2024 :: week 43

October 20

The Kansas Crane boy cousins are serious Chiefs fans. It made me smile seeing all the red and Chiefs-related clothing when we walked into my parent's house on Sunday. It also made me smile when they all "took a knee,' after Miles got hurt during a play. Tony left early Sunday morning for a work trip to Tampa.

October 21

Lauren turned 14! We celebrated with a ritz chicken dinner and Lamar's Donuts for dessert. Her main birthday gifts were a pair of Ugg platform slippers, an Owala water bottle, Sol de Janerio body spray, and a White Fox hoodie. On instagram I wrote: "Lauren is sharp, thoughtful, determined, creative and resourceful. She is our #1 girl and keeps our house from getting too wild with all the young boy energy."

October 22

We had an interesting experience at our house this morning. (Anthony is in Florida for work this week.) Around 230am, Will got up, made himself breakfast and walked to the bus stop. He said he waited for about five minutes, then looked at his phone and realized it was 2:30 in the morning. Then he walked home and went back to bed. When I was talking to him about it this morning, he said there were things that should have helped him realize it wasn’t time to go to the bus— it was still totally dark outside, he only saw one car on the road, the street lamps were very dim, no one else was waiting, and I didn’t get up to make sure he got off OK like I told him I planned to do. He says because he remembers it it couldn’t be sleepwalking. But the fact that he did all of that without looking at clocks and realizing he was four hours early makes me think he was. I’m just glad he was safe and didn’t do anything too crazy! also, when we were in Seattle we had delicious gelato at the Public Market. Meredith said that the gelato company is connected to the Ellenos brand greek yogurt sold in some grocery stores. The only store I could find it at around here is Whole Foods. It is so delicious!

October 23

Wednesday night was Miles' Upward evaluation. I like that they do these evaluations, as I believe the intention is to create equitable teams. In my experience the teams do not end up being very equitable, so in the end it feels like a waste of time. Regardless, Miles had a good time and seemed to measure up well to the competition.

October 24

Lauren and her friends Maddy, Brena and Quinn walked along the trail after school. We have had idyllic fall weather this week!

October 25

Elliott got to play in his first piano recital Friday night! Miss Julie held her annual Halloween Costume Recital in her driveway for all kids in elementary school. Elliott had a great time! Immediately after the recital I raced him over to OPC for the end of the Truck or Treat. He had a ball collecting candy and running around with his buddies--at least two others were also dressed as Bobby Witt Jr. 

October 26

Elder Gong spoke to the KC area youth at the Liberty Stake Center (building near the temple). Tony drove a contingency of kids from the Oak Park Ward--Jude, Elliott, Adrian, Lauren, Ethnie and Will. Having nine stakes worth of kids gather at the building was a logistical mistake--it isn't even the largest stake center in the area--and our kids were forced to stand on the side the entire time. I was concerned for our youth before they left because had attended a leadership meeting earlier in the day and youth started to show up before it had even ended. Overall I think they had a good time, but their main memory of the event wasn't getting to see an apostle, it was of how tired their legs were from standing and other kids misbehaving and making it so they couldn't hear (because it was so crowded no adults were allowed in, so there were over a thousand youth and next to no leaders). Tony waited in the van while the kids were at the devotional.

2024 :: week 42

October 13

Miles' primary teacher sent this picture of his class, holding pictures of Jesus. I don't know why, but in every group we are in the boys outnumber the girls by a lot. Grandkids, school classes, church classes, even our own family!

October 14

Monday the kids had another day off school. Lauren hung out with Ariana, and Miles & Elliott went to the Ules for a bit. That night we made our annual pilgrimage to Shaake's Pumpkin Patch in Lawrence, Kansas. We've gone *almost* every year since 2010. Over the years the roads have gotten better and it takes us less time to get there. I couldn't believe how tall the kids were this year! We had fun looking for a few pumpkins, doing the maze, and playing on the playground. On the way home we stopped at the Costco Food Court for dinner.

October 15

Tuesday was the end of season tournament for the instructional volleyball league Lauren has been participating in at Indian Woods this year. The girls meet twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays to "learn" and then scrimmage against each other. Lauren would have preferred if there was a little more instruction and grouping of kids by ability, but she still had a good time. She was definitely one of the best players in the instructional league, though she seemed hesitant to try too hard.  

