October began with General Conference. On Sunday we invited the sister missionaries to join us and we enjoyed homemade cinnamon rolls!
The sisters always bring the spirit of friendship with them.
In the second week of October, Wendy (Matt's mom) flew in to join us for our trip to the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, NM. We left Thursday, Oct 11th and returned Saturday, the 14th.
We spent the first part of Thursday in Santa Fe near our hotel and enjoyed seeing all the artisans and the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Frances. We also went to lunch at the Pantry and enjoyed sitting on the patio. It was delicious!
Bread shaped like a turtle. Christian was very interested in turtle souvenirs during the trip.
Specialty chocolate from one of the shops.
Next we went to Albuquerque and enjoyed looking at the vendors until the sky divers started. They did some incredible tricks while diving. Then we enjoyed walking through all the balloons as they started filling up for the night time glow. We enjoyed all the special characters! The evening ended with a very cool drone light show and fireworks. It was quite spectacular!
The following morning we headed back to the Balloon Fiesta before sunrise. Despite being early, we hit lots of traffic. We decided to find a place outside the park with an excellent view of the morning launch (Mass Ascension). It was pretty amazing to see over a hundred balloons lift off a few at a time.
Next we wanted to go to Petroglyph National Park to view the solar eclipse but the park was full so we found a nice neighborhood with open space to park and view it. It was remarkable!
Special thanks to Matt for planning this fun trip. He was even prepared so we had special glasses to view the eclipse!
Then we went to lunch and it was yummy!
Then we headed back to Amarillo and spent a relaxing evening showing Wendy our land and watching a movie.
Meanwhile Sterling and Sheri had band and dance commitments. More on that in a moment.
On Sunday we enjoyed church meetings and then on Monday Wendy and I went to Palo Duro Canyon before she headed to the airport to fly home. It was a beautiful day for a hike! We are glad Wendy came to visit! It was such a great weekend!
The rest of October has been busy with school, band, soccer, dance, gymnastics, volunteering, ward conferences to attend (Stake YWs), and of course friends.
-Band-
Sterling and Sheri continued to have Friday night football games every week as well as the UIL Regional Marching Contest where they advanced to the Area Marching Contest which was then on the 28th. They placed as first alternate at Area and performed wonderfully with clean marching/formations. Some of the other teams that went to State were not as clean but had more theatrics. The kids were disappointed but proud of their hard work and final performance.
Here are some band photos of the month.
This is a link to their Preliminary Round. This link may not be shared on Social Media so please don't repost it!
Later in the month Sterling was honored on Senior night.
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I love to see the kids' dedication and enthusiasm. It is so fun to watch them making fun memories with their friends! I am proud of them!
-Soccer-
Christian loved this season! His coach made practices fun and he is getting more skilled on the field!
-Gymnastics-
Somehow they make it look easy.
-Friends-
At the Salvation Army Pantry
Raley, Presley, Sheri
At the Taylor Swift Concert Movie
(the whole family went)
Marianne made it so much fun for Sheri!
Friends when tired!
Some other fun activities include...
Going to a dance show with Sheri,
Getting new pants for when I have to look more professional :)
Final Harvest of the gardens with my little buddy...
Plus 4 more buckets of green tomatoes...
-The Primary Program -
Christian did a beautiful job playing the introduction to "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus" on the piano and when he sang in a small group choir. He also did a great job sharing his testimony!
It is sad that this was his last Primary Program.
Not sure how this happened mid program but he turned bright red after the loud clang. We got to see the situation when the meeting was over.
The month ended with Halloween, of course.
Christian dressed up as Link from Zelda, Sheri a Ninja Turtle with her 3 friends, and Sterling was Joker.
Sterling loves acting, can you tell?
Eve has been enjoying her time at school. She continues to go on fun field trips.
She loved going to the Taylor Swift Concert Movie
And she had lots of fun with her friends and ward!
70's activity
Going to church
Relaxing at home
Going to Carson's opera in Salt Lake.
Rehearsing for her Luau
And carving pumpkins with her ward.
It has been a month packed full of fun! We have received so many wonderful blessings. Most of all are our relationships, our happy memories, and the anchor of our peace, the Savior! He is there and sends support even when things get tough! We acknowledge the difficult things of life, mental health challenges, relationships that are broken/problematic, those that struggle to make ends meet, and fatigue. We are learning that God can strengthen us to overcome all and mend all things. We feel grateful for Him!
