October: 3 Little Pumpkins!

Phyllis was in town the fist week of October to meet Lia and play with the kids! She was here for a week and stayed at Desi’s house because we don’t have very much room. Because she wasn’t very far she would drive up and help me with the kids! She watched them so I could take a nap when I got mastitis (OUCH), played with them so I could do laundry or cook, took them for a walk so I could clean up, and was just so helpful. I love when she visits because she really plays with the kids. They play games and with toys and make so many memories. We met her and Desi and Rick at South Fork Park for a picnic dinner. Before they got there we went over to the ponds and the kids and Rusty went fishing while I stayed back with Lia. Henry had found these ponds at Nature School and really, really wanted to go fishing there. They didn’t catch anything but we had so much fun being outside! The kids got to show Daddy “their” park and it was awesome to see them have so much ownership over the park that we visit once a week.

Cornbelly’s is such a fun place! Last year we went and I decided I wanted season passes so that we could go as many times as we wanted. We went a bunch of times, sometimes with my parents, sometimes with just our family, sometimes with Jessica, Olivia and my parents, and sometimes with our friends. We had a blast! We did pig races (Della’s favorite), the bouncy thing (Henry’s favorite), a light show, an animal show, a dog trick show, the apple blasters, hay ride, slides, cow train, everything! We ate the yummy donuts and delicious apple cider. It was great! This place is very crowded but I think it is so fun and just feels so much like Fall and all things festive! 

Our first time was with Grandma and Papa!

The next time we went with Daddy. It was fun to show him the places that we loved, and also to try new things!

Next we went with Jess, Olivia and Grandma and Papa. Olivia was in town for the weekend and it was a blast to see her and have the kids play with her. After Cornbelly's we went to Jessica's house and watched Hocus Pocus and Rusty took all THREE of the kids home so I could just enjoy it! Woohoo!

The last time we went was with our friends Fox and Cal! We got some extra tickets when we got our season passes and so we gave them to Aubrey to bring her kids. It was really cold that day, but it was fun to try the last few things that we hadn't got to do yet, like mining.

I was laughing so hard to look up and see this dragon in the little town haha.

Della loved the babies!

Apple Cider Day was another great one this year! And I think it is even getting more fun because I’ve been getting closer with my cousins since I’ve moved here and we’ve all gotten older. We had delicious soups and apple cider and treats. The kids got to ride the horses, and Della was devastated that she had to share her beloved Beau (which by the way, I had to tell her was a girl because when she found out he was a boy she decided she didn’t like him anymore). Mom got her a princess costume for Halloween and she would not take it off. To sleep we convinced her to wear a different pink princess dress haha. This girl is crazy! Henry had so much fun with his “cousins” too. He is at such a fun age where he can just go and make friends. He was playing tetherball and was having a hard time, so I told him to stop so I could help him. Well he stopped immediately and just put his hands down and the ball smacked him right in the face! Ah! It was so funny and so sad at the same time haha. My little good listener. Lia was loved on from afar by the extended family and only held by a few people. It was fun to show her off.

Lia's crazy eyes are the best

Pretty soon it was Beckie's Birthday again. This year we did a bigger project than just normally dropping off some things at the women's shelter. We raised money and then took that money to buy things that the shelter gave us that they needed. When I told Henry and Della what we were doing that day they went and grabbed their little piggy banks and got money out so that they could buy toys for kids there. It was the sweetest thing and I was so grateful for them. They have the biggest hearts and I just love them so much. Henry is the best example to his sister about being kind. It is always his first thought. He asked what else he could do for Beckie's birthday and I told him that she loved Olivia very much. He decided to write her a card.

I found out that in Lehi they were doing a Jekyll Hyde play. Now, this is on me and Jessica because we didn't know the full story of Jekyll and Hyde, but the play was so creepy! There were multiple times where I was like, ummm.... wait what?! It was  pretty creepy. But it was really fun to go with Jess! We went and got pho before the show because I can't eat dairy so now I eat a lot of Asian haha.

Nature School is still going strong! I love having an excuse and a reason to get me up the canyon once a week when the leaves are changing colors. It is so beautiful! Once we went after the Snow White story time and Della wanted to stay in her costume so there was this little cute Snow White running around the woods haha.

I love how dirty they are when they come home

Another day we met with the Barrus family up at Big Spring Park. The kids mostly just hung out in a couple of spots and we didn't get far from the parking lot at al. That's okay though! It's all about letting them explore and be curious. I am not very good at being patient so things like this are really good for me too. 

Story Time! One of them this month was Snow White, so I dressed both of my girls up in their Snow White costumes! Della's is so small it barely fits haha, and Lia's is giant! But they loved seeing Snow White and getting a picture with her. By "they" I definitely only mean Della haha. Lia could not care less. She just likes food.

Sleepy Hollow

The Scarecrow Festival has become a tradition in our home, and I love it. We have gone every fall since we have moved here and I love seeing all of the creative scarecrows! And I love just taking a beautiful walk in the fall. The kids each picked out their favorite ones! This year after doing the festival we went to the next building and did the Butterfly Biosphere. They were doing the cutest little mystery hunts for Halloween where the kids had to gather clues and then solve the mystery of which bug was haunting the building! SO adorable! We met the Bartons there and had a great time.

