Howdy, October!

Holy smokes, it's October!  I can't believe how fast this year is passing, but I love fall and love October so I'm happy to welcome it.  This cute girl started her 3 year old preschool last month and loves her cute teacher and my friend, Miss Marli.  It's in our neighborhood and with just 6 kids, it's perfect for us right now.  She always says in her sing-song voice, "When I go to preschool, I skip a day, go, skip a day, go, skip a day, go........"  You get the picture.  I love this age and wish I could freeze time.

 

No huge new updates with this one right now.  The doctor says she needs to eat more so we're trying to make sure she is full!  We suspect she's allergic to milk (I put a tiny bit in her oatmeal and she threw up for about 15 minutes, then was fine).  She likes to feed the dog from her high chair, is almost crawling, smiles on a dime, and is still pure sunshine.  She lights up my life.  So cheesy, but so true.

This cute girl stayed up super late with me while the boys went to the BYU football game....she just couldn't wait to decorate for Halloween.  I'm not a decorator but this girl takes it seriously and loves it.  She carefully and thoughtfully placed each of these bats on the wall, helped me make a wreath for our front door, and put fake fall flowers together for a centerpiece.  It was so fun.  I love her quiet, sweet personality.  And, yep, that family picture only has half our kids in it....that's just the way I roll people.  I finally just bought my first pair of skinny jeans which means they will be out of style tomorrow.  Actually, maybe they already are.  I never know.

I got to go on a field trip to the fire station with Parker's class, but had to book it back to the school early when I got a call from the school that Kam was feeling sick.  It was fun to be there with him while it lasted.  

We had an apple tasting contest for family home evening.  I bought five different types of apples, cut them up, and put them on plates for sampling.  Then we voted on our favorites.  And the winner was........... Ambrosia!!  I had actually never purchased them before.  I guess I will now.  We love apples and apple season!

And we just finished up General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  It happens twice a year and they are my two favorite weekends of the year.  I love our prophet, President Thomas S. Monson.  As he stood at the pulpit to address us and struggled to stand due to his 88 years of age...my love for him grew.  He has given his life to serve the Lord and I love him for it.  The whole conference was so uplifting and I can't wait to re-read and re-listen to the talks given.  

Parker and Dave working on a puzzle while listening to conference:

The circus (and Scott) comes to town

My brother Scott and his wife Sidney came to visit this weekend!  They stayed three nights with us and it was so fun to have them. Their cute little guy, Van, is 2.5 weeks older than Josie....and about 2.5 times more heavy than her too!  I did get a picture of the babies together, but dang it, I didn't get any more pictures of the weekend. Both Scott and Sidney are so pleasant and easy going. It was so fun to catch up with them. We loved having them... And my girls were in heaven when Aunt Sidney painted their nails.  

I got to tend Van when they went to the circus. He and Josie would sit and look at each other, then Van would open his mouth really big and try to kiss her. It was adorable. We were sad to see them go!

Here we go!

So, here we go again....after over two years of no blog posts, I'm going to give it another go.  I have really struggled to document so many things that I want to remember.  I have started things here and there but I have the darnedest time staying consistent!  After going through a difficult time about two years ago, I found keeping a written journal was so helpful for me....and I did great for about a year....

And then I had baby number 4 and the written journal was pushed aside, except for the occasional five minutes I'd take to jot something down.  That baby number 4 is now nine months old and I have recorded so little.  We took a family trip to California several weeks ago and one day during some down time, I was telling Parker about this funny face he used to make as a baby.  Then I remembered I had a picture of that funny face on my blog so I looked it up for him and Kam.  Then I started reading some of the other posts about funny things they had said.  They LOVED it.  We were laughing and remembering funny moments of when they were younger.  As we read through them laughing I was sad at the same time, thinking of all the things I hadn't recorded.

Then, one morning, as I was out for a jog along the beach, I was thinking of my old high school friend, Becca....and thinking of her amazing blog that I LOVE reading (seriously, you should check it out http://renfroescoop.blogspot.com).  I was thinking of what a treasure she has with everything she has recorded (I am so grateful for her example)....and I knew I needed to give it another go.  I messaged Becca on Facebook.  I asked her how, with 4 kids, did she make blogging happen along with all the other amazing things she accomplishes?   She was so sweet to answer.  Among several other extremely helpful tips, she said that she was fast.  She said she loves writing and she was able to do it fast.  And I.......am not fast.  I also love writing, but I write and re-write, then second-guess, worry what people will think, get distracted, etc.  I rarely post anything on Facebook because after I do,  I analyze it over and over, wishing I had written it differently (lame, I know).  But I am going to try this blogging thing again.  And I am going try to be faster.  My kids are growing up crazy fast and I don't want to forget all of it.

I also love to cook.  I love looking up healthy recipes and I love cooking for my family.  Even though my house is rarely spotless, gosh darn it, my family is well fed.  So on the left, you'll see a link to a blog where I will post recipes that I try.  I'm just going to start recording recipes as I make them, instead of backtracking and thinking of everything I would like to add.  But really, this blog and the recipe part are for me.  I want to record my recipes on that blog so I can quickly look them up again.  And I want to remember this crazy, busy time in our lives that I love so much.  So if you are reading this, enjoy!!  Here's to another go of it.