We are doing great this month. This week we had the first morning this year where we woke up to snow and we are oh so excited for the family reunion next month here in our “backyard.” It’s looking like we will have our ‘winter wonderland’ for Thanksgiving. Not too much has changed for us this month. We are going to school head on and getting as many hours of work as we can. At the beginning of November, Hyrum will be 4 months and get his second round of shots. He seems to be growing well but we are doubtful he will be able to hold his own in a grandbaby-wrestling match. There are two other GRAND babies he’s up against.
Over General Conference weekend Bob and I put up insulation and sheetrock in his garage. We had a great time of it, even though it took us longer than we thought it would. I have recently picked up a few extra hours each week watching some Latino kids whose parents are taking an English class offered in the evening at the middle school. It was arranged through my supervisor, so really it is just an extension of my job. Heidi feels relatively comfortable with our position as managers of the dorms and we have been planning a big Halloween party for our girls.
Heidi and I both had bunches of fun in October. I went hiking over by Driggs with the Elders quorum while she and Julie canned apple pie filling. She later made apple butter in our crock-pot from some applesauce she and Julie had made earlier. Later that day we took Hyrum out to the school’s livestock property and took a wagon ride followed by Dutch oven dinner. The next week we went to a free cello concert given by one of the faculty members here. Two years ago we went and heard JS Bach’s 1st, 2nd, and 3rd solo pieces and this time we heard his 4th, and 5th. It was nice to here such beautiful music. Just last week we were able to help out Bob and Julie when they went to the hospital to have their baby. Then Mom and Dad came through just in time so we got to see them too.
Thursday, we had tickets to Arsenic and Old Lace, put on by the school. We dropped Hyrum off with one of our 30 possible baby-sitting apartments. Neither of us had seen the show and thought that it was a very appropriate and humorous Halloween week show. The old sisters were the most fantastic actresses. They are older community members with some more experience. The rest of the cast was great, but the sisters stole the show.
Friday we had a ward party a few miles out of town at our bishop’s old furniture shop. I reused my costume from last year and went as a pirate, Heidi made some renovations to her witch outfit and painted her face green and wore long black gloves, and Hyrum was the most adorable pumpkin ever. We took some pictures, ate some pumpkin deserts, and carved pumpkins. All around we had a great time before we came home to play games with some friends of ours.
Saturday, Heidi and I used some of our dorm budget to arrange a dorm party where we provided lunch with chili and rolls. There was also a costume contest, a candy corn relay, The Thriller dance, sugar cookie decorating, and a movie. This weekend was so much fun that we didn’t get much productive done.
As you may have read in the feature article, I have applied to go with the school on an educational tour next year. If I am accepted, which I will find out next week, I will be taking about 6 credits next April, which is spring semester. We will study intensively for 2-3 weeks with the accompanying professors and then we will go on tour for a month. We fly from SLC to Mexico City and tour through southern Mexico staying at LDS high schools and with LDS families. Our itinerary takes us to several pyramid ruins and volcanoes. We end up taking a bus into Guatemala and a boat up the river to Belize. Through out the trip the professors will continue, to an extent, their classes – teaching culture, biology, language, religion, and English. We will keep you updated on what is going on.
