Fall Happiness

On Monday morning, these two kids and I spent 2.5 hrs in Wal-mart. I love Wal-mart but that was a long time as we waited for new tires on the Accord. We got our grocery shopping all done and then played in the toy section and then had lunch at Subway. I was feeling anxious to get home, but then decided to enjoy my lunch date with these two cuties. 

Tuesday: After gymnastics, we stopped by the park for a few minutes. It was windy so we didn't last long. We loved the fresh air and sunshine though!

The kids played for hours each day with these squishy balls. 

The weather on Wednesday was warm and I was afraid it was our last day of nice fall weather so we ran to the pumpkin patch after school. It wasn't crowded and we loved being outside. 

It was so cute because Eleanor kept saying, "Ride horse."

We went on the hayrack ride out to the pumpkin patch and the kids explored the field looking for pumpkins even though we didn't buy one. I always buy them at the grocery store because they're so much cheaper!

Eli was obsessed with the sports area and cheered when he got a ball through the hole!

We ended our trip with pumpkin donuts! 

More squishy balls. Austin asked if we could buy these plastic snakes for $1 that were at Wal-mart. He's great at using his imagination and being self-entertained so I said yes. 

Eli got out of school early on Thursday and came jumping off the bus eager to tell me about this award that he won. Truth is, I don't know much about this, but he said his teacher read his name for being the Visible Learner from his class! Go Eli!

On Friday, Eli didn't have school so we spent the morning at two parks! Oh how I love when I get to spend the entire day with my 3 kids.

Wendy flew in that evening and I picked her up from the airport! She stayed the night with us and we had a bonfire together and chatted the evening away. It's been awhile since Aaron and I have stayed up past midnight. haha. Wendy played games with the kids and read books to them. We all love Wendy!

Saturday afternoon we dropped Aaron off at the airport as he's working his reserve duty for the next two weeks. We miss him! I'm just glad he wasn't leaving for 6 months. 

Saturday evening was our trunk or treat. I love the idea of family costumes so much, but I also don't want to spend money when we have costumes we can already use. The boys were excited to dress like Bumblebee and the red Power Ranger. I quickly put together a vet costume and Eleanor was my little puppy.

Look at all these happy primary kids! 

I loved church today and the kids were so reverent in sacrament meeting. I texted Aaron and he told me that he prayed they'd behave. I'm also so grateful when he prays for us while we're apart and I feel like his prayers are answered! 

Half Marathon

We received these pictures from the half marathon!! I laughed because it looks like I'm walking. I did walk some of the route, but I ended up running more than I thought I would. Perhaps the photographers ended up being at all the spots where I was walking. Haha.

Family Pictures 2019

Our family pictures this year were taken by us putting our camera on the tripod and setting the timer for 10 seconds. Aaron would start the timer and then run back to his spot. It was comical. I'm grateful for these memories. 

Eli: 6 years old and loves 1st grade. He lost his two bottom teeth!

Austin: 4 years old. Gymnastics is his favorite sport. He asks me every morning if he can do his preschool work. 

Eleanor: 21 months. She loves her nursery friends at church and playing with her brothers. She's always cuddling her baby and stuffed animals.

Family PIctures

Monday was Columbus Day and Aaron spent his "day off" scrapping the ceiling in the living room. Now all the ceilings on the main floor have been scrapped. Yay! He ran to the school and surprised Eli for lunch!

Austin had gymnastics twice this week to make up for a class we missed last week. He loved both days. I found these stickers in the dollar bin at Target and Austin played with them all afternoon.

Eleanor found these cups and it kept the boys and her entertained all afternoon. At bed time, Eleanor turned the cup into a hat and she danced around the kitchen as I did the dishes. 

Thursday evening: The weather was warm and perfect for family pictures. We quickly got ready and drove over to the temple grounds. This gazebo was a great location for pictures. I'll post more of them later. I was grateful the pictures turned out even when I used my phone and the timer on my nice camera. Haha. I love having updated family pictures but I don't want to pay for them every year. 

Thursday evening also included a pizza party and watching the Chiefs play the Broncos. We don't watch TV on Sunday and I miss football so much so I made a big deal about this game because it was on a week night and it was two teams that we love. We let the kids stay up past their bed time and they were thrilled!

Eli got out of school early on Friday and the weather was warm so we tried out a new park with our friends the Schows. The park was huge!

Friday evening Eli's school had a trunk or treat. Aaron is leaving on Saturday for a few weeks so he won't be around to enjoy any Halloween festivities with the kids so this was fun that he could see them dress up! He still dreams of getting a dog. I love that all three of our kids have worn this cute doggy costume when they were around 2 years old.

Saturday!! Aaron and I woke up early and headed to the city for our half marathon!! A babysitter came and spent the morning with our kids. At first I really wanted them at the finish line, but it worked out so much better that they could be at home. And it rained and was cold so they would have been miserable. 

The course was extremely hilly. I felt great for the first 10 miles and I was loving everything about it and then the last 3 miles I was miserable. My left knee and right hip hurt. I wanted to keep my time under 3 hours and I got 2 hrs and 51 minutes. Ha! I loved sharing this experience with Aaron. He was a great running coach. My favorite part of the whole experience was the training - I received so many answers to my prayers. I'm still homesick for Colorado and this training really was the therapy I needed to remind me that I can do hard things. 

Little toddler boots are so darling!! On Saturday night Aaron and I went to a couple's Halloween party. I didn't get any pics, but this is the mustache Aaron wore. 

Our new family tradition is going to be having a campfire on Sunday evenings. We just got a fire pit and we had the best time sitting outside together. We were all sad I didn't have any marshmallows, but s'more will be even better next!

Oh and Mary Beth PAINTED this darling card and sent us a good luck message. It arrived in the mail on Saturday, our race day! She's so talented. 

Our friends in Colorado lost their baby on Friday. He was 5 months old and was born with half a heart. I cried so much on Sunday about the whole situation. I was able to be at the temple when the family was sealed together before the baby was born, and I keep praying that they'll be able to focus on the peace that comes knowing we WILL be together again with our loved ones.