Halloween Fun, Part IV

Finally, it was time for All Hallow's Eve, and we were out planting flowers, of course. But, Kristin made it back in time for all the drama of costume's and Samantha and driving kids to their friends' house.

Tessa and her friend, Billie Jo, really made a scene at Union Middle School yesterday with their twinner costumes from the Hot Dog-on-a-stick uniform, complete with caps and name tags. Kristin and her little sewing machine really outdid themselves with this year's costume . Anyways, they went out with friends trick-or-treating, Madeleine went to some party with her friends, and McCoy went out trick-or-treating with his middle school buddies. So, all of a sudden it was just Me and Kristin with the three little ones. Kate just loved it tonight and Benjamin said he loves trick-or-treating (even though it took him a couple of houses to get into it). Samantha eventually warmed up to the fun after a while.

Of course, when they came home they did their little "store".

Halloween Fun, Part III

Now it's time to carve the roast turkey, I mean, pumpkin. The kids were waiting all day to do this, so when we got back from gardening we made the mess.

A Haunted Tessa Evening

We were all excited to see Tessa's dance program with her Union Middle School Dance Company buddies. Let me tell you--they really put on a quality dance program at that school. Congrats to Mrs. Brimley who can bring out the amazing in these kids. They did so many different dances all with complicated staging, lighting, and costume changes. Tessa had some great moments especially in the "Obsession/Innocence" dance (she's the one in white).

They finished the program with a full rendition of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" that was so fun to watch. Enjoy the following clips, which is just a little taste of what was a great performance.

The Twilight Zone

Spider Dance - they had a web hanging from the ceiling with dancers on it.

This was a very powerful dance called Obsession/Possesion using some Mia Michaels choreography and the contrast between light and dark. I loved watching Tessa in this.

In between a couple of big dance numbers Tessa, and her friend from her studio, Sheridan, performed a fun little tap dance they choreographed to music from "Young Frankenstein". Is there anything she can't do?

Tessa really enjoyed the big slumber party dance--you can see how much loves dance by her little smile and the brightness in her eyes. Encore, encore! Good job, Tessa.

Halloween Fun, Part II

There is nothing cuter, and less pedagogically necessary, than the annual elementary school Halloween costume parade. It was much less stressful and frantic this year without Samantha and Benjamin who were still down on the couch with the swine flu. So, it was just cute little Kate who went as a fairy. Kristin was the head room mother for the second grade this year so she was busy with games and treats. Good for her--I'm glad she still has it in her after all these years.

Halloween Fun, Part I

Last night was the ward Halloween/Fall party. They did a wax museum of figures from the scriptures with the Primary kids. They got to work on a workbook for their character and make a character. Kate was Elijah and really got into it. Kristin was in charge of the games with the YW--they had a good time. I did dad duty at home with the two sick kids who couldn't go. Benjamin was hysterical when Kristin was getting ready for the games and the family left for the party. So, when they came home, Kristin made a little party for Benjamin complete with games and prizes.

Oink, Oink -- Who's There?

The swine flu has made its pandemic way to the Homer household. It's sweeping around the schools here so of course, Samantha and Benjamin had to pick it up. Samantha had a fever Saturday night and missed church on Sunday and missed the chili dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's, too. Benjamin started his fever on Monday and the two of them have been couch buddies ever since.

It has been no fun for Samantha and Ben. Samantha has had a constant fever since Saturday night and it has been as high as 104. Ben's temp last night was 105--he has been sick since Monday morning. Their coughs are no fun too. They both have missed the entire week of school and will miss their Halloween parade and parties tomorrow. And they missed the ward party tonight. The doctor said they have to be fever free on their own for 24 hours until they can go back to school or go anywhere.

Luckily it hasn't hit anyone else in the family--we think it's because we all try to wash our hands around here (we hope).

Viva la Dance Dance Revolución

Over the past weekend the kids really got into the old DDR game on the Wii. Benjamin dances to this for hours it seems like. Kate gets so worked up about it. They get so focused that nothing will distract them, even the fact that their feet have moved off the mat.

I Spy a Black Eye

Well, Madeleine is proud to show everyone her first black eye! I know this sounds weird, but this is something she says has been on her bucket list for a long time. She got conked by someone coming down off the tower during a stunt at cheer practice. It does have a nice shade of purple and maybe she could coordinate it with her wardrobe.

Burning the "H"

The Wednesday before Homecoming, they have a sacred ceremony at Hillcrest High--the burning of the "H". Everyone is out there screaming, and doing dances and they see their nominations for the Homecoming Queen. They did fireworks while they had the big "H" lit up with lights and fireworks shooting out of it. Isn't high school so fun. *Sigh* How quickly are their lives going to change--anyways, back to the fun.

