Brenna had a weekend away with her school dance team competing at the Shakespeare Festival. Their dance was incredible and slightly frightening. But they nailed it.
They rode scooters all around campus and had the greatest time. The next weekend was quite the excursion for Dave and our two youngest.
Our ward has been prepping and talking up the grand goal of a temple walk from the Draper temple to the SLC temple. They provided a few days through the last months to take some long walks so the day of the event no one would perish. Did my family prepare much? No, but they were champions none the less.
I kept getting picture updates like this from Brenna. That was early in the morning when they were all smiles and energy. I did hear back from all the advisors that Brenna was the hype girl and neither of the McArthur children ever complained once.
I picked up lunch for the whole crew at a Chick Fil A near Sugarhouse Park and was able to get updates and witness people hobbling about. It was where I learned that Harrison ran to each pit stop, jogging the entire last route. I have been pushing a track team ever since. He was apparently a big leader of the group. It was so fun to watch (and not have to walk the whole thing!) I followed them from Sugarhouse to the end. Dave was the caboose making sure no child left behind was enforced and no one fell to the ground and never got up. It was a fabulous accomplishment that resulted in blisters, endorphins, bonding and achievement! Yay for all them!
Brenna still had some cheering at football games- loving the Friday night lights at home. Here she is with all the sophomores on the squad, just loving life.
College football seems to dominate our television and much of Harrison's conversations and creative time.
He is no casual fan, dressing up for each game (and making me don the attire as well) This is all quite fun when the team is doing well,
but we do have to brace ourselves when there is a loss.
The BYU quarterback is named Bear so Harrison made his own little mascot to cheer with when he was cheering from our living room.
This bear has been thrown when BYU is causing Harrison distress-good thing he has his protective gear.
Hanging on to some of our spooky traditions-
Harrison and I had a good time searching for the witches at Gardner Village.
And we all partook of frightening food. Legit, I was uneasy eating the bag (chicken) wings and I made them. I just couldn't do it and don't think I can ever serve those again.
We smooshed in some at home Fall Break fun
at the pumpkin patch and Harrisons buddies took him to a fall farm playland area
and we still might be discovering corn kernels in his clothes...and body.
We love that our school district takes a whole week for Fall Break and Dave has been yearning for the ocean, so we hit the road California bound. We first stopped in Las Vegas and were mesmerized by the outside of the Sphere we could see from our hotel room. The next morning I was pumped to go to Death Valley. I was insistent if we were going to meet Dave's ocean needs we were going to meet my National Park needs and stop at the hottest place in North America.
The entrance to the land was pretty impressive. We were ready for our day of hikes
only to discover that due to the floods and the government shut down and stripping of forest workers, we couldn't go to 99% of the places I had mapped out. So we drove out of our way to witness the entrance only. Sigh. The drive through was actually fascinating so someday we might return. Lesson learned to check the park updates before heading out.
We did make it to the west coast for some beach time,
sunsets over the water,
bike riding (and fighting)
and fun. We were able to go to the Newport Temple
which was a highlight.
And we made another attempt to cross of a National Park from the bucket list. Katelee had the most incredible time exploring the Channel Islands in the summer so we thought we'd also check them out. While she got off and swam through the kelp forests and walked along the ridges, we thought we could at least see the pods of dolphins she experienced but we'd just stay in a boat.
The ride was nice, the dolphins did not show up so it was another miss for National Parks this trip. We did get to view the islands completely covered in birds (and poop) so fellow boat passengers that were avian lovers were most likely loving it. I was not a fan of the flocks. We did see sea lions and got some fresh sea air, so yay for that.
The Santa Monica Pier gave us some people watching opportunities and exposure.
Feeling lucky to spend time together and get Dave's longing for the ocean met. Missed our other kiddos, but college and adulting are now real for them.
We made it home for Halloween and Harrison exhibited his artistic inclinations with a pumpkin totem.
Grant spent Halloween representing his tv obsession Attack on Titan
with Hailie. I was just impressed Hailie got Grant to dress up. I guess it helps that he thinks he is a scout on the show and the request came from Hailie, not his mother.
Katelee is never one to back away from a chance to dress up and/or take pictures. Her and her friends loved the excuse to do that. The girls dressed up as genies one night.
And then at another party, the guys and gals channeled their (my) Harry Potter dreams and represented characters from the beloved story.
There were some pretty funny photos Katelee sent. She was Bellatrix.
Costumes this year for Halloween were on point for our youngins. Brenna had to pick a costume with her "homie" on the dance company and they had everyone on the team rolling when they showed up...
They spent the day running through the high school halls making everyone laugh. She was looking cute for the night when she went to a party with friends though...
Sometimes she does 'bug' me, but she was an adorable butterfly with her ladybug and bee friends.
And, it Harrisons last Halloween party! Just gonna dump this picture and see if he can be spotted...
For years this ginger has been longing to have a leprechaun costume. This is the year all his dreams came true.
I went to his class party and he went around at night with his neighborhood friends. 
Everytime I looked at him I chuckled. This costume is quite large so he could be sporting that for years to come.
Everytime I looked at him I chuckled. This costume is quite large so he could be sporting that for years to come.
As we sat at our last Elementary Parade all I kept thinking this is the peak. There is the cutest leprechaun performing Thriller before my very eyes. I've had years and years of watching the most adorable princesses, superheroes, spooky haunts walk by. There couldn't be a better way to finish it off than a bearded ginger coming at me. It will always be a Halloween to remember. 