First Snow

Well... it's hard to believe that here it is "September" and we had our first snow of the season today.

Yesterday is hot and sunny. Upper 70's, maybe even low 80's. Then last night, a strange wind came in, promising "something wicked this way comes". By 10:00 pm we were hit with rain. That cold, dark, rain... that makes you close all the windows.

Well, it rained all night long. Then this morning... it felt a might bit chilly. Next thing I knew, as I was waiting for the coffee to brew, it started snowing. Wow. Snow in September. Who would have thought could happen?

Of course, since it was about 37 degrees, it wasn't cold enough to stay on the lawn. But you can see that it stayed on that mountain.

I haven't even had a chance to post my Fall "leaves turning colors" photos. It was just starting to get so very pretty around here. I sure hope the premature winter doesn't interupt the show.

Meanwhile, my family is busy in the backyard picking all of our final crops. If we are now so cold it's snowing... we think that we need to just harvest what's left before they all freeze. Joshua just yelled up, "Mom we've got more penguins!" Which is our family code word for giant zuchinni. So I guess we are going to be busy doing more shredding... and making even more zuchinni bread.

Sunday Hike

One of the reasons we moved to Logan, UT, was the appeal of living 1o minutes away from "God's Country".

To me, there is no place more spectacular than the Logan Canyon area. I think it beats Yellowstone hands down... and everyone knows how beautiful that area of the country is.

So, we all thought a hike in the canyon would be a great way to end our weekend.

Unfortunately, we couldn't talk ANY of the kids into coming, so intead it was just the six of us: Janet, Eden, Aram, Molly, Gail, & I. We decided to bring my dogs (Coco & Max) too.

We had the best weather for our hike. It was slightly overcast, but not threatening rain, which is perfect weather for walking.


We decided to do the three mile loop "River Trail".


At some point, we fell into different groups, based upon on hiking speed.



Aram & Molly had an abundance of energy and decided to do an additional three mile uphill hike to a canyon lookout. During this part of the hike, Aram had an awesome experience that sent him back to Chicago revitalized.

One week later... Aram is now pursuing entirely new passions, which includes enrolling in Culinary School. We are all very excited for him. He starts school in two weeks!

Saturday Night in Providence

After eating tons of bagels... it was hard to believe that the boys were ready, willing, and able to move on to supper. But they were. Joshua was thrilled to be out of his dress clothes and back into casual clothing.


In addition to the regulars that were now staying at the house: Gail & Josh Lentz, Aunt Janet, Grandma Pat, Cousin Eden, & Cousin Aram, Aunt Molly, we were now joined by the Tannenholz clan.

Phil & Carolynn arrived with Grandma T. In addition, Brandi & Ava (Devon's grand-daughter) was with them.

Now we really had a full house. But somehow it was organized chaos.

Josh, Eden, David, & Joshua

Gail, Carolynn, & Janet... hop on the computer to reserve seats
for their outgoing flights on Sunday.

Aram kicks back with a bottle of beer.
(Which believe it or not, had a kosher seal.)

The Utah made wine is still flowing... courtesy of Aunt Janet.

Gillian & Mum (aka Grandma Pat) snuggle for the camera.

Grandma Pat & Grandma T.

Grandma Pat, Grandma T, & Molly.

Grandma Pat & Joshua.

Grandpa Phil

Grandma Carolynn, Aunt Molly, & Grandma Pat

Molly & Carolynn

Brandi & Devon

Devon, Ava, & Brandi

Grandpa Devon & Ava

David, Molly, & Ava

Working off dinner... with a game of football.
(Josh, Eden, Aram, & David)

NOTE: The bar mitzvah boy
is probably inside playing his new
Indiana Jones Wii game
he got as a present from his buddy Ryan

Our local bakery did the best they could to spell "Mazel Tov",
which means congratulations in Hebrew.

Kiddush Luncheon in the Garden

Joshua's cousins, Eden & Aram, did a fabulous job of kicking off the kiddush luncheon. First up was Eden, who said the Hebrew prayer over the wine. Then Aram, said the Hebrew blessing over the bread.

(I'm sure that my sister is glad to know that all those years attending Hebrew school were not in vain!)

TRADITION!!! TRADITION!!!

Once the wine/apple juice and challah bread had been blessed and devoured... it was time to move on to the main course. Bagels & cream cheese, champagne & oj (aka mimosas), and all those desserts we'd spent all week baking.

