October

As I was waiting in line to pick the girls up from school, one day, there was a sudden torrential down pour of rain, and then hail. It was most unfortunate. I was way far back in the line, and because of the bad weather, none of the school kids wanted to go outside to wait for their parents. This made the pick up line last FOREVER! My poor kids, went out to our meeting spot, like normal. Got completely soaked (even with their umbrellas that I faithfully send in their backpacks every day). Then the principal came out and told them to go inside, change into a dry shirt from the office and wait in their classroom. Let's just say...there were some tears.

 The downstairs is finished! Mostly. The kids love to roll out the scrap pieces of carpet and run back and forth on them.

 And Katie loves having me take pictures of her running!

 We were so excited about the basement, that we set up the laptop down there and watched all of conference down there. It was a fabulous weekend!

MICE! I went to rotate the kids food in their 72 hour kits, and mice had completely destroyed them. I threw away so much food. Two the of kits were so destroyed, that I ended up throwing away the whole bag. They had also chewed threw some of the boxes of food in our cold storage room. It was a disaster. Our tally of mice that we've killed since then: 6. Yuck.

I finally convinced Katie to let me repair her beloved froggy blankie! We sewed it onto the back of one of her other baby blankies, that she just didn't ever attach to, like she did the froggy blankie. This is the before picture. Originally, she said she wanted me to fold the edges around and sew them down. But, just sewing the blanket onto the other was so stressful for her, that she wouldn't let me do the edging and has never consented to let me finish it. Oh, well. At least it's no longer in pieces!

I got to go help in Maliya's classroom for their County Fair celebration, after finishing the book Charlotte's Web. It was a lot of fun. Maliya entered a 3D art exhibit. It was a scene from Charlotte's Web. 

 The girls made these signs that say "I love you!" and made a human heart around it, so that I could take a picture that they can print off and give to *someone* for Christmas. :)

 Maliya drew her body, at school. Complete with a straw for her throat. A bag of cereal for her stomach and red ribbon for veins. Nice.

 And a Utah map! With a penny for copper mines, dinosaurs, Native Americans, arches, etc.

 We had a fun fall break, just staying at home.
On Thursday we went to check out Sharee's new house that they are buying. That was fun, until Rachel cut half her foot off. We're still not sure exactly what happened. She said she was just walking, and then it just started bleeding. It was a very long and very deep cut. So, we spent the rest of the day at home, with Rachel elevating her foot. She didn't want stitches, so I decided to give butterfly bandages a try. They did not actually work. Like...at all. But the bleeding stopped, so that is good.
Thursday night was a release night, which meant Brian was at work all hours of the night. So, I took the kids to IHOP for dinner! Why do I keep subjecting myself to that? Apparently, I keep forgetting how painful it is to take them out to eat. And that Katie and Hayden won't eat the pancakes there. But they had been begging to go. And I think the older girls enjoyed it.

 On Friday, we went to the park and fed the ducks. Poor Rachel just gimped around the whole time. :(

Hayden loves to rock the sunglasses!

 We finally took those stuffed monsters and blankets that the kids made, and dropped them off at Primary Children's Hospital. Rachel's wound won her the privilege of riding in a stroller around Salt Lake!

 While there, we checked out Temple Square!

 Katie dresses her best for every occasion.These jeans with shimmering butterfly embellishments are the only pants she will wear. Not just the only jeans. The only pants. She's normally a dress or skirt kinda gal. Also, those shoes. I keep my kids Sunday shoes up high, all week, so they can't lose them. But Katie always runs and hides hers, after church, so that she can wear them every day. :)

 Maliya and Rachel went to the dentist. No cavities! Rachel has two adult teeth and is starting to get her 6 year old molars!

We spent one weekend up at the cabin. The kids LOVED having dad throw them onto this love sack.

We made it up the canyon for smores, one last time.

Katie told Brian that she is NOT a princess...clearly.

 We took family pictures with the McDougle crew. It was up the canyon at about 5:30...it was freezing.

 We had Young Women In Excellence. The theme was "live life anchored." It turned out to be a great night!

 All the Young Women sang "Faith In Every Footstep."

We have done some babysitting swapping with my sister, Bryn. Hayden LOVES her 3 month old baby! LOVES her! 

 He can climb up on our couches by himself.

 And when anyone else gets to hold Aria, he is NOT happy.

 Hayden hates jackets and sweaters.

 We had this amazing sunrise, right as the girls were heading off to school, one morning!

Halloween! 

 Jack-o-lantern pancakes for breakfast! Since they just won't be getting enough sugar later on...

 Hayden. Playing with the Barbie house...this is how boys do it.

Brian dressed up as Anger, from Inside Out.

 Maliya was a vampire, and Rachel was her pet bat. Katie was a mermaid, and Hayden was a dragon.

 Hayden had so much fun getting candy and just running around the neighborhood with us. It was a fun night!

 And, we finally got around to grinding that wheat I harvested! So, this is the packet of wheat seed that I bought, and how much is left. I planted as much as might fill the rest of this bag.

And this is how much I harvested. About 1 3/4 cups.

We pulled out the hand grinder and gave it a try!

 And we were able to make one loaf of bread! It was a big hit. We gobbled most of the loaf up for lunch.

More shades...

 And walking to church. We like to cheat and bring the van, even when we do walk...so that we can still drive home. :) That hill coming home is brutal, you know! Check out Hayden waving to his dad!