All the Fall Fun!

We can't get enough of this fall beauty! The crisp air, the colorful leaves, and so many fun things to do! We've found ourselves in the mountains as often as we can! I love hiking with this little crew. Hudson still maintains, "downhill is my favorite kind of hill!" every time we head back downhill. 

Another big change came in early October, Ben changed jobs (again!). Hopefully for the last time in awhile. He really didn't love Paychex and an opportunity came up to go work for a start up in American Fork. He was excited about the start up (Redlist) and the experience and possibilities there, so after lots of thought and prayer we decided to make the jump! It has been a lot of work (and unfortunately a lot of travel this month) but Ben is liking it and we are hopeful it will be a good fit for him!

This view from our back windows is always amazing, but really so beautiful in the fall! The marsh has since turned yellow/gold and it just takes my breath away every single time I see it (which is like 100 times a day). We all love where we live so much!

We did the real deal pumpkin patch experience this year, meaning we went with Papa to a pumpkin patch he grew! This field is full of specialty pumpkins with so much variety! The boys loved seeing all the different kinds and immediately went nuts picking and picking and picking. And of course, Papa let them pick like 13 pumpkins (seriously, 13) that now look so cute on our front porch. Hudson was so excited when he found the perfect orange/red pumpkin that he immediately kissed it! He's since visited his pumpkin on the front porch many times and kisses it each time!

We have been hiking with our friends, the Jacobs, a few times this month. Adam and Chase and Leah and Hudson get along so well! They run all over this mountain trail and come home happy and super dirty every time!

Hudson walked in my room one morning after getting dressed. He had his shirt on like this, 2 buttons off, one side of his collar popped and the other tucked in and said with a totally straight face, "Mom, did I get my buttons right?" and then in exasperation "these sleeves are so awkward!"

We spent one lovely, golden Friday afternoon at the park! Davis had his first time in a swing! Hudson helped push him and Davis totally loved it!

My dad got released as Bishop! It's crazy to me to think it's really been five years (plus a few months) since he was called. It's been an amazing experience for our family to watch my dad and mom serve and love their ward. It's taken up so much time and he's selflessly and humbly served. I'm glad we got to be there to hear them both speak and to celebrate the end of this time for them. 

Fall break happened! We had a great time. We spent Thursday morning at the coolest park with the Newbold gang (but I was too busy talking with Jodi to take any good pictures). That afternoon we went with Nana and Nora to Dinosaur park! The boys love this place. There are so many trees there, which were beautiful fall colors and it was a perfectly crisp afternoon. It was so much fun!

Friday Chase spent the whole day farming with Papa. Davis and Hudson and I went to Target and then out to lunch with Nana, Nora, Sue, Moira and Caroline. Huds and Nora were actually super well-behaved at lunch and content to play together!

One Saturday Papa blew a HUGE pile of leaves for the boys to jump in. Pure delight!

Papa Ray came to visit! He had a training to teach in Salt Lake so he stayed with us for two nights while he was here. This is the only picture I got, but the boys liked seeing him!

Fall

We planned a lovely Saturday evening to drive up Big Cottonwood Canyon to Silver Lake. That canyon is so gorgeous and it's especially amazing in the fall. Literally every two minutes I had to exclaim out loud how beautiful it all was! Totally worth the drive and carsickness to take in all that fall beauty!

 I tried to get some good family pictures up there. Will and Kate and their girls joined us and Kate took some pictures of us all together. Taking pictures of the five of us feels like a circus, especially since none of my kids were feeling any need to really cooperate. Hudson is making some ridiculous face in pretty much every single picture.

 After we took pictures we walked around the lake and just took in all that amazing beauty! It was chillier up there than we anticipated, but lovely nonetheless. Hudson fell on some ice and was absolutely DONE until he decided he could be happy if Aunt Kate held his hand. That got us through most of the hike/walk.

 I sure love this little family of mine! Stressful attempts at family pics and all, these boys all make my heart so happy. I laugh a little when I think back to my high school days and feeling sad of noticeable lack of male admiration- now I have FOUR boys that hug, kiss, cuddle and love me. My heart just feels like it will burst with love and gratitude for these guys.

I love Davis's little face in this picture! It describes how I felt during part of this experience- like "c'mon boys! Just cooperate and smile and look at the camera so we can be done!"

7 months of Davis

 He's 7 months old! And just the sweetest thing ever. This baby seriously melts me. He's a professional sitter now and is starting to army crawl! He's slept through the night a handful of times. He's loving the stroller these days. Will mostly go to anyone, but still prefers mama. Still no teeth. Still tiny- I put him in some 9 month clothes (they are big on him) but still mostly wears 3-6 month stuff. Size 1 diapers. And he loves his binky, and can now put it in his own mouth by himself! I just usually attach it to his clothes and it's part of his daily ensemble.

Also I was taking pictures of him and Hudson jumped in and started this little tickle fest that had both of them smiling and laughing and was just about the cutest thing I've ever seen.

 Being a mom of three boys is exhausting, seriously so exhausting. And also I don't know if I've ever been so happy in my life. These kids really do bring so much love and happiness and purpose into my life. I love spending my days with them (even if I often feel like I'm falling short in so many ways). I just feel so lucky to have them!

