September in General

In August Russ and D'Ann eloped! So Cal and Kathy came out and we had a big family dinner with both sides to celebrate them! We ate at a Texas Roadhouse and Natalie the Nutcracker had a blast!!

Cal gave the cutest little speech. He really is such a good father-in-law and I could tell that D'Ann felt welcomed into the family. 

Because of this little guy, I literally got to eat less than ten bites of food. I just boxed up my dinner and took it home lol!

Caleb makes everything more fun!!

Kathy and Cal put together gift bags for everyone. They are so generous and thoughtful!

I hope I get a copy of one of the pictures they were taking someday because I didn't get the chance to get one of the happy couple!

The next day we took Grandma and Grandpa with us to the aquarium!

And out to Chick-fil-A. Why not, right?

Our culdesac now puts our trash cans in a line down the middle ever since our encounter with the garbage man on Seth's King Day. I love making a difference!

Did you know that Jenna wears a skirt EVERY SINGLE DAY? Well she does. And she almost never matches. I don't know what this little chickadee is going to do come winter!

When Kent's parents came they brought him the rest of his stuff from his room. Some of it was hilarious and others were super cool and others did not need to be carted across the country. BUT I'm proud of them for going through things! The kids were fascinated as he unwrapped each item and many of them have since been commandeered! 

Jonathan got to come stay with us for a couple days before starting school. Here he is being an awesome uncle and doing school with us. He is reading the story he wrote- with a surprise ending!

We also got to see Melissa at the park one day when we were in Provo. I love talking with her about a wide variety of topics because I always learn something and I am always uplifted by our conversation! Here she is getting ready to drive away in her and Karl's car. 

A typical dinner time. Never a dull moment!

I love being pleasantly surprised by sweet scenes like this one: Jenna helping Seth to read his scriptures. It is moments like these when I feel reassured that we are doing something right!

It is football season. Kent and I have a deal that he can watch as much football as he wants as long as he always pauses and then skips through the commercials. So far so good. 

Sometimes the sky here is so awesome to watch!!

We had an amazing rainbow the other day! It was during my little end-of-the-world freak out. 

Honestly, as I took these pictures standing out on our wet drive way I felt like God had given this sign just for me. It was all I could do to hold back the tears as I discussed with the kids how a rainbow is made and when it comes and most importantly why it is here.

My neighbor caught this shot from her porch when I posted to go look outside. Pictures are worth a thousand words but they just can't capture the real thing!

We went inside and read this: 

Silly Jenna! I actually love having an unfinished basement. I think it is going to save us in the winter because the kids can ride their scooters around down there or play soccer or just about anything we would usually do outside!

These three are musketeers lately. Seth is talking so much now he actually contributes to the play and I love it!!

All of our tires are dead from goat-heads. We tried to buy this stuff to fix them but I can't get it to work. I guess I'm just going to have to take it back to the shop where Kent bought it and have them show me how to do it. 

After the temple one night, Kent and I ate at Costa Vida for the first time here in Utah and LOVED it! He likes it better than Cafe Rio actually and says he doesn't care if we never go back lol!

We made apple pie and it was quite the undertaking! Especially with all the little hands "helping". I wish I could be more chill about these projects. I wish I could say they were so fun. But really half the time I want to scream. Why is it so hard? Once we got a good system down it really wasn't so bad, but getting started was stressful like only baking with littles can be.

The result was TOTALLY worth it though and hopefully they have good memories from it! Even Kent said it was super good and I appreciated the compliment after such a monumental effort! =o]

Caleb decided it was high time he take his training wheels off. We had coaxed him into trying a couple times this summer with little success. But now that it was his idea he was ready to go!

Kent helped him down the driveway and as soon as he hit the pavement he shouted "ok let go!"

And he was riding! After a couple mount and dismount lessons he was completely independent- just the way he likes it thank you very much!

On the first official day of fall we made pumpkin pancakes for breakfast. YUM!

I had mine with fresh apple cider. It didn't even need syrup!

Seth is such a funny little guy! I just love his personality and he makes us laugh everyday! He knows he's not supposed to have toys up to the table and when I reminded him he said, "But Mom! Look!" and then he attached his spoon to the front of Thomas' magnet. As I took the picture he started to dip him into his apple sauce the little stinker!

For our other date night Kent and I did a bunch of totally random stuff and had such a great time! We went to a nursery to look at plants and trees for our yard. Then Kent said he really wanted to go to a Japanese steak house. Why not, right? And it was delicious and super fun!!

Then we went to DI and each picked out a shirt for the other. We also scored this complete hardcover set of The Work and The Glory for two dollars each (I know what one of my Christmas presents is this year hee hee!). 

Then we went to this famous local family bakery we had never tried called "The Chocolate". 

We felt real cool lol!

It was DELICIOUS!

Hooray for FREE Saturday morning neighborhood soccer games! =o]

Natalie is adorable. I love it when she reads the friend sitting in the sunshine that hits that chair just right with her legs crossed and everything. I'm glad I caught it on film!

Jenna rates her skirts and dresses on their twirling capabilities. This is her most favorite!!

Thank you Grandmom!

Did you know that I have the BEST banana bread recipe ever? Well I do. 

On the morning we read The Boy Who Held Back the Sea for part of our social studies lesson, Caleb discovered a leak in the pipes in our basement and came running upstairs shouting "alert! alert! there's a leak in the basement!" We called a plumber and he found "building materials" in the main drainage pipe. So then we called the builder and he came and cleaned it out. It was an eventful morning!! 

Aaaaaannnnnnd September's a wrap!