November 2019 in Review

After 6 months, Brinley left her beloved Gilmer, TX and headed to the McKinney area where she joined Sister Lawson for this next chapter in missionary service.  Her companion has been ill since Brinley arrived and they are in a bike area so it's been an adventure already!  Good thing Brinley is so good-natured and flexible...

G-pa P, Anna, Heather, Aaron

G-ma and G-pa P arrived home from their travels in South America just in time to watch Anna race at the state cross-country championships held in Pocatello, ID on Nov. 2.  It was a whooping 23 degrees when Anna lined up for the 5A Girls first 5k race of the day.  It was FREEZING!

G-ma & G-pa P, Quinn, Heather, Tanner, Aaron

Glad she agreed to wear my biking arm warmers!

Tanner cheering Anna on.

The Madison girls and boys teams both won their District Championships the week before but the state competition from the Boise area is pretty fierce.  In fact, the top 20 girl runners were all from the Boise schools - running crazy fast collegiate times (winner was 17:42).  This has been an up and down season for Anna so she was glad to wrap it up.

Boys & Girls XC District Champions - Oct. 24

Ainsley & Anna after racing at XC State Championships.

Both sets of grandparents came along with Quinn and Tanner.

Ainsley, Ruby, Janessa, Rebekah, ?, Megan, Anna, Hallie

Anna (looking down) in blue sweatshirt next to Ethan in red.
Awards Night at MHS

After attending the Awards Night for the XC season, we found this at our door.  Definitely an "original" in the 'asking to a dance' department.  Ethan wrote: "I'm so XCited to ask you, I might pee my pants...But Karen (inside joke), Will you go to Winter Formal with me?"  He left a new pair of sweatpants, yellow gatorade and frozen peas all over.  We got a chuckle out of this.  Anna's first high school dance is around the corner.

Ashley, Heather, Lisa

Darby Canyon - another hiking adventure.  We packed along snowshoes but didn't end up using theM as the trail was adequately packed.  It was actually muddy by the time we returned to the car so we timed it just right.  It's been a yo-yo in the weather department lately but this was a perfect day!

frozen waterfall at end of hike

Racing against Mother Nature, we focused an entire Saturday (again) on working to anniliate VOLES!  It's been such an issue for so long and they've destroyed many sections of our yard.  My hope was restored after the first round of gassing "dynamite" showed promising results.  Aaron purchased every last stick and I ordered more online to get these darn critters before the snow came to stay.

Quinn has worked hard to complete all his requirements to earn his Webelos award and Arrow of Light.  With the changes in a Church-supported scouting program, Quinn knew time was of the essence and he went above and beyond to earn as many pins as he could before his final pack meeting.  Most adventures he did on his own including interviewing and presenting a "My Hero Award" to our local fire chief.

Quinn & Jantzen on SL Express shuttle

The past few years Jantzen and Quinn have loved getting tickets to a JAZZ game for Christmas.  In looking at our schedule and the game schedule, we had one window of opportunity to make it happen so we seized the moment.  Neither of them complained about missing school to catch the shuttle to the SL airport where they met up with Aaron who flew in with time to take the boys for dinner before the game.  Never mind that they arrived home at 1:30am and still had to get up for school the next morning! Ahh, the things we do for our kids:).

UT Jazz vs. Brooklyn Nets

Donavan Mitchell's signature

Not only did the JAZZ pull off an amazing win, Quinn got his jersey signed by Donavan Mitchell (his favorite NBA player).  Aaron and the boys arrived early enough to watch warm-ups.  As the players were leaving the court, Jantzen helped position Quinn near the 'tunnel' and had him hang his jersey down hoping for a signature.  Sure enough - Donavan's body guard handed him a sharpie and Quinn's dream came true!

Lower Palisades Hike with Lisa - Nov. 14

It's hard to decide which hiking day has been my favorite.  We struck gold a second time when Lisa and I chose this 14-miler together.  The weather and talk-time were amazing!

Part of the Lower Palisades Reservoir

Final Pinewood Derby - Nov. 16

We wrapped up Quinn's Cub Scouting career with the pinewood derby/pack "morning".