Everyone tucked in and joined in the feast.

Congregants, guests, friends, and family, enjoyed lunch as if they'd know each other forever.

The biggest hit at the sweet table had to be the chocolate filled cream puffs. Which were made by our homeschooling friend (Lina McKinnon). This sweet sweet girl (who is only 14) made 180 cream puffs for the occassion of Joshua's bar mitzvah. They were out of this world.



Here Joshua poses for one last photograph with Judi. Everyone agreed that Judi did an excellent job coleading the Bar Mitzvah service. It's hard to believe that she has not had any formal training... because she really comes across as good as any rabbi.

Saturday Bar Mitzvah Service

The big day finally arrived. As dawn broke, I already knew that the weather was just going to be just perfect. As ordered, we were blessed with an wonderful sunny day.


Everything went according to plan.


We arrived at the synagogue at 8:00 a.m. so that we could get all the setting up completed before the guests arrived.


We got all our jobs done in record time, so that we even had a few minutes to squeeze in some photos.

The bar mitzvah ceremony was excellent. Everything went off without a hitch. Joshua was flawless in reading from the Torah for the first time and gave an excellent speech (known as a D'Var Torah). He related his Torah portion (i.e. Moses turning over the leadership of the Jewish People to Joshua, and the prophecies that Moses made regarding when the Jewish people would cross over into the promised land). Joshua did a wonderful job of contrasting those biblical prophecies with what really happened in history.


In addition to the Torah reading, Joshua did his entire Haftorah Portion (from the Book of Isaiah) in Hebrew. It was a huge portion and half way through we thought he was going to collapse from exhaustion. But, he did it all.





Being a lay led bar mitzvah (i.e. no rabbi) almost everyone in the congregation played a part int the service. Judi Amsel (Brith Sholem's president) co-led the service with Joshua. Jeff Shneider served as our gabai (led the Torah service) and a host of other congregants had aliyahs, read from the torah, and/or read prayers in English.

Special family honors included, both Aunt Janet & Grandma Pat participating in the generational passing of the Torah. In addition, they both had an aliyah (said the Hebrew blessing before and after a reader chanted from the Torah). Josh Lentz and David had the honor of closing the doors as we returned the Torah to the Ark. Gail Lentz read the "23rd psalm", Grandpa Phil read the "Prayer for Country", Grandma Carolynn read the "Prayer for Peace", and David read the "Prayer for Israel".

Grandma T. gave a beautiful speech about the origin of Joshua's name. After which, I gave the traditional parent speech (with the appropriate amount of mother "touchie feelie" memoirs). During the presentation of the tallit (Joshua's prayer shawl) I recounted the "remarkable coincidence" of it's previous owner being a past member of Congregation Brith Sholem. That story deserves a separate entry.

All in all, the entire service was flawless. Since we are not permitted to take photos during the ceremony, here are some of the pictures Molly was able to snap before the service began.

Dear friends Josh and Gail Lentz with Joshua.

Here's my nephews looking very rabbinical
as they review the prayers.

(Joshua, Eden, David, Aunt Janet, & Aram)

Josh and David practicing how to close the doors of the Ark,
slowly and reverently.

Grandma Pat (my mom) and Joshua.

Grandpa Phil & Grandma Carolynn with Joshua.

(Devon's mom and step father)

Joshua and Grandma T.

(Phil's mom and Joshua's great grand mother)

Joshua, Devon, David, & Brandi

(Joshua & David's sister)

Brandi & Joshua

Gillian, Joshua, Molly (Devon's sister), Devon, David, & Brandi

Aram fixing Joshua's tie.

Grandma Pat with all her bar mitzvahed grandsons.

Grandma Pat with ALL her grandsons.

(Eden, Joshua, Grandma Pat, David, & Aram)

Add in the respective moms....

(Gillian, Eden, Joshua, Grandma Pat, David, Aram, & Aunt Janet)

Boy Scout delegates from Troop 1 in Logan.
(ASM Randy Martin, Joshua, Ryan Martin, & SM Tom Hogan.)

Joshua & Judi Amsel

(Bar Mitzvah Service Leader, Joshua's B'Nai Mitzvah Teacher,

& President of Congregation Brith Sholem.)

Proud mother and bar mitzvahed son,
looking snazzy in our new prayer shawls.