Fall

Today is the first official day of fall and its been feeling like fall lately. The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting colder. But most days are still plenty warm. I hope it's a LONG fall. A lot of my time is spent with these two little people:

Harley and Courtney. Harley is 5 months old now and Courtney is almost 13 months old. There's a reason that it is nearly biologically impossible to have babies 8 months apart!

It can get kinda hectic when they both need things at the same time. And waiting your turn is a concept that these little people just don't grasp at all...

Niles says maybe this experience is just to prepare me for twins which I don't find at all funny. I think the twin girls that 2-year-old Minnie told me I was going to have some day must be hers, not mine! Because they should have come along by now and they haven't. And I believe that the best preparation for twins would be lots and lots of peace and quiet and rest, not running yourself ragged taking care of a 5-month-old and 13-month-old so you're already exhausted before you even begin the parenting of twins adventure.

Fall means marching band around here. We've seen the new show performed on three occasions now. The first one was at half-time of AF's homecoming game. I took some photos but I was on the field so the view was lousy and they didn't turn out well.

The second time was at the Band Family Night Show on Monday:

The leaves are turning orange and red on the mountains.

Jumble is in the middle (looking down, so you can't see her eyes.)



We watched from the stands this time so the view was slightly better, but the field is small and the bleachers not very high, so you still can't really get the full effect of the show.

The show this year is called "Pandemonium"

They have a family member come down for each band member and follow them as they do part of the drill. This year Minnie went down to mirror Jumble. Mr. Miller always picks one of the most complicated parts of the drill for this activity. He's sadistic like that. Minnie enjoyed it! She's hoping to be on the field as part of the band next year.

Jumble consents to a few poses for the camera. Marching Band is the only thing that puts a smile on her face these days.

Tuesday night was the first "real" performance for judges at the Weber Review in Ogden, UT. It isn't a competition, the judges just give feedback on what's good and what can be improved. But it's in a real stadium with a college field and high-quality lights so we can get up higher and see better and really get our first taste of what the show looks like. And all the other bands are there, so we get to see their new shows for the year. Fun!

From the band's perspective, Jumble reports that their performance went really well that night. It certainly looked fantastic to us!

I really enjoyed all the new shows and hooking up with our former Arizona friends, the Idso's, once again! Our color guard costumes really catch the eye this year, huh? They are quite bright. This is a fun show to watch.



I think Jumble is in this shot, about halfway back in the line of clarinets. I wish I could put in the music for you, but our video camera has bit the dust.

In other news, YW responsibilities have been fairly light lately. Because of 5th Sundays, stake and general conferences, and fast Sundays, I have the entire month of September and then some off from teaching a lesson. And the YM are responsible for all of the activities for the month of September, although we've had to help with them a little and show up to participate, of course. I'm trying to use some of the time off to prepare for October since we have Young Women in Excellence and the Mia Maids are in charge of the YM/YW combined Halloween Party. Minnie was just made the Beehive class president on Sunday. Niles also had a calling change recently. He was released from Webelos and called to be the High Priest Group Secretary.

Unfortunately, depression and anxiety has reared its ugly head again for Jumble. Once again, she struggles just to get out of bed and get to school, and for over a week now, she's lost that battle every day. We are working on other ways for her to try to get some of her school work done when she actually can't make it to school. It involves a lot of paperwork and me running around to the school, the district offices, and the doctor's office. And we're not even sure she's going to be able to do it after all that, but we've at least got to try. Her doctor is having us try some different things with her medication but we know from past experience that it is a long process of trial and error to find the right combination. We hoped that we weren't going to be facing this problem again this school year. But we are grateful that we still have Jumble with us, despite how hard it is. And we are grateful for marching band, because at least when she is doing that, we can pretend that she is well and whole.

To end on a happy note, Niles' new job is going well. He is enjoying it so far. He is the new Community Development Director for the City of Highland, UT. He works four 10-hour (sometimes more) days and gets every Friday off. He isn't gone that much more because his commute is now 5 minutes each way as opposed to the former 30-45 minutes each way. He is not missing the drive to Salt Lake every day. It's all good! We are very, very grateful for his new job.