October 16

My dad got an infection on his leg that worked its way into his system and he had to be hospitalized for sepsis a few days this week. I spent the nights with my mom, just to be safe. She can get around and do a lot of things by herself now, but it is nice to have a second adult to help prepare food, and in case of accident. My family was pretty flexible with my not being around at nights or before school for a few days.

October 17

On Thursday I met with Mrs. Phipps to discuss Miles (routine parent-teacher conference). She said he is doing awesome! He has already met most of the literacy and number goals for the school year, so she is giving him a packet with challenge work to do. She said he is extremely responsible and helps his classmates get their stuff picked up and put away correctly at the end of the day. He gets along well with others and does a pretty good job of listening and not talking out of turn. From my perspective it seemed like Miles was really thriving in school, so it was rewarding to hear from his teacher that my feeling was right.

October 18

These frozen chocolate strawberries have been a Lauren-favorite this month! Nana enjoyed them too, and while they were in town Papa went to Costco to buy a few more bags because they were consumed at a pretty fast rate.

October 19

The Storm played their last game of the season Saturday. We were proud of Lauren for participating and persevering with a team she didn't love to continue playing soccer. We will always remember the assistant coach and his sassy daughter, and his totally out of place and occasionally offensive comments. After the game we went to Red Robin for dinner to celebrate Lauren's upcoming birthday!

2024 :: week 41

October 6

Sunday we had to go home. We had to leave relatively early, but Meredith and I were able visit for a bit in the morning on the back patio of the cabin. The view was spectacular! The Maxfields dropped us off at the airport on their way back to Oregon. We had such a great trip to visiting the Pacific NW and spending time with the Maxfields.  We couldn't have done it without Doug and Tina watching our kids and the Maxfield's generosity. 

October 7

Monday the Johns treated us to Joe's KC for dinner, which was wonderful because I was tired post-trip. I spent the day doing laundry and a little work. We also watched both the Royals and Chiefs games. Doug and Tina surprised Will and said they would pay for him and Anthony to go to the Royals playoff game on Thursday verses the Yankees (combined birthday and Christmas gift for them both). He was so excited!

October 8

Doug & Tina left to go back to Utah. I so appreciate them coming to help us, but now it is back to real life. Lauren had her first choir concert of the year that evening while Elliott had baseball practice and Will had piano too.

October 9

Elliott had his final game of the fall season Wednesday. Jude & Adrian and Lauren & Will came to the game to support Elliott. The older boys (and some of the dads) also listened to the Royals game. The Huskies lost the game, but played quite well. The boys have really improved this year and look like real ball players. 

October 10

Thursday may have been the happiest day of Will's life. If not, it is definitely in his top 10. Anthony and Will went to the final game of the ALDS at Kauffman. The Royals ended up losing the game and the series, but Will has been a faithful follower for as long as he can remember, and he loved getting to go to a playoff game. Going into the game he already hated Jazz Chisholm (he said the Royals were "lucky" to win Game 2), and there was a lot of anti-Yankees energy. They enjoyed the excitement when Volpe slapped Mikael Garcia with a hard tag at second base. Mikael was not too happy and players left both dugouts before order was restored. Despite the loss, Will arrived home happy because if he Royals can make it to the ALDS one year after having the second worst record in baseball, imagine what could happen in the next few years.

October 11

Friday the kids had no school. Pepaw is retiring at the end of October, so we took the grandkids to visit him at his office one last time. He gave us a tour, and several of the kids got cups of pebble ice. I was only mildly embarrassed by the behavior of my nephews. 

October 13

Usually the Hintons pass through on their way to visit family in Mississippi in the summer. This year they did a big Disney trip in the fall, so we got to see them in October. We had the Allreds come over too for a simple dinner of French Toast and breakfast sides. Jill was in the same FHE group as Tony and Darren, and between them they are now the proud parents of 11 kids. 

2024 :: week 40

September 29

Will is so proud not only because the Royals made the playoffs, but because he predicted they would make it to the playoffs back in June. In June while hanging out with the Bensons he made this pledge, and they held him to it. The Royals have played well this season, but last year they were pretty awful (56-106), and finished last in the AL Central. Only the pitiful As had a worse record. Also, we had a fire drill at church. It took a lot of planning and coordination, but I think it went okay.

