More Polka

The week after I went up with my cousins to watch Joe polka, some of his family was able to come up as well. Some were returns from last year, and others came up for their first time experience.

Our little tuba player had a cheering section that looked like this

I thought it was a lot of fun! We took the small little trail and hiked to enjoy the view. We even saw a deer. The kids liked that. I always enjoy being with my nieces and nephews, as well as mother-, brother-, and sister-in-laws.

Jo-Jo got adventurous and climbed a big rock. James joined him too but I missed a picture of that. Good thing they were steady on their feet and didn't look down - there was a pretty big cliff just below them.

The colors were starting to come out as well, which I love. Fall is such a wonderful and beautiful season. It reminds me of New York, and the temperature is *mostly* enjoyable. :)

When we came back from the hike, we were able to catch the end of Joe's last set. He even got the Jensen clan up to do the chicken dance. I was dancing with Sara and Rachel to begin with, and then realized I was missing an AMAZING photo opportunity, so I ducked out and grabbed the camera. I think you can see just about everyone:

Jo-Jo is in the front corner, with Peter in the orange right next to him. Then there is Suzette dancing with Nora, and James next to Grandma. Right behind Suzette is Marisa to the left and Jessica (in the brown) to the left. Next to Jessica is Matt.

Here's a close-up of Grandma and James.

There is Sara in the yellow and Rachel is just behind her - you can just barely see her pony-tail and her legs.

Here's some more of the spinning: Suzette and Nora, Matt behind her with Rose, Marisa and Jessica, Grandma and James, and Rachel and Sara.

This one captures Peter and Jo-Jo, along with Suzette and Nora again.

After the chicken dance, the twins came and sat with me. It didn't take long for Nora to say she wanted to go and dance. I agreed to go out with her, and Rose followed. I was surprised how tired I was dancing with them! We went and sat down at the end of the song, just as Jo-Jo was coming out to join us, so I agreed to go back out again. It was fun but tiring!

I was grateful when Matt came out and danced with the twins - it's hard dancing with more than one person at a time! I think he's used to it since he has twins.

That meant I could have fun just dancing with Jo-Jo. He was squirming and trying to get away, but he had fun too!

After all the polka was over, we went out into the far reaches of the parking lot and Matt and Suzette brought up their grill. We had brats and salad and listened to the BYU game on the radio. It sure was a fun day with family! We are grateful for all of the support the family gives to Joe and his tuba playing.

Tonight we got to go back up to Snowbird for an "End of Oktoberfest" dinner. Sadly, we missed the tram that went up to the top of the mountain. We heard it is beautiful up there! (We even missed a proposal of the balloon guy; she said yes!) But we also heard it was really cold, which is believable since there is already snow on the ground at the resort. Hopefully next year we'll make it, and I'll just dress warm. We were able to enjoy a nice dinner, music, and a slide show along with some of the other performers and those that really make Oktoberfest happen each year. I'm learning that it's about more than just beer. The traditions are a lot of fun! It's great to see the children dancing and dressing up in traditional German outfits, and the older couples are just darling!