Speedy September

Family: September also went by with a blur!! We got to go to Delta again for Labor day weekend and we visited and relaxed and just simply enjoyed our time there. Then the next weekend we got to go back down and my dad blessed Maisa and Carter's adorable baby Quin! She is a doll and I am so glad that we were able to go. It's times like this that I am so grateful that Colby was accepted into the U's program so that we don't have to miss these wonderful family events.

The girls and I were lucky to be able to get together with my cousins Cicelie and Leah and her girls. We ventured up to Cicelie's new stomping grounds of Weber county. I do have to say that downtown Ogden (although it has such a bad historical reputation), it is my favorite Utah downtown area. On every corner there are these fun colored horses and the girls loved to point them out. Also, there are funky painted pianos on the street corners that anyone can sit down and play. So fun!!! We went up there on a Tuesday that I had off with the intentions of going to the Treehouse museum but we found it closed when we got there so we decided to go over to the Union Station Museum (which was primarily for older people) but the girls had a hoot!

So the next week we went back up there to go to the Treehouse museum and it definitely did not disappoint. It is, by far, my favorite place we have gone all summer. And, hats off to Cicelie, she dug in and dressed up with the girls at every stop! They had a tea party, took care of babies, played doctor, ran a diner, visited the old west, China, the mid-evil times, and other places that sparked the imagination!

Colby: Through September, Colby got to get back in the swing of school. He had big tests pretty much every Monday so every weekend was spent studying and every weeknight after school he utilized every minute he could to really internalize the information that he was being taught. As he did last semester, he is doing very well and I am very impressed with him.

Megan: I actually had a very eventful month. I have been wanting to get into a hobby. I have internalized the fact that running is definitely not a hobby that I enjoy. I would love to be able to get back into horses but that is just not plausible with our current situation. I love to bake so I found a cake decorating class at the Michael's in Midvale! It is a buttercream course and it has been super fun!! There are 3 more month long courses I can take but I am going to space them out a little. I did find myself getting a little overwhelmed with work, training, prepping for my classes and still trying to be a mom and a wife. I am happy to announce that I survived my half marathon. I was painfully slow but I made it. I really did not have a target time in mind I just simply wanted to finish. I found myself sucking on my inhaler a lot more than is medically recommended haha!! I hit a wall at around 6 miles, 9 miles, and 11 miles. My music didn't work until the last 3 miles so I had a lot of time to think. I definitely need to jot down the things that went through my head in my journal. I though about my life, my hopes, my testimony, my health........I am so blessed in each of the facets of life. Nikki and Crystal finished significantly ahead of me and Hayden kept asking when I was going to get done. She was pretty worried about me which I think is pretty funny. Then when I finally finished she said, "I can't believe you won Mommy!" Ha ha!!

Here are a couple of my creations. I have a lot of work to do to get my skills down but it has been so much fun!

I feel at this point that I need to have a section for Jacey because she has become such an integral part of our family over these past 4 months. She is seriously amazing. I tell her all the time but I don't know if she really even believes me but I don't know what I would do without her. She is like the other me that picks up my slack and without her I really don't know if my sanity would be intact without her. She has completely blown away all expectations I had when we asked her to be our nanny. I can tell that she genuinely loves my girls and that brings me so much comfort when leaving them as much as I do. If it was not for her, my heart would be breaking every day while I'm at work but I have a sense of peace leaving them with her. AND...the added bonus is I come home to a clean house seriously every day!! It makes an amazing difference in my stress levels. It is so wonderful to not have to worry about cleaning every single night after I get the girls to bed. She has been an answer to our prayers. 

Hayden: Remember when I said that she was doing amazing in preschool. Well she was and she never cried and transitioned so much better than I thought she would. Then I went to pick her up one Tuesday and her teacher told me she hit another girl. I was so disappointed. Bullying will never be tolerated for any of our kids. So after a long conversation on what to do with my wonderful mother-in-law we decided to implement a sticker chart and we have had many conversations about how to react when we are upset. She has always kept us up on our toes. Luckily she finished out the rest of the month with stickers on every day! 

Hanna: She is cruising!!! She even learned how to crawl up the stairs. So up went the baby gate!! We (Jacey and I) worked on dropping her cat nap and by the end of the month she was solidly doing the 2 naps. Her morning nap is only about 1 1/2 hours because of preschool pickup but her afternoon nap she will sleep 2-3 hours. Her fluffy hair is finally thick/long enough to put in a couple piggies or flip it under. She looks so cute... She is super friendly and will crawl right up and snuggle on anyone that is willing to hold her. She even gave Colby's school buddy Brett a couple snuggles one night when we were at their place. Her appetite is ever increasing. I don't think we have found anything that she won't eat. She does love any kind of noodle though. On Labor Day she got in her very first horse ride which is something that this mama always looks forward too. 

My mom thinks Hanna reminds her of me. I see some resemblance. I do think she looks more like me than Hayden ever has. So here is a little side by side! 

August Adventures

Family: August went way too fast........We kicked it off right though.....little Saigie poo (Karlee and Tyson's baby) got blessed. Then on the 5th we got to play with more cousins (Kristy and her kids). They came up on a Monday night and we went swimming then the next morning we went to the zoo. Then to celebrate Dylan's upcoming birthday, we went to Chuck-E-Cheese. It was a blast and we are so glad that they came up. We were even lucky enough to have Colby be able to come with us! 

During the month of August, Thanksgiving Point did $2 Tuesdays where each attraction was just $2! So we went and walked around the gorgeous gardens, fed the koi fish, saw the amazing waterfalls, then we headed over to the farms to see all of the animals. It was a blast! Definitely a fun family outing.

 Colby: He got to actually enjoy a little time off of school! Although he did have to do a little studying, he tried to get some relaxation in and even got to go bow hunting with his brothers and dad. I'm so glad he got to do that and separate himself from school for a bit. He also got to hit up the golf course a few times.

Megan: I spent August having fun with the fam and I also got in several extra shifts at work. The preparation for the big Cedar 1/2 marathon was in full swing and I tried really hard to stay on track with it.

Hayden: We used the whole month of August in preparation for her to start preschool. She is like her father in the fact that she doesn't like surprises. So I knew we would need to talk about it a lot and really prep her for it. She was so excited when the time finally came. I didn't take the time to go school shopping so I ordered online even though we have every thing here less than a 3 mile radius. So when her grandma Nikki asked her where she got her school clothes she said, "From the mail!" Ha ha. When the big day finally came I was so surprised with how well she did. She paused for a minute when we were walking up to the school but this cute little girl from her class named Cassie came up and started talking to her and stood in line with her. It was pretty cute!! She loved school and was super excited to go the next day. She goes Monday through Thursday for 2 1/2 hours in the morning. 

 Hanna: This little cutie became quite mobile in August! She got pretty proficient at crawling and pulling herself up to things. She was taking 2 longer naps during the day and 1 shorter cat nap in the evening. She was still waking up around 5ish and then she went through a rough patch when we were gone a lot and wasn't sleeping the greatest. One night when she was supposed to be sleeping Colby went in to check on her and found that she had pulled herself up and was dangling over the edge of the crib!! Freaked us out so at 10 o'clock at night with Hayden asleep on her bed in that same room, Colby had to drop her crib mattress all the way down to the bottom. Then just a few days later she started crawling. She loves to giggle and babble. She is eating more and more big people food and she loves it. She also loves being outside and playing on the grass. She doesn't move much but she just likes to sit there.