Gnarly November

As any long-time blog reader knows, I enjoy alliteration.  I'm not quite sure these photos are actually gnarly (nor am I sure that gnarly counts as an n-word), but hey, this is my blog and I'll write what I want to.

This dragon that Talia crocheted is pretty gnarly.

Plus, I adore how she has it suspended in her room.

Or Eli's hair--now that's gnarly.

Especially first thing in the morning.

With hair like that, a guy needs his power tools.

Jason and Annika, that's some gnarly looking tattoo art.

And Brooklyn, remember back when Omicron wasn't rampant and we could  have your friends over?  That was gnarly too.  

As for me, I cultivated some gnarly looking bacterial colonies using soil from Lindsay Gardens while testing for antibiotic resistance as part of the PARE project (Prevalence of Antibiotic Resistance in the Environment.)  Strangely enough, the DNA sequencing identified the bacteria as heliobacter pylori--a bacteria found primarily in the stomach of humans.  Guess somebody had thrown up there.  Gnarly.

Okay, enough with the gnarly bit.  Here are the rest of the random photos taken in November.  Kids are growing up.  Brighton resort asked that we send updated photos for our ski passes since the ones on record were four years old.  Their smiles have all changed for sure!  Lots of straight teeth (Brooklyn is now done with Invisalign), although Annika is definitely next in line for the orthodontist.

Here's Brooklyn at her cello studio recital...

...and again walking through the leaves near the U.  Funny thing--when we stopped to take this picture we had no idea that we were standing in front of the home where she would receive her patriarchal blessing a couple months later.  

Besides crafting, Talia still enjoys running.  One November evening, she joined me at the very last moment for a Light Up Liberty run sponsored by the Salt Lake Running Company.  The run was fun, but donuts and hot chocolate made it even better.

In other nighttime pursuits, here she is laughing with Lydia while headed to rake leaves with the youth of the Emigration Stake.

And here she is at the Krakens Ultimate Awards Ceremony.  Both Brooklyn and Talia were captains for their teams, so they both got to come up with funny awards for their team members.

As long as we're talking about Ultimate, here are some photographs of Brooklyn and Talia playing hard at State.  I am so impressed with their determination and dedication to the sport!  Who would have imagined that they would voluntarily sign up for sprint practices all winter long just to keep up their fitness?  Yet here we are.  

Frisbee is an amazing addition to our family, even if the stinky cleats do have to live outside.

But hey, I imagine this pretty flower that Jason photographed smelled great.

November is a beautiful month to enjoy the changing leaves.  I spotted this deer while out walking in the neighborhood.

I found these leaves, on the other hand, while out for a run up City Creek Canyon.

And these leaves, well, they come right from our very own block.  Here's Jason helping our neighbor Maria, who sadly moved out just a couple days ago.

I see a rustling in these leaves.

It's an Annika!  But do you see the drama behind these fun fall pictures?

There were seven fire trucks, an ambulance, and two fire chief vehicles.

It turns out that they were doing some work on the house directly across from ours when part of the foundation collapsed, trapping a worker.  Miraculously he survived with comparatively minor injuries.

Well, that's certainly more drama than we wanted to experience in a day.  We love living near the cemetery, but don't want to see anyone sent there early.

I nearly sent myself to the cemetery early when I decided to run 13.1 on the last day of November and didn't bring any water.  Fortunately Gardner Village rescued me at my turn-around point.  No, I didn't scale the water tower, but I did sneak into the restrooms and gulp heartily from the sink faucet.

Enjoy the clear skies while they last because winter inevitably brings inversion to the valley.

Moving on to Annika, she seized the moment during her class townhall production of "What Do You Do with a Chance?"  So proud of you, Cheesecake!

Annika and her friend Jack.

Here she is again, waiting with Diamond for her first Covid vaccine.

Proud of you again, and so grateful for this protection against serious illness, especially right now. Utah hasn't posted case counts for today, but I suspect they will top 10,000.

Hard to think of a better way to celebrate than with a Mango Lassi from Indian Oven.  (No, these two events weren't actually associated, but I'm kind of thinking they should be.  Vaccination rates would rise for sure!)

And just in case you weren't hungry enough, I found both of these delectable photos on Jason's camera roll. Who wouldn't want to work at ASSIST with spreads like this?

Lucky for me, I know a guy.

Now time to go gnaw something gnarly.