When I was still pregnant with Lia I saw that the Scera Theater by our house was doing a Pirate play in October. I knew that my kids would love it, and I also was pretty sure that they would be feeling left out with the new baby coming so taking them on a little date just us would be fun. This was the first time that I left Lia and Rusty was a champ! I was so grateful to be able to get out for a little bit. The play was based on the book How I Became a Pirate and it was very well done. The kids really enjoyed it and so did I!

We had a fun pumpkin carving party at Jessica's house. The kids and I made some fun Halloween cupcakes to bring with us and also some eyeball spaghetti! Jessica had all kinds of fun treats set up too for us to eat. It was all so festive! Mom brought some fun games for the kids to play before we carved our pumpkins. Della was not very into the pumpkin carving. When I asked her if she wanted to touch it she said, “Ew. That’s super yucky!” Haha. Henry was adorable and drew his own little face on the jack-o-lantern to carve and Papa helped him with it. He had four faces on different sides! Della wanted a girl jack-o-lantern, so it had to have a bow. Obviously.

For school I started doing some really simple lessons again, nothing crazy. We did do some really fun Halloween science experiments though! We made dragon eggs, and played with crushed bones (baking soda) and vampire blood (red vinegar). We also made a big jack-o-lantern from an orange balloon. Della has been soaking up the stuff that I’ve been teaching Henry, and she can write a lot of the letters in her name! I’ve never showed her that or taught her anything, and I am so impressed! Henry is able to write his sight words and his handwriting has improved so much!

I was so excited that our ward did a trunk or treat this year! They have never done it since we have lived here, and this year especially we were all craving a little interaction. We had to wear masks and go in one direction, but it was still really fun. The kids were bee keepers (Henry’s request) and Lia was a little bumble bee. It was the cutest thing! And because of the giant beekeeper hats they didn’t have to wear masks underneath. We decorated the car and had a lot of fun!

I have really enjoyed living so close to the University Place Mall. They do the funnest activities, including those awesome story times every week. For Halloween the did a villain’s walk where you walked through a room that had a bunch of different Disney villains there to talk to, and I was so impressed. I think they did such a great job! The kids had fun, but were also really scared of some of the people. Della hid behind my leg when we saw Cruella DeVil. Henry was the most scared of Hades. We also saw Captain Hook, the Queen of Hearts, the evil Queen from Snow White, Ursula, Jafar, Maleficent, and the sisters from Hocus Pocus.  

It just wouldn’t be fall without playing in some leaves! This year I think was my favorite time because we made a whole day of it. We went over to the church and raked up the leaves there and spent a lot of time just playing. First we played all together and then the kids played and I read Dracula. There was a lot of laughter and fun! Lia was a good sport and chilled for a while.

We have a tradition of visiting Jaker’s every year. We weren’t going to go this year, but I really wanted to take the kids to a pumpkin patch so they could pick out their own pumpkins. It is something that I really loved doing as a kid and I wanted my kids to experience it too. So we went to one patch and they only had ones that were already picked that you could choose from, and so we ended up back at Jaker’s haha. We only had 40 minutes before they closed and it turns out that all of their pumpkins in the patch were rotten. Needless to say it wasn’t a very successful trip in that way, but we played in the corn pits and in the straw maze.

Halloween finally came! I love this holiday so much and Henry and Della are at such a fun age for all of the trick or treating and celebrations. Della wanted to be a princess (like Henry wanted to be a beekeeper) so for our family costume this year Rusty was a knight, Henry was a dragon, I was a unicorn, and the girls were princesses. We met up with the Bartons and the Kranendonks (Kyle’s sister) and went trick or treating in their neighborhood. It was a great time! It was the first time that things felt normal since Covid came. 

Pumpkin pie smoothie

Ghost in toast

Henry's Highlights

• He started saying funny phrases like, "I'm sorry to say" "I'm having trouble" 
• "I have something I'm interested in"
• Henry is ridiculously proud of Amelia. She said something that remotely sounded like "ah" when she was crying and he's convinced she knows that when you go to the doctor you say "ah". Also, she accidentally hit my phone and opened up the Disney+ app and he just knows she's so smart she can turn on a show. He keeps saying, "Isn't that amazing?! She is just a baby!"
• He says Baby like "baybeh" and it drives me bonkers haha
• Henry is so nice about me being his teacher. He tells me thanks for being a fun teacher or the best teacher all of the time
• He tells me and Rusty that we are the best parents in the whole world
• He dropped his piggy bank and it shattered one day when he was trying to open it to get more money to give to the women's shelter

Adeline's Adventures

• Della has a magic touch that can help Amelia stop crying
• She sings all of the time still, and just makes up words about random things.
• She has gotten very camera shy, and if she sees me with my phone she will stop singing or talking. She has also decided she won't ever take a picture again and refuses to smile in them.
• She was pretending to teach me yoga one day and said, "Then we die, die, die. That's just yoga. It's not sad, it's happy."
• "Pretend me new person." You absolutely cannot call her Della.

Amelia's Updates

• She doesn't like when I eat dairy or chocolate
• She loves eating all of the time
• She loves her changing table. It's her favorite place
• Her first smile: October 17. This day she just woke up and smiled pretty much the whole time I was changing her!

• Lia makes monkey sounds all of the time
• She is one month!

Extra Pictures