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.

"I Want To Be A Missionary Now"

Another Wallace has entered the MTC. I thought it was so great that Tucker went into the MTC on Taysom's birthday! It was a quick visit from the time he got off the plane to leaving him in Provo, but we loved hanging out with Tucker the past little while. He is so ready for this and is so chill about it all! I was in awe. Talk about a sweet, studly guy. In 2 years, the ladies better watch out. He'll be such a blessing to the people in Indiana! Love you Tucker! Love you Wallaces! Thanks for sharing him with us!

Cousin Connection

Every couple of years the Hinckley side gets together again. Originally a family of 8 children, and then 49 grandchildren, it has since multiplied until there are currently almost 300? Is that right mom? So obviously it's hard for everyone to get together even on a semi-regular basis. This year we had about 2/3rds of the family meet up for an evening at Ensign Peak. We rode the bumpy wagon, ate yummy food, caught up with cousins, learned more about Grandpa Hinckley and watched a movie about the old farm. It was so fantastic! For the longest time I've been wanting to show Richie my grandparents house up on 12th Avenue, but the timing was never right. This time the stars aligned and the man living there now even let us come inside and walk around the backyard to check everything out. Maybe it's just because I'm overly emotional, but I held back tears the entire time until I could get in the car. :) It's a pretty special house, full of wonderful memories.

Another great thing about the reunion was that we got to hang out lots with A and her kids, Russ and Nat and their kids, and mom and dad! We spent Saturday morning up on temple square and thereabouts. We toured the conference center and snapped a quick photo next to Alonzo Arza Hinckley in the hall of the apostles, (my great-grandpa). We checked out a little of City Creek Mall and tried to stay out of the rain as much as possible. What a fantastic way to spend a weekend! I tried to steal pictures from my mom's blog, but it's not working, so for now all you get it this one.

Here we go again!

I feel like the blog has taken on more of a "family log" role rather than more of a journal feel. I guess that's all well and good, it's still our family's history, but sometimes I wish the ol' blog muse would come sit on my shoulder and help me write something fun and entertaining in addition to being informative. It just hasn't been happening, and I suspect it's because every source of spare energy has gone into making something else.



Yep,I am with child again! This picture was taken at 10 weeks ladies and gents. 10 weeks and already showing, that's how I roll on baby #3 I guess. In this picture I had just finished canning about a million green beans and it was some crazy hour of the night/morning, hence the tired/disheveled/crazy person I look like. I walked into the bathroom and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and thought, "Hey, I actually look pregnant!" So I ran and grabbed the camera. I am now 16 weeks and showing even more. To most people it still looks as though I'm just gaining weight. I really hate this stage. If I want anyone to think I'm pregnant and not fat, I have to wear certain clothes, have eaten a certain amount through the day, get me at the right angle...blah blah blah. I'm ready for that obvious bump to appear.

We've hesitated announcing it on a bigger scale since it's taken us so long to get a baby to finally stick around. We had a miscarriage at 5 weeks last October and another miscarriage at 8 weeks in March. However, I feel confident enough a this point to announce it publicly and just hope and pray I don't have to eat my words later. We had a Dr. appointment last Friday and everything looks great, he even guessed it would be a girl at this point! Really?? I guess I'm just not anticipating a girl, I have my mind wrapped around a house full of mostly boys, but I'll be over the moon about boy or girl.

Now that I'm 16 weeks, I feel almost normal! Hooray! Despite how great I feel now, I'd say this has been the hardest pregnancy up to this point. That first trimester was a little rough. This was the first time I had definite food cravings. Like Gwen's pregnancy, in the first tri I had an aversion to processed foods and chocolate. How's that for a diet plan? Driving by billboards of cheeseburgers made me queasy. After a few weeks went by, things switched big and all I wanted was processed fatty foods! I would hear a commercial for KFC on the way home from the gym and just HAVE to have it! I never did, "I'm a good girl I am", but I would have Richie make me special grilled cheese sandwiches instead, complete with garden tomatoes and pickles grilled right along with the cheese. YUM. Sending me grocery shopping for a few months had it's downside. I bought all sorts of junk that we don't normally buy, like limon potato chips. I'm happy to report I'm back to normal, which means I can resist most food wants, unless it's Nutella and graham crackers.

We're so ready for this baby to be here! Ha! Tell that to March 8th, an eternity away. I told the kids I was going to the Dr.'s last Friday to check on the baby in my tummy and Miles said, "Oh! And you're going to squish the baby out today?" I told him no, not yet, and he whined. The kids know what's happening and are very excited. They've wanted another baby for a long time. Let's hope it stays that way once the baby gets here! Miles wants a boy, Gwen wants a girl, we just want a healthy baby.