Color Guard - September 9, 2017

Saturday - September 9th

Alissa had to wake up early again today.  She was so sad to not get to sleep in on her Saturday, but she was okay with it, because it was for Color Guard.  She loves Color Guard.  The Color Guard met at the school and rode in buses with the band, so they could march in the Peach Days Parade in Brigham City.  They were a little worried about how things would go.  Apparently, they have had problems in the past with people booing at them.  The Box Elder Bees (the high school in Brigham City) are their rivals.  I learned that, that is the reason the Bees don't march in the Fair Parade anymore.  Too many people were rude and Booed at them.  I think that is really sad.  Anyway, Alissa was worried about what it was going to be like, because their coach warned them that they had problems in the past.  Luckily, they didn't have any problems.  Today went really well.  We didn't get to go and see her at the parade, but her coach took these pictures and shared them.

Parker was chillaxin' with Forest and wanted me to take their picture.

Alissa's Birthday Gift - September 8, 2017

Friday - September 8th

Alissa ordered a shirt for her birthday.  It is a shirt with some reference to a YouTuber she watches.  She was so excited to be getting her shirt, but it took almost a month to get here and she was getting impatient and worried it wouldn't come.  When Roger checked the mail today, her shirt was in there.  He threw the package out of the mail box and into the road and said, "What is this crap doing in here?"  Alissa and I both looked at it, confused.  Then we realized what it was.  Alissa was so excited, she ran to get it, but Roger picked it up again before she could grab it.  Then he started running away with it.  It was really funny, because he was making funny noises and running in a really weird way.  He so goofy!  I love it!  Anyway, Alissa chased after him trying to get it.  I was laughing so much.  Then I realized, this is funny, I should be recording this.  I pulled out my phone, got it to the camera and tried to hit the record button, but somehow I kept missing it.  It's because I was still trying to watch them while I started to record.  I finally got the camera recording right as Alissa got her shirt from him.  So, I recorded her opening it.  She is so happy to finally have her shirt.  She loves it!  She keeps pointing out that it feels like a lot better quality than any sweatshirt she's had before.  She'a really happy about that.  She also, discovered that the front pocket is big enough to hold her tablet.  It looks funny when she has her tablet in there, but it fits.

The Train - September 7, 2017

Thursday - September 7th

We needed to get Forest tired.  He was being a stinker, because he had too much energy, so Alissa and I decided to take him for a walk.  Parker said that he wanted to go with, but was going to ride his bike.  When I let Brinley know we were going, she said she wanted to come also.  Then I went to tell Roger we were all going and he decided he would come too.  He was finishing something up on the computer, so we waited outside for him for a little while.  Alissa is getting really good with her singing and Ukulele playing, so she was outside playing a song.  She had decided she was going to take it on the walk with us.  I loved the idea of having someone provide the music for our walk, so of course, I said yes.  While we were waiting, she noticed her flag sitting in the garage and remembered she is marching in a parade on Saturday, so she decided to take the flag instead.  That way she could practice.  Brinley and I were bummed not to have her music on our walk, but liked the idea of feeling like we are in our own parade.  Brinley carried the ukulele and pretended to play it.  I put Alissa's parade music on my phone and that was the music we listened to.  Roger finally came outside and we headed on our walk.  It was fun having the music and Alissa doing her routine.  At one point, on the way back, a little girl, standing in her doorway, got so excited as we passed.  She ran in and told her parents to come and see.  It was funny to have an audience for a little bit.

We like to walk on a road that is next to the train tracks.  Roger is always saying he wishes we could be there when a train is passing.  But we always miss it.  I took Forest on a walk by myself one day and the train came while I was out.  But, it hasn't come when Roger's been there.  But today, was our day!  The train passed while we were there!  It's not super exciting, but it's still fun.  We waved as the train went by and the train driver honked his horn and waved back.  It was fun.

