Abundant Recompense Copy

A couple Saturdays ago we decided it had been way too long since we'd done any explorations of the out-of-doors. We were hoping to see some pretty fall colors, so we went to revisit the yurt. To make a long story short, we started at the wrong place and ended up hiking a long way before we realized it. Then on the way back, we missed our starting point and stumbled into the good ol' yurt. Freezing and starving by this point, we scarfed down our tacos in the dark. and booked it back to the car. That said, we had such a good time! It's so nice to just get outside sometimes with just the family in a place where it's quiet and you have no immediate deadlines or responsibilities breathing down your neck. We had so much fun watching the kids enjoy the outdoors too. This has been the most wildly successful hike we've had with Bryn so far. She had a blast riding on my back and was happy the entire time and did not beat on the back of my head or pull my hair at all, which i...

Two stories - they come together: Story #1: We have two completely ridiculous dogs down the street. I hate going on walks and passing their yard, because they'll stop whatever they're doing and come try to kill me and my children. They are ugly and big and dumb and I hate them. Once one of them almost bit Addison's finger off. Story #2: We listen to the radio in the car more often then not, and Addison sometimes picks up on the words to a song. There was a stretch of several weeks where he walked around the house singing "Heydee and hijay! Heydee and hijay!" Over and over again. Nate and I racked our brains trying to figure out what in the world he was saying. We finally gave up until one day in the car it dawned on me. You may be familiar with the Enrique Iglesias song, "I Like It." If not, here's a clip. Yeah. "Heydee and hijay" = "Baby I like it." Wow. The Union: Not long after Addison's close call, we were again walking by...

The first weekend of October our church had it's semiannual general conference. We got the chance to watch our leaders speak to us on tv for several hours on Saturday and Sunday. I've gotta say, our expectations of what we'll get out of conference have gone down considerably since we had children, so we were pleasantly surprised when they were downright cooperative. We still look forward to getting the printed version in the mail, though. We tried several strategies to keep the kids occupied and quiet, and this one worked the best. Tent in the living room. Oh yeah. It was a mess, but at least the mess was contained. And the kids had a blast! Nate's family was also in town for our niece's surgery, so as a bonus the kids got to play in the tent with Grandma and Grandpa too.

He's a handful, I'll tell you that much. He's learning to be a big helper by going to get things I ask for and sharing with Bryn and putting his dirty dishes in the sink. He also helps me to clean up his room every morning and did a passable job by himself this morning without even having me in the room! With all that maturity has come a good deal of orneriness too, mainly in the form of selective hearing. I feel like a broken record every day of my life. He is a lot of fun, though. Here are a few things he's currently loving. Movies, as always. Here he is caught up in the emotion of some favorite movie. He'd watch tv 24/7 if we'd let him, which we don't. Usually at some point during the morning I mention what day it is and what we do on that day, such as, "Today's Monday. We have family night tonight." He's learned what we do on most of the days. Sunday we go to church, Wednesday we go to Young Women, Thursday we do laundry, Saturday Daddy...

Well let me tell you. Bryn is a cute little curly-headed baby. The most frequently-asked question I get from the out-of-towners about her is whether she's a fluent walker these days. The answer is definitely yes, and has been for a couple months. She's quite skilled on the stairs as well. She taught herself to go up and down them a long time ago and is now going down them the grown-up way. She'll sit on a step, put her feet on the next one and stand on it, then scoot onto her bum and do it again, all the way down. I for one am impressed. Second most frequently-asked question is how many teeth she has. Last time I checked it was six. 2 on bottom and 4 on top. I find several things particularly lovable about her right now. Her honey-colored curly locks. Her extreme excitement for baths - she tries really hard to launch herself over the side of the tub fully-clothed when she hears the water start. Sweet hugs that she gives to Mommy. Obsession with books. If she sees one of he...