First Day of Kindergarten

Alyssa was more excited than any of our children to go to Kindergarten!  She has been excited to go for weeks.  On the first day of school she was so happy!  She has afternoon kindergarten, so it was a long morning!  

Alyssa is in Mrs. Giles' class and there are some neighbor girls in her class.  Here she is with Brooklynn Steiner. 

Calli Chandler was in Alyssa's preschool class and now they have kindergarten together.

Parents were invited to spend the first part of class with their kindergarteners.  Jill and Alyssa toured the classroom and worked on a few projects together.  After they were done with their assigned tasks, all of the parents were excused.  Jill was sad to say goodbye to Alyssa, but she was so happy to be at school.

Sadly I missed Alyssa's first day of Kindergarten.  I had to go see a client in Buffalo, New York.  I took an executive with me and it was an amazing sightseeing trip.  Sure we met with two great clients, but we also got to see some amazing sights.  We drove over to Palmyra to see the Hill Cumorah and the visitor's center.

We hiked to the top of the hill and while the hike wasn't terribly difficult, it was extremely humid and very hot.  We worked up quite a sweat. Then we drove a couple of miles away to see the Sacred Grove.  I only took one picture of the Sacred Grove and if you look close you can see a deer in the background.  It was sad not to have Jill there with me to see these sites.  It was really neat to see them  because they hold such historical significance to our church.

The next day we were able to see Niagara Falls!  I've always had this on my bucket list so it was nice to finally see it.  Again, I was sad not to have Jill there with me to see the falls.  

At the airport on the way out of town we got some Buffalo wings.

On Labor Day we finally took a trip that we have talked about for years.  Our son Logan had never been to the city Logan. We drove up to the city and walked around the campus of Utah State University.  On the way into town we had to get a picture of Logan with this sign.

We got some Aggie Ice Cream at the creamery. Then we let the boys see the football stadium, so they could see where the Aggies play.

Our good friend Bishop Doug Burton turned 40 and celebrated by taking our running friends and wives to dinner for pho.  Doug served a Vietnamese-speaking mission and the people ate a lot of pho.  He and Vanessa love going to dive restaurants and eating pho.  He invited us to first meet at the park to play spike ball, and then go to dinner.  We spend so much time together running, but we don't spend much time together with our wives.  It was such a great night being together.

Landon had a very special event in his life.  He was asked to be a part of a Riverton Stake Primary choir that would sing during General Conference!  Sadly it meant he would miss a football game.

Landon got to perform at the Conference Center during the Saturday afternoon session.  For several weeks beforehand, the choir practiced at our Stake Center on Sunday evenings.  A week before conference, they attended a dress rehearsal at the Conference Center. Landon was really excited to be a part of conference, but mostly he was excited to "be on tv and eat three cookies."  I'm not sure where he got the idea he would get to eat three cookies, but being on TV was a big deal to him (and all kids).  He had a great experience learning the songs and being part of something so memorable.  The choir director, Sister Wadley, was so good at teaching the children and keeping them entertained during practices.  The General Primary Presidency even came to visit during the last rehearsal.  They expressed their love to the children and told them how excited they were to see the choir perform.

Here is Landon at the Conference Center.

He is up against the wall, second down from the top.  His seat was an easy one to find from the audience, but unfortunately the TV cameras never reached him.

Jill was at the Conference Center to see him perform (I was in St. George and Logan had a football game). She said Landon sat very still and was singing really well the entire time.  Being at this conference was extra special because three new apostles were called.  Landon felt really good being at conference and yes, he was on TV (in the large group shots) and also got three cookies!

Birthday Season

Time keeps flying by and I keep getting behind on posting. The result will be more pictures and less story. Here is a snapshot of three huge birthdays in our family.  

At the end of October I celebrated 42 years old!  I'm not getting any younger.  The kids and family were all great.  I woke up and ran with my friends that I've been running with for over 10 years and then came home to this.  The kids were all awake and anxious for me to open some presents before work. 

Jill and the kids gave me a pair of wireless headphones, a AAA membership, some running socks, and a jar of natural peanut butter to add to my daily smoothie.

After work mom and dad watched the kids while Jill and I went with some friends to a Garth Brooks concert.  While I'm not exactly "country" I listened to a lot of Garth Brooks in the 90's and during my college years.  I inventoried my CD collection and I found over 10 Garth CDs.  Jill also likes Garth so it was a perfect date and a great way to celebrate a birthday.  It was made more fun by being with great friends.  The Burtons, Chandlers, and Yeagers all came with us.  We picked everyone up in our van and went to Dickie's for dinner.  I love their big yellow cups and I needed a new cup for the smoothies that I drink every morning.  Then we headed downtown to the Vivint Arena.  Melissa Chandler had never been to a concert before so what better way to break her into a concert than with Garth Brooks!

Unfortunately, our seats weren't very good; in fact we were almost the very last row!  We didn't even get to sit all together.  Jill and I had two seats across the arena from the other six.  The tickets had all been available online and buying tickets was quite the ordeal for Jill.  Thankfully we got tickets, but it came with great stress. Here is a view of the stage from our seats. We wished we were closer, but the concert was amazing.  It was so much fun to sing along with Garth on so many classic songs.

