October So Far

 I love watching this tank eat. He astounds me with how much he loves food and will eat SO much.

 We thoroughly enjoyed General Conference weekend and kept tradition by making delicious cinnamon rolls!

 One day at the park, I was still coming from the parking lot with Briggs and all the others had run ahead. I got there only to find that Bryn had just kicked Ty's fairly new soccer ball into the lake and  they were all watching it float away. Eventually it went to the other side and stopped next to a dock. But after Ty and Bryn walked all the way around to retrieve it, they got stopped a few yards from where it was by a huge chain link fence. So we gave up and went home. The next day (or maybe 2 days later) I was driving by and thought I would look to see if I could find the ball. Sure enough, it had floated over to where we could now get to it! So we stopped and reached with a long stick and got it back. Cool story huh? :)

 There were SO many dead salmon there, it was stinky and gross. But Brynlee was fascinated by it and was using a long stick to pick them all up and make a big pile of dead fish. She was poking at them and inspecting them. I was so disturbed but she thought it was really cool.

The sun doesn't shine very often so when it does we get OUT! This was a wonderful afternoon of the library and then the park for a couple hour. We even ran into some friends at the park that made it even more fun.

Made caramel apples on a stick for FHE one night.

My favorite part of fall is the return of sunsets! I love that I can watch the sun set out my back window while I stand at the sink washing dishes. It makes dish duty more enjoyable :).

This past weekend, Kenny and i somehow managed to sneak in 2 dates, two nights in a row! On Friday we drove into Anchorage and ran some errands, then dropped our kids off at Andy and Shalee's and went to the temple. We are so grateful to them for watching them. It's wonderful to have family nearby. Then last night we got a babysitter and went to the adult session of stake conference. It's been a very spiritually-filling weekend. My favorite part of yesterday was that we got all of our Saturday cleaning done nice and early in the morning. So the whole afternoon we had open. Tyler and Kenny had started building a big marble thing together, and the girls wanted to have some "girl time" with me. So we went and pulled out my fabric bin and they wanted to learn how to sew! It ended up being a really fun activity to do together and they were just beaming with pride. Brynlee kept saying, "sewing is so easy!" haha. Bryn started with a blanket and Madison made a pillow, then Bryn wanted to make a pillow too. Of course I did most of the work and helped them along the way, but it was fun to teach them some ironing and sewing. They just ate it up. Kelsey would sit on my lap and put her fingers on the fabric to help guide it in and she felt pretty good about her contribution too. She liked to cut scraps up and play with the pins. It was a memorable day.

Briggs sort of went back and forth destroying and wreaking havoc wherever he possibly could. But that is the job of a 1 year old and he does it very well! He's getting more confident each day with his walking, and finally learned how to stand up by himself this weekend which is a big deal.

I know this post is getting ultra long. But last Friday, the 9th I have some notes written in my phone because my heart was so full that night and I wanted to remember it. So I better put it here in our family journal. I wrote...
"Today was a really good day. Aside from our normal school stuff, we had a fun "field trip" with our CC friends at open gym at Denali Gymnastics.  After that we went out to lunch together which was a really special treat. We came home and read some books, then worked together all afternoon. We cleaned out the disgusting chicken coop, and cleaned and vacuumed out the van. At one point we thought we had lost a chicken, but she eventually came back so no harm done. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. None of that sounds very exciting but there was such a good spirit, and I know the kids could feel it. At dinner time when we go around and play the "high/low" game, none of them had any "lows" to report. They were all saying what a great day it had been. They all made comments about how working together really is so fun. Madison told me I was her favorite girl in the world. Brynlee admiringly told Tyler that he was her favorite. Kelsey said Bryn was her favorite. And Tyler said Briggs was his favorite. :) Kenny came home and was so funny in playing with Briggs and the other kids. We all just think Brigham is the cutest dang kid in the world. Brynlee also worked so hard in making me a little shoe box full of treasures she created. Including a necklace made of yarn and beads, some cute pictures and small fabric flowers that I'm not sure where she got them. But she put her whole heart into that gift and I really appreciated the gesture :). That girl has a big heart. After dinner we made caramel popcorn and the kids had a movie night, while Kenny helped me with the dishes. I am just feeling so very blessed for such incredible kids and a great husband. It's a wonderful life."