This is the Junior Class trying to yell the loudest and prove that they are the best class--yea! That's Junior Class President, Bryce Hunt, leading the cheer and the junior song and cheerleaders pumping up the crowd--Go Juniors!

One performance they did was combined with the cheer and songleaders and the dance company and the performing classes and some of the clubs, etc. They did a dance they learned at cheer camp in the summer--it was fun to see so many kids participating in that.

Then, it was time for the songleaders to do their own performance--their turn to shine! When Madeleine is performing she just shines and shoots her energy into the audience.

Family Vacation Takes Aim at Arches

A couple of weeks ago, since we had a few days off for Utah's "Fall Recess" (formerly the "UEA" weekend), we took a long-delayed trip to Moab for the weekend to enjoy red rock country. We went to Arches in the evening on Friday and then spent most of Saturday at Arches National Park searching out any arch we could hike to. Part way through the day Benjamin said he thought we were going to Moab to shoot bows and arrows (archery). He had finally figured out what arches were, but he kept saying, "I keep waiting to shoot arrows".

We did a pretty good hike up to Delicate Arch, that icon of the Utah landscape. It was quite windy when we got there and it was steeper than we remembered it before. We loved Sand Dune Arch the best--it was a little arch tucked inside a long fold in the landscape with sand all around to play in.

Before we headed back to SLC we stopped along the Colorado River to throw rocks and then went up to Dead Horse Point, which it turns out isn't exactly on the way. And it was so windy up there we thought we were going to blow off the cliffs and float down into the canyon. Of course, we all heard the story of Uncle Craig and the Flying Lizard. Good times.

Presenting . . . Live . . . in concert . . . MCCOY!

We all enjoyed going to McCoy's first Union Middle School band concert. It was held at Hillcrest High School and they did some songs by themselves, and presented a number with the combined bands of Midvale Middle School and Hillcrest High School. It was fun to see McCoy perform at something that he has really liked. In the video you can see the top of his head above the left shoulder of the boy in the blue shirt.

2-4-6-8-who do we appreciate? MADELEINE!

Falltime is cheertime for Madeleine and the Huskies. We have enjoyed watching Madeleine at the football games this year. Now that she is a Varsity Songleader she is at the real games on Friday nights, not the sophomore JV games on Thursday afternoons where grumpy old men sit in the near empty stands and yell at 14-15 year olds and the refs. On Fridays, it's the whole student body and screaming and cheering. Sorry, about the photos, we have neglected to bring the camera a couple of times--we'll get more.

Madeleine had a great attitude at the cheer fundraiser earlier in September. There she is trying to hurry and wash the white suburban before anyone notices that it's her crazy family.

Cheering at a game earlier this fall--more to come!

Orange you glad it's dinner!

For our Sunday dinner this week we had our annual orange dinner. We had orange jello, orange chicken, cheetos, carrots (from our garden) and orange soda. Yummy.

Eating of our Bounty

I know this is a wierd post--a plate of food, but it was our very tasty Sunday dinner last week. The carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, and the potatoes were all from our garden. Even the peppers in the meatloaf. All we need now is to get a cow so then we can grow our own meat loaf.

For dessert we had our annual fondue with pears and apples from our orchard dipped in chocolate fudge sauce and caramel. I must say the pears in chocolate were great and the apples in the caramel were perfect. Come on over and get some apples if you need some crisp fall flavor.

Ahhh, Sunday Dinner Lounging

We had the folks over for Sunday dinner a few weeks ago. What a nice day. Good food, time to sit and chat, smell the roses, and enjoy doing nothing. After dinner we sat outside in the beautiful weather on the front porch. We raced around in Brad's new dune buggy and watched the kids scootering around the front. Of course, we had lots of fruit and vegetables to eat from the garden, including apple crisp for desert.

Rise and Shout . . . finally!

A couple of weeks ago we had the great fortune of getting a few tickets from Grandma and Grandpa Johnson to see a BYU Cougars football game (Thanks!). So, Kristin and I along with Madeleine and her friend, Mindy, made the trip down to Provo for the big game. After the Cougars' embarrassing performance against Florida the week before everyone was hoping/praying for a win against Colorado State. And the Lord delivered one for his Cougars. We had a great time just being there. During the 3rd Quarter I climbed up the stands to find Aunt Jane and Uncle Leon (just look for the white hair). We chatted for a while and then I went further down and found my cousin Cynthia Noorda in her seats--cousins Susan and Teresa were also there. It was fun to squeeze in and visit with them for a while. See, Cougar football brings families together!

After the game we went out for burgers, fries, and shakes. We went to what used to be called "Stevenett's", but is now called Burger Shoppe or the Malt Shoppe or something, I can't remember now. It was fun for us old-timers and especially fun for Kristin because they were playing 80's music the whole time.Yes, a new generation is coming of age with the Cougars!