On Saturday, Sept. 10th, we had a primary water party.  I was put in charge and decided to go with a theme (because making invitations is easier if there is a theme).  I went with Fishers of Men.

Labor Day is when Payson has its annual festivities - Onion Days. Matt had to be in the parade on Monday with the pipe band.  I fully intended to go watch, but then I didn't.  Instead, I cleaned around the house - yay for a cleaner house lol.

After Matt got home and showered, we went over to his parents' house for the traditional pizza :)  It was fun to hang out with family.  Mocha got to meet new friends, Maggie and Paisley.  She does so well with new animals, as long as they're not mean to her.  She really loved being off her leash and running around outside.  She also loved rolling in the hay.... oh well.  She didn't get too dirty. :)

Also awesome was the pair of Swainson's hawks we saw on the pole in the field. :)  Dad brought out his binoculars and his scope so we could see them better.  Here are a few pics taken through the scope.

Shades of Brown came and performed their acoustic set for us.  Well, Mark wasn't there, but it was a fun rehearsal, and more of the family got to hear Matt's band :).

This is just a little post to cover the little things that have happened that don't warrant their own post :)

The weekend after Jackson, Shades of Brown performed at I Sea Stars in Payson.  It was a lovely evening.  It was in the park at the bandstand, and decorated nicely :)  We watched Nick Sales, The Summer Transition (who I now follow of FB :)), The.Freebie (Zac, you're awesome!), and then Shades of Brown, and Allred (who I also follow now - ♥!).  It was nice weather.  Mocha came out with us.  It was a long time without water, but she was a good puppy :)

By the time Shades of Brown played, it was getting dark and candles were lit.  You could also actually see the lights they were using.  Spencer ended up breaking a string and borrowing Zacs guitar for the rest of the evening.

One last trip for the summer - as always was when the band headed north to Jackson Hole, Wyoming the third weekend in August.

The games was a little different this year.  They didn't have much money, so they didn't hold a band contest.  Initially, they were only offering piping solos, but BJ decided to come up and judge so there could also be drumming solos.  Our band and the Eagle Rock Pipe Band from Idaho Falls were brought in as guest bands in order to have some entertainment throughout the day, so all of our band went up.

I originally had Friday off, because I naturally assumed we would leave Utah at a decent hour and enjoy the evening in Jackson.  However, Shades of Brown put a damper on that plan because they were playing at a party.  The party started at 7pm, and we thought the would play close to then.  However, apparently they didn't play until about 9pm, which was when Natalie and Tashina arrived at our house because we had thought we could leave by then....

Matt finally made it home and we finished loading, and we left Payson at about 11:30pm.  Natalie's backseat in the truck wasn't very comfortable, so I didn't get a lot of sleep :\  I did get a few naps in, and after Bridger's pillow ended up between us, I used that for awhile to get a little bit longer of a nap.  I did, however, plan ahead and was in PJ pants with my face washed and contacts out for the ride.  This was a wonderful plan as we didn't get to the hotel until about 4:30am.

Another joy, which actually was quite fun, except was a little inconvenient because we got in so late, was the hotel had some issue (thanks Shawn for calling to let me know :)) and so Shawn and Joe were bunking in our room.  This really didn't bother me, except I felt bad waking them at 4:30am.  When we got in, Matt took off his shoes and fell asleep, jeans, button-up shirt, and all.  I had to brush my teeth first, however.  I felt icky when I got in.  But it was super nice that was all I had to worry about before getting to bed :)

Because Dave wanted the bands to be playing throughout the day, we had to be at the fairgrounds at 9am.  Before I go off about how amazing it was I was able to wake up and get ready just fine, I should probably mention that I follow Owl City on twitter.

I know, how does that relate? Well, you see, I get his tweets sent to my phone, and my phone was apparently on really loud, and Adam, being overseas at the moment and an insomniac, tweeted at 6am Saturday morning, which woke us all up :)  Joe got up a little after that, and I followed suit so I had time to shower.  Even though I only slept for like 3 to 4 hours, I was awake and did fine most of the day.

We left around 9am for the fairgrounds.  The weather was nice most of the day.  Because of our late arrival, Matt wasn't soloing.  However, Matt plays for Natalie's solo - but she came to her senses and decided to scratch :)  While the band tents were being set up, Shawn and I did our usual - go find breakfast instead of put up the tent - routine.  They had a sandwich booth, and we got breakfast sandwiches and hung out getting food.  Lucky for Matt, it was too much food for me, so he got to share :)

Since the games (which is usually small in terms of vendors anyway) had no money, the festival was even smaller this year.  Shawn and I shopped some during the day and found the usual stuff.  Our friends from Colorado were there with their booth, and we avoided it.  (It's a husband and wife - and he does NOT shut up ever....)  The band played a few times throughout the day, and they even did an opening and closing massed bands - all two of them lol.

Lol - his first adventure ended up on his nose :) Isn't he cute?  Then a few of us went in the shop next door (shown behind Matt to the left) that has awesome natural stuff - for way expensive.  When Matt and I came two years ago, they had a giant geode with a glass top for use as a coffee table.  Matt wants it :)  It wasn't there this time, though, but we still wandered around.

We ended up taking the second to last table of our group, with Natalie, Tashina, Bridger, and Shawn.  Amazingly, they were super slow with us and we left last. :p  It was fun, though.  I left my actual camera, and the pics I tried taking with my phone are super dark.  Yay for Photoshop, though.  The ones of us and Tashina and Natalie are blurry, but Shawn turned out well :)

Remember how we kept Bandito boarded at the vet's office over the weekend? Matt went up Monday afternoon to bring him home.

I talked to Dr. Schiffer when she came in at about 12:30pm.  Bandito was still making improvements on the Milk Thistle, so Matt went up to bring him home.  They showed him how to give him his meds, and they came home with a month's supply.

Matt and Jennifer went to Petco to get a new cage because the doc thought the liver toxin was probably ingested exposed metal from their old cage.  It was old and the coating had been broken in places.  They brought it home and Matt put it together.  Matt ended up separating Bandito and Bethesda because she was bothering him and Bandito still wasn't 100 percent.  Bethesda ended up in the old cage on the dresser, and Bandito was in the new cage on the floor.

Matt gave him his medicine around 9pm.  I had to work later that night and didn't even leave Orem until 9:30pm.  When I got home, the birds were shut in the office to keep the cat and dog out.  I didn't check on them :\

Tuesday morning, Matt had to get up early to take Mocha to the clinic to be spayed.  He checked on the birdies, and came back to the bedroom to tell me Bandito didn't make it.

It saddens us.  I wonder what happened when he had been making improvements.  Was it the new cage?  Was it Bethesda harrassing him?  Was it having the door shut? (It gets hot in the office.)  But in other ways, I'm glad he waited until he could come home.  Even if I didn't get to see him alive again, at least Bethesda could see him and he could be here with us.  We miss our little dude, but Bethesda misses him more.  Now she is in the big new cage all alone.

Later Tuesday morning, we took Bandito up to my parents' house to bury him in their garden near Bhuvan. :(