October

 Our October was very busy and very fun. I have mixed feelings about it. I love October for all the Halloween fun: the parties, the music and movies, the pumpkins and pumpkin patch, the decorations, Cornbelly's. There's also soccer, which takes up quite a lot of time, particularly on Saturdays. And of course, there's Camille and my birthday, which adds to the chaos and fun. But on the other hand, it's quite a lot of busyness, and time spent out and about, and stress. Every October gets more and more like that. So here's how we spent our October: 

• First, mom and dad came at the end of September to help Brian and Sammy after the had Lia. They stayed at our house and spent some time with us, but spent the bulk of their time at Brian's house. We went to the park with all of them one day, at a park near Brian's house. We went to Brian's and Sammy's for the morning session of conference for breakfast, too, and I enjoyed many baby snuggles (and maybe a little nap as well). It was very fun to spend time with Gramma and Grampa, and Brian and Sammy's family too, that week. 

Mom made a bunch of freezer meals for Sammy in our kitchen. 

• That Sunday, after the last session of conference, we went for a drive and dinner up the canyon. Apparently, half of Utah County had the same idea, because there were a ton of other people driving up there. And quite a bit of traffic, especially on the way out. But we drove for a little while, enjoying the newly changing fall colors and the mist in the mountains and the rain. It was beautiful up there. We stopped at an overlook spot and busted out some of the cups of chili that mom had made that weekend, among with chips and sour cream, and had a very fall-ish dinner up in the mountains. We stayed in the car, because of the rain (and it was also quite cold). But it was a nice dinner and a fun family outing. 

• I taught preschool at the beginning of October. We did a unit about clothes: why we wear clothes, what clothes are and different kinds of clothes, etc. We read Pete the Cat books and sorted through clothes and painted the letter 'C' with celery. And I always start preschool of doing "Bear Hunt", which the kids love doing. 
• I took the kids on a hike up Provo Canyon, Buffalo Peak. We took Sarah and Taylor with us. The drive up there was absolutely gorgeous. The trees were all in the process of changing colors, and the drive was winding through so many trees up in the mountains. I was rapturous and breaking out into exclamations every few minutes. The last 15 minutes, at least, were up a dirt and gravel road, unpaved, which was very adventurous of us in my minivan. 😂 It was very bumpy. We had to ask someone where the trail started when we got up there. The hike was about a mile up the mountain peak, through the trees. It was absolutely lovely. We all loved every minute of it. (Except maybe Taylor... she fussed quite a bit, and refused to walk much of the way) Sawyer was a good little hiker that day, walking much of it and being held by me for some of the more difficult bits. The view from the top was amazing. We saw all the way down to Provo and Orem, and we had a great view of the mountains behind us. It took us a couple of hours to do the whole thing.

• We went to Cornbelly's a ton. As much as we could, to get good use out of our pass. Brooke went one day with her friends. Sawyer went once with Gina Smith and Wade, and had a great time with them. I took the kids to the Spanish Fork location a few times, and we really liked that location. So much more open, way less crowded. Sarah and I had much less hard time keeping track of our kids, and we felt comfortable letting them go off to play or look at something. I have mixed feelings about Cornbelly's. On the one hand, it's very fun. And the kids really love it. On the other hand, it's quite expensive, and it's always crowded, and I feel very pressured and stressed to go all the time to get the most use out passes. And this year we didn't get to go as much because of scheduling conflicts (ie soccer practices and games).

• Jack and Brooke had soccer games every Saturday (except for on my birthday, how wonderful). I think they were equal measures happy and frustrated about soccer. They enjoyed playing; but Jack didn't have much skill, and Brooke felt badly that her teammates wouldn't pass to her or return her efforts to make friends. And it's of course frustrating having soccer take up every Saturday. 

• We went on our annual BYU family date the first Saturday of October. We took our bikes down to Provo and rode around campus. This was the first year that we all biked around! I still hauled the trailer behind me, in the event that one or both of the boys needed a break. But Jack and Sawyer both ride on their little bikes for most of it. Jack felt like we were always leaving him and complained loudly for us to slow down and wait for him. And I did end up putting Sawyer in the trailer at one point so that we could go a little faster. But all in all, I think it went well and it was pretty awesome that we all biked. There's a bunch of construction in the front part of BYU, where they're putting in the new music building. We walked around the Eyring Science Center and the Tanner Building. And then we went to the creamery for dinner and ice cream. This is one of my favorite traditions! I love going to BYU with my kids every year and remembering the great time I had as a student there. 

