{ September 30th }

It is crazy that September is almost over! Our October is filled with some pretty exciting things (ie. Cruise, Aydo's birthday, Halloween parties galore) and it just seemed like it would never get here!

We have had an excellent September filled with lots of fun things. The kids are loving school and making lots of friends. I purchased them each their own lamp for their bed and they love reading in bed each night. Ayden is reading Magic Treehouse books that I believe are 2-3 years above his grade level. Sophie reads the books Ayden brings home because her Kindergarden books are too easy. They both love to tell me about the new friends they are making at school and the things they are learning.

Sophie is big into "crushes" these days. She originally said that Gunnar was her boyfriend. Then it changed to Brock. Now she just tells me the people she has a crush on. The other day my nephew Ethan (who is 4) was here and she told him she has a crush on her cousin Andrew. To which Ethan replied "Why you no have a crush on me?" She felt bad so now she tells everyone she has a crush on 2 of her cousins, Ethan and Andrew. What a silly girl. When I tell her I have a crush on Logan she says

"Mom, you can't have a crush on him. HE'S YOUR HUSBAND!"

I don't think she really knows what a crush is.

Myla is becoming more and more fun as the days go on. I forgot how fun it is to have an 18 month old. When Ayden was 18 months I ready to pop with Sophie. Then he was barely 3 when Sophie was 18 months so I think I missed this stage with them because I was overwhelmed. Don't get me wrong . . . the screaming fits in Target I remember. And they are even less fun the 3rd time around, but it's all the cute and funny things they do that I think I forgot. Myla LOVES to play! Which is why she LOVES her Daddy. From the minute he walks in the door he is chasing her and teasing her. And she eats it up! We have a routine every morning that she follows him out to his car and fights with all her might to get in. I think she believes if she could just get in the car, he'd have to take her with him.

Myla doesn't like it when I'm distracted. If I watching a show or using my phone, she will climb up on my lap, sit facing me with her little cheesy face right up next to mine, and giggle or act silly until I have no choice but to look at her. She has such a funny personality, she's always making us laugh. She has a very sweet side too. The other night she randomly woke up around 2am. I knew nothing was wrong she just couldn't sleep. She would whimper for a minute and then be quiet. Then she'd cry for a few seconds and go quiet again. This had been going on for almost an hour so I decided to go rock her and see if I could help her get back to sleep. As we sat in the rocking chair she laid so still in my arms. She is a good snuggler. When I thought she had finally gone to sleep, I kissed her head and softly whispered "I love you, baby" in her ear. A few seconds later, binky still in her mouth, she whispered back "I ya you". I just sat there squeezing her so tight. Oh, I can't express how sweet that moment was. I just love her so much.

I didn't think we'd have to start dealing with this in 1st grade, but Ayden is very caught up in what other people have. There's a certain kind of shoes that he's seen other kids at school wear and now he just has to have them. ($75 . . . a little steep for a 7 year old)

Another thing he noticed was these bracelets that kids are wearing. He got Logan involved and after driving all over the place they finally found the stuff you use to make them. Paracord. Pretty cool stuff. Anyway one night we watched a few videos on YouTube and learned how to make them. Now we can't stop! It's so fun! Here are some examples of paracord bracelets:

{ Even Myla has one! }

Ayden asked if I could make one for all 27 kids in his school class so he can bring them as his birthday treat! Ha! I had to tell him no because I enjoy the use of my hands too much!

It's been a great month.

{ Bowling night }

It's funny how something can sound so crazy to you until you hear it enough and eventually it starts to seem normal.

Example: Chickens

The first time I heard that people had chickens as pets, I thought it sounded ridiculous. Apparently thats a "thing" up here in Davis County and the more I've heard it the more it starts to sound like an okay thing. My neighbors just built a beautiful coupe for their 15 chickens.

Well the first time my friend told me she wanted to join a bowling league I thought she was off her rocker. That's for grandmas and weirdos right? Wrong. Up here in Layton, it is perfectly acceptable to be on a bowling league. After much persuasion, I decided to give it a go.

And . . . I love it!

Now you'd think that means that you have to be somewhat good at bowling . . . wrong again. I totally suck! My average is 106 right now, I'm barely breaking 100 each game. But it is so fun! I think the accessories are the best part!

