Friday

So this weekend I had two extra days off school for UEA. I'm not sure what that stands for (Utah Educators something-rather), but it used to be called Deer Hunt. And then Monday there was a staff training that I didn't have to attend, so I took off to spend the weekend in New Mexico.
I LOVE New Mexico in the fall! October is my favorite month there for several reasons, and I was super excited to go. I love the trees and the changing weather. The most beautiful spot in the world is along the Rio Grande right after the road to Espanola, where the cottonwood trees are BRIGHT yellow and stand out from the pink and dark mesas with the little juniper bushes on them. It was worth the trip down there just to see that.
On Friday night my family went to the LAHS football game. Daniel plays football, but he's on the JV team, and they didn't have a game this weekend. But he's also in the marching band (snare drum), so we got to see him do that. I never thought of my old high school football games as something I miss, but it was so fun to go and see all the hoopla that I used to be a part of. I mean, since I was in marching band, I went to every single home football game, and it was cool to see it all again.
One part I'd completely forgotten about was that during the last quarter of the game, there's a guy with Down's Syndrome who comes to lead the band in the fight song (Go Toppers!). So he's up there directing with the drum majors, and he's had enough practice that he waves his hands better than the drum majors, I think. This time, he gets up to the front and puts on a black cape. Then he leads the band in some cheers and generally works the crowd. I remember how fun it was to cheer with him, because he is absolutely BURSTING with school spirit, and you can tell that the football games are the highlight of his weeks during the fall. He comes with his mom, and she's always there with him, although she sits quietly while he's leading cheers and yells.
It's nice to visit home, although I don't know as many people as I used to. But when you only know 3 or 4 people, you have to make sure to visit and talk with all of them. So during the game, my mom and I went and talked to a few people, and it was nice to catch up.
One girl I graduated with, Katie, writes a blog, and I read it occasionally, linking through Julia's blog. I've known Katie since 5th grade, and we've never been tight friends or anything. But her blog is really neat. She has a lot of great ideas for living a simple life, and that's something I'm really interested in. She knits a lot, and she posts some pictures of the things she's knitted.
So I'm at the game, wandering around with my mom, and we see a baby stroller. I'm not sure that it was even hers, but it reminds me that Katie and her baby son would probably be at the game, since her husband is a coach and she goes to all the games. Right then I see this little baby toddling around with someone who must be his grandpa. And the baby's wearing a knitted hat that I had seen a picture of on Katie's blog! So I went and talked to Katie and told her about the blog picture and recognizing her son. I hope it didn't creep her out, come to think of it.
And I got to talk to my neighbors, the McCulloughs. They're putting a new porch on their house and decided that pink construction paper was a good look for their house. ;) No, seriously, it looks really great with a shady porch instead of a solar oven, which all south-facing houses tend to become. And it will look even better once they stucco over the pink.
The band did a show from Tommy, the rock opera. I didn't know the songs, except the last one, Pinball Wizard. The colorguard had some gray "pinballs" and used them as their apparatus for the last song. I guess I've been watching too much rhythmic gymnastics, because I was expecting some awesome rolling, tossing, and manipulation, and sadly they just held them. But it was a cool idea.
And the Toppers won the game 12-0 against Farmington, so the band wore their hats backwards to march back to the band room. I didn't watch a bit of the game, but all in all, it was a grand evening.