October

Conference Sunday always means sticky buns. The kids used to not care but they are starting to look forward to this tradition, especially Molly and Stockton.

Stockton enjoyed them!

Sunday morning conference goings on...some snuggles, coloring, reading books, giving dad "scratch-backs," and trying to listen too!

We went to Gene and April's in between Sunday sessions, as per tradition. Riley and Brynn made this block tower that was taller than them and Ivy thought she was a big girl sitting up at the island on a bar stool.

After dinner we spent some time outside playing games in the yard.

This is so unflattering but the way Brynn sleeps makes us laugh all the time. She is a open-mouth snoring little girl.

Brynn picked rollerblading for our plans a lot when it was still warm. She didn't want to be on the road so we turned on some tunes and skated around and around the garage. She wore Molly's rollerblades. I wore mine.

October was the month for raking leaves. I was determined to do better than last year at getting them raked up. I thought it would be best to try to stay on top of the raking rather than do it all at the end (that didn't really work out, you will see) so I took an hour here and there when I got a chance. This is the first week of October in the front of the house. This took me about an hour.

The kids really love when I do a big salad for dinner. Chips on the bottom, lettuce, meat, and fixings could include beans, cheese, olives, tomatoes, green onions, etc. I usually make a homemade dressing but put the ranch out for the kids. I don't mix everything together and just let the kids put on it what they want. Stockton is what I would call a "food shoveler" which means that if he's hungry and if it's something that he enjoys, he puts his mouth right down by his plate and shovels the food in.

And Ivy likes to sneak cheese and make a mess of it all over the floor.

Justin's big job/project of the fall was firewood. It was a ton of work. After we had scouted out a place, he asked his dad and Brett to come and help him cut down the trees. April came too and helped a lot. We borrowed a trailer from our home teacher and they spent all day in the mountains and filled it as full as they felt comfortable with before it was too heavy for the truck to pull. It was a long, full day and I know there were some sore muscles the following day. And this load looks so small and wimpy but it really was a whole bunch of wood.

Justin and I spent the rest of the day unloading the trailer so we could return it and then Justin spent a couple hours after that (in the dark) unloading it all into the barn. I've said it before, but I am so grateful to be married to someone who knows how to get his hands dirty with good, hard work. And even though it was hard work, I think it has been very rewarding to see the fruit of his labor this winter as all that wood has kept us warm and cozy in our house with drafty windows.

Molly invited Sloane Ellingford over for a playdate and of course they wanted to make cupcakes. Right as I was going to start dinner. But cupcakes it was! Molly is getting pretty good around the kitchen and they didn't need too much help. They went with vanilla (Sloane doesn't like chocolate) with blue frosting and lots of sprinkles!

Brynn, Molly, Sloane, Stockton

School pictures. I hate how much they cost but love having them. They turned out so good this year too. My sister said that Molly looks like a teenager in this picture and I have to agree. She looks so grown up these days.

Brynn's room finally got painted! Wahoo! I still haven't decorated it yet but at least it's a room that is usable. We just did the window wall purple and the rest of the walls white.

Here's a picture of Brynn's soccer team. She was the same size as all of them but she was a year older.

Molly was asked to write her own talk for the primary program about a conference talk that has made an impact on her. This is what she came up with. She has always loved that talk.

"A conference talk that has made me feel the Spirit is "Behold thy Mother" by Jeffrey R. Holland because it teaches me the importance of being a mother and helps me to set a goal to become a mother someday."

I was really anxious to get up into the mountains and see some spectacular fall leaves but we just weren't able to make it work with our busy schedules. So we finally took a Sunday afternoon to drive to Midway and explore Huber Grove. I had heard about it and wanted to go see what it was like. It was really pretty and full of cool pioneer history. I loved the old houses on the property and the old apple orchard which still produces apples after 125 years!

We walked around and explored and then Justin and the older kids cut across the river to explore the golf course a little. (It borders Wasatch Golf Course-Justin wanted to try to find any stray golf balls, something he also does a lot at the cabin.)

While they were gone, I stayed entertained watching Ivy run around the porch of the old house.

They came back with their pockets full of golf balls. When we unloaded them and counted them back at the car, they had gathered over 100 balls!

Ivy in a cute new dress for church.

Justin makes dinnertime so much more exciting. He started a noodle slurping contest one night with the kids.

I owed Brynn her date with me clear back from Valentine's Day. It was to take her for a picnic in the mountains and time was running out if I wanted to do it with the weather still being nice. So I got my neighbor to watch Ivy for an hour one afternoon, picked Brynn up from the bus stop, and we headed up Daniel's Canyon to a picnic place I had heard about. It was a great little spot just a few miles up the highway from us.

The leaves were beautiful and there was no one else there except us!

Brynn wanted to explore before eating lunch so we found a short trail that looped around above the picnic area. I had brought a grocery bag for Brynn to collect leaves.

When we were done exploring we sat by the river and ate our lunch of pb&j, chips, and apples.

Brynn wanted to do the loop one more time before we left, only backwards this time.

It was a great little date with my cute little sidekick. I'm glad we still get time together before she heads off to all day school next year.

Here is a sneak peek of Brynn's Halloween costume. Molly put it into her head to be Strawberry Shortcake and Brynn picked out her costume all by herself, wig and all. She also used her own money to pay for half of it.

We used the leaves Brynn collected on our picnic and strung them on some fishing wire and hung them over the front door for a nice fall decoration.

