It's Autumn Time

Felt pumpkin play! Honestly, not as big of a hit as I was hoping it would be. Isn't that always how it works? Maybe the felt monsters I made will be more exciting?


Apple dumplings and watching "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by a roaring fire. Perfection.


I put an end to canning, voluntarily a few weeks ago. My sanity could only handle so much this season, but I think we are plenty set for next year. Seeing this picture makes me so happy...and so tired.


We missed the best of the autumn leaves up by the Draper temple this year, but we still caught a few for a cold FHE the other night.


The Garners decided to purchase a baby grand piano from some friends, so they generously donated their old piano to us, the one Richie learned to play on. We are all thrilled! We've all spent a good chunk of time on it so far. It brings a new spirit into our home, one that's been sorely missing.

Trick or Treat

Happy haunting from our little Who from Whoville



Just kidding.


Happy haunting from our goblin.


Seriously, isn't that the most terrifying ultrasound picture ever?


We had our 20 week ultrasound today and found out the gender of the baby! I thought it was a boy early on, the doctor said he guessed it would be a girl early on, we really just didn't care very much. We just wanted a healthy baby! According to the appointment, everything looks good and the flavor is....






Gwen wanted a girl, so she was happy. Miles wanted a boy, so I bought balloons and pink airheads to soften the blow. He's totally on board now. :) She was shy during the ultrasound and is measuring a week ahead. Here's some more ultrasound pictures that won't give you nightmares.

Festivities

Our joy school group went to a nearby pumpkin patch last week. I told the kids we didn't need to pick out any more pumpkins because we grew so many in our garden this year, but in the end I let them use their hard earned money to each pick out a few teeny tiny ones. Can't go to a pumpkin patch and not get a pumpkin, silly mom! They had a little petting zoo and Miles had his heart set on buying the black bunny and his cage with his $1. Gwen loved the goats the most. We walked through a corn maze, climbed a hay bale tower, and found all sorts of cool pumpkins. Good day.


Richie's folk's ward put on a little Halloween carnival so I took the kids in their dress up pile costumes. By far the favorite was eating the donuts off a string. Gwen forgot the whole "no hands" rule immediately and just went for it. Miles on the other hand tried diligently, but got so frustrated, we told him it was ok to use his hands.


We're getting into the spirit of things around here! We even lit a fire last night! If you had lived in our house the past year, you would know what a big deal that is. This whole ordeal deserves it's own post, and maybe I'll get around to it once it's all cosmetically how we like it, mantel and all. But for now, our fireplace is in working condition and we've been mesmerized by flames since last night. So happy! Pictures later.

Yo Adrienne!

This past weekend the kids and I (Richie had work) ventured to beautiful St. George to visit family, "watch" conference (as much as one can watch conference with 2 small children), and cheer on my sister as she ran the St. George Marathon for the very first time!

What can I say, she's a rock star. I'm beyond impressed. Not only did she finish, but did so in just over 4 hours and still looked fresh right after finishing. It almost makes me want to start running. Oh wait, who am I kidding, no it doesn't! No, I don't see running a marathon in my future any time, but I'm still incredibly inspired.


I love going down to SG for bunches of reasons, but probably my favorite reason is that I feel like not such a grown-up for a little while. My mommy and daddy take care of me and weight comes off my shoulders. They helped me take care of the kids, braided my hair and Gwen's, did the stomp rocket with Miles and Gwen, read them books, bathed them, and I didn't have to cook a single thing while I was there. Oh, so glorious. The day after I came back, I spent literally all day canning applesauce and pulling my hair out trying to keep the kids entertained, and I thought...forget this grown-up stuff, I'm going back to St. George where my life is on pause for half a second.

I wish I would have snapped more pictures, as usual, but my camera died early on in the trip. I did manage to snag a few of Gwen with her first french braids, courtesy of my mom as I have not yet reached that level of mommy-hood. We laughed about my butcher job on Gwen's bangs and then decided it was just retro looking. Mom pulled out a picture of her when she was a little girl, short bangs, braids and all, and I felt very validated about Gwen's cute short bangs, just like my moms. :)

Lately

What's been happening lately....

Aunt Makenna had a Tangled birthday party a few weeks ago. The kids thought it was awesome. Who wouldn't?


Miles started another year of Joy school with our neighborhood friends. Last time around it was a little more relaxed. This year we're trying to make it more like an actual structured preschool experience. So far, it's great!



The kids have been working hard all summer earning stickers for their chart. It was originally supposed to be used for getting Gwen to get better at keeping her pants clean and dry, and help Miles stay dry at night. Some of that happened, some of it didn't and the plans changed a little. Either way, they worked all summer, and last week they finally had all the stickers earned. So we took them to a community indoor pool. They were totally in heaven. One of those moments as a parent when I feel like patting myself on the back, like we must have done something right. Right?


We got our Fall decorations up yesterday! Hooray! My favorite part about it this year? Getting corn stalks and pumpkins from our own backyard! Sometime when Gwen smiles...energetically..she looks scary. :) Still cute though.