September 2024

September 29, 2024

On Monday Addie had a cross country meet in PG so she couldn't go to the Fall Festival for her school with the rest of the family - but I was able to take her there after and we shared a food truck pizza. The boys had fun there with Kassie earlier though we missed them by a bit. It all worked out. I finished Star Trek: The Next Generation with Hinckley this week which was bittersweet. We didn't watch all the episodes, just the best ones :) It's been a fun thing to do together and there really are some great episodes. Our new room is basically done, we have the inspection today with a few final tweaks/things needed. The kids love it and were excited to play/rough house in it right away. We had some friends over on Saturday and it was amazing to be able to send the kids up there! I battled a sore throat earlier this week but fortunately it was healed by the weekend. 

The Halloween Display

Ready to run!

Addie zooms by

Second to the school!

Reading time

Enjoying some solids - banana this time?

Joy in the new room

Thinking about rolling over

Family yoga in the new room

Playing at the new Family Park

Sweet potato dinner

Greyson has started creating a vast collection of "Halloween decorations" including drawings and other scary items. We rode bikes together to school one day last week and Greyson was over the moon about that. He LOVES his bike. We moved Desmond out of our room on Sunday which has improved our sleep but is also the first of the last milestones. He is sure squeezable and charms everyone who meets him.

September 22, 2024

Week 2 of home construction for us and hoping we are in the final chapter this week. For those who don't know, we are adding a room to our second floor in the entry area so we will have more "play room" space and can make the front room an office/bedroom. The work is going pretty well and Des is doing a pretty good job adapting to the loud bangs of the nail guns etc during his nap time. He continues to stay somewhat interested in solid food, though he is WAY more excited about eating his utensils and sucking on his bibs. He seems to be fighting the pain of a tooth that's been coming in for over a month...! Hopefully it comes in time before the next ones start up. Everyone came to Hinckley's soccer game this week which they won with a goal in the last minute. Des was very confused and then excited sitting near me and witnessing my coach yelling (too much). He started to make his own yells/screams.

Eating and journaling

The younguns

Club-sized Zucchini 

In the high chair Des

Temple night

Pumpkin harvest!

Ninja Kids

Greyson got a journal just for him and has really gotten into writing in it just about every day. It turns out the "Wimpy Kid" series may have been a good thing because he seems to really grasp the idea of journaling. His entries are a little depressing ("I hate everything") but...hey, the only way to go is up right? He also has been reading the "I survived" books and wrote his own called "I survived the hailstorm of 2024". Though names were changed, Addie didn't appreciate Greyson's depiction of her in the book. She was sick and missed her cross country events this week. She seems less excited about that, and just about everything lately. Some boys in her class told her how ugly her bangs are and she is feeling sad about that. Kids can be so mean. On a positive note she had a fun movie night at her friend Brooke's and had a blast! Hinckley is also having a hard time lately. He is doing great in soccer and has started to crochet lots of cool things and do great art work. He is really into the older TV show "Avatar" and we've been watching episodes as a family (sometimes).



On Saturday I took all the kids to Ninja Kidz jump park, managed by Kevin Holcomb. They had a blast and it was great to see him again. In the evening I showed the boys "Pistol Pete" while Addie was at her friend's movie night. They watched it, but didn't seem as impressed as I was in the olden days ("No Basket!" "My first crush ... Shhhhhandy!" and "You tell me pop!"). Hinckley, Addie and I are nearly finished with the Star Trek Next Generation episodes on the list my Trekkie friend made for us, there was a really creepy one we saw this week that hopefully won't give Hinckley nightmares. I've been swimming laps a few times a week, playing pickleball once a week, and trying to see the good in the world without getting too disappointed. The nights are exhausting and the days are long, but there are pockets of golden sunshine in between and I'm trying to cherish them as they fly by.

September 15, 2024

I missed last week, so here is a big summary of the main things that I can recall: 

• I hiked the Y with Greyson and we made it up and back before the shade was gone, victory! 
• Greyson explored the idea that "popped into [his] head" of throwing multiple large rocks at neighbor's car windshield over the course of two days. After he was observed by Cathy (our friendly grandmotherly neighbor) he confessed all. This was paired with a visit from Ruth and Charles at the moment of discovery. Lots of emotions, life reflection, and financial hand-wringing involved for all. I'm thankful that's a couple weeks behind us. 
• Fun visit to This is the Place monument/park with Burnsides. They have really built that place up! Panning for gold in the shade was my favorite. Also fun to run up the fort battlements with wooden rifles to shoot at imaginary enemies. The ice cream shop was closed (tragedy) and there were special blacksmith toys the older two purchased (triumph). 
• Our ward hosted a breakfast and rockets event at the park. The kids enjoyed drinking multiple cups of Sunny D, building paper rockets to shoot out of some PVC pipe launchers, and play/bike around with friends. 
• I made 6 flavors of hummus for this month's book group in which we read my book choice, "The Righteous Mind". They represented the 6 moral foundations. It was fun! The lemon flavor was my unexpected favorite. 
• Kassie made over 100 cookies (including pistachio macrons) for our neighborhood cookie walk. Everyone "got full" on cookies, just in time for bed. 
• Addie and I went and saw Harry Potter 4 in the movie theater - it was a lucky find since they are showing all HP movies in the local theater and that was the one she's been wanting to see. 
• Family service project making "wild flower bombs" for Lehi City as a part of 9/11 Remembrance/Patriot day service. We all enjoyed the muddy sensation of squeezing clay with water to make the seed balls. 
• Greyson and Kassie went on a bike ride and picnic and he told her all about the girls who like him. When asked how he'll choose he replied, "I don't know, I'll just have multiple wives." 
• Started construction on our home project to add a room on the second floor above our current entry room. It's been a little wild living in a construction zone and tough for Desmond to sleep with nail guns and generators making noise. But he's doing pretty good. 
• Desmond tried some "solid" food for the first time, and didn't hate it! His thighs are like large balloons filled with flour, perfect stress balls to squeeze when you need a few extra shots of oxytocin. 

Ready to hike

Broken with Hinckley's sign

Made it to the temple briefly

Creation at "This is the Place"

Ready to defend the fort

Happy traveling companion

Broken - fortified

Enjoying the new view

Yum

Yum

With friends at Rocket and Breakfast event

Blastoff

Rocket boys

Greyson with friends

Wanted

Ready to see HP 4

Making wildflower bombs

Elephante reading a book

Addie's first race of the season begins!

Desmond holding his head up

Des is more interested in eating his bib than food

New room, framing complete