September Stuff

September was just lovely! Soccer started up again! Chase is on the same team as Luca this year, which has been really fun for him! He's doing really well and loving it. He scored three goals in his first game! Hudson, on the other hand, makes us laugh super hard the whole time (or we are kind of embarrassed). He spends most of his time on the field shooting pretend bad guys, crying that no one is letting him kick the ball, playing an impromptu game of tag with someone on the opposite team, or telling us "Soccer is boring!" Soccer may not be his thing. After the games are over he swears he loves playing soccer. We'll have to see how it goes, but really we can only go up from here!

Chase's games are all at 8:00 am. Let me tell you, getting us all up, dressed, fed, and out the door by 7:45 is a feat! A year ago that wouldn't have been too hard for our family, but this baby Davis has made that a lot trickier! We'll give him a pass though, because he's been the sweetest little spectator at his brother's games!

 Ben started a new job at Paychex and had to go to New York for a week for training. I always take a lot of pictures while he's gone, because he likes seeing pics of the kids and what we are up to. We spent a few lovely evenings outdoors, in our backyard, just breathing in the beautiful autumn air! I love our backyard, I don't know why we don't spend more time out there!

 We get a flag in our yard on patriotic holidays, so we had one for 9/11. I've told the boys all about that day, they've seen pictures and they get it. And they get really excited when we have a flag in our yard.

 Oh baby Davis, this kid makes our life so much sweeter, and so much more exhausting. He's such a terrible sleeper! We've been working on sleep training him almost all month long. He's stubborn. He's randomly slept through the night twice, and we are hoping this will become a more common occurrence. He's gotten to the point where even when I get up to nurse him, he still doesn't go back down (or does go back to sleep, but only for 20 minutes) so we've mostly been making him cry it out. I hate it. I hate listening to him cry (everyone else sleeps through it). But getting up 6 times a night was driving me crazy also. I hope more restful days are in our future.

Labor Day Weekend

Ben and I have a constant desire to travel and show the kids the whole world. When we start talking about fun places to go and see, we are frequently reminded that we live by so many wonderful places that the kids haven't experienced yet! So we recommit to exploring more of our state, because Utah is so diverse and beautiful and has so much to offer! We decided Labor Day weekend would be a good time to take the kids out to Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake. In my mind, I thought we'd been there more recently, until I realized that it's been 3 years since we were there! Hudson was just a baby last time. So it was definitely time to go again!

The kids were excited to go on an adventure, they dressed themselves up in their little adventure vests. We left early in the morning and were delighted to see the wildlife as we drove onto the island. We immediately saw so many bison, which is great since they are one of Hudson's favorite animals (also including elephants and grizzly bears). Hudson affectionately named this one "Mudbump". The boys were also happy to see a fox and an antelope. We started out at the Farm there on the island. It's kind of a great place for kids, they can touch and explore everything and they loved seeing how people lived 150 years ago. We have pictures of them on this exact saddle from three years ago, so we thought we'd recreate the pictures!

 There was a herd of bison out in the distance, so they were able to put their binoculars to use! They loved exploring this place!

Then we made the trek out to the beach. The lake is really really low right now, so it was quite the walk from the car to the water, but I really wanted to boys to be able to say they've been IN the Great Salt Lake. If we would have brought their swim suits I'm sure they would have gone all the way in!

I realized I have no more pictures of the rest of the weekend, but we swam a whole bunch, the kids played with friends, and I canned 43 jars of tomatoes, tomato sauce and marinara sauce. It took ALL DAY Monday, but between Ben and I we got it done! 

Davis- 6 Months Old

Somehow our sweet little Davis turned 6 months old! I can barely believe that this sweet baby has been in our family this long. He's been such a bundle of absolutely joy and cuteness and we are all pretty obsessed with him! His hair is coming in a little thicker these days and it's becoming more and more obvious that it is RED! I love it. I think it's so darling! And because of his coloring, we call him our little sweet potato.

Davis loves food! He's still nursing all day (and all night) long, but he gets two meals a day of solids and loves them! I'd say peaches and sweet potatoes are his clear favorites, but he also eats squash, green beans, peas, applesauce, carrots, bananas and avocado. Chase sometimes will feed him while I'm busy with something else and it's fulfilling a dream of Chase's (he's been talking about helping to spoon feed him since last fall when I was pregnant!).

 Davis gives great smiles and cute little laughs. He's a very social baby and will grin at just about anyone who engages him. His little dimple wins everyone over.

 Davis loves to be outside. When he gets really fussy (usually in the evenings) all we have to do is go walk him around outside and he usually calms right down. He's starting to love toys now and is interested in everything! The other day we handed him a washcloth and it entertained him for like 15 minutes!

 Sleep- oh man, he's the worst sleeper! We've now tried to have him cry-it-out twice (3 nights each time) and it FAILED. He's persistent and apparently really not feeling it! So I still feed him at least twice every night, and frequently have to make 1-3 other visits into his room to put his binky back in and calm him down. He breaks out of his swaddle, but then he can't sleep unswaddled. It's been a process. We are hoping once he learns to sleep without a swaddle that overall sleep will improve.

 He's still just a tiny thing. At his 6 month doctor appointment he was 13 pounds 14 oz- which puts him on the 1 percentile in weight. He's 25 inches, which puts him on the 7th percentile. He's just a little thing. But otherwise totally healthy and strong and happy (as long as I don't set him down). I guess it's nice that he's such a lightweight since I carry him around all day long.

 Davis has really been such a joy in our family. We are all so thankful this sweet baby came to us! I love all my chances to snuggle with him. When he's really happy to see me he tries to eat my face (possibly he's trying to give me kisses, I can't really tell, I'm just covered in his slobber all the time). He's brought so much love and happiness with him and we are so lucky to have him!