All That Jazz

In August, Owen enrolled in a zero hour...as a freshman!  He really wanted to play Jazz Band.  So, on top of his very solid schedule, he goes to school 3 days a week an hour early to play jazz music on his trumpet.

Last night he had his first High School Jazz Concert.  Tonight he had a Band Concert, but due to Allie's musical at the same time Pops got to go to the Band Concert.  But we ALL went to the Jazz Concert.

It so amazes me that he gets up in front of a room full of strangers and plays his trumpet with confidence.  But to compound that image with only 17 students on the stage with him, that is IMPRESSIVE.

A Star Is Born

I mentioned a while back that Allie was rehearsing for her school musical, well tonight was the night of the big show.

Allie played Narrator 7, but she had memorized ALL of the lead female character's lines as the understudy.  I was so proud of her!  She spoke clearly for her lines and the dance routines were very cute.  Her music teacher, Mrs. Clark even acknowledged her right before it started to the audience.  She told us, "Allison Arnett was the understudy for the lead and worked hard learning all the lines.  So at the end of the bows, I will have her wave.  Please give her a BIG round of applause for her effort."

She made SEVERAL friends from the cast and I was able to get a few pics of her with them.  I even got to know a couple of the moms since I helped with the stage props.  This was an amazing experience and she's excited for more opportunities in the future.

Foggy October Hike

We've started doing family hikes about 2-3 times a month.  They are to help us get acclimated to the terrain and altitude for when we go skiing this winter.  Today we went to Mt. Spokane, which we have done a couple of times before.  However, this time it was a little different.  The Summit Road we usually drive up and park at was closed for the season.  So we parked about half way down and found a new trail to hike.  The weather was perfect!  Very cloudy and drizzly, with fog actually rolling down into the trees as we hiked.  We even came upon a ski lift and a sign that marked it as a Black Diamond.  Very fun and fitting for the Sunday before Halloween!

Volleyball Fever!

This week started with me taking Allie to an "Open House" for all the club volleyball teams in the area.  She was there for almost 2 hours running drills and LOVED every minute of it.  We think we may have found a team that fits us well.  They are having tryouts on November 4, from 12:30-5:00 and she can't wait.

Then on Wednesday she started a scrimmage volleyball league.  They meet once a week for 25 minutes of drills and then 25 minutes for pick up game.  The team she is on is the Cougars, and they are made up of various skill levels.  She even has a boy on her team.

Finally today I took her to a Gonzaga Women's volleyball game against BYU.  Zags lost, but played 3 very close sets.  After the game, we went and got all the team member's autographs on their poster.  A definite high note to end our first week of Volleyball Fever.

Good Deed

I wanted to do a quick "shout out" to my son.  The other day I was driving him home from high school and we came upon some standing still traffic in our lane.  Eventually we got closer to the cause, 2 elderly women in a mini van had run out of gas at the intersection and were in the left lane.

One woman was standing outside the van trying to tell the driver to put the car in neutral so she could push it to the side street.  Owen looked at me and said, "I've got to help them!"  So I told him to be careful getting out of the car and I hit my hazards to let those behind me know what was going on.

As soon as the van was in the right gear, another man had shown up to help and they pushed the van to safety.  I told Owen to wait on the side street and I drove over to pick him up.

The cool thing was apparently another vehicle drove by with a student from LC that recognized Owen and had his mom pull over to make sure everyone was ok.  It was so cool that my son first jumped out to help and then was even recognized by a peer doing the good deed.

Owen, my young man

I wanted to take today to highlight my son, Owen.  The last 3 months have been an adventure and changes around every corner, he has been a rock through it all.  There have been bumps and tears, don't get me wrong.  But each and every day, he gets up and faces those challenges with confidence that I didn't have at his age.

First, he moved away from ALL of his friends that he had known since kindergarten.  Plus, starting high school!  Talk about facing a big change and basically alone doing it.  He LOVES his classes, all of them he selected.  The teachers are passionate and amazing, I have seen my son develop his own system of note taking and studying so that he can learn all that is being taught.

There has been a BIG hiccup with his AP Euro History class, but God has shown us the possibility of grace and faith through our son and his teacher when we don't try to fix a problem but simple address it and pray.

Then he is slowly getting involved in different groups that interest him.  He has selected several clubs to try and attend weekly at school.  He is taking boxing at a gym downtown 3 times a week.  He goes to a youth group on Monday nights at a different church and one he doesn't usually know anyone at.  It's fascinating to watch him bloom as an individual and seek out those with similar tastes.

I know that we have only been here for 3 months, and I will continue to pray that God puts the right people in his path.  But God has already surpassed my requests, and I can't wait to see what else He has in store for Owen.

That's DIFFERENT!

