We enjoyed the view of a beautiful rainbow. Spencer on the fence. Below is Caleb on the fence.
A close up of Spencer
I like how there is always some color in my yard. The previous owners did a good job with what perennials to plant to give all the color. I planted the pansies a few weeks ago.
We just had the Balloon Fiesta here. On Friday the 6th we went to the elementary school to see balloons before school. As part of the Fiesta they have two balloons come to each elementary school in the city the day before the events start. The kids get to see balloons up close and talk to the crews. This year was a bit windy and they couldn’t get the balloons to inflate well. Although one kept trying, so we got to see it big for a few minutes. I enjoyed seeing balloons in the air almost every morning for over a week. We had a good view point from our upstairs bed room window. We also could see the fireworks they did a few nights. The Balloon Park is about 10 miles away, but where we are on the hill we could see a lot. One morning Neal and Andrew rode their bikes down to the Park. They stayed on a bike trail that is close to the Park and enjoyed the view of all the balloons up close. Then they had to ride their bikes back up the hill to come home. They enjoyed the morning together. The following week Neal decided to go down again and see how fast he could do the ride without a child. It only took him about 30 minutes to get down to the bike trail and see the balloons starting to inflate. Neal has been doing more biking and exercising to help his knee get stronger. The boys like to go on rides with him, but he can’t go as fast with them.
at the elementary school watching the balloon
this was taken through my bed room window
Caleb is loving biking. He wants to go out every day. He has been recruiting neighbors to go with him. His friend Illy likes to ride. They played together last Saturday all morning, riding back and forth between our houses and playing some inside too. Caleb also likes to ride over to Charlie's home. He is in our ward and Charlie is in Caleb’s school class too. Last Friday Caleb played at Charlie’s house while we were doing some errands. Yesterday Caleb rode over and got Charlie and they came back to our house to play. Caleb got our neighbors who live down the street, who are also in our ward, Kalani and Kai to get out on bikes too. Their mom said she was happy they would go outside and play. She thinks they spend too much time inside. The boys are twins, they are between Spencer and Caleb in age. One afternoon all three of my boys were out, the twins, and Charlie and his brother Otis. All these boys playing on their bikes. It was fun. I was inside about to start dinner and Andrew came in to get me. He said “Kalani crashed, he is hurt. Rachel is babysitting and she needs help. We might need bandaids.” We quickly grabbed some first aid things and ran out. The crash happened at the side of my yard. His bike went out of control on the hill and he hit a rocky area and the bike stopped and he didn’t. He hit a metal bench in my neighbors yard. I picked him up and moved him to our drive way, a more comfortable place than sitting in rocks. He had a huge cut, down to the bone, right below his knee. I just covered it with gauze and sat with him. He wasn’t crying and amazingly it wasn’t bleeding. Rachel was communicating with his mom and we just sat together until she got to us. I think Kalani was in shock, that is why he didn’t cry or say he felt any pain. I just sat with him, keeping him calm and quiet. It shook me up though and after he left with his mom I started to shake and had a hard time fixing dinner, Ruth helped me. I am thankful he is alright. He ended up getting 10 stitches. At the doctor office they realized he had sprained his other leg’s ankle. He was also bruised up on his side where he landed. He had his helmet on, which was good because he said he hit his head. He had to use crutches for about a week and stayed home from school a couple of days. It was an interesting experience for all. He is doing a lot better now, two weeks later. I saw him at school yesterday and he said hi to me.
On Saturday the 7th we went with our friends, Thane and Judy, to visit the little extinct volcanos on the west side of the city. We enjoyed visiting with them and the walk around the volcanoes. It was a beautiful afternoon for a little hike. After our hiking Thane treated us to come great hamburgers at his favorite place to buy them. We enjoyed our time with them. This week I have enjoyed looking across the valley at the little points and thinking that was where we were hiking.
Pictures of us hiking
We had Thane take a picture of our entire family. Aren't we cute hikers?
Sunday the 8th we had the Primary Program at church. The kids did a great job. All the children spoke clearly and they sang well. I was busy with my class keeping them quiet and paying attention to when we needed to sing. During the second hour of church we had a teacher council meeting for the junior Primary teachers. I enjoyed going and talking about ways to improve our teaching. It was helpful to me all to hear more from the Sunbeam teachers, who taught my class last year and how they dealt with the boys in the class. It does get hard at times with them.
On the 10th Ruth and I went to a dinner the Relief Society sponsored for the women and girls. We enjoyed eating and visiting with friends. They had some fun little activities too that Ruth enjoyed doing with her friends. They were taking pictures of everyone and Ruth and I posed for one. Looking at it afterwards I realized why people tell me that we look a lot a like.
We had a fall break last Thursday and Friday. The school always give us a couple of days off during the Balloon Fiesta. Ruth went with the young women on a retreat. They went to a place called Angel Fire by the city of Taos. They had a lot of fun together. They were gone until Saturday afternoon.
Andrew has been busy. He went to a birthday party for Jake on Thursday. They did a taste testing activity where they tasted different brands of root beer, chips, chicken nuggets and different flavors of Oreos. He enjoyed the games and hanging out with all the young men who came. That morning, before the party, he went with Aiden and his family to a pumpkin patch. He thought that was great too. Plus, he just enjoyed hanging out with his friends all day. He was gone most the day, just like school, but it was all play time. He enjoys going to Boy Scouts and finished a merit badge this last week. I think it was called Community in the World. This week end is a camp out. They are going to hike into the area. This will be his first back packing trip with the scouts. They only will be hiking about 1 1/2 miles, so not too far. Last night he worked with Neal to get his pack ready. Tuesday Andrew had his concert band concert. They sounded good and I enjoyed watching the group play. Tonight the jazz band has a concert. He is excited about that one. Last Saturday Neal, Andrew and Spencer went to train club. They are putting together their modules and have things working, now they get to decorate it.
Andrew's band, he is right below the black circular bar on the folded up bleachers. His friend Aiden is on the left of him. They both play trombone.
Spencer went to a fun Stake Cub Scout activity on the 7th. They did some fun things with the boys. He enjoyed listening to a man tell about hot air balloons. Yesterday he came home from school all excited about an after school activity his teacher is doing, a knitting club. He really wants to do it. Today in school they are making clay monsters as an art project, he has been looking forward to it all week. He loves artistic things. One of our Fall Break days I went on a walk with Spencer and Caleb around the open space. Spencer was talking about air plane models and wishing he could put one together. He loves his Lego and is creative with making other things out of stuff. He made a air plane glider with card board and enjoyed throwing it off our balcony.
Last Saturday I tried out my birthday gift, the hedge trimmers. I worked out in the yard all morning and got bushes trimmed up and looking nice. Tonight I have Activity Days with the girls. I taught the lesson on the 5th about Joseph Smith and “how to teach a Family Home Evening lesson.” I will follow up with that tonight. One of the other leaders has the activity for tonight. I enjoys working with the girls. I went visiting teaching on Sunday and we had a nice visit. I was talking with my partner afterwards. Ann was commenting on babies, since she was pregnant. She said she was so ready for the baby to come. She said her only thing was that she didn’t want him born on Halloween. Well she got her wish because she had her baby yesterday. I am glad we were able to visit Sunday. I have another friend about to have a baby too. I am happy for them.
Well, this got to be a long letter telling of our busy lives. I am thankful for my family and that I can be a mother.
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