Other Fall Activites

 We are officially in December and putting up Christmas decorations so it is time to recap other fall highlights besides the cross-country season and the Tahoe trip.

The first highlight (not because of importance, but because of the effect on our wallet) was that Iverson, Caleb's cat that we somehow adopted, visited the kitty ER. He was pretty sick when we took him to the veterinarian; he quietly sat in this carrier box for several hours before he could be seen.  After surgery to drain two abscesses and antibiotics he was back to his old self.  In fact, when I took him back four days later to have the drains removed he no longer sat quietly in the box.  No, he ripped through the carrier's top and escaped while I was driving to the vet. In case you were wondering, yes, it is distracting to drive with a cat draped on your neck.

Lydia had the privilege of performing in her first-ever Pops Concert at Dordt University this fall.  The violas were all dressed as Aristocats with the concert having an animated Disney theme. We were able to live stream the concert from Boise, but she was thankful to have some family attend in person! 

Anna and Lydia supporting and cheering for Emily who is running for Northwestern College.  

Lydia was also randomly chosen to be the Dordt representative in a Triwizard competition between Northwestern, Dordt, and Briar Cliff.  (This is modeled after the competition in the Harry Potter books). She placed second in the first competition held this fall. She will compete again in February and then again in the spring. Here she is dressed in full Dordt garb to go represent her university!

After Homecoming dress shopping for two girls, I thought having a boy would be easy.  Nope. Seth is WAY more particular about what he wears than my girls ever were. To make things more difficult he was the junior representative to the Homecoming court and now needed TWO outfits.  One for the coronation ceremony and one for the dinner/dance. Tell me again, why can't you wear the same thing to both events?!?

To save some money and not have to worry about making dinner reservations, I offered to cook and host his friends for the Homecoming dinner.  What a great motivator to clean up our porch and backyard! 

Seth took a similar picture his freshman year, so they recreated it as juniors.

No fall is complete without the annual Reformation Boise conference. This year the subject was the Church with Drs. Beeke and Thomas as the speakers.  My parents came out for the conference, and Caleb drove up from Salt Lake City as well.  

Walking along the Boise River and Quinn's Pond 

Russ's nephew Bradley (the son of Russ' step-brother Vey) was married the same weekend as the Reformation Boise Conference. Since the wedding was in Kentucky, we were not able to attend but were thankful the family sent pictures.  

My parents were in Idaho for a week to attend the conference and just spend some time with us.  When they flew home, they couldn't get away from us because we were on their flight!  Russ had his Dordt Board of Trustees meeting during Defender Days and Seth and I joined him this year. Seth attended the college visit day, and I enjoyed seeing my girls and Nicolas and spending time with friends and family in the area.

Trivia night at the Ridge. We didn't do too hot--not sure Nicolas is going to ask us to be on his team again any time soon.

 Lydia had an orchestra concert and Anna played the organ for a hymn-sing.  So good to hear them doing their thing in person!

This is the only picture of me on this trip--just to prove that I indeed joined Seth and Russ in Iowa.

After we got back home we were told there was a major house fire in our neighborhood.  This house borders the park that is right across the street from us. 

Only a month later we drove to Iowa to spend Thanksgiving with the Hermans at Dayton Oaks Bible Camp near Fort Dodge, Iowa.  For those faithful blog readers who are keeping track, this was my fifth trip to the Midwest since May and my third time making the drive (we drove in May for a wedding, flew for Big Sand/convention, drove to bring the girls out, flew for Defender Days, and now driving again for Thanksgiving).  Since Seth can't make anything easy, he asked if he could host his Friendsgiving at our home the night before we left.  They all had their family role to play, and here he is dressed as Grandpa, the patriarch of the family.

Russ participated in "No Shave November" this year because some of the kids wanted to know what he looked like with a beard. Here are a few pictures of the growth progression.  He doesn't really like a beard so it didn't last long--I don't think he even got to the end of the month.