Halloween in Utah

Continuing with the theme of freedom due to not teaching, we decided to go to Utah for the kids' fall break. It is so nice to be able to do stuff like this that we could never have done before.

I was happy to see that the airport had a little library where I could grab a book.

My kids are such good travelers. They should be - they've been traveling since birth!

We love the Chicago O'Hare airport. We were happy to see that our friend the brachiosaurus was playing it safe by wearing a mask.

Jalen was disappointed by his "window" seat. 

We made all of our flights and Grammy & Grandad met us at the airport. We stopped at Gardner's Village on the way home. The kids were so young when we moved that they didn't even remember it. It's such a fun place, especially at Halloween.

This little guy took weight loss a little to seriously.

Looking for the perfect broom.

Don't drink and fly.

We love the mountains and the soft grass of Utah.

My kids love crawling into bed with Grammy.

Chilling at Grammy's.

Tiffani's family arrived the next day and we had wall-to-wall kids. Nothing makes us happier than family time.

Grammy & Grandad bought Mennonite donuts for the Halloween Party.

The kids dressed like the newsies for their costumes. 

They even did a musical number.

We went to Clark & Di's for a Halloween party. Little Bea was an adorable pumpkin.

Aunt Tiffani was a cute pumpkin too.

We usually miss out on these family get togethers so we were grateful to be there for this one.

Clark used to dream of getting Evil Knievel for Christmas. When he finally did, he cried. So it's very fitting that he dressed as Duke Caboom for Halloween.

Halloween Games

Hailey as Wednesday Adams. Perfection.

William wearing so many hats!

Halloween Crafts

Navajo Taco Bar

Vampire Teeth

Part of the reason for our trip was to go to the BYU/Virginia football game. The kids haven't been to many BYU games. It was a really exciting one to watch.

A lot of things have been remodeled since we last went to a game. The game entertainment has also stepped up. The whole experience was amazing.

It was one of the highest offensive scoring games I've ever heard of. The final score was 66-49 BYU. Definitely not boring!

Jalen loved collecting the noise makers.

On Sunday we went to church and I wore mom's turquoise squash necklace. It used to be Granny's and one day will be Tiff's.

We had such a fun visit. It was hard to leave. We miss family when we have to leave. As always, the return trip was a bit dramatic. We got bumped in Chicago, flew to Charleston (David didn't fall asleep this time) and we got home at about 3 a.m. 

The Other Kristin's Wedding

In October, one of my sweet friends - also named Kristin with an 'i' - got remarried. Now that I'm not teaching, I have a lot of flexibility and was able to go to Arizona for the wedding. I was so grateful to be there.

I crashed her "dressing room." It was so fun watching her get ready for her big day.

Another sweet friend came from Utah.

These two women have helped me through some of my biggest challenges. It was wonderful to be all together.

Kristin and Spencer were so happy. It was a beautiful evening.

Mr. and Mrs. DePew.

Isn't she cute? I love her.

It's such a small world! I learned that Spencer's aunts were two of my friends from BYU - they're twins. They couldn't make it to the wedding, but this is their sister. She looks just like them!

As an added bonus, I was able to stay with Janae Taysom. We were roommates as missionaries in Argentina. We hadn't seen each other in 30 years!

She took me to see another mission friend, JD Dockstadder, who is in her ward. It filled my heart to spend time with them.

And to continue in the amazing vein of it's a small world, Janae's sister is married to a guy that my sister Tiffani served a mission with - Hatch.

I got bumped all day long trying to get home. I had purchased the ticket to fly out because there were issues and I didn't want to miss the wedding and I ended up buying the ticket back too. It was about $750! For someone who is used to flying for free, it was crushing. Fortunately, I had just received my Optavia $1,000 bonus.

Saddest of all was that I realized Scott had been competing in an Ironman in Phoenix and I could have watched him compete. I felt so badly that I wasted the day in the airport instead of watching him. I knew he was in Tempe, but I didn't realize that Phoenix, Tempe, Mesa, and Gilbert are all right next to each other. 

After traveling all day and over night, I was so grateful to see my little car.

I had flown in and out of Greenville so I still had to drive 1 1/2 home. It was good to get back.

Varsity Tennis

Baylie had a great tennis season. She played varsity as an 8th grader. Unlike in Utah, it doesn't hurt her later eligibility. She improved so much this year. They really are a great group of girls and the coaches are laid back and positive. It's been a great experience.

This year the Bailey twins from our ward joined her. She loved having friends on the team.

She has a really good serve.

She won most of her matches.

Check out that form!

Here are her year-end stats. Not bad for an 8th grader!

Bayles Family Happenings

 We had some exciting happenings in Erik's family. Parker came home from Japan and Kolton got called to serve in Ghana, Khumasi. It was nice that they got to see each other even for a short time.

They had a combined farewell/homecoming sacrament meeting. Thank goodness for modern technology because we were able to to watch the meeting. It was so good. They both gave fantastic talks and the spirit was really strong.

Kolton did at-home MTC (otherwise they would have missed each other) and is now in Ghana. His emails are so good. He is a great missionary.

Clark ran in the St. George Ironman World Championship. He did the half. My brothers amaze me.

Kayaking and Tubing at Saluda Shoals

This year we finally decided to get a membership to Saluda Shoals - something we should have done a long time ago. It's such a beautiful place and it's the best place for us to put our kayaks or tubes in the water. We decided to go for one more trip down the river before school started.

We have three kayaks now so we can all be on the water at once.

It is always so beautiful on the river. We need to do it more often.

Shoals are like tiny rapids. Hence the name Saluda Shoals.

I had a little bit of trouble with my glasses.