Congrats to Quinn for completing this program and receiving his Arrow of Light Award.

Jameson, Quinn, Sariah with Anna & Elsie in back

We have a M. family Sunday dinner once a month at Bob and Janene's house (though I believe Janene feeds these college students most Sunday's).  Since they were out of town, we invited the cousins over to join us.  Sariah is attending Aaron's ward this semester and practices piano at our house so it's been fun seeing Jameson & Sariah more often since they moved into the area.

During the time of Sister L's sickness, Brinley was able to join another companionship for a few days so she could get out and work.  Sister W. (blue coat) is the niece of my good friend, Shelly W. (served in Stake YW together) so that was a neat surprise.

A few more surprises came the following week.  Tif and Abigail flew into UT and made a last minute decision to drive our way for a few days.  A week after Quinn presented Corey C. with an award, Corey stopped by the house to give Quinn something special - a retired EMT helmet from the fire station.  It's the real deal because this thing weighs a LOT.  

Elsie, Quinn, Abigail - turkey sugar cookies

Art Exhibit at MMS for Quinn

Elsie & Abigail - making muddy buddies

Escorts with the dance routine choreographers.

Tif and Abigail returned to UT a few hours before the "Miss Madison" pageant.  Jantzen was asked to be an escort (Macie K.) so Aaron and I attended (along with Elsie/Anna with friends).  Being on stage isn't exactly Jantzen's favorite thing but he did an awesome job.  The dance number by these guys at the end (while judges were tallying scores) was priceless! I was so impressed with the poise and talent of these 10 young women and was especially touched when they awarded one student with "Miss Courageous" award as she's battling cancer and undergoing chemo right now.  It was a lovely evening!

This stairwell railing update has been in the works for a while.  I'll spare the details in this post but show a few pics of the process.  Aaron helped with the demolition then I put everything together again.  Team work!

Abigail & Elsie wrote messages - time capsules - for a future finder.

Other projects in November include getting started on the bridge/canal expansion.  Even with the tricky timing of getting the footings in place, the canal company let a little water through - grrr!

current bridge to our property

footings for future bridge

After the burn last month, we had a demolition company come back to haul everything out including the huge old pine.  Between that and the extra layers of concrete from out buildings, we filled 30-35 truck loads so we're very grateful to the fire department for helping us cut costs.

old homestead is gone

Tif and Abigail returned a few days later with Shawn, G-ma and G-pa P just as the snow starting falling.  We bundled up and showed them our projects.

Tiffany & Heather with old homestead site behind us.

Standing along 6000 W. near canal/bridge project.

Dad approved of the steel fabrication on rail.

Tanner, Shawn & Tif

Pre-Thanksgiving meal of tomato soup and rolls (instead of grilled cheese).

G-pa P getting a foot zone

Breakfast on Thanksgiving morning.

The Thanksgiving visits were brief as Tif's family and G-ma & G-pa P headed to Blackfoot to join Kathy & Brent's families for the traditional feast on Thursday morning.  This year we hosted Aaron's side of the family (first time) so we got busy rearranging furniture and setting up tables.

Anna, Alison, Lillian, Jameson, Jantzen (back of head)

Julia, Tanner, Whitney, Matt, Bryant, Bonnie

Jagger, Polly, Jett, Faye, Greta, Bennett, Quinn

We were able to video chat with Brinley for a few minutes so we passed to phone around the room after we had eaten.  It was a bit loud and the reception wasn't great so Aaron and I sneaked into our office for a little talk time.  She was in between meals and didn't have long.  

Elsie & others - waiting for pie

We had SO many leftovers everyone came back over the next day for lunch (except Chris & Julia's fam).  We anticipated having a few more students from Aaron's ward but in the end, only one made it.  We enjoyed visiting with extended family and the older boys caught a late night movie on Thursday while the girls tried out G-ma and G-pa M's hot tub.  Bonnie is especially helpful and I love having her around.  We also said our good-byes to Alison since she'll be heading to the Philippines after the holidays (and we won't make it to Hawaii). By Friday evening, everyone returned home and it felt good to take down the tables and chairs and mop the floors.  Happy Thanksgiving 2019!