September 30

I had my second mammogram Monday morning. It was quick and relatively painless. Mostly just uncomfortable. Because I don't have a family history I wasn't too worried, but it is always a relief to officially hear that there are no current signs of cancer.

October 1

Miles has been in a sweet Mom-loving phase lately. It is funny, because as a toddler he had a strong preference for Dad. But over the past few years he has taken a distinctive turn towards preferring Mom. We had a busy afternoon evening with volleyball practice, soccer practice and baseball. Papaw and Nana arrived in the late afternoon to stay with us and watch the kids while Anthony and I travel to Seattle for the weekend.

October 2

Happy Day! The Royals swept the Orioles in the Wildcard series and are on to the ALDS. Will invited Jude & Adrian over to watch the game with us as well. There was a lot of joy in our basement that night. 

October 3

Early Thursday morning Anthony and I flew to Seattle to spend the weekend with Meredith & Steven. They had our names for Christmas and offered to buy us tickets to attend the Weezer concert in Seattle with them. We loved the sound of that and as soon as Papa & Nana agreed to watch our kids we booked our flights. Because our flight was so early we got to spend much of the day exploring. Once we landed in Seattle we took the Link to our hotel downtown. They let us check in a little early and we took a nap because we are getting old. After our nap we headed to the Public Market, found the gum wall, and got lunch at Beecher's (grilled cheese for me and mac & cheese for Anthony). In the afternoon TJ booked us tickets for Bill Speidel's Underground Tour. The tour was really cool and I learned a lot about the history of Seattle. We picked up some pizza for dinner and decided we wanted to walk to Kerry Park, which is known for it's incredible views. It took us about an hour, and along the way we found a fun Finnish shop. The hills got steeper as we walked across town, eventually we climbed flights of stairs to get to the park. The view was amazing, but I needed to stop and rest for a bit before we headed back to our hotel. It was Rosh Hoshana and there was a group gathered at the park, singing and listening to a rabbi. We picked up ice cream treats from an amazon store near the Seattle Spheres. When all was said and done we ended up walking about 30,000 steps that day.

October 4

Friday we met up with the Maxfields at lunch time. We were exhausted from all the walking we did Thursday, and it was a bit rainy, so we slept in and then walked to the Public Market to meet the Maxfields for lunch. They had dropped their kids off at school and then drove up from McMinnville. Meredith, Carly and Hillary had a sisters weekend in Seattle a few weeks back and so Meredith knew the best spots for food. We got chowders in bread bowls from Pike Place Chowder, shared both a sweet and savory piroshky from Piroshky, Piroshky and then got Hellenika gelato for dessert. Delicious! We had some time before the Weezer concert, so we walked around the Seattle Sculpture Garden and Seattle Center. While we were walking a car turned out from an apartment parking lot and the woman driving it was at least partially nude (no shirt or bra). Only Steven and Anthony were lucky enough to see that, though we could all see she was driving erratically. The concert was amazing! The opening acts were Dinosaur Jr., and the Flaming Lips, which were also pretty good. Weezer had amazing stamina. They sang for a long time and the songs made me so happy. I also loved seeing Anthony and Meredith have such a great time together. They first listened to Weezer together as teens while doing homework in their dining room. After the concert we drove to the Maxfield's cabin to stay for the next two days.

October 5

Steven's family owns a cabin in the Cascade Mountains. It is such a beautiful part of the country. When we drove in Friday night we saw a lot many deer. Saturday got off to a weird start when Doug & Tina informed us that we had been the recipients of some obscene pumpkins. Apparently someone left two pumpkins on our front walkway with "We're Back (Racial Slur)"on the front and a penis and "FU" spelled out scratched into the back. We don't have any known enemies, so we assume it was some teenagers that Anthony scared when they ding dong ditched us last Friday. One of the kids fell as he was running away and we think he probably was mad. It is hard to know. After that nonsense we got on with our delightful vacation. We drove about 30 minutes to go on a hike. We opted for a pretty easy hike to Mammoth and Cheese Rocks. The view was spectacular! We went shopping in Cle Elum for dinner. We watched some mlb playoff games--including the first game of the ALCS where the Royals lost a close game to the Yankees. After the game we road ATVs to the Lake Bed and built a fire. The sky was so clear we could see thousands of stars--we even saw a shooting star! We ended the night soaking in the hot tub. It was such a great day.