November 2024

This was the most magical morning. I went on my walk before school, and these trees on our street were peak yellow and the leaves all decided that was the day to fall. It was like glitter falling from the sky. I cut my walk short, told all of the kids to stop what they were doing, and follow me down the street. They tried to catch the leaves in mid air as they fell. They buried each other in leaves. It was heavenly. School can wait.  

Some fun November moments: Miles got a football award and we all chuckled at the misspelling, Davy got his first library card- a very important milestone- , fun moments at co-op etc. 

                    The girl's did a great job at their piano recital! Teacher Carlie Webster. 

Davy was asked by some friends of ours to be in a photoshoot! Our friends the Austins run a company called "Latter Day Kids", and they needed new pictures to promote new products. Our Famous Davy! 

                                                Another year of Christmas Shoeboxes!

Another craft fair in the books! This was the Wintry Market in downtown Boise. It's a pretty big one! Their booth fees are huge, so our neighbor Sylvia and I shared a booth. :) 

This year, we went down to SG for Thanksgiving. We got to see Jacob and Julia before we left! 

Miles was working on getting his driving hours, so he drove us most of the way, even through busy SLC traffic and some pretty heavy rain. We planned to stop in Beaver to get gas. Right as Miles was pulling off the freeway, the van started lurching forward oddly. Long story short, we were the recipients of a few miracles. Miracle 1, that the car didn't malfunction while Miles was driving on a rainy freeway. Miracle 2. It was after hours in a very tiny town, but luckily there was a mechanic still working, willing to take a look at things. Miracle 3. The mechanic felt confident that we could limp the van to SG and get it looked at there. We put a lot of faith in that mechanic, and drove in heavy rain, on the shoulder of the freeway with our hazards on, going maybe 35 miles per hour, in the dark. I can't remember the last time I'd prayed so intently and for so long! I really felt like Mom was helping push the car-knowing how important it was to spend time with the family. Miracle 4. We limped the van to a mechanic the next morning, and he told us that either the van would be a fairly easy repair, or it was totaled. We felt very blessed when he called and said he was able to fix it! 

The James's were doing Thanksgiving with Ian's Mom in SG, and the Ross Garners were in SG doing Thanksgiving with Amanda's family! We took advantage and got the gang together at a park. 

Jenn and Mike hosted Thanksgiving this year. It was perfection! The weather was gorgeous and we ate outside. We brought a homegrown turkey among other things. The whole Crosby crew was there! I think the only person missing (obviously besides Grandma) was Tess, who was doing her Navy training I believe. It was so, so good to be with everyone! One of the coolest things about this Thanksgiving get-together (that I got zero pictures of) is that Jenn went above and beyond and orchestrated a family history presentation. She and Ben worked very hard on finishing Mom's history, which was being printed at the time. She had sections of the history mailed out to most of the grandkids weeks earlier; sections that correlated with their ages. She asked them to prepare a little bit about it and share. She hung pictures of Mom up everywhere at all different ages. Some grandkids dressed up, some brought props, some brought favorite snacks grandma mentioned...It was such a beautiful way to remember Mom. 

We spent time in Snow Canyon, at the temple, playing games with Grandpa, joining Grandpa in some pickleball and having a girl's breakfast date. On our way home, it was crazy to run into the Cicottes. They had also come from the treasure valley to SG for Thanksgiving. :) 

October 2024

October 1! Must be time to make apple dumplings and watch the "legend of sleepy hollow"! This year, made with our own apples. 

 I don't remember the circumstances of this day, but I'm guessing the older 2 were off doing something else fun, so the younger 3 and I had a park day and made a stop at Krispy Kreme. It's funny how I was shocked they have never been, because I remember taking them! And then I realized the kids I took were the older bunch and it was years and years ago. So it was fun for them to watch the donuts being made for the first time.

Conference necklaces and other....jewelry :) 

Miles always has such good support at his games. :) Thanks Petersens and Grandma for coming!!

I had my 20 year high school reunion! That feels crazy to me since I swear I just barely graduated. I know it's not some people's cup of tea, but for one reason or another I have loved every high school reunion I've attended. I was gone for just a little over 24 hours and I crammed it in! I flew into Vegas (cause it's cheaper) and Dad came and picked me up at 2 in the morning. What a trooper. That morning, some friends and I all did a session together. How cool is it that after all these years, I still have some stalwart friends, who out of all the things we could do, decide to do a session together before our HS reunion. Then we went to breakfast/lunch and caught up. I spent most of the rest of the afternoon setting up for the reunion, and then had the actual event. I'm sure other HS classes are great, but mine really was special. There are so many good people packed into DHS class of 2004 and it was so fun to catch up with everyone. After helping clean up, I caught up with some other friends at Iceberg, then dropped my friend Laura at her house and chatted in the car in her old driveway for way too long, just like old times. Dad drove me back to Vegas the next morning to catch my flight! 

Applesauce Day at Grandma and Grandpas! What a fun tradition. The weather was perfect and the air smelled like cinnamon and we listened to books on tape and jumped in leaves while we processed. 

Lindy's activity day leaders had a fun Daddy Daughter harvest party! So cute. I went in my capacity as primary president to be an extra helper, but it was nice to witness the fun. 

Apple Juice Day! Grandma and Grandpa invited some families from their ward over and the Petersens. Apple juice is significantly easier than sauce and a relatively quick and decidedly delicious project. 

Other October Notables: ward youth hike up to table rock, Gwen was the first one in her co-op class to reach the goal of watching or reading a certain number of Shakespeare plays and therefore was crowned queen, Miles took a cake decorating elective class and co-op and did a great job, chopping wood, raking leaves, making soap etc. 

HALLOWEEN! This year, highly influenced by Benson's love for Greek mythology, the kids decided on such a theme. Davy was Perseus, Benson was Zeus, Lindy was Athena, Gwen was Medusa, and Miles was Pegasus. :) Miles and Gwen also had another co-op Halloween party and they dressed up as other things. I know Miles went as Mr. Rogers, but I don't remember what Gwen was.  We had a ward trick or treat that was pretty lame. :) I didn't have any bandwidth to decorate our trunk, but last minute Gwen made it a mummy that barely survived the drive to the church. There were only like 5 cars that brought candy, so the kids lined up and collected all their candy in about 5 minutes. If memory serves me correctly, this is the first year that Miles didn't do all of the trick or treating with us and instead went to a friend's party. I realize it was probably past time for such things, but still, it felt odd to be crossing that bridge.