Abundant Recompense Copy

Megan and Sam had their first baby at the end of September, and with my parents coming out and the blessing happening, we decided to road trip up to Idaho and join in the fun. We had fun with the shower cap at the hotel. Keeping busy with Grammie and Gramps. The proud Mama and her cute little baby!  We took a walk with Grammie and Gramps up to see the temple when the kids started to go stir-crazy. The Rexburg temple. Bryn was a major pill. This is the biggest smile she gave us pretty much the whole time. Sam gave a beautiful blessing, and they did it in their home. Family photo Bryn and Addison enjoyed getting to know Natalie a little. Megan did a good job of hiding her alarm when they got quite up close and personal.  We headed home Sunday night and kept Addison home from school on Monday so he could hang out with Grammie and Gramps before their flight left that afternoon. It was a "dream come true" sort of day for me. What a treat to have my parents around and my kids lovin...

In Utah there's a competition for school-aged kids called "Reflections." The kids can enter all sorts of arts categories from dance to video to music composition. We decided that it'd be a good opportunity for Addison to exercise his brain and get creative, so he entered this year. We had a great time working on his project. The theme was "believe, dream, inspire" or something like that. So after telling him what those words meant, he decided he wanted to enter the 3D art category and do a sculpture. He came up with some sketches and a couple afternoons and lots of stinky fumes from baking clay later, he had the finished product. There's water, trees, rocks, and a mushroom, and a draco lizard and a python. The Indonesian rainforest, with Addison standing right in the middle of it. I think he did a great job!

The second weekend of October, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Lindsey and Uncle Micah came up for Dayson's baptism. The baptism was on a Saturday and that morning we snagged Grandpa and went for a hike on the Kays Creek Trail. We got the timing just right - the weather was beautiful and the leaves were simply stunning. We all had a great time, other than Bryn being a little whiny on the way back and coercing Grandpa into carrying her. We found a castle! It's right before the trailhead. We went anyway, in a blatant act of civil disobedience. Government shutdown my eye.     We hiked to a stream before turning around.

Once upon a time our kitchen flooded and we went roughly two months without it. It really stunk. I went through pretty much the full range of possible human emotions every day, which Nate loved. (Put up with, at least.) But at long last, we are ready to unveil our new kitchen, which we are well aware is way, way out of our league.  Had it not been for a huge outpouring of love and kindness from a lot of people in our ward who know a lot more about construction than we do, we'd probably never have had a kitchen again. In particular, our friend Dave just down the street, who is a contractor by trade, gave days and days of his life and labor and expertise to us with very little compensation. You'll recognize him when you get to heaven by the 14-story mansion made of gold with six pools that he's sure to have there. So rest assured, that while this post will surely sound braggy and gushy, we are keenly aware of the fact that we don't deserve any of this, and are totally fla...

She likes the way it bobs on her shoulders.

Every Wednesday the big kids and I are doing what we call a "fun fall activity." Not sure how we ended up sticking with that name, but it works. These activities are highly anticipated by kids and Mommy alike. They've been very simple, which is the main reason they've been so successful, I think. And it's really nice to spend time together with no interruptions or jobs to get done. Here's what we've done so far.  We made these cute little owls out of crackers, cream cheese, raisins and nuts. They were a lot of fun to assemble, and Addison loved them. Bryn, not so much. The second week we made popcorn balls with fun little mix-ins. We had m&ms, candy corns, and crunched up Butterfingers inside. I was nervous about this one because of the potential for burns and boredom with all the stove-top time, but we all loved it. The kids laughed their heads off at the popcorn exploding in the big pot on the stove. And they were fascinated while they watched the go...