Renaissance Man

We have a hard time documenting weeks when things actually happen. Monday we had dinner and FHE with the Waldrons. Gabriel apparently experienced the sensation of eating too much for the first time and was very confused by it, but suddenly had enough room for root beer floats when they were presented. He's so cute!

Wednesday Abdiel returned from a Young Men's outing to a Cornbelly's corn maze rather distraught. Two of the other boys had a disturbing encounter with a young man with a box opener, but everyone made it safely out of the maze, and security took care of the young man. We wouldn't note this except it kind of came up again later in the week: after the worldwide youth devotional on Sunday, Katharine reported that Abdiel bore his testimony, a testimony detailing all the ways the Lord has intervened to protect the deacons from death and destruction, be it bear, crazed boy with knife, or canoe+white water rapids. We're glad he can recognize the hand of the Lord even in his trials.

Thursday the Cannon center hosted an Oktoberfest, so Lia, Gabriel, and Miriam headed down to campus to meet up with Justin.

The bratwurst, kraut, Wiesenhandel, Brezeln, and Aepfelschorle were all fantastic. Gabriel appreciated the pure American ice cream. We also met up with Elisabeth to gift her her very own copy of the family cookbook. It included an exclusive photo at the end of which Elisabeth was not as appreciative as we'd expected. 

A funny thing happened while we sat at lunch. When Justin left to get one of the German dishes, leaving Lia sitting with Gabriel and Miriam, a student approached.

Student: Is that your husband?

Lia: Yes.

Student: Is he the Academic Dean or something like that?

Lia: Academic Vice President, yes.

Student: Was he a Nelson scholar?

Lia: A presidential scholar, yes, it was called Hinckley back then.

Student: Did you really tell him that he was a waste of tithing dollars?

Lia: Well he was--if you had seen his study habits, you would have thought so, too. 

Student, laughing: Okay! I just had to fact-check that!!

The really humorous part of that story is that Lia still thinks she was completely justified in offering that commentary. 

Later in the day Gabriel did a very mature, impressive thing. Returned home from school, Gwyn started unpacking her backpack to get out her math book and noticed her lunch box. "Oh, thank you so much for putting doughnuts in our lunches today, Mommy!" she said. Gabriel, standing nearby, did not whine that he had not had doughnuts in his lunch. Instead, after a moment's thought, he said, "Thank you so much for inviting me to eat ice cream with you, Mommy!" Lia was so impressed that he chose to be grateful for his blessings instead of whining about someone else's. And he only three years old!

Thursday the bows and arrows arrived for Gwyn and Elinor's Halloween costumes. The kids spent the next three hours shooting off the balcony and retrieving their arrows. They were all adorable. Friday Gwyn and Elinor had their Halloween parties at their school. For those they were a Colonial girl and cat, respectively. !We'll give the big reveal of their real costumes next week!)

The title of this post comes from Saturday. That day was all Abdiel. He spent the morning taking a four hour test in hopeful admission to the gifted/talented program for his middle school. We're confident he'll be admitted since he was already in it for all elementary school, plus, he felt really good about it. 

While he was doing that, Elinor was playing her last soccer game of the season and scored two goals! She also didn't let anyone score on her when she played goalie. 

Almost immediately after the A.L.L. test, Abdiel joined his football buddies for a BYU watch party at the home of one of the coaches. You can't see him in the hot tub in this picture; he's the one in the background, upside down in a suit. He left the watch party early to play in a piano Honors Recital in Salt Lake. He did a fantastic job, even, like a real musician, improvising replacement notes when he missed what was actually written. Talk about an all-around kid! We ate Costco drumsticks to celebrate both Abdiel and Elinor's accomplishments. 

 

Miriam at the neighborhood park.

Gwyn on crazy hair day.

My camera can't capture how gorgeous the leaves on our ash trees are.

The kids feasted on some late season raspberries before the freeze came.

Sunday we watched an episode of The Chosen as a family in preparation for some exciting things happening next week.