October 2020

 Josh and his employees at the golf course leveled Tee #2 at the beginning of October. It's the most-abused tee since it's for the short Par 3 hole. 

Josh went to the fall IGCSA meetings in Boise while I was gone to Florida visiting Kimi. Josh is on its board of directors again, and has to go to additional meetings when they meet bi-annually. On the final day of the meetings, they usually golf. This time, they golfed at Hillcrest Country Club. It was beautiful weather and he had a good time. 

On the way home, he stopped along the highway to check out the Pine Flats Hot Springs to see what was visible from the road, and found an additional soaking spot from the one we went to last summer!

My spud harvest break was a little earlier this year, and instead of having two full weeks off, we had a partial week off, then a full week off, then another partial week. Kanyon and I had to return to school on Thursday the 8th. On Friday the 9th, Kanyon had a XC meet in Arco, so I took the afternoon off to go watch him, and Josh came to watch him too. After his race, we caravaned back to Salmon, and I went in to the golf course with Josh and watched as he worked to prepare for the Door Closer golf tournament the following day. The weather was gorgeous and I was happy to get to spend additional time with him, since Spud Harvest break felt shorter this year and I was gone to Florida for part of it and missed out on my time home with him. 

That same night, I went to the Eagle's with Darcy to do another Paint & Pint night. I loved spending time with Darcy, but didn't enjoy the event this time as much as I did the previous time we went together. I was kind of disappointed in how my picture turned out this time, too...

Darcy's rainbow waterfall is on the left and mine is on the right.

We had such a beautiful fall! Last year, the weather turned so cold so quickly that the leaves all froze and we got hardly any color. This fall was the exact opposite--it was so warm and the nights were cool, and the colors were vibrant as a result. I loved watching each stage of the leaves' color changing process! 

I wore my new souvenir shirt to school. It says: "Just a RAY of sunshine!" 

My sister Lisa made me this sweet sign for my birthday--it was a belated gift, but was such a happy surprise to open up the package when it arrived in the mail! She painted it, and every pattern on the block letters has to do with something we saw or did or ate on our trip to Washington, DC last spring. I love it SO MUCH! It's thoughtful, creative, homemade with love, and fits the space perfectly--I had been wanting to put something on the corner cupboard in the kitchen, and this fits the space perfectly and also matches the decor on the fridge with all the magnets of places we've visited and vacationed to. 

Opening day for deer hunting season was on a Saturday this year--which made me nervous because I knew more people would be out and about since it was on weekend day rather than a weekday. I also worried that with all the people out, it would lessen the chances for the twins to get anything. However, the one nice thing was that I was able to be home for it for the first time in 4 years! I had no reason to worry, thankfully--since both Jonah and Micah were able to fill their tags that very morning! While they were out shooting (I could hear their gunshots from the house), I heard a loud popping sound that I thought was someone shooting the house. When they got home, I told Josh as much, but he said they were far enough away from the house, it couldn't have been them, and he didn't see anybody else hunting that close to the house. I looked around on the exterior walls where it sounded like the popping noise came from, but couldn't see any markings, either, so I forgot about it...until the next morning when we had no hot water. Josh and I went to check out the water heater, and it was leaking--apparently the element had broken the previous day, and the water heater was busted when I heard that sound! Josh replaced it a couple of days later, and figured out how to take out the old one and install the new one all by himself! 

We worked as a family to process the meat the following weekend after the carcasses hung up in Grandpa's shop all week. Josh and the twins worked on cutting off strips of meat, and Kanyon and I grinded the meat and packed it into freezer bags. Their deer were a little smaller than last year's, so we got less meat overall, but we also got some nice-sized deer roast, and made some jerky with some of the back straps, which was nice. I made a new marinated blend, and we soaked the jerky meat overnight before dehydrating it. It was SO delicious! 

Our first round of jerky!

Josh and his employees did the annual task of blowing out the sprinkler lines the week before Halloween. It's a full-day process!

Salmon had to move their Homecoming week from the last week of September to the third week of October due to an outbreak of COVID in the community and school. Originally, I was so happy that I would be home to see all the Homecoming festivities because it was during my Spud Harvest break, but then when it was moved, I sadly didn't get to go to any. However, I was originally going to miss the Homecoming dance pictures due to being gone to Florida, but after the dance got changed, I was able to be there to see the kids and their dates prior to the dance, so that cheered me up. Their date plans changed multiple times as a result of the schedule change, and they ended up just going to dinner at the Oliverson's after pictures, then to the dance and to Tyler's house afterwards. Jonah took Robyn Chaffin and Micah's date was Beth Davidson. 

The girls unknowingly matched! They looked very patriotic!

