Lighting of the Y

We went down to BYU tonight and hiked with Y with Joseph, Mel, and Ethan (& Bella!)

The person who took this pic for us took like 6, and there was a progression in each one that showed Ethan putting a stronger and stronger choke hold on Owen, ha, funny.

Peter was sad in those pictures above. He fell asleep on the drive down, and when we woke up him and pulled him out of the car, we didn't check to make sure he had his Spiderman Lego. So it was left on the back seat. We tried to tell him that it was for the best, cause it could get lost on the mountain, but he was still sad. He did a great job trying to carry on, with Wesley holding his hand. 

Peter walked the whole way to the Y. He did great. Owen did great too. Daniel murmured a little bit, but still did awesome for a 7 year old kid. Katharine didn't complain much, but she was carried the whole time. 

We were grateful to have a lot of helpers. 

We started up the trail with plenty of light and time to take our time until the lighting at 7:30. It was pretty with a sliver of moon above Utah Lake.

We ended up being in a few different walking groups, but we all found each other once we reached the Y, and with a few minutes to spare before the lighting.

And we were able to do the countdown. 

We cheered and then thought we should head down. We started to walk away, but Owen was sad cause he wanted to touch the Y. It was crowded and we had been standing on the side. So Mel and I took Owen and Daniel over so they could touch the Y - 

Time for selfies and BeReals - 

Cosmo was on the trail as we left. There was a line, but we waited for a minute so Danile adn Owen could get a picture with America's coolest mascot!

Joseph asked Cosmo to take his BeReal - ha!

As we were standing by Cosmo, some official BYU filming guy asked if he could take a picture of Katharine. She was asleep - 

But we tried to wake her up. She was groggy and then started to fuss, sorry she didn't smile for the camera! I got her out and ended up carrying her down the mountain, which was fine. There was a long line for donuts and hot chocolate, which the kids waited in, and I went to the car and nursed Katharine. It was a long night, it was worth it, good memories and a fun tradition!

Last note for today - our last cottonwood tree was cut and pulled down this afternoon. I'm sad. 

Now we don't have leaves dancing in our bedroom window, sniff. 

We're glad that no trees will fall and hurt the house or kids, but darn! I'm going to miss the green. The kids are sad too. Hyrum sent this picture and said he didn't realize how green and full it was when we first moved in. No tree reaches the sky. Goodbye trees. We will miss you, and maybe we'll try to plant some replacements or something. 

Update - Oct 19 - on BYU's instagram and facebook pages, they posted a "Light the Y Homecoming 2023" video that made of the lighting the Y on Tuesday ~ 

aaaaand... guess what cute kid made the final cut? None other than our own Katharine! (at the :50 mark!) She's so cute!