Kate and Willa had a great time at the CU vs AZ football game! Willa's aunt works at CU and was able to score some great tickets that she shared with the girls. I'm so glad she got to have that next level game experience as she's receiving acceptance letters (emails) from colleges.
Michelle is still hiking and the weather has been kind to this hiking club this autumn. This time Mr. N chaperoned a hike on the Coulson Gulch Trail at 7.3 miles with 1,410 feet of elevation gain. As I dropped four teens at the trailhead I was asked if I was coming along and told them that 6 miles is my max. lol. Apparently it was an easier hike than anticipated and the kids I was giving a ride too waited almost half an hour for me to pick them up and were simply grateful to have a ride home. And then they still all met at the Lyons Dairy Bar for ice cream afterwards. Such a great group of humans attend these hikes!
Their next hike was Mount Sanitas Trail Loop from Centennial Trailhead at 5 miles with 1,326 feet of elevation gain. Michelle told me about how one of the girls said she hadn't been hiking in five years and that made my heart smile because this is something a high school hiking club can create: opportunities for students who wouldn't go otherwise. A big thank you to Mrs. O for chaperoning so that I could attend to some of my Primary presidency duties. (No pictures to show of our Primary's Sacrament Program but it was great fun to be up there with some of the squirmiest boys and praise them for how well they said their parts, sang, and tried their best to hold still.)
We have been so lucky to have such a warm fall. After Natalie went to an indoor softball hitting lesson we got a treat at Menchie's and were happy to enjoy ice cream outside in November. That is so unusual for us! Works out well for our new backyard because we've been able to keep the sprinklers running on the new sod too. We are loving the hot tub and the table to eat at or do homework on. Danny even had a bunch of friends over for hot dogs and s'mores over the fire pit and time the hot tub. We feel so spoiled.
We did realize we hadn't had banana splits for way too long when one day Natalie said she could not ever remember having one. So after playing Blank Slate as a family (playing that game with all 6 of us is a riot), Hubby and Natalie went to King Soopers to get banana split supplies while I took Danny to go get his Christmas present. His phone (one that I had 4 years ago) is on death's door and we don't want him going out of town with that nonsense going on so he's getting a new phone very early. I told him I'm going to save the box and wrap it up so he still has something under the Christmas tree weeks from now. Both the banana split bar and the iPhone Air were a big hit. That boy is lucky our local cell phone store just got remodeled so only had the newest phones in stock. lol
Tuesday night after watching Dancing With the Stars live, Natalie took the dog and we went in search of the Northern Lights. We saw a bit of green but Kate had been driving and she got to see the red too. As we gawked we didn't think to pull out our phones but we were told that if we had we could have captured the red still there even though our eyes could only see the green at 9pm. I still think we get to check the box as having seen them even though we probably should have sprinted outside during the commercial breaks to get a better look.
Two days later my parents and Hubby and I got to watch Natalie perform in her first 7th grade orchestra concert and her first time performing with the Pops Orchestra. They did a wonderful job and once again those Altona concerts were impressive. 7th grade performed Deep Sea Fandango, Loch Lomond, El Gato Pizzicato and Tribal Dance. They were all great and the cat one made the audience laugh to boot. Pops orchestra played Soul Bossa Nova from Austin Powers, Spirit of Adventure from Up, and An Irish Party in Third Class from Titanic. It was so much fun to see those cellos players spin their instruments during that song. Then as an encore they played Jurassic Park and even had two boys wear inflatable Dino costumes running around during the piece. Great way to add a bonus number as a surprise to the program!
We had the best weather for the city's 50th Turkey Trot! We were all game except Kate, who would much rather sleep in on a Saturday. Rumor has it she is being nominated to be in the yearbook for senior with the worst senioritis. lol. I'll be so proud if she wins. If you're going to do something, do it well. lol. Danny was game, especially since basketball tryouts are coming up and he wanted to go on a good run (2 miles) before hand. He ended up taking 2nd place in his category and winning a box of donuts and a coupon for ax throwing. I, surprisingly, took 3rd place in my category and got a coupon to Shoes N Brews that will probably go unused but our 2 certificates are hanging on the refrigerate so it's all good. Hubby technically beat me by one second so the mens division was more competitive than mine because he took 10th place. Michelle took part even though she had been down with a stomach bugs for days but one of her friends also had a hurt knee so the three of them took it slow but finished the race. Natalie also got to hang out with friends but ended up going most of that alone because one friend was super fast and the other really struggled. She still beat half the family. The girls races were quite competitive and Danny even said a bunch of little girls blew right past him. lol.
That same day (and after a hitting lesson), Natalie got to join her team for Friendsgiving. They played games and had a lovely potluck dinner and you could tell none of them wanted to go home when it was time for pick up. Danny also had a team dinner but I won't hold my breath to see a photo of that. Michelle also had her best friends over to our house to try out the new hot tub. I was impressed she recovered from her 2 miles quickly enough to be social after being sick. And then she performed in her Youth Symphony Orchestra the next day! My dad had to work but my mom, Hubby, Natalie and I got to go watch. It was a magnificent concert! Michelle was happy to get to play Schubert for the first time.
And where was Danny that Saturday? Driving to Denver all by himself to see his girlfriend compete in a dance competition at the Convention Center! They are so cute! Danny had high school basketball tryouts and he is officially on the varsity team. No surprises there but we are so happy for him.
If you thought two orchestra concerts were enough for November, there is one more to share: Michelle’s District Honors Orchestra concert, guest directed by LSO’s Elliot Moore. They played Tchaikovsky’s Marche Slave, Jerod Tate’s Chokfi’ and Jean Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2 IV Finale and sounded impressive. Michelle did tell me on the way home they sounded better in dress rehearsal earlier that day but I bought her ice cream at Freddy’s on the way home anyway because I thought they sounded great. And the next day Michelle was caught on camera at Enviro Club and I stole this off Instagram.
I cannot believe we made it all the way to Thanksgiving break with such nice weather. We didn’t put the back yard to sleep until the weekend and then sat out in the sun. Maisie even discovered that firewood can make a good pillow! And that night we went to our brand new In N Out Burger. We are so excited to be able to feed our whole family quickly after a Costco run for cheap!
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