Boaz, Erik, Hunter, Micah, and Jonah

Both boys made the newspaper the following week after Homecoming--Micah for going to state with the XC team, and Jonah on the band float in the Homecoming parade. Micah rode on the XC float that Josh was driving. 

Halloween was different this year with all the COVID restrictions. The Terreton church canceled their trunk-or-treat that we go to every year, the school changed their costume parade to outdoors to allow for parents to view kids safely, and there was a lot of news and hype about how people didn't want kids coming door-to-door due to fear of spreading the virus. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, but I didn't enjoy it as much this year as a result of all the changes. However, I did still have a class party at school, and my students and I still wore costumes, and Kanyon's junior high still had a dance, so that was nice. I dressed up like a witch, since I'd been reading the book "The Witches" by Roald Dahl to the students all month. Kanyon dressed up in the hot dog costume I got last year, since he wanted something easy he could get on and off that didn't require makeup, because his first hour class at the time was P.E., and he didn't want to wear the costume for P.E. class. 

Three third grade girls also decided to be witches, and we all
matched, too, which was such a fun surprise for us all!

October is one of my favorite months of the year! I love the cooler, slower days, the changing colors in the world surrounding us, the Halloween decorations and holiday, and the smells and sights of fall. It was a beautiful month this year, and every time I was feeling frustrated, I just had to look outside to remind myself of why I love it so much! 

Flowers, Fish, Sandy Feet, and Tons of Fun in Florida!

A year ago, my friend Kimi moved from Idaho Falls to Florida. I told her I'd go visit her during Spud Harvest Break this year, and despite COVID precautions and restrictions, I followed through with my plans. 

I booked my roundtrip flight for the end of September this summer, but a few weeks before the departure, the flights changed, adding a 12-hour layover in Denver. I didn't want to spend the night on the floor of the airport needlessly, so I booked a different flight starting one day later, but despite getting travel insurance with my initial flight purchase, I wasn't refunded any money for their changes. The travel company credited my initial purchase, but I had to use it by the end of November--and I didn't have anywhere else I wanted to go alone (Josh isn't traveling on flights as long as masks are mandated because he struggles breathing with them on for long amounts of time), so I lost the money. 

My new flight plans included two connecting flights on October 1 from Salt Lake City to Denver, then Denver to Detroit, and finally Detroit to Orlando. I left Salmon on the evening of Wednesday, September 30, after the boys' home XC meet, and drove to my parents' home in Providence to spend the night. It was great to see them--the last time I was there was last year in December! It's probably the longest time I've ever gone without seeing them in person (they've been very cautious with family gatherings and travel due to COVID). 

My dad woke me up at dark-thirty am and drove me to the airport at the butt-crack of dawn to catch my flight at 6am. Good thing, too, I suppose--because Salt Lake had recently redone part of their airport and NO JOKE, I had to walk for about 15 minutes between the security gate and my loading gate, due to NO walking escalators being up and running. 

It was a long day of flying, and I was SO happy to see Kimi at the end of it! She'd driven to Orlando to pick me up, and I got a hotel for us to stay in Orlando that night. We went out to dinner at a restaurant near our hotel, and then went to sleep. 

The next day was a very full day--we went to both of the Universal Studios in Orlando. I'd been wanting to check out their Harry Potter world ever since I went to Universal Studios Hollywood a few years ago with the boys, and I heard it was bigger and better than the one in California. Universal Studios Orlando has Diagon Alley and its neighboring park Islands of Adventure has Hogsmeade. There's a Harry Potter train ride called Hogwarts Express that connects the two places if you get the park hopper pass, which we did. Kimi and I started in Universal Studios that morning at 9am, and switched to Islands of Adventure that afternoon and stayed there until they closed at 7. 

The park wasn't too busy, but you did have to wear your mask the whole time. We didn't go on every ride--just the ones we thought were worthwhile, since our time was limited. Kimi told me in the hotel the night before that she was pregnant, so there was a couple of rides she sat out on, and I rode alone. We started off with walking around Diagon Alley. I went on the Escape from Gringotts ride first, and it was my favorite of the day! 

I got a butterbeer in Diagon Alley and we walked around the rest of that part of the Harry Potter Wizarding World. Universal in Hollywood doesn't have a Diagon Alley, so I reveled in all the life-like sights! 

The frozen butterbeer was SO good!
We got a couple of them during the day!

The Knight Bus

Sirius Black's house

Kimi and I also went on the Jimmy Fallon 3-D Race ride, The Transformers 3-D ride, and the Despicable Me Minion Mayhem--which frustratingly kept breaking down and we were in line for nearly an hour! After lunch, we got on the Hogwarts Express to go to the Islands of Adventure side. The line for the train was even longer than the Minion ride, but it was worth it because the train ride was SOOO cool! Each compartment had a screen in place of a window, and it showed segments of what happened on the train in the movie just as if you were really on the Hogwarts Express on the way to school! And then on the window in the compartment door you could see shadows and hear cast members talking in the hall during the train ride, too. We both loved it!

