November 2023

Jim was back to the events center at the start of November for a Skillet concert.  He went with his friend, Jordan, and Jordan's family.  I don't really enjoy that type of music, so I'm glad he found someone to go with.  He said it was very loud.

Jim's parents came out for a quick weekend visit.  We went to the Museum of Idaho and saw the current exhibit which is about rainforests.  They had lots of live animals in the exhibit, including a sloth.  We went to Manwaring Cheese for lunch afterwards.  We also did some projects around the house while they were here, including getting our leaves raked, getting Christmas lights on the house, installing new door strikes, putting the "packable kayak" away.

The main reason Jim's parents came to visit was to attend Elliott's baptism.  He decided quite a while ago that he wanted to be baptized, but he didn't want to do it at the summer outdoor service.  He attended a couple classes about baptism and we made sure he understood what it means.  They pre-record each person answering questions about their faith and desire to be baptized and play it at the start of our service.  Then the baptisms are done during the worship time and they are also broadcast on the big screen so you can see it more easily.  Elliott was really glad he did it and we let him pick a place for dinner that night.  His first choice was Pizza Pie Cafe, but they are closed on Sunday and so he chose Red Robin.  

Ezra decided not to do soccer this year and instead decided to try Taekwondo.  He has really enjoyed it so far and with his focus and attention to detail I think he will advance quickly.  

Elliott and I got to go to a Spud Kings Hockey game together.  It was on a night that his brothers were at a bonfire for youth group.  

The high school soccer teams got together for an end of year banquet.  It is mostly for the varsity players, but all the teams are invited and it was fun to see how they honor the seniors.  Emmett's club soccer team started 3 morning a week workouts.  His team does weights together at Planet Fitness on Monday and Friday mornings at 6am and on Wednesday they practice at an indoor soccer facility, also at 6am.  Lots of early mornings for that kid and it will be nice when he can drive on his own!

For Thanksgiving this year we took a trip to Washington DC.  I will do separate posts about that.  We've always talked about taking the kids there, and in September sometime Ezra brought home information about the trip to Washington DC that is offered to middle schoolers.  When I saw the cost I told Ezra that I bet I could take our whole family there for the same cost.  From that point on I was on a mission to see if that was true.  We'd rather not miss school for trips, so when I found decent airfare over Thanksgiving week, I felt like it was a perfect opportunity.  

After our trip we had three weeks of school left in the year and Christmas coming at us in a hurry.  We went to the woods on our annual Christmas tree hunt.  There was hardly any snow this year and it was good that Jim had his homemade bridge along; we really needed it to cross the creek!  We found a nice tree and this year Emmett was able to cut it down on his own (with lots of encouragement).