Neverending Fall Fun

It really starts to feel like fall when we go to AWHC for the Board of Realtors family night. They always have dinner, and with the different activities they have out each year and the corn maze there is never a shortage of fun. We look forward to it every year.

Kids playing jumbo Jenga.

Going into the corn maze

Korinne always leads the way. Her sense of direction gets better every year.

It's always a good sign when it is still light outside when we are finished.

Britton got asked to Sadie's on Tuesday.  He let us have the soda, however, because he has never liked soda in any form.😜

On Wednesday we were back at the AWHC for a XC race. The scenery was gorgeous and I kept thinking to myself, "I really love the fall".

Britton

Jenna running by the corn maze

On Saturday we hit the Cross E Ranch for a company party.  They had lunch and snacks, face and henna painting and balloon creations in addition to all of the normal fun activities at the ranch.

AJ is in a stage where he will often introduce himself as "Dog Smalls" and then act like a dog throughout the day.  Well, all of his dream came true when they turned him into an adorable puppy with face paint.

Jameson chose a spookier option- a black widow.

The girls got temporary henna tattoos

The balloon guy was absolutely amazing and made a work of art for each child.  AJ picked Spider-Man and Jameson got a dragon.

We enjoyed a hay ride all together and then the girls and I went through the corn maze while the boys played at the playground.

If you don't see Britton in any of these pictures it is because he wasn't there. Between school, work and extra circulars he is a very busy guy these days and isn't able to join us on some of our adventures.

After the company party we had about 1 1/2 hrs to kill before our next event at Liberty Park which was an activity for kids of color in Utah.  We decided to go the the Family Discovery Center in the FHL and it was a great choice.  The kids had a ball with all of the interactive displays.

We had some fun with the pictures.

Brrrrr

We couldn't get AJ to cooperate for our family pictures so we knew it was time to leave.  AJ had fun, but was a little overwhelmed by all of the possibilities.

I didn't get pictures of the activity at the park,but there was a great turnout.  Jameson is always really shy at the beginning but by the end he has a great time with new friends.  All of these kids are often the only black kid in their class at school so they really enjoy coming together for activities like this one where everyone looks just like them.

Homecomings

Last Sunday we headed north to see Tanner speak at church following his return from the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania mission.  It was the first time Tanner was able to meet AJ who has figured out that everyone we travel to visit is, in fact, a cousin. That is what happens when you have 56 first cousins. Ha!

It was Homecoming week at Ridgeline and the parade was Wednesday night at 6 p.m.  Every club, organization and team had a float so pretty much the entire study body marched down the street and threw out candy.

If you were involved in more than one thing (which most kids are) you had to pick which one to walk with. Jenna walked with the cross country team, Britton walked with the Key Club.

Every year Ridgeline takes a part of the XC team up to Boise for the Bob Firman Invitational. The kids look forward to it every year, but this year it just happened to fall over Homecoming so Britton and a lot of his friends weren't able to go to the Homecoming game on Friday night or the dance on Saturday night.

Ridgeline Boys in Boise

Britton bottom left

Jenna had a great time with her friends at the Homecoming game even though they lost. 

On Saturday Adam and I dropped Jenna, Korinne, Jameson and AJ off at Lagoon and went to the funeral of Adam's Aunt Linda.  We found out 3 weeks before she died that she had liver cancer and before we knew it she was gone.  Linda is Adam's Dad's oldest sister.

(1942-2018)

It was a beautiful celebration of her life and great to see a lot of family that we don't get to see very often.

Jaclyn, Micah Steven

Steven, Kim, Margene

The boys had a good time at Frightmares, the girls? Not quite as much.  It is hard being in charge of the boys for so long.

Today was the Primary Program in our ward and Jameson had a speaking part and a singing part.  He and another little girl sang the first verse of "  " and then the rest of the primary came in on the chorus.  He did such a good job!  Adam and I noticed a few years ago that whenever Jameson would sing in the car to the radio he was always right on pitch which I thought was amazing for a child so young.  He has a beautiful pure voice and hits all of the notes but is also very shy and doesn't like to sing in front of people.  We have been working on him for a few months and he finally decided he would sing for the primary program. He had so many people tell him what an amazing job he did that I hope it gives him confidence to sing more often. 😀

The Start of Something New

No one was more excited or ready to start preschool last week than AJ.

Five days after he cried because he couldn't get on the bus with the big kids his very own bus came to the house to pick him up.

The school district has a preschool program for kids who need a little help with speech or who have other delays.  AJ's English is great for someone who arrived a year ago having never even heard the English language spoken, but he still needs a bit of help to catch up to his peers.  They are also going to help him develop his fine motor skills and cognitive function.  A bus comes to the house to pick him up and drop him off 4 afternoons a week. He loves it and I love that it is FREE. 😀

First day on the bus and he is all smiles!

 Lately he really likes to pretend  he is a dog.  "Dog Smalls" is what he likes us to call him when he is in puppy mode. (Smalls is the nickname his cousins gave him at the family reunion and he decided he liked it.  I like that I can finally say "You're killing me Smalls!" 😛).

Dog Smalls

Jameson is now playing flag football and had his first game this week.  He is a funny kid who both likes and dislikes something at the same time so you never know what answer he will give you if you ask him about it.

Flag football

Britton and Jenna had 2 races in the last 2 weeks.  One was the Weber Invitational and the other was the Murray Invitational.

Britton running up the trail at the Murray Invite

Jenna, Britton and AJ

They really love hanging out with 100 of their friends at each race.  It is a lot of fun when you have such a big team. 

We went to an Ethiopian New Year Celebration at Sugarhouse Park yesterday.  Ethiopia is on a completely different calendar than the rest of the world and on Tuesday, Sept 11th they will officially be in the year 2011.  We had Ethiopian food and the boys had fun with the bounce house, face painting, snow cones, playground, watching dancers and playing with friends.

 Face painting

Ethiopian dancing

The gold balloons say 2011

There was a good mix of Ethiopian families and also American families that have adopted Ethiopian children.  We learned a lot about the Ethiopian culture yesterday, which is always a good thing. AJ was a little too lazer focused on getting another snow cone to really appreciate the culture going on around him. 😀