Chillaxin' By the Fire - September 3, 2017

Sunday - September 3rd

We are really enjoying our long weekend.  It feels so nice to have a break.  Life has been so crazy and busy all summer.  I am relieved to finally have a chance to relax.  I felt bad, because we usually have more chances to sit out by the fire during the summer.  I've been wanting to sit outside and have a fire for a really long time.  We just haven't been able to, because I was always too tired to stay up late, since I had to get up so early in the morning for work.  So, today, we finally got to sit out by the fire!  I was very happy about that.  I am still feeling tired and overwhelmed from how this summer has gone, so I'm sure I didn't do a good job at showing that I was excited, but I was.  It's just hard for life to get back to normal and feel normal again.  I don't like it.  I'm really hoping things can start feeling better soon.

We had sparklers left over from the 4th of July.  We had bought a really big pack of them.  We had a lot of fun playing with the sparklers tonight.  The first part of this video, is a slideshow with pictures and video clips from our night all set to music.  Google photos has the fun options to create that.  After that, it is the video I took from the night.

Earthquake - September 2, 2017

Saturday - September 2nd

Earlier today, we got to experience an earthquake.  It was pretty exciting.  We were excited to have felt it and got to experience it, since it wasn't too big and scary.  The center of the earthquake was in Idaho, near Lava Hot Springs.  The earthquake happened there at 5:56pm (actually, they had a smaller one at 5:55pm, then the biggest one at 5:56pm, and plenty of after shocks that we did not feel) and we felt it here at 5:57pm.  We know what time we felt it, because we looked back on our security video in the kitchen to see if we could see anything moving.  You can barely tell, but the fan moves and the video cut out for a second.

I was downstairs looking for something in the closet when the house shook and made a creaking sound.  I all of the sudden felt really dizzy.  As I stood there feeling like I was going to fall over, I grabbed the door to steady myself and tried to decide if I had just imagined that or if it had really happened.  I quickly realized it had to have happened, why else would I all of the sudden feel motion sick.  Then I remembered the chandelier in the room.  I looked up at it and it was swaying back and forth.  The house definitely had shook.  I went to the family room to ask the kids if they felt that.  Alissa and Parker had been laying on the couch watching TV.  Parker thought Alissa had shook the couch.  Alissa thought she had just imagined it.  Brinley had come down right as I got in the family room.  She had been upstairs sitting on the toilet when it happened.  She said she felt it.  It almost shook her off the toilet.  She was scared, because she didn't know what had happened.  She got out of there as fast as she could to see what was going on.  We were all excited that we got to experience an earthquake and it was scary or really bad.  Brinley was really nervous after that, when Alissa mentioned after shocks.  I think it is funny that Brinley was on the toilet.  she's embarrassed about it, so she is going to leave that part out of the story when she tells her friends.  She's funny.

Football Game - September 1, 2017

Friday - September 1st

Alissa got to perform at her first football game.  This was also the first football game she ever attended, so that's fun.  Their costumes were 80's clothes.  So, we did Alissa's hair all 80's.  She looks really cute.

They performed the school song at the beginning, then did a routine during half time.  I forgot to bring cash, so we didn't get in and sat down in time to watch them perform them school song.  Brinley and I were standing outside the gates and the color guard had their backs to us, so we got to see their performance standing behind them and through a gate.  I felt bad for not being prepared.  We had to go back to the truck and get some money so we could get in and be there for half time.  Brinley and I went to Kents and bought us each some candy, so we could get cash back and watch the game.  It was a bummer coming late, because we had a hard time finding a place to sit.  We found seats and were able to record her performance.  I hadn't realized that Brinley had been recording most of what had been happening.  She's funny.  She kept recording while we were getting to the game and dealing with the needing cash situation.  I will get those videos uploaded eventually.  They are on the other phone.  Here's 3 videos that Brinley took of the performances.  She recorded all of the groups that performed and then the battery died on the phone she was using, so she didn't record the color guard performing.  But I recorded that, so we're good.  I had brought my good camera, so I could zoom in and get some good pictures of Alissa, but when I pulled it out, I realized the battery was dead.  I was bummed about that. 

It looks like she got part of the color guard performance recorded before the phone died.

Their coach took some pictures of them before the performance.  They changed costumes after they performed the school song.

 After the game, we came home and chillaxed.