Fall Things

We had a gorgeous fall this year and the colors seemed to last forever!  

We had a huge wind storm the day after I'd blown the first set of leaves from the yard.  It was discouraging.  But the leaves were so beautiful!  Usually the leaves on the ground are all brown but not this time.  

My street is always so pretty!

so.many.leaves

I love my heavy duty leaf blower and logged some serious hours with it.

Henry played rec soccer and had a great time and was better than average.  His coach commented that Henry has good field sense and knows how to run to where the ball is going to be.  You can't teach that!

Henry suddenly became Arthur's biggest fan.  Poor Arthur.  Apparently getting thrown around like a football doesn't kill bearded dragons!

I got to help at a stake youth activity.  Randy's been doing this for years and it was finally my turn.  We collected money and food for a local food pantry and made a killing.

I took Henry to the mountain biking park a couple of times.  I run behind him and push him up the hills.

Landon won this trophy in seminary.  He's seen Randy giving these out for years and it was finally his turn to bring it home.  Also, Landon gets up for early morning seminary every day on his own.  Such a good kid!

Randy and Landon in Florida for a lacrosse tournament

The Smith's came to town!  Our BFF's from Rhode Island are still our favorite people.  We ran a slow six miles on a freezing, sunny, Saturday morning and chatted nonstop.  

We had them over for Sunday dinner and played games.  I love them!  And they love my cooking so that's always a win too.

Salmon, delicious salad, homemade bread, and chocolate bundt cake.  We ate it all.

Halloween 2026

Look at me trying to get caught up on our lives!  Halloween wasn't too busy this year or maybe I've just gotten used to the chaos.  We always have a big church trunk-or-treat that's at the same time as the final cross country meet.  Parker willingly runs but doesn't push himself hard enough to be in the top ten and that's fine by everyone.  We were happy the weather was good for all his races.

Parker bought his own running shoes and they are lit (as the teenagers would say)

Luckily they only run in the sand for a small part of the race

Halloween had to be one of the wettest on record because I brought umbrellas for Henry and his friends and they actually used them at first.  The rain was dumping down!  It didn't take long for the kids to decide they were tired of running from house to house and called it quits.  I invited the boys over to our house to swap candy and it turned into a hot tubbing party.  I love that I have so many boys swimsuits in various sizes that no one every has to plan ahead for hot tubbing at our house.

Marcus as Hercules with his cute girlfriend Audrey.  With abs like his and hair liker hers, their costumes were no surprise :)

Ethan and Halli looking super cute

Henry leaving the elevator at randy's work, preparing for a grand entrance to show off his ninja costume to our staff

3 Ninjas who were soaking wet within minutes

Randy dressed up in one of his seminary costumes and made a great Moses

trick or treating to our house so Randy could give away the full-size candy bars he purchased

Seattlites don't use umbrellas so when you seem them out, you know it's rainy!

Hot tubbing muscle men

Another big event that happened in October was when I was in charge of feeding 150 missionaries lunch.  My presidency and I make it look easy and are like a well-oiled machine.  It's so fun and the missionaries are always so appreciative even if it's Costco lasagna.

Grandma Great

My Grandma, Ruth Spjute, also known as Grandma Great, passed away in October.  She was 95 years old and I'm so glad we were able to drive to Boise to celebrate her life and be with family.  She was a tiny lady with the biggest heart.  When I was a kid we would often go to Boise in the summer and I have vivid memories of hearing the screen door slam behind me as I sprinted across the lawn to swim in the pool.  She always had homemade cookies for us to eat.  And American cheese slices.  I'd eat them all day long.  I remember after Randy and I broke up (we had an off year) she sent me the kindest card and told me she was thinking of me.  It was so thoughtful I still remember it after all these years.  Fast forward so many years later and my boys would sprint through her house and out to the pool for a quick swim on many of our pit stops in Boise as we passed through traveling to and from Utah.  I loved how she loved my boys and always sent them birthday gifts.  She was frugal and funny, wise and compassionate, and so so loving.  

Sadly, I didn't take any pictures at the funeral!  Ethan drove up from Logan and we stayed at my cousin's house, a fellow boy-mom who was happy to put up with us for less than 24 hours of pure chaos.  We drove back home right after the funeral but had just enough time to do some polar bear swimming in a nearby river before putting on our Sunday clothes for the funeral.  

Love you Grams!

Brrr!!

The BYU Roommate Reunion 2025

Way back in December, Randy hosted his BYU roommates and their wives for a fun five-day vacation.  All but two of them grew up in Arizona together and currently five of the eight still live in Arizona.  This meant everyone was cold even though the weather was pretty great the entire five days.  We had sunshine every day, until we packed up to leave.  

We spent the first day showing everyone around Seattle on a boat cruise on Lake Union.  It's always fun taking people for the first time because they are always in awe of the beautiful mansions, sea planes coming and going, and the Seattle skyline.  We ate seafood at Ivar's and had a great time with no injuries, no car accidents/truck explosions, or mishaps.  Felt like a miracle.

Ivar's Seafood

Tour Guide Mel

After dinner at Din Tai Fung (if you know you know), we drove our three cars filled with people and beach gear, down to Seabrook.  I love Seabrook!  Randy rented a huge and beautiful vacation home with enough beds for everyone although some people had to share a room with bunk beds.  It was beautiful and overlooked pickle ball courts and the beach.  We hung out, walked to the bakery for the most delicious cinnamon rolls, worked out at the gym, explored the beach, sunk the Audi, went to the ice cream shop, ate lots of good food prepared by yours truly, and watched the BYU football game.  It was heaven!

This house was gorgeous!

We hogged the pickle ball courts and didn't feel bad about it

Randy and I had fun cruising around town like we live on a movie set

We took a million pictures but this is enough to give you an idea of the fun we had

The Olympic Peninsula Rain Forest

Now that I have two college boys of my own, I appreciate even more how awesome Randy's roommates are.  They have become great men/fathers/friends, and I wish my boys could have the same experience.  Maybe they will but it feels pretty rare.  It was fun reminiscing about college days too.  One of the things these guys did was applaud whenever someone walked into the apartment at the end of a long day.  Imagine coming home after working and studying all day and your roommates give you a round of applause and cheer for you like you just accomplished something great!  Wouldn't that make you feel like a million bucks? Everyone needs someone cheering them on.  No wonder these guys had so much fun and had so many girls hanging around them, me included.

Landon Went to Homecoming

I still can't believe Landon is doing big boy things.  In my mind he's still ten years old.  He asked a cute girl to homecoming and was no help whatsoever when it was time to make a poster.  Randy is the artist in the family and he was working so I made the poster in record time before I had to drive some kid to some activity.  It wasn't perfect but it was good enough--the story of my life.

Landon has his drivers license but isn't allowed to drive other people yet so I got to be the chauffeur for this group.  Landon's date was so friendly and helped carry the conversation which I thought was super impressive.  After pictures and dinner, I dropped them off at the dance and then everyone went their separate ways to separate parties.  I think it's weird but apparently this is normal.  Whatever.  I'm just glad they went. 

This pose is from the Spiderman movie or something.