Halloween

Batman & Robin headed to an outdoor costume parade.  Do you recognize this famous duo?

Buster and Arthur 

Baby Yoda

Scuba Diver

Sailors

Our pizza mummies

Emi's plans didn't start until later, so we played Sorry as we took care of the trick-or-treaters

Em's Star Wars Group

 

Visitng K at work

Kayla woks for the University of Utah Health Services on their HERO (Human and Economic Recovery Outreach) team.  She does Covid testing for asymptmatic people from predetermined geographical locations to collect data for Covid-19 research.  She loves the people she works with and she loves getting to talk with people as they come to the testing site.  She has great stories to tell of trying to teach people how to do the saliva test in their cars or kids to do saliva tests at their schools. 

The whole spitting thing takes practice for some people.

Once she was off, we took her out for some warm food to help thaw her out.

We took this pic as this may be as close to she gets to a BYU football game this season.  So glad we get to watch the games on TV, but there's nothing quite like being in the stadium on game days. 

This U of U employee loves BYU sports!  Go Cougs!

 

Truck Day

Lots of fun trucks that we read about in Kai's books and see driving around, came to Kai's house today

He was in heaven with all the workers and the many trucks

The foundation for the shop/new home for Sunny Decals is now poured. So glad this project is finally coming together. Yay!

 

Graveside for Jeannette

My step grandma Jeannette passed away last week and a few of us were able to gather for a small graveside for her in Fallbrook.   

She has now joined ny Grandpa in Heaven,  He passed away on this day Oct. 24th, 2008.  

We have enjoyed quite a few trips to visit Jeannette during those years and the girls have been able to get to know her better.  I will add some favorite memories in another post.

Robert was able to conduct the graveside and dedicate her grave.  It was a simple service with an opening prayer by Kevin, a scripture by Ally, dedication of the grace by Robert, closing song - 'God be with you til me meet again' which is engraved on the headstone, and a closing prayer by Barb.

I sure love these sisters of mine

So glad we could be there for this special day and to support Mom & Dad

The Webber/Shields clan

Kenzie was off talking to Jesus. It is our knowledge and testimony of Him that brings peace and joy to our hearts, even at times of loss and sorrow.  

 

6A All State Drill Team + a test

It has been a day!  Over the weekend, Brenna (who is at DisneyWorld) received an email stating that Emily had been exposed to Covid through a classmate and that she can not attend school or any school functions until receiving a NEGATIVE Covid test no earlier than Wednesday Oct 21st.  Well, we were in St. George until the morning of Oct 21st and Emily was set to audition for All State at 3:00 in Taylorsville.  Time was of the essence. 

Tender Mercy - Tessa was with us in St. George for Fall Break.  Her Dad had also recently been tested for Covid and received his results in less than 30 minutes.  Everyone else we had asked had been getting their results in 3-5 days, but in order for Em to audition today,  she would need to be tested back in Salt Lake County and get her results by 3:00 pm.  We made it back to Salt Lake County by 1:00, dropped Tessa off and took Em to the specific Urgent Care Tessa had recommended. By 1:30 she had filled out all the information online and was in the que. By 2:00 she was officially done with the nasal swab. (with a  smile & a thumbs up) By 2:30 she had the paperwork showing her NEGATIVE results and we raced home for hair, make-up, dance clothes and at 2:59 she arrived where she needed to be. 

It really was a MIRACLE!

  Okay, so a little bit about All-State.  Each coach nominates 1-3 of their graduating Seniors to compete for a spot on this team. The girls audition based on their school classification, so 6A for Bingham  (largest schools in the state) but the judges do not know what school they represent, as dancers are numbered and dressed in solid black, with no  insignia's.

After the auditions are complete, the girls wait for the judges to announce the 2020-21 All State Team

Congrats to Emily Miller (#20) 

Utah 6A All State Drill Team     (+ Covid free)

 

Sand Hollow Resevoir

The weather was so warm, we decided to spend a day at the lake.

It was soo soo nice.  We rented jet ski and drove to the far side of the lake to go cliff jumping.  Wouldn't you knw we'd run into friends from South Jordan jumping off the same cliffs. It's always a small world.