• The traveling tabernacle was in our area for a few months, and our stake youth were assigned to volunteer at it one day in October. For a youth activity a few weeks before, our ward youth activity was to go through the tabernacle. It was pretty cool. Youth from another stake were stationed at different parts of the tabernacle to teach people going through it about the ancient tabernacle: what it was for, what different parts were, and the various symbolism there. For family home evening one night, our family went through it. I think the girls thought it was pretty cool, and the boys didn't really understand much. Afterwards, we went out for frostys at Wendy's. A few days after that, I went to do my shift of volunteering at the tabernacle. Mostly I sat and read conference talks; and every once in a while people came by my station, where I offered to take pictures and then directed them where to go. The day I volunteered was super wet and rainy and cold. So not as many people were coming. 
• On Friday the 13th, we had our family Halloween Feast. We had a lot of our normal food, and some new ones: witches brew, bones, ghost and monster cookies, and graveyard dip, a family favorite. 😊 We ate outside on the deck, and it felt so nice. It was a little chilly, but the twinkle lights made it feel special. We watched the first Z.O.M.B.I.E.S movie for our Halloween selection. 

• My girls did something so cute this year. They learned about the library's Halloween house contest and decided to make a haunted house to enter into the contest. They made a house early on, but didn't like how it was turning out (or rather, Brooke didn't like how it turned out, so she convinced Camille to help her make a new one). I helped them a little bit with their second house, and then dropped it off at the library the very last day that they would accept them. I love that they wanted to do it and were so self motivated to make and enter a house. Then we had fun, a couple weeks after that, going and looking at all the houses that were entered. There were so many cool and fun ones, and I think the girls gathered quite a few ideas for next year's haunted house. 

• We went to our ward Halloween party. Actually, it was technically called the "Fall Festival".
• I took the kids on a field trip to the BYU Bean Museum, where they have all of the stuffed animals. We attended a presentation through My Tech High there, which the kids loved, learning fun things about animals. And then we explored the museum.  
• We took uncle Brian and Cap and Summer to Cornbelly's with us one night for family home evening. It's always a fun night going with them. The kids mostly like to play in kids town together. I also had a fun girls night at Cornbelly's. I've done this every year since we moved here, and it's always fun. This year, there were only a few of us; people have just been so busy lately. So it was me, DeAnna, Sarah and Tatum Norris. We walked around, went through the corn maze, rode the hay wagon, got some food and talked. It's such a fun girls night. 

• There was a youth fireside that was really cool. It was a worldwide youth testimony meeting. All the youth around the world were supposed to get together on the same day (or over the course of a few days) and bear their testimonies to each other. We gathered as a stake to watch a few of our general church leaders, including President Nelson, give a message and bear their testimonies, and then we split into groups of 3 or 4 wards to allow the youth to bear testimony. It was pretty cool! 
• Daniel's office had a fun family Halloween party. They had activities and crafts and pictures on the first floor. And then trick or treating on all the upper floors. We took the kids around all the floors to trick or treat, and each floor had decorated with a couple of different themes. It was so fun! I also appreciated that they gave out more than just candy: toys, little stuffed animals, snacks, stickers, etc. I think the kids loved it. And before we left, we got a little food and special drinks that they had out for everyone. 

• Daniel took me on a fun date towards the end of October. We were doing a themed date, and it was all about test driving to buy a car. Daniel rented a super fun car for our date. We took a drive up in the mountains and then through swig for drinks. The girls working there loved the car! We had the car for most of the next day, too, and the girls loved riding around town in it, to the church for cleaning and to Brooke's soccer game and to Smiths for a couple of things. We all loved having the car for the weekend. 

• One Saturday we squeezed in a quick visit to a pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins. The girls loved seeing some of the farm animals there, and the cute little cats that were wandering the place. The boys loved the farm trucks and corn pit. And we all got our pumpkins.

• We carved pumpkins the night before Halloween for family home evening. They all ended up looking so cute. I carved mine into a fairy house and loved how it turned out. Everyone loved carving their pumpkins (Daniel and I helped the little boys with theirs), and they all looked so good together on the porch.

• We took school off for Halloween and just played and got ready for trick-or-treating. This year, Brooke wanted to be a bat and make her own costume. She had a black sweat suit and we had black cat ears in the costume box. On Halloween day, we went to hobby lobby to buy fabric for her to cut out her own bat wings, to pin onto her sweatshirt. I love that she likes to think up and make her own costumes. ❤️ Camille wanted to be a dog, so I ordered her a little onesie dalmatian dog costume that she looked adorable in. Jack kept changing his mind all month long about what he wanted to be: a swat man, a dog, a police dog, an army officer, a robot, a knight, and spaceman, etc. I can't even remember all of the ones he told me. We went to kid-to-kid to see what kinds of costumes they had available. And we found a swat costume, a pretty nice one, in the perfect size! Well, he obviously had to have it. And he's been wearing and loving it ever since we bought it. Sawyer pretty much stuck to one thing he wanted to be: a fire truck. Not a fireman IN a firetruck. A FIRETRUCK. And wouldn't you know, but we found a wearable firetruck at kid-to-kid! Well, I had to buy it. But then every time we tried to get Sawyer to wear it, he never wanted to. And in the end, he wanted to be a black kitty for Halloween. They were all very cute in their Halloween costumes. We love trick-or-treating with our friends around the neighborhood. Daniel went back to the house earlier with Sawyer, and I took Jack back shortly after, leaving the girls to stay out with their friends for a bit. And when we came back to the house, they had to sort through their candy for a bit before bedtime. It was quite the epic Halloween season.