My new Hogwarts mask kept sliding under my nose bc it was too big.

We started out in the Islands of Adventure theme park by going through the Harry Potter World of Hogsmeade, which is very similar to the one in California. I went on the Harry Potter Forbidden Journey ride in the castle alone. The line for Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Ride was over an hour long, and Kimi wasn't planning on riding it, so we opted to skip it, and I'd been on the Flight of the Hippogriff ride in California, so we skipped that one, too. 

We went on the Jurassic Park ride, and laughed SO hard when we both got wet, since we were in the front of the boat! Then we decided that since we were already wet, we might as well finish all the water rides! I went on the Ripsaw Falls ride alone and got DRENCHED!!! Then we went on the Popeye's Barges river run TWICE! We had so much fun on it the first time, and there was no line, so why not?!

After Ripsaw Falls

First ride on Popeye's Barge

Second ride on Popeye's Barge

We ended the day in Seuss Town, which we both enjoyed immensely!! I had no idea it was even part of the park, and I love Dr. Seuss books so much! It was a happy surprise for me! And their rides are child-friendly, so it was nice for Kimi to be able to go on everything she wanted there, too. Everything was built and decorated so cute--it naturally made me happy just being in that area of the park! We rode the Caro-Seuss-el, The Cat in the Hat, and the High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train. It was the perfect way to end our day in the parks!

On our way out of the park, we walked through Universal City Walk, and I finally got a famous VooDoo donut!!

Kimi drove me back to her home in Largo that night, about an hour and 45 minutes away. The next day, Saturday, we went to some local beaches with Tari. Kimi showed me the beautiful Clearwater Beach--where the sand is so white, and the beach is long and and wide and so gorgeous! Then we went to a more private, local one called Indian Rocks Beach where we spent several hours sunbathing and soaking. The sand there was made from crushed seashells! It was so unique! We had a great time!

 

Clearwater Beach

Indian Rocks Beach

There were these advertisement barges that 
kept driving by. Interesting way to advertise!

Sunday was drizzly, so we hung out at Kimi & Preh's house that morning. We watched movies together  until we decided what to spend the day doing with the dreary weather. We decided to go to a nearby botanical garden, and then to the aquarium in Tampa Bay. The botanical garden had some beautiful plants...we got drizzled on while we were walking around, but the garden wasn't very populated, which was nice. 

What a cool banana tree!

do you see the lizard?

this one was easier to spot...

check out that cicada!

Preh went with us to the botanical gardens and the aquarium, which was nice. The aquarium was in Tampa Bay, and it was awesome! We had to wear masks the whole time we were in there, and they had us follow these footprints on the floor in order to make the foot traffic only flow one way, but I was glad we were able to go!

eels creep me out!

this lobster display was eye-catching!

These garden eels reminded me of the worms
on Sesame Street! They would disappear in the sand anytime
spectators got too close, then would slowly come back out!

You could actually touch the stingrays in 
this particular exhibit. They're so slimy!

I was really inspired from this garbage art display!

This sign on the glass cracked me up--it was meant for the
human onlookers, but it seemed like it was telling the shark
how far away to stay from the tortoise!

Pipefish are like straightened-out sea horses!

I love watching jellyfish swim!
I find them mesmerizing!

You could touch these particular jellyfish, too!

On the way back to their house from the aquarium, they drove me by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers stadium since they're my favorite NFL team! There was even a game that day, but due to COVID, the attendance was extremely limited, so it wasn't too busy around the stadium. 

When we got back to Largo, we dropped off Preh at their house to take an online test, and then Kimi, Tari, and I drove south towards St. Petersburg. We drove across the impressive Sunshine Skyway Bridge, and then drove to Anna Maria Island. Kimi had never been there before. We got there around sunset, but due to the overcast sky, you couldn't see it. Since the weather was overcast, the beach was nearly totally empty. The three of us walked along it, combing it for seashells and we found some great treasures! We walked along the beach until we couldn't see anymore due to the dark. It was an incredible moment, and one of my favorite memories from my Florida trip! 

On Monday morning, Kimi drove me back to Orlando to catch my flight at 11am. I had a small layover in Phoenix, and then arrived in SLC around 4pm. I finally got to see the Grand Canyon, because we flew right over it, which was SO awesome! I'm glad I finally got a window seat on that flight!

My parents picked me up from the airport, and took me back to their house. I switched cars and drove home to Salmon that night. It was a fast trip, but a fun one! I'm glad I got to go see Kimi in Florida--I hadn't been there in almost 30 years! I look forward to going back to Florida again!

The sunset in Cache Valley on my drive back to Idaho.

My new T-shirt souvenirs from Florida