The kids had the day after Halloween off school, so I dragged them to Del Valle for a hike. It was a smidge hot, but we did manage to hoof it a couple of miles to the water and then back. It was beautiful and satisfyingly hard.
I have been loving fall here all month long. Somehow I always forget that we get fall in November! Every October I'm sad and jealous of everyone living in Utah, and then November comes and we have pockets of awesome color (granted, no gradated color cascading down the mountains ...) while Utah starts getting snow, ha ha! I've been driving to different locations with beautiful trees and walking among them.
Hazel tried out for the school basketball team and made it. She was put on Varsity; 13 of the 19 girls in the program are freshmen. She's got a lot of hustle on the court.
Todd was released from the high council and called to be the advisor for the Priest's Quorum. He is excited to be in young men's but disappointed that he's not working directly with Jack.
I was called to be a counselor to the ward's new Primary President. I am thrilled to be back in primary! Every week is so satisfying; it is so easy for me to feel love for the children and want to minister to them.
Todd and I substituted for Hazel's seminary teachers. We got to teach about how awesome it is to know we are children of God. It was a sweet opportunity for me to testify of Heavenly Mother. We had a good experience, but realized we put a lot more time into our lesson than we would be able to do regularly. We are grateful for everyone willing to accept and magnify that calling.
We brought the George's up to the cabin with us for Veteran's Day weekend. Katie took our family pictures and I'm in love with how they turned out! There was just a little bit of snow on the ground, and while it was freezing, it made a beautiful contrast with the other colors.
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Todd, Ryan, and all the kids except for Gemma went for a mountain bike ride. Katie, Gemma and I hiked around Lake Alpine instead. Everyone was happy with their choices. Gemma was initally disappointed that none of the other kids were hiking, and Todd and I were kicking ourselves for not bringing her bike, but Todd gave her a walkie talkie to stay in communication with the biking group and Katie asked her lots of good questions like, If you were an animal, which one would you be?" and Gemma ended up saying she was glad she chose the hike and loved it. The bike ride sounded tiring. There were a few crashes and it was about twice as long as Todd had originally thought the trail would be, which helped Gemma confirm her decision. Everyone who biked, though, said it was their favorite part of the weekend. So it sounds like a win all around.
Todd had the crazy idea to do a Polar Bear Plunge and got all the kids to join him. They set the goal to swim to the dock and back. Todd and all the girls went in gung-ho, while Jack hesitated for a moment, and Lucas and Logan didn't go at all until after everyone came back and convinced them they were missing out. Todd hung close to Gemma to make sure she didn't drown in the icy water.
Our power went out for an evening. Jack brilliantly accommodated us with Todd's giant lantern and we had no problem reading and playing games until the lights came back on.
Todd and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary. I pushed for mud baths in Napa; Todd declined my offer for the second year in a row. We decided to go for a coastal hike, but then the weather report came in - rain all day Saturday all over the Bay Area. So mud baths won out! It was awesome. Hot and heavy and so weird. We soaked in a mineral water hot tub afterward and then rested in a cooling room. It was a Super Spa day. Todd was way out of his comfort zone, but quietly humored me all morning.
We had super soft, glowing skin afterward, along with a gorgeous fall drive through beautiful Napa and Calistoga. There was plenty of time for good conversation and it was unbeatably relaxing.
We had a visit from the Wilmoth's at the start of Thanksgiving week. I always love hugging April and seeing Jack and Jonah together.
We spent four days up in Bear Valley for Thanksgiving. All the kids helped with the feast: Jack made sweet potato rosemary rolls that smelled like holiday heaven, Hazel made the pumpkin pie, and Gemma made the cranberry sauce. Todd rocked the mashed potatoes, and I warmed up a ham, made stuffing, and heated apple cider on the stovetop. It was all delicious, and with so many helpers, it didn't feel like a ton of work, either. (Ditching the turkey didn't hurt.)
Speaking of ditching, Todd decided it was time to say goodbye to his long, luxurious locks. But first, we pulled a little prank on the kids. Before they work up Thanksgiving morning, Todd and I headed outdoors and I buzzed in a mullet. When the kids noticed, there was an uproar! It was awesome! We tortured them with the mullet idea for days, but the first thing Todd did when we drove back to Livermore was head over to Great Clips. (We forgot the clippers at the cabin!)
We had an amazing time at the cabin. We played games, watched movies every night, went for walks every day, and kickstarted Christmas with a tiny tree and stockings for the cabin, as well as making gingerbread houses Friday morning.
One of the highlights was definitely the adventure we took on Friday. We started with a half loop around Lake Alpine and found a stream partially frozen over. Gemma was dying to ice skate, so we sent her as tribute to find out if the ice would hold. Everyone thought sliding back and forth across the stream was awesome...
When we got back in the car, we decided to drive further up Highway 4 through Ebbetts Pass, which closes for the winter and is a scenic byway. Fifteen or twenty minutes up the gorgeous, pine-lined snowy highway, we came across Mosquito Lake, which was completely frozen over and breathtakingly lovely. The ice was a little thin on the highway side, but we tromped through the snow to the backside and found the ice much thicker over there. We all had a magical time ice skating in our sneakers while time stood still in our little winter wonderland.
On our way home on Saturday we stopped at a Christmas tree farm in Murpheys and hunted down our tree for the season. After much needle crunching and smelling and some tromping up and down and over and around hills of pine trees, we came back to the one Todd picked out in the first two minutes of us arriving and declared it The One.
Jack and Hazel were both called to be assistant ward organists. We are so fortunate that Rebecca Lloyd offered to teach them how to use the organ. What an opportunity! They are each slotted to play an opening hymn in Sacrament Meeting in December.
Gemma is happy to be attending activity days again (she had to miss while her drama class was in session). She loved making a Christmas wreath and hung it on her bedroom door.
Jack got to try welding at young men's. He said it was scary.
Hazel's schedule is full of basketball - practice every night unless she has a game.