The Bunkalls were nice and celebrated my birthday at Sunday dinner.  Corwin made some ribs with his smoker.  He has been smoking a lot of meats lately and we have been able to eat the delicious results.  We also had carrot cake--my birthday request. 

The Bryants also celebrated my birthday at Sunday dinner (on a different Sunday).  I always ask for chicken cordon bleu and carrot cake.  Mom didn't disappoint, it was delicious.

Next we ushered in Landon's and Logan's birthdays and an anniversary for Jill and me.  Landon's birthday was first, on Tuesday, November 3.  He woke up so happy!  He had been counting down the number of days until his birthday, using an app on one of our old iPhones.  

It was a bit of a sports theme. The boys aren't asking for as many traditional toys, and they are really into sports right now.  We gave him a tennis racket, football gloves, a football, basketball, and some Big League Chew!  We also gave him basketball pants and an Under Armour jacket (that he has wanted for months).  He was so happy!

Landon would have rather spent the day playing at home, but at least he got to take a birthday treat to share with his class at school.  He picked pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.  After school and homework, he went to football practice and nearly froze!  For dinner he asked to go to his favorite restaurant, Jim's.  We really enjoy going there to get good food and it's really close to our house.

We waited until football season was almost over to hold his friend party.  Friday, November 13, he invited some of his friends to Delton Lanes.  Fynn Neilson, Keaton Collard, James and Greg Burton, and Hudson came.  Delton Lanes is a fairly new bowling alley in Riverton that had birthday specials for kids.  We had 8 kids bowling and they had a terrific time!  It was a bit chaotic but they all had an absolute blast.

Alyssa started using the tool to guide the ball, but before long she was throwing the ball down the lane all by herself!  It was so fun to watch her ball slowly go down the lane.  The ball went so slowly we wondered if it would reach the pins, but sure enough it always did.

The kids all had a great time bowling.  Afterward we told them they could also play a game of laser tag.  They didn't really know what to expect, and Alyssa was especially nervous.  After a short training by the employee, the kids were ready to go to battle.  They all ran into the room where they would shoot each other and it was Game On!  The room had two levels and pillars you could hide behind.  A black light illuminated white colors and they had cool rock music!  Alyssa was nervous so we walked by her for a bit, but sure enough after a couple of minutes she ran along on her own and Jill and I were free to walk around and watch the kids play.  When the game was over, they were sweaty and really excited and happy.  They had a blast!  They were all asking to play again and telling anyone who would listen to them how awesome it was.  Even Alyssa said her favorite part was when she "didn't have to be with Mom and Dad."  It was funny that she began so scared she didn't want to go in without us, but by the end her favorite time was when she could be on her own.  Parents get no respect.

After laser tag we had just enough time to come home and let Landon open some presents from his friends.

We ate deli sandwiches and Sun Chips (two of his favorites).  He loved lighting the cupcake candles.

Logan's birthday, on Wednesday, November 11, marked the end of the festivities.  Turning 11 is a big deal!  He now gets to go to Boy Scouts, not just cubs.  We gave him a Boy Scout shirt, pocket knife, tennis racket, basketball, Minecraft Lego set, and some clothes.  

He really wanted this jacket that zips up and looks like a skeleton.  It's crazy, but it's what he wanted.  

Logan also got to go to school on his birthday.  He took Hostess Cupcakes to share with his class for a birthday treat.  For Logan's birthday dinner we went to Jim's, but it was so busy we opted to head to the International House of Pancakes instead.  He was really happy and had a terrific day.

We celebrated the boys' birthdays with extended family too.  Sunday, November 1 we ate dinner at Grandma Bryant's and celebrated lots of birthdays.  In addition to our boys, Kandis, Becky Jo, and Brooklyn celebrated birthdays.

The kids loved their candy bar poster from Aunt Kandis and Uncle Brandon.   It's all Alyssa talks about now and she only wants a candy poster for Christmas! 

We celebrated the boys' birthdays again on Sunday, November 8, but this time was at our home with the Bunkall family.   Jill made roast beef and mashed potatoes and chocolate cake.

Grandma and Grandpa Bunkall watched on.

The cake Jill made to celebrate.

Logan had a friend birthday party on Saturday, November 14.  We talked about a lot of different ideas  but he settled on inviting friends over for pizza and a movie.  Hyrum Barlow, Greg Burton, Mason Chandler, Ronald Smith, Curen Cole, Bronson Campbell, and Tyler Hagen came.  They enjoyed their dinner and then watched Star Wars #1 in the basement.  Logan really wanted to have movie treats and trays on which the boys could put them.  We found some trays and had candy and popcorn for the boys to eat.  It was a pretty simple party, but Logan was happy.

Birthday season was a lot of fun.  Now that birthdays are behind us we are going to focus on Thanksgiving and Christmas.  It all comes so fast.