Bladen is currently taking a college humanities class through SLCC & he had a requirement to go visit the BYU art museum for 2 hours, then write an essay on things he learned there.
It was fun because Cadence was out of school that day & was our personal tour guide of the art museum. She loved showing us around campus. She is so proud to be a BYU Cougar.
The museum was great. I think Bladen really enjoyed it & he got lots of pictures & information to help him write his essay (which he got a 100% on).
This was probably our favorite art piece. Look at it carefully. SO many times we forget to just "look up."
After the museum, we explored BYU & visited the store for some yummy fudge.
For lunch we met up with Amkaa & had burgers, fries, & ice cream. I especially loved the "Peach My Gospel" one. SO CUTE.
September literally flew by so fast. I still can't believe we are in October already.
I started September by attending SaltCon, which is a board game convention in Salt Lake. I went with some of my board game loving friends from Germany (from our time in Spangdahlem back in 2007-2010). I love catching up with friends. We played all sorts of games, but my favorite was called Weather Machine by Lacerda games. This thing was COMPLEX. It took me 2 hours to learn how to play it & then it took us 4.5 hours to actually play. I lost so bad, but it was a super fun game. The whole day was amazing.
September is the start of my happy place - HALLOWEEN. I have all my decor out & it makes my heart so happy.
I also made some cake pops with Craiger & his friends this month. We did chocolate covered strawberry & pina colada. They were SO good.
As you know, I'm working extremely hard on our Halloween costumes. Bladen got to pick the theme this year. I made most of the costumes out of random base pieces like these clown shoes I found. I painted them, sewed other fabric on them, & added the details that needed to be added for Canyon's Halloween costume. They turned out really good.
Trek got to play with a new piece of tech equipment for his job this month. He can't decide if he likes it or hates it. . . but I can tell you we all hated the "robot Trek" that appeared on our facetime call with Taya. He used it to join the phone call & let me tell you, it was SCARY.
Trek decided to make his own costume for Halloween this year & he's done an amazing job with little to no help from me. I give suggestions or help with patterns, but he's built it all himself. It's really an amazing costume. The first step he did was paper mache a beachball. . . . it ended up being perfect.
We have "family night" every Monday night with the family & we rotate who gets to plan what we do together. Craiger was in charge one of the nights & he wanted to do "math." We all laughed at that, but it ended up being hilariously fun. I love my family.
At parent teacher conferences I noticed Taya had her picture up with her mission info.
We did a laser tag youth activity this month that ended in, well, blood. Bladen was going after another young man in the church building & jumped from the middle of the stairs when his head hit the ceiling straight on (the roof slants when you're coming down the stairs) & just sliced it open. So that was a fun evening. Luckily we have a few nurses in our youth leadership & they got him cleaned up really well. No stitches thank heavens.
My grown up kids all started school in September at BYU. Go Cougs! I'm so proud of them & the hard work they put into their education.
Cadence & Amkaa celebrated their first wedding anniversary. I love them so much.
Lorien continues to be a chef at the Roof Restaurant in SLC & she does a great job there. She likes to send me pics from work, especially when she has to clean out the fryer. She hates that job, but loves the rest of it.
And Trek got to go to a technology conference at BYU for his new job. He was asked to speak & lead a section of the conference. He had a lot of fun & met so many people. He enjoyed the fun excursions that came with the conference, but his favorite was definitely canoeing.
Taya made it safe & sound to the Philippines. First she went to the Manila MTC where she was supposed to study for an additional 3 weeks, but to everyone's surprise, they sent all the missionaries out into the field after just one week there.
The flight to Manila was tough. It was over 14 hours & Taya said all the blood rushed to her feet causing them to swell really big. Luckily, the swelling went down after one day.
Her first official area in the Philippines was Catabban which is a very small rural area. They live in the middle of nowhere & walk several miles a day visiting & serving people. There were a lot of things she quickly learned she needed to get used to. Cold showers (or bucket showers), no toilet seats, no toilet paper (just a bucket with a ladle to wash yourself), lots of rats, spiders the size of a large banana, & geckos that like to steal your food & hide it in stockpiles around the apartment. Their kitchen is outside. She washes her clothes by hand. It definitely threw her into a new world.
But she is trying really hard to be positive, treat her experiences as adventures, & find the positive in what she is doing. She is such a beautiful soul & works so hard.
She's had 2 sets of companions so far in Catabban. She was put in a trio (with 2 other Americans) for the first 2 weeks, then she got her first trainer on her birthday (Sept 25). She will for sure be in Catabban for 5-6 weeks. She will find out the end of October if she is staying there another 6 weeks or moving to a new area.
Taya spent 4 weeks at the Provo Missionary Training Center in August. (She flew out September 1st for the Manila, Philippines MTC for the next 3 weeks.)
It's been such a great month for her. She's learned so much. Her Tagalog is really getting better each day & she's learned everything she'll be doing as a missionary. She was put into a district of 14 Elders & 4 Sisters. These 18 young adults have become the best of friends over the last 4 weeks.
She absolutely loves these girls. They shared a bedroom with bunk beds & have done everything together. She is going to be sad when they aren't together anymore.
They loved going to choir practice twice a week & loved singing at the Tuesday night devotionals.
Video: Bearing Testimony in Tagalog
Every week, they took the bus to the Mt. Timp temple to do some temple work.
I think Taya's favorite part of being at the Provo MTC was running into friends she hasn't seen in years because they are all serving missions right now. This is her friend Rylee from Germany, she will be serving in Korea.
The day Utah got the crazy rainstorms, the missionaries went out & played in the rain. They had so many fun moments like this in the MTC.
Video: Playing in the rain
The videos & fun things these missionaries do together make me laugh so hard. I have to remember, they really are still kids at heart. I'm glad she's having so much fun there.
Videos: Sister Missionary Fun in the MTC
I sent her a package with some German treats, some mugs, & hot cocoa for the 4 sisters in her district. They loved making hot cocoa at night.
Lorien, Elijah, & Cadence all walked to the MTC one Saturday afternoon & texted her to look out the window the day before she left. It was their final "goodbye" moment. It was cute. She got a picture of them waving & they got a picture of her waving from inside.
This is a picture of all the missionaries learning Tagalog in the Provo MTC right now. SO MANY.
Video: Opening a package from mom
Videos: Singing 2 songs in Tagalog
Cadence (since she works at the MTC) was able to meet up with Taya a few times while she was there & one very special time was when they arranged for all the Germany friends that are there to get together for a picture. Two of these kids were piano students of mine & almost all of them were my seminary students at one point. Their missions range from Korea, 2x Mongolia, Japan, Philippines, Germany, Cambodia, & Czech Republic. SO many wonderful young adults going out to serve God's children all around the world.
And Taya got to meet up with one of her ballroom teammates from school last year. It's been a great experience for her.
Now she is officially in the Philippines at the MTC there for the next 3 weeks. I just got some pictures letting me know she is safe, happy, & enjoying her new surroundings. (There was a Christmas tree up in one of the pictures.). She's having a blast already.
