Trunk or Treat

I had fun bringing COOKIE MONSTER to epic proportions and tying it to our puppet theater and a message

 

Crazy eyes, cookies, letter pumpkin

The trunk or treaters buzzed with amazement as Elmo handed out candy 😉

C is for Christ

He died for you and me 

Choir

The girls have both been waking up early and working hard in their respective choirs. I love to hear them sing and enjoy themselves!

For Spillane’s fall concert, the non-varsity Treble Choir beautifully sang Pure, White Owl and Dona Nobis Pacem

For Sampson’s 20th anniversary celebration, the Sampson Singers performed the school song, Tutti Frutti and We’re All in this Together 

 

Back to School!

Big dog (or should I say Stallion?) at Sampson! 

Gma Jan visited and took them shopping before school!

1st day of 5th Grade

Abby has Mrs. Fox for Homeroom, Math, Science and Mrs. Garza for ELAR, social studies 

1st day of 7th Grade at Spillane

With electives choir and Spanish

UTAH

We flew into Salt Lake City and drove to Aarchway Inn, Moab for 3 nights.

 

It was a nice place-we enjoyed the pool and playground.

Early in the morning, we drove 5 minutes to Arches National Park. 

We really weren't the only ones hiking to Delicate Arch.

In fact, we met a really nice tour guide and group along the way.

Looking through Twisted Donut Arch. Almost there!

 

DELICATE ARCH

Once again, we feel tiny. 😄🔎

I was excited to see this petroglyph along the hike: ancient drawings of horse and rider surrounded by bighorn sheep.

BALANCED ROCK

 

DOUBLE ARCH

 

SAND ARCH

This place was an oasis in the shade between blades of sandstone. The kids took off their shoes and played in the sand like it was the beach and squeezed in all the rock crevices.

 

 

After our afternoon siesta and dinner, we checked out Canyonlands, and we're glad we did.

Lydia wanted to hang out on the ledge and take in the "dinosaur footprint," and it made me very uncomfortable.

MESA ARCH

very impressive

Slight delay, we spotted a waterfall from the highway!

BRIDALVEIL FALLS

 

Then 'goodbye desert' and 'hello family.' 4 nights with this crew in Park City.

We had a blast on the Alpine Slide and Coaster at Park City Mountain Resort.

LAKE MARY

Ben, Lydia, Roland, Addie, Kaitlyn, Aubrey, Dan, Will, Kathy, Julie, Abby

what a show- that hi dive is 3 x the olympic high dive height!

Abby and the Flying Aces!

The Utah Olympic Park Museum was very interesting since I remember the event from 20 years ago #feelingold

Free Week

 We had a full summer of travels (CA, beach, UT) and camps (Lonestar, Camp Hope, YMCA) this year, so we took one week to check off our summer list and have fun with just the girls. 

Spend hours at It’z Arcade/Amusement Center ✅

Make Terrariums ✅  (DIY plant bar style in lieu of a trip to Jade & Clover in Dallas)

Go Shopping ✅   Bake Bread ✅

Swim at Community Pool ✅

Visit 7 Acre Wood Petting Farm ✅

Get Pedicures ✅  and a haircut ✅

The cutest pictures of all are from the petting farm because, well... baby goats!

air hockey. reminds me of my cousin's basement

 

                                                          the terrifying Disk-O!

feeding the animals

Llamas are Not shy

they roamed free around the mini golf course

🥹 🥹 🥹

It was a sweating-even-while-just-sitting kind of day, but that's August for ya.

Crystal Beach, TX

Taking the Galveston Ferry to Bolivar Peninsula-we saw many dolphins!

The girls were giddy to be on the beach.

(It was pleasantly not busy or packed at all!)

 

Collecting shells was a top priority.

 

As well as taking Ruby to the beach for the first time. Beach hair, don't care.

Our VRBO beach house was amazing and the deck was EVERYTHING: ocean views,

Dominoes & Exploding Kittens. Breakfasts, sunsets, 

cleaning shells, and a space for the dogs.

Lydia's magical moment was running with Ruby.

 

Abby wanted to be buried, so...

pretty pictures of the area

When you see a giant chair, you climb in it.

Beach Time

You can drive and park (with permit) on the beach

Oh, no! Their arms are stuck!

We walked the historic Strand in Galveston:  old buildings, fun shops, toy store arcade, 

and sweet salt water taffy.

Our last day was our anniversary, so there was just one last thing to do:

#15 creates quite the flames

Definitely a vacation we would do again; it's only 2 hours from home!