Saturday, October 31, 2020

Halloween Week

 Who ever thought summer would have come and gone and now Halloween happened too?!  April was such a long month.  Though a great one too with being home with the familiy, watching movies, playing games and eating lots of ice cream. Lee saw a rainbow on a bike ride. 

Lee and I did a motorcycle course the week of Halloween.  We both passed!  I was nervous about the written test but really nervous about the driving test.  I had never ridden a motorcyle before except when I tried a dirt bike for a brief moment and fell over.  And that was years ago!  Lee and I didn't follow directions on one of the test parts, but somehow we passed.  I was so relieved. Of course we could redo the course again, but Lee took time off and of course it cost money. Kyle was our instructor. 

The motorcycle driving course in Broadway.  We did the class with four other young guys. I didn't think I could do the U-turns for the test.  I did them once fine, but then my last practice was horrible.  We did lots of little "exercises" and then took lots of breaks. 

Ahhh....we passed!!!


Lee bought us smoothies for a celebration. 

Now on to Halloween!  I came up with the idea to hand our popcorn for a treat this year.  I think we might hand this out every year!  

We did our traditional Halloween sugar cookies. Our friends Amy and Max joined us. 









Getting the popcorn ready for Halloween!

Our town did a drive-thru trunk or treat at the community center.  I wasn't going to bring the kids but decided last minute to bring them in the truck.  I'm glad I did.  It was fun bringing them along!  Cal stayed at home to wait for Christian and Liam to come hang out and Clark was at work. 


Our neighbor Michael came with us. 


I brought Dove chocolates for Lee and I to snack on.  It was pretty chilly that night so I got some hot chocolate at the gas station across the street.  It was yummy!  

It was fun handing out popcorn with Lee.  Normally he hands out candy by himself in front of his office.  I was glad this year I could hang out with him the whole time.  He was solo for the first part when I took the kids through.   Once I was done I parked the truck close by and the kids walked home.  I thought we were going to be "early" but by the time we got back we had to wait in line at least 30 mintues before we got to the community center. 

Oh random, but my friend was in the hospital and I found this fun Halloween flower arrangement to give her. 

Going back in time...setting up before the trunk-or-treat.


Me taking the kids through.


It was really cute how everything was set up. 




What was the most fun was seeing so many people out and being "with" them. Kind of a novelty in COVID.  I love Halloween in our town.  Lots of people come out and trick or treat at the local businesses.  It's fun seeing friends and teachers while out.  It's just a fun time to mingle with friends and the community.  

On actual Halloween day there was a little party at the church with games, treats and pumpkin judging contest. 


Clark won most creative and Shanna won most interesting?  Can't remember....

That evening we went to two parties! YES, TWO!  We do a lot with our friends the Petersons and then a scattering of things here and there with other people.  So it was very fun to be invited to two events.  It worked out great that we could actually go to both of them.  The first one at the Rigby's we had dinner and talked and the kids played.  Then we went to the Bells for more yummy food, visiting and a fire.  She had pumpkins there to carve as well.  Our kids never carved any but we brought some home to carve.  Though I don't think they ever did!  It was fun Halloween day. 

Friday, October 30, 2020

Marching Band 2020!

Clark, Cal and Shanna had a different marching band season but there were able to have one!  They did once performance for families.  Afterwards lots of pictures were taken!  I guess they are going to have marching band in the spring depending on how all this COVID stuff plays out.  Since they have to practice outside if there was a 50% chance of rain practice was cancelled. And several of the practices were cancelled.  But they had a fun performance and I'm glad Clark especially could do marching band his senior year.







The actual performance.  I did a zoom call and my parents and the Petersons were able to watch. 





If you haven't guessed yet, Shanna is on the color guard team. 



It was cute, Elden asked to get a picture with Cal. 





Clark and his band teacher Mr. "A". 


The pit crew again.

A couple more pictures of Lee's bike rides. 


Our friends invited us to their house to carve pumpkins and have dinner.  They have a pumpkin patch right across the the street from them! We walked over, picked out some pumpkins and bought some apple cinnamon donuts. 









Our friends, the Whitings, recently bought a farm.  They have three silos on their property.  Lee, Clark and I climbed to the top.  After I climbed to the top I realized I wasn't supposed to overexert myself that day as I had given blood.  Oops.  Oh well, all turned out fine.  And this time giving blood went great!  The iodine was great on my skin--no rash!!!  And I got a $5 gift card too which was fun. 

We had a great view of the valley!

Cal and Shanna climbed up to the middle one and Elden climbed up the smallest silo. 





Time for pumpkin carving!










Shanna found quite an interesting pumpkin!

Clark turned his gourd into a two headed thing. 



We had a fun time visiting with them and carving pumpkins!

I thought this was a fun picture Lee took of part of our downtown.


The other marching band performance was a "county showcase" with all the high school bands in the county school district. The band director got us senior parents in as "pit crew" help.  It was great to go to the second performane.  This one I recorded and posted on YouTube.








We loved seeing them perform!  It will be interesting to see what happens this spring.  

Cal took it upon himself to write to one of the higher-ups in the Nequik department. Wonder if he'll hear back from him.