escape room business come to fruition. The level of detail in each and every part of the puzzles and games is amazing. So fun!! Would recommend it to everyone!
We had to get a photo of Ben, Rebecca, and Sarah who were the game masters that evening. Haley came at the very end of our visit there.
Those four (and Glen) have put in so many hours of thought and work into everything that has been made, painted, wired, and assembled there.
Sunday morning we got Mark and Michelle fed and bid them farewell to make their drive back to Yakima. It is always fun having them around.
They were here celebrating all the October birthdays: Dad, Mom, Nani, and Michelle. Great fun!!
The other day at Rebecca's home I talked Spencer into putting on the other half of his Napoleon Dynamite costume--the glasses and wig. Now just imagine him ALSO wearing his VOTE FOR PEDRO shirt.
We had two grandsons turning 7 years old at the end of October. Magnus celebrated his birthday on October 25th.
Two days later Kade was celebrating his birthday
We have been helping Ben and Haley by watching Levi and Maverick on Mondays and Wednesdays when needed. This particular day Maverick and I went with Levi on his pre-school field trip to the fire station.
All the little children were anxious to get their turn sitting in the fire truck driver's seat.
I wanted to acknowledge the passing of our beloved prophet, President Russell M. Nelson. He was such a wonderful, accomplished man and such a fabulous leader. Love that man! How amazing he lived to age 101. What a feat!
The funeral service was very beautiful. I was touched by the way the Apostles and other leaders lined up to honor the prophet as the casket passed between them. Such a beautiful sign of respect for that man.
And now we have a new First Presidency.
A new Apostle has been announced.
November is a month I look forward to because it's my birth month! It is also Thanksgiving, which is a special family-filled holiday with lots of good food!
Jan Evans dropped off a beautiful bouquet of flowers the day before my birthday and I was thrilled!! I love to arrange flowers when I receive them, and this one was so beautiful as it represented all the fall colors that are so prominently on display in nature at this time of the year.
When Glen saw the flowers, he commented that there is no need for him to get me flowers when I have Jan as my friend.
Madison invited Glen and me to her elementary school's book fair and lunch with grandparents. She was a student helper this year as it is her last year in elementary school.
She requested we bring in one of her favorite meals--Del Taco. So that is what I had for my birthday lunch. Could my day get any better than that??!!??
Rebecca is about to retire from running the Scholastic book fair for many, many years--since way back when Brooke was first in school. She runs them three times each school year, so that adds up to a LOT of book fairs.
She was excited to report someone has volunteered to take over for her next year. Oh, happy day!!
After lunch with our student, we went shopping with her to pick out a Scholastic book she wanted.
Glen surprised both of us when he also purchased this Scholastic Peppa Pig Happy Birthday book and presented it to me. Funny!!
Glen was full of surprises on my birthday. He had scheduled us to get our passports renewed that morning and it took us quite a while, with several different stops to get everything we needed, and then another stop at the post office after our lunch with Madison, to get it all turned in and sent off.
He wanted to take me out to a nice restaurant for dinner, but I told him I was craving a Nielsen's Frozen Custard. We usually pair that with a Subway sandwich. We bought enough to have leftovers the next night, so it was the gift that kept on giving. Whenever I don't have to fix dinner, I consider that a real gift.
That evening, Caroline and Madison stopped by to give me a gift. It was a Baby Ruth. So thoughtful of them! I really got a kick out of their kindness to me.
When Madison and her friend stopped by on Halloween, I asked both of them if they had gotten any Baby Ruths in their trick-or-treating. Much to my dismay they had not.
Now here I had my own full-size candy bar. So cute and sweet of them. Great way to end my birthday.
Never fear! My birthday celebration kept on going with my friends taking me to lunch at Olive Garden the following week where Jan did her usual treating us all to a delicious and delightful birthday luncheon. I am just frustrated I forgot to take a picture of the seven of us enjoying our time together at that Italian restaurant.
Well, here are a couple of pictures I was surprised to receive. Glen sent me these photos of Ben when they arrived in Whitehall, Montana on Sunday evening.
They were road tripping going on further to Helena, Montana and back in two days' time.
Glen had so kindly consented to accompany Ben on that journey as Ben had purchased an escape room set-up that was for sale. It took several hours the following day for the guys to get all that stuff loaded into the moving truck before heading back to Clearfield to unload it that evening at Escape Boredom.
Glen asked me to meet him in our church parking lot where he wanted to park the moving van for the night. As soon as he stepped out of the truck, I could tell he was sick. He was fine when he left and then came home sick. UGH!!!!!
That was not the ONLY bad thing that happened while he was gone...
Glen had wanted to go to church to partake of the sacrament before he and Ben headed off on their trip. I went with him to the 9 a.m. meeting in our church building. He told me he would walk home, get an uber to the car rental place, and then be on his way to get Ben and head north to Montana.
I insisted on driving him home and turned right around and went back to the church because I needed to get there early for our meeting since I was playing the organ.
Well, I whipped into a parking spot right next to a vehicle like this whose ultra-wide tires were jutting way out from the vehicle.
Imagine my horror when I realized I had hit the other vehicle and heard sounds that I knew were the front end of our car crumpling. (Really--it's Abe's Tesla that we are driving which had very recently gotten rear-ended and had been in the shop for two weeks getting fixed.)
I was mortified!!! I jumped out of the car and inspected the damage and was sure the whole front end would have to be repaired. I discovered the sound I had heard was the black trim being ripped away from the car and clattering onto the parking lot.
I quickly surveyed the damage of the vehicle I hit and could not see a mark on it. Only our car had sustained damage. I checked the other vehicle twice and determined the tire was the only place I had made contact.
Imagine how upset and shaky I was rushing into the church to get started playing the prelude. My mind was totally on the wrecked car and how stupid I felt and how I was going to need to report the incident to Glen when he already had loads of stuff weighing on his mind.
I determined it would be best to wait until after Glen's return home and a good night's sleep before I broke the news to him.
In the meantime, I got busy cleaning off the marks on the car and discovered nary a dent!!!! Oh, happy day!!!!
When the time came, I broke the news to Glen. He was very kind, and I appreciated his calm demeanor as I told him the story of what happened. Now he is going about seeing what needs to be done to get it fixed.
The northern lights were on display in our area, so I went out to get my view of the sky. It just looked like a normal dark sky until I took photos and then could see the display of colors.
Nani sent this photo showing the display of lights where she lives. The green was impressive.
I went to a piano recital to listen to Caroline and Madison playing the pieces they had prepared. I was happy they invited me to attend.
It is such good experience for the children to perform in front of an audience.
Glen and I met John and Diane Peterson at Goodwood for a nice looooong dinner as we were getting caught up on how everyone in their family is doing and then we reciprocated with our family update.
We know the Petersons from when we lived in Georgia. They are now living in Provo. It was a nice blast from the past.
And randomly enough, John and I share the same birthday. Fun random fact!
I have been enjoying the beauty of the earth as the leaves have been changing colors. So pretty to see all the colored leaves everywhere.
Morning walks have been quite chilly lately. Not only is that a sign of winter encroaching upon us, but also, many of the leaves have now fallen to the ground.
These three leaves hanging together on a very bare tree made me smile.
They seem to want to hang on to the fall season just as much as I do.
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