The girls had a blast

and it was definely a great way to end our trip.

 

Finding Fun Off the Beaten Path

With Brenna in Disney World for the week, Em brought Tessa with us for some southern Utah fun

We tried to find eateries and activities that are off the beaten path

Viva Chicken, Mad Pita

We also made a stop at out favorite Beaver eatery - Val's

We found this fun shop that was featured on the Jimmy Kimmel show for eclectic stores across America.  We wandered around inside for awhile and got the scoop about how and why the store came together and that their TOP SELLING item is not even listed in the name of the store (paracord)

We also found this unique business......Smash Lab Rage Rooms.

The owner gave us a tour of the rooms including a new blue light room that he was just finishing up. 

So you pay $75/hour and you can completely smash and demolish any and everything in the room.  Large screen TV's, cameras, dishes, mirrors - all there for your smashing pleasure.

Late night off the beaten path to find one of our very favorite people in the world.  We used our memories and a little detective work to track down and visit Bro A. 

He'll get his own separate post, but definitely our favorite find of the week.

More off the beaten track finds in southern Utah.

A Dinsoaur Musuem

Not any dino museum, but the only museum in America with a Scelidosaurus?!?

So here we are!!! 

Learning all about the dinosaur fossils that have been found in this area.

And finding a real archeologist 

Fossils......

of flying dinosaurs.  We think this is the famous one?

So fun to explore new places and find the less know 'gems' of that city.

Now off to some crowd favorites - Zions National Park and Sand Hollow Reservoir.

 

Brother A

This is our friend Michiel Anderson (pronounced Michael) and his beautiful wife Shirley. When Robert and I moved to Tucson to attend the University of Arizona they were some of the first people we met at the U of A Institute building (along with Dee & Sandra Harris) 

They had just moved from Missouri as Michiel had received a new job assignment to run the Institute program at U of A.

Here's a litttle background about Institute's: 

An Institute of Religion is a local organization that provides religious education for young adults who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Local institutes may function in church meetinghouses, but may also have a stand-alone building situated adjacent to colleges or universities.

We were both newbies and he welcomed us in with open arms.  Over the next 4 1/2 years we took religion classes from both he and Shirley, We learned, worked, and served along side them through different assignments and callings we had.  He was a part of Robert's baptism on January 17,1994. He also ordained him an Elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood with a direct line of authority to Jesus Christ.

 

Michiel and Shirley were the proud parents of 13 children.  By the time we met them, they were down to just 2 at home, and made sure we knew we were always welcome in their home as well. 

We have kept in touch with them through the years with Christmas cards, handwritten notes, and a few special visits. We all vividly remember one of our girls throwing up at their house after they made up this huge breakfast feast. One of the many blessings of having 13 children is that incidents and  inconveniences like that are no big deal.  And even with so many kids, grandkids, and great grandkids to visit, we so appreciate that they have taken time to come visit us in our different homes in South Jordan when they have been traveling through town.  

Even as young adults, we admired the family they were raising and they had a profound influence on who we are as parents and as disciples of Jesus Christ.   

Shirley passed away from pancratic cancer earlier this year, and we were unable to attend her funeral due to Covid restrictions. We knew we wanted to go visit Bro A but had 2 different address for him in St. George.  As we drove toward one, Robert thought it looked familar and when we arrived there were 15 rock ladybugs (2 large and 13 small) on the porch, so we knew we had found the right place.  

It felt just like old times, like we hadn't missed a beat.  While we could only remember his 2 youngest kids names, he knew all about the girls and what they were doing from last years card.  He got to share with us all the tender mercies that accompanied Shirley's passing, and what he's doing to stay busy these days (working at a local mortuary, family history, serving in a bishopric at age 80, and traveling the country to keep up with his ever growing family).

We talked and talked until we thought the 2 teenagers we left at the house sleeping would defintely be up and possibly be worried.  Then we returned later that night with Em and Tessa to visit some more.

There are so so many wonderful people in this world, and we're grateful our paths got to cross with this  'cool' family 20+ years ago.  

 

Hiking Red Reef

We loved hiking with Em and Tessa down in Southern Utah. So much beauty all around us and we're grateful we got to explore more of it this week.