I am now the proud owner of my own:

Bowling Bag

Bowling Shoes and most important . . . Bowling Ball!

Once I had all my stuff I was dying to go use it so I talked Logan into taking the kids bowling! They have been bugging me to go ever since I started claiming it's "unfair" that I get to do something fun without them while they are stuck at school! I'm such a mean Mom.

We decided to go to Boondocks because you can rent a lane for an hour. Little did I know, it would take an hour to bowl one game with these slow pokes! But they had a great time!

{ With Daddy }

{ Beautiful Lew }

{ Sophie's granny roll. Awesome. }

{ Ayden had better luck using my heavy ball and using the kid ball roller . . . }

{ Showing off my new stuff! Love that Myla Jae and her cheesy face. }

So hopefully as the season goes on I will improve my bowling average and become a decent bowler. If I am anything like my little brother Michael, I may turn out to be pretty good.

{ sweet Lew }

Sophie is such a sweetheart.

I found the sweetest notes from her while walking through the house today.

Inside my bowling bag there were notes for Logan and I.





A note outside Myla's bedroom. (she was sleeping)


On Ayden's bed...

And best of all, on her own bed.



(that's right, it says "I love me")
- Posted from my iPhone

{ Ayden the hoarder }

My son is a hoarder.

I knew this at an early age after I found all of his Christmas presents under his bed unopened.

At Thanksgiving he asks is he can keep the turkey bones.

Everything is a treasure to him and I am constantly cleaning out his drawers and finding all kinds of junk that he has saved.

Well his new spot for hoarding is his bed. He is on the top bunk and I am very lazy sometimes and just pull the blanket up to cover the mess instead of cleaning it out.

Well today I decided to buck up and clean it off. As I started the process I was amazed that he can even sleep up there! What a mess! Here is a list of the things I found:

3 pillows

4 extra blankets

4 pillow pets

4 puffles

2 webkins

2 popsicle sticks

2 airhead wrappers

7 bananagram letters

6 books

7 beanie babies

1 empty roll of tape

3 build a bears

and 4 stuffed animals

If you add it up there are 24 stuffed creature in that list. This is a twin size bed we are talking about! They are his friends though and he loves sleeping with them. What a funny boy.

I feels good to clean that out and I'm going to try and do better about controlling what makes it up on the bed.

{ SePtemBer 16tH )

Yesterday was the day each year that I look forward to and dread at the same time.

It was Salsa Day!

It starts by heading out to Day Farms in West Layton and picking our veggies. The kids were tired from a long day at school and dance, so I did most of the picking myself. Logan met us there and Sophie was really excited to pick some peppers with her Daddy.

They are such good buddies right now, it's very cute.

Thursday morning I started bright and early. Here is the salsa recipe I used this year. I was a new one and it turned out GREAT!

1/2 bushel Roma tomatoes

2-3 lg white onions

3 lg green peppers (6 small)

8-10 jalepeno peppers (depending on how hot you want it)

10 aniham peppers

1 Tbs fresh garlic

1/2 cup Salt

3 Tbs dried red peppers

Boil for 2-3 hrs depending on how thick you want it. Funnel into jars and wet bath for 40 mins.

When I take the jars out of the wet bath I lay them upside down just to insure that they seal correctly.

It took the whole live long day but I made over 50 jars most of which are were the big jars. I originally planned on doing just 3 batches but my friend Texie and I decided to make one last batch at the end of the day that was extra spicy for the boys. Both of our husbands love really spicy salsa. We got the peppers from this farm in Syracuse that is known for their spicy peppers. Logan was thrilled! I'm really happy with the way everything turned out this year. It's a long day, but we have a whole year to reap the benefits from a days work.

(I also canned peach/strawberry jam this year. It was actually a lot easier than I thought.)

{ SePtemBer 14tH )

The kids weren't in school more than a couple weeks and it was already picture day! They were both really excited and I'm very pleased with the results!

Ayden Sean. 6 yrs old. 1st Grade

Sophie Lynn. 5 yrs old. Kindergarden

They give you a disk with the pictures on them now so I had to post them so I will have them on my blog forever!