LTUE

Jeremy decided to use birthday money last year to register for Life, The Universe, and Everything symposium. He and Nichole went to it in February of this year. They took classes on writing and art and learned lots.

They made sure to get selfies of themselves every day showing them at the conference. They had an extra in their picture on the last day. Our friend, Kels Goodman, was on some panels (he's a filmmaker) and Jeremy and Nichole went to one of them. His wife, our friend, Stephanie, was also there at the conference so Nichole and Jeremy got to visit with both of them. Good people.

I'm glad Jeremy and Nichole got to have that bonding time and they've already registered next year.

Parent Teacher Conferences

Jeremy was not available to go to Parent Teacher Conferences for Lucky with me. He had a big build at Thanksgiving Point. In fact, Jet and I delivered some balloons to him that day (we're big helpers).

 

Lucky's teacher said so many good things about him and how he's the type of kid that makes her love teaching. I don't say this to brag but to tell a funny story. During the conference with the teacher it was decided since Dad wasn't there, we would fool him into thinking Lucky wasn't doing so well. Lucky told me he could even make himself cry to go along with it. Man, that kid is good. Red eyes and everything.

While we were at the school we checked out Lucky's contribution to the Art Show. A pendant. Way to go, Lucky.

 

Jeremy was a little concerned when I hesitated while saying the teacher said Lucky had some things he could work on (she did, as in she wanted to push him even more so he could continue to grow). He wasn't that surprised when he found out we weren't serious. Tee Hee. Way to go, Lucky.

Parent Teacher Conferences

I went to Parent Teacher Conferences or Student Led Conferences or whatever it is they're calling them these days. The high schooler and junior high schooler went with me to theirs and the elementary schoolers stayed at home when I went to talk to their teachers.

At Nichole's school I saw my sister's sister-in-law. I didn't realize she worked there but she does so I said Hi. Wow. Nichole has classes on the first floor, second floor, third floor, and across the parking lot (seminary). Whoo.

Nichole showed us weeks ago a sketch of a fairy she was sculpting out of clay in her sculpture class. At parent-teacher conferences I was able to see that fairy in progress. Later she brought the finished product home. Well done, Nichole.

Jr.'s classes are only on the first and second floors and across a small road for seminary. Jr.'s biology class had a picture in there of a pine grosbeak that he took. He made sure to get a picture with my phone. Notice the label. Heh Heh.

Both of Jr. Jr.'s and Lucky's teachers had good things to say about them and I was able to see some samples of their work that show their personalities.

Lucky's self-portrait and Jr. Jr.'s "The Best Part of Me."

"I think the best part of me is my head because it lets me read, write, and think.Reading is my favorite pastime. I spend most of my free time reading so my head helps me not get bored. I'm writing a book so if I didn't have a head I wouldn't have any plan for the future. I wouldn't get to share my stories.I like thinking and figuring things out. My head makes it so I am smart. That is why I think my head is my best part."

Jr. Jr.'s teacher did specifically mention how expressive he is even when wearing a mask. Heh Heh. I love my kids.

October Beginneth

And here we are. Practically caught up. You want to know what we did the first couple weeks of October? Here you go.
The beginning of October, we went to a wedding reception. Congratulations. We've been friends with this family for years. They are such great people. The oldest son in the family got married and their wedding reception had a carnival theme. Cotton candy and popcorn and a balloon artist- you know who that is. Jeremy did balloons at the oldest daughter's wedding several years ago, too. My, how time flies. 

It was such a nice evening. I was thinking I'd take the kids and only stay for a little while since they had school the next day. We ended up staying pretty late. Oops. We had a great time, though. I really enjoyed seeing people I hadn't seen in while.

Jeremy finally made a certain balloon sculpture for the youngest daughter of this family. He meant to make it for her years and years ago and finally was able to.

Jeremy and Lucky did a special project and carved an apple for a shrunken apple head. Lucky designed it. Jeremy used the knife. Lucky painted it with lemon juice and stuck in the clove eyes. Now it's been sitting for a while and it did spend some time in the oven to get some of the moisture out.

Nichole and Jr. had student led conferences at the junior high. Some of the teachers had activities set out for the students to show their parents. In Jr.'s science class, he was able to demonstrate Newton's laws of physics and drop a screw into a narrow necked bottle by placing it on the top of a hoop and whipping the hoop out of the way. Pretty cool and Jr. was good at it.

October 4 was National Taco Day. We kept with tradition and had tacos that day. Not a very hard tradition.

For General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we had friends visit us again and of course we had Conference Nachos.

Nichole got creative... again. She decorated her cup with a dragon... again. She likes to do things with her hands to pay attention to talks and things so she crocheted a little person while listening to Conference.

I don't think I took a picture of the brownies but Nichole and I kept up with tradition and made brownies to eat while we watched the Women's session of Conference.
Our younger boys also listened to some of the talks and definitely heard Elder Bednar's talk about the cheetahs using distraction, deception, and diversion in the grass as they hunted topis, a type of antelope.
Our children weren't the only ones who paid attention to that talk. For Family Home Evening we decided to go hiking at Big Springs to look at the Fall colors.

When we got to a big field, the boys wanted to be cheetahs and take turns showing themselves and crouching and creeping along in the grass. There were other families at that field and we could hear some of the comments coming from other kids, apparently deciding to be cheetahs themselves. "Look at all the cantaloupe." "It's a whole field full of cantaloupe." We got a kick out of that.

That was October 7, which was also the 170th anniversary of Edgar Allen Poe's death. We didn't see any ravens at Big Springs but the older kids were quick to point out that we were surrounded by death and decay since we were up there when leaves were falling.

Jeremy and Lucky took some time to go to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point. Lucky got to ride a horse and they both went on a tractor ride.

Nichole, Jr., and I went to BYU to watch a faculty recital- Deseret String Quartet. Since Nichole plays violin and Jr. plays cello, it was nice to take them to a performance where they could both hear and see those instruments played by just one or two people each.

The elementary school was doing a "Grand Lunch" where anyone grand in a student's life was invited to come have lunch with them so Jeremy, Lucky, and I had lunch with Jr. Jr. I remembered to get pictures of Jr. Jr. during lunch this time. And being the overemotional person I am lately, I almost cried during the lunch and taking Lucky to his class since we were already at the school. I did cry all the way home. "I just love my family so much."

Nichole and Jr. had their first orchestra concert of the year. Spooky Halloween themed music. They both did well.

And Lucky wanted to be in the picture.

Lucky and Jr. had their parent-teacher conferences. I don't have pictures but they are both doing well at school like their siblings.

And now we are caught up. Wow. We did a lot in October and it hasn't even been two weeks yet.