20 September 2015 - Fall Fare

Emily crossing the finish line at her most recent cross country meet.

Joanne had a Relief Society craft night. Oh, so crafty.

UVU hosted a giant steak fry on Friday night. Super good steaks done on the outdoor grill. Yum!

On Saturday evening, our family went to watch UVU play BYU in women's volleyball. There was a huge crowd and it was a lot of fun. BYU is currently ranked #9 and won in straight games (3-0), but I had my UVU green on for this one.

House update: the view of Mt. Timpanogos from Jessica's bedroom window.

We have soffit, fascia and insulation. Drywall is loaded into the house and ready to be hung.

13 September 2015 - Labor Day/Birthdays

Watch out for a saber-toothed Lily.

On Labor Day afternoon, we went to Tiffany and Brian's house to celebrate Meghan and Brandon's birthdays. Meghan thought it was hilarious that we bought Brandon shaving cream and a razor, which would have been funnier if he hadn't shaved his beard off the day before.

For school, Madeline had to make a solar oven. Here is our concoction of poster board, aluminum foil, and a quart jar painted black with high-heat paint.

Madeline's oven worked mighty fine for making s'mores.

Emily is running cross country this fall. This is her first meet.

On Tuesday, we went to an Orem Owlz game. They play at the UVU baseball stadium.

House update: Roof and windows!

Sunday we celebrated Phil's 65th birthday with a surprise party with his kids, grand kids and many friends.

6 September 2015 - MJ's Baptism/Adrienne's Blessing

This week we went to Vernal for MJ's baptism. Joanne made MJ a specially embroidered towel.

All of the cousins together following MJ's baptism.

At the after party, Lily got to hold a baby kitten.

This is how Madeline and Meghan spend time together nowadays.

On Saturday evening we left Vernal to head back to Orem. Sunday morning, baby Adrienne was blessed.

House update: Framing is now complete. The girls really wanted to climb out the windows and stand on the roof over the front of the garage, even though we had gone to see the house right after church and they were still in their dresses.

Joanne in front of the house with framing complete.

30 August 2015 - Work and Park City

After a four months of living between jobs, I finally started my new job at Utah Valley University this week. It's a much different school than the little trade school I used to go to for merit badge camp. The campus is beautiful, and this fall UVU became the largest university in the state by number of full time students.

A shot of UVU president Matt Holland, speaking to us at faculty convocation.

On Saturday, Grandma gave us tickets to the Utah Olympic Park. Emily, Jessica and I headed up to watch the ski jumpers while Madeline stayed in Utah County for a primary class party.

This picture is worth clicking on. The top of the rock climbing platform at the far end of the landing pool is 55 feet high. The ski jumpers routinely jumped nearly as high as the platform while doing all kinds of crazy flips.

After Park City, the girls and I decided to sample UVU's new indoor rock climbing gym. It is very large, and is one of the tallest indoor gyms I've ever climbed in. Emily is in the pink shirt in this photo.

House update: Our house has walls! It's finally coming along.