So, since moving here we have experienced several new things.  One was the "hazardous smoke" that was coming from wild fires.  I now have a Spokane Air Quality App to let me know when the air isn't safe to breathe.

NOW, we are witnessing a surge (that's what the reporter said on the radio) in Blue Ash Aphids.  I have read "The Grouchy Ladybug", so I know what they are.  But I can't recall ever really seeing aphids before.

Apparently it is mating season for them, but due to other factors there are a LOT of them.  Swarms of them.  In fact, we even have a tree in our yard that is a hot spot for them.  My father-in-law was kind enough to show me some up close.

I love getting to know a new area and all of the different quirks...but this is DEFINITELY different!

Vintage

In Wichita, Jake and I built our dream home.  We filled it with amazing new furniture that was durable to withstand our very young family.  I decorated both kids rooms on things I liked and thought they would like too.  This was what they knew home was like.  Then we moved to Spokane.

Here, we had the kids very involved in deciding which house we would buy.  They even picked out their rooms before we closed on it.  So as they unpacked their boxes and decided what they would keep or not, they slowly began to decorate their own rooms.  Owen said it best when he told me, "We haven't been here long and it already feels more like HOME."  He has been able to explore what he likes and so has Allie when it comes to their personal spaces.

The same goes for the rest of the house.  We are living in a home a few years shy of a century old and yet our newish furniture somehow worked in ways we hadn't used it for before.  Unfortunately, some of the pieces didn't even work due to the space.  So we have been looking outside our norm for options.  Enter Boulevard Mercantile.

This place is AMAZING!!!  It was a whisper of a window front that caught our eye as we were driving down the street one day and decided to stop and look inside.  I am so glad we did!  We have since found character pieces that not only fit our new family home, but add to the charm and style we've got.  I'm sure we will be going back to get more in the future.

A repurposed cabinet 

Part of a classic sectional 

The other part of the sectional

Pop's chair 

Day 4

Today is my full day with just my sister...so we decide to do laundry!  It's actually quite the event.  Our washing machine has been on the fritz for over 2 weeks.  So this is our weekly "catch up" day for clothes.  Plus, Jen will be able to pack clean clothes and not have to wash them when she gets home.  To help with the downer of spending almost 2 hours at the laundromat, I take her to breakfast before at Frank's Dinner.

Then we take the clean mountain of clothes back to the house and walk the dogs.  No visit with my family is complete without a trip to Target.  Nothing special was done today, but quality time was spent with my sister before she flies back tomorrow.

Day 3

We've been a little busy, so I will quickly post a few days of highlights.

This day involved a day trip to Green Bluff, more specifically "Harvest House" for some pumpkin donuts.  We got there about 40 minutes after they opened and I haven't seen them this busy before.  The line for the donuts was around an hour and a half wait!  But we are determined.  So Jake and Owen stayed in the donut line, while the girls and I went and picked out pumpkins, picked apples and walked around to the vender tents.  Jen bought Allie an early birthday present (alpaca poncho) and some homemade Carmel syrup.  The donuts were worth the wait!

We had work dinner that we cameo stopped by.  Jen even dressed up for the event.

The night concluded with several games of UNO (I won!!) and face masks.

Day 2 with Jen

You have already read how day 2 started with the flu shots, but the day just got more and more amazing as it went on.

The kids and I took Jen to Downtown Spokane.  We first went to this amazingly quirky store called Boo Radley's.  Of course, I can't leave there without buying at least a few treasures.  I even got a stocking stuffer for Christmas.  Jen LOVED it, but there was a line to check out so she wasn't able to get her items.  Don't worry, I saw what she was holding.  ;)

We then stopped at the Spokane Dog Cart.  Allie has been dying to try a hot dog from this guy.  So for lunch we each got a hot dog and ate them in the Riverside Park.  After we finished eating we took our trash to the "Garbage Goat".  The carousel was our next stop for a fun ride and not so easy game of Ring Toss.

Then we continued our stroll to Auntie's Bookstore and Uncle's Games/Puzzles.  As we were walking around the store front I saw in the window that one of my fave authors had released a new book from a series I like...AND would be there at 7:00 that night to sign books!!!  So not knowing exactly how the evening would turn out, I bought a copy and received 2 free admission tickets for the book signing.

Later that afternoon, Jake and I went to a vintage store to look for some seating options for the basement (the sectional from our Wichita home wouldn't fit in our stairwell area to get to the TV room of this house).  We found a good possibility but we needed to measure the items.  So I decided I would take my sister on a "Sister Date" that evening.

I picked her up and we went back to the vintage shop (which she LOVED) and I bought the pieces.  Then she and I went to dinner downtown at this Italian place called Tomato Street (Owen has been wanting to try).  Finished the evening at the Public Library hearing Ransom Riggs speak and getting my copy signed by him!

It was an AMAZING day!!!!