With Molly's crazy soccer schedule, there were quite a few days where I had to pick the kids up from school so we could make it down to Utah or Salt Lake County for a game. I was always worried that they would forget and get on the bus so we usually got out of the car and stood by their bus so that they wouldn't get on. Brynn and Ivy enjoyed running around outside rather than waiting in the car.

Here is Molly doing one of her favorite things. Look at the control she has with her left foot!

And here are a couple of her cheerleaders. They are happy because this was her last game of the season which meant they didn't have to miss naps, live out of the car, or eat on the go anymore...at least until spring season!

One Saturday I was determined to get a whole lot of raking done. I went and bought two or three more rakes so the kids could help and I spent a lot of time outside raking. I raked all the leaves out of the fence line and started to rake the southwest corner of the yard. It was slightly disappointing, though, because I would get a whole area raked up but because there were still a ton of leaves on the trees, just an hour later it would look like nothing had been done! Justin was also trying to mow a lot of the leaves with the riding mower but about a third of the way through our yard, the mower died. So that was not a productive raking day and I started to wonder if the best way to manage the leaves was to wait until all the trees had dropped their leaves and then rake them up.

It was not all for nothing though-the kids had fun jumping in my piles!

Raylie and Ivy

Here is a picture of Molly with all the wood. It still doesn't do the pile justice. It's much bigger than it looks!

Molly updated her blog.

Ivy found a marker and colored herself.

We managed to find a time to go to Gardner's Village with my mom. This time Erin was able to make it with her girls so that was lots of fun to have cousins with us. We have decided that it's much nicer to go on a regular day after school than try to go over fall break because it's just too crowded then to even be fun.

Stockton was invited to a birthday party for a friend on the same day. They were going to Kamas pool. He was devastated when he learned that he might miss it so I gave him the choice between the two. He choice the party and we made it work so that he could be there.

Harper, Ivy, Brynn, Chloe, Molly, Tessa

We did the scavenger hunt and found all the witches.

Harper, Brynn, Chloe

Harper, Ivy, Brynn

Brynn and Harper

We played in the play area where they have a corn pit, a hay maze, some slides, and the giant bounce mat, along with a few other things. The kids really enjoy this area, although it's a waste of money if you ask me...they even make parents pay to walk around and watch their kids. But grandma always insists on paying so we continue to visit this area.

Chloe, Molly, Tessa

When we have a big group we usually leave and eat somewhere else but since we were smaller we ate at Archibald's which is ten times better than anything else around that area.

Always a favorite tradition of everyone!

The women's soccer match came and Molly and I were both extremely excited. I left the kids with Justin and off the two of us went. I actually left Stockton and Brynn home alone and took Ivy to Justin at work. He had a few things to finish up before heading home. Not sure how much he got done with this busy toddler. Good thing the branch keeps suckers on hand!

I made sure we left with plenty of time so we could stop and get a quick bite to eat but the traffic was horrendous as soon as we got out of Parley's Canyon all the way to 90th South. We barely had time to park and make it up to the stadium. I ended up paying for parking which we always try to avoid just because it was so close to starting time. Then I had to buy food at the stadium which was super yummy but also expensive. But it was all totally worth it. Molly was just so, so happy to be there. She kept hugging me and kept saying things like, "I can't believe we are here" and "thank you so much for bringing me here." We got a churro and hot chocolate during halftime (it was a little chilly). We had so much fun and I am so glad I got to do this with Molly. Also, USA beat Switzerland 4-0.

Stockton got a head start on his Christmas wish list. He wanted night vision goggles, a skateboard, and "jail" markers. Haha, love these notes from the kids. He stuck with this list and didn't change his mind.

Brynn got invited to her first birthday party since we've lived in Heber! It was a big deal so I took a picture. It was a Halloween birthday for a friend from Kindergarten named Lizzie.

Crazy hair day. It never gets too crazy around here though. Brynn wanted pink ponytails all over. Stockton went with a mohawk. And Molly had me braid her hair the day before and then brushed it out. They never want to be the kids who stand out. Maybe Brynn will be though, we'll see.

A Brynn selfies.

Brynn bought herself an umbrella and carried it around everywhere. We even found her sleeping with it a few times.

On October 26th we welcomed a new niece and cousin. Cute little Josie Kay Walker joined her three big sisters to make four happy and healthy girls for Christopher and Erin.

We had a daddy-daughter night for Activity Days. We had the dads and the girls dress up and we served them hawaiian haystacks, rolls, and pumpkin bars.

We had them perform a talent as a daddy-daughter team. It was so great! Each pair came up with a talent...some were more traditional like musical numbers, and we had silly ones like camp songs, swing dancing, make-up application, cheerleading, and skits. I loved watching each and every one and those dads were such good sports to get up there with their daughters. Molly rode on Justin's shoulders while he rode his unicycle. They circled around the gym and were done. It was a very fun night!

Activity Days was a fun calling. I'm not super creative coming up with activities but I enjoyed getting to know the girls and for the most part they were just happy to be at activity days and didn't care too much what we were doing.

The kids had the Friday before Halloween off of school for end of term. I made a list of different activities that we could do and let them pick one. They chose to decorate sugar cookies.

World Series 2016. We cheered for the Chicago Cubs. Justin let the kids stay up and watch game seven which turned out to be a good decision. What a game it was...extra innings, comebacks, weather delay. It really was so exciting! Stockton looooved it.