10/25//

I felt like the theme to our testimony meeting (next week is stake conference, so we did fast&testimony meeting this week) was to always be prepared to bear your testimony... to a friend, in a conference, in public, in your heart. Always know that God gives you gentle nudges to touch others and enrich your own life. I'm feeling more involved and less blah at church, which gives me some peace. I met another new sister in relief society and loved learning about her and her children. Leta sat next to us and of course made us laugh the entire meeting. Our lesson was on one of President Monson's talks-- on always being kind and Christlike.

pumpkin decorating @ scheel's + pumpkin point farms

 I love this photo because they both look terrified!

Scheel's had a fun Halloween event including pumpkin decorating, Halloween safety tips, and free Ferris wheel ride. They only had 80 pumpkins to give out to decorate, and the last ones were given away to the family in front of us. I was heartbroken when I had to tell Amelia she could only decorate a paper pumpkin, but apparently I successfully convinced her it was going to be just as great because she was excited! And then somehow they had an extra pumpkin, so Amelia got to paint her pumpkin with allllllll the colors. Win-win! We ended up waiting a few days for the Ferris wheel since the line was so long, but we made another family night out of the ride and pumpkin hunting at Pumpkin Point Farms! The girls each picked out a mini white pumpkin-- we are planning to hunt for our carving pumpkins the week of Halloween. (Jeremy is paranoid about the pumpkins rotting before we get to carve them..............)

 Amelia was terrified of the moose, but of course Scarlett stepped right up (figuratively).

Love my little soccer player!

cutest pumpkins at the patch! (we love these mini wheelbarrows!)

boo @ the (hogle) zoo

it was as fun as the pictures look! yes, even through the crowd! amelia had the TIME of her life trick-or-treating and said, "thank you!" to all the vendors! (she's a bit shy and it's tricky to convince her to say thank you to strangers) (oh ps. since we started the month of October, she has been very into "smelling her feet." I can't stop laughing about this.) Daddy was with us, so we rode the merry-go-round for the first time this year-- Amelia kept waving and Scarlett would grin her giant grin and wave back. I love this little family, and I love how the costumes look on these ladies! I just want to squish them!

turning 24

it might seem strange, but I've been getting a little down with my birthday each year. it's probably the aging and not really feeling growth, or perhaps enough growth? or maybe just not materialistic growth that is measurable. anyway, it doesn't make a whole love of sense and I try really hard to ignore it.

my birthday week made me so happy this year. i felt a great amount of love from the people i love and it has just been perfect. it started with my haircut on tuesday, and then my friend Michelle took me out for dinner at The Porch. it was our first time hanging out without our kiddos-- after almost 4 years of friendship. my parents brought me a their traditional cheesecake and a box of ferrero rochers on wednesday. Jeremy made me breakfast on my birthday, i was able to shower and paint my toenails while Amelia was at school and Scarlett was napping, Jessica left me a sweet gift of Dr. Pepper, ferrero rocher, and crochet hooks and a case to store them too because she knows just how to make me smile, Collette and Remy brought over a frosted lemonade from Chik-fil-A, I got sunflowers and a sweet card from Jeremy and the girls, food trucks with the Bodtchers for dinner, Jer and I snuck away to watch The Martian, and I just received so many birthday wishes from all the people I love!

and just when I thought it was over: on Friday, the girls and I headed out for a picnic at the park with my visiting teaching companion and the sisters we visit-teach and their kiddos. boy, we were a huge bunch! the girls surprised me with birthday doughnuts from Dunkin' Donuts complete with candles, matches, and singing. guys, I barely held it together, but I had to laugh with how excited the kids were about the doughnuts. especially Amelia (it's probably been the best week of her life since she has partaken in all my treats...). These ladies are newer friends of mine since so many have moved away-- and they are so sweet and so thoughtful. I'm not friends of any of them on Facebook, so the only reminder of my birthday they might have gotten was during relief society announcement. With 4-5 kids (each) of their own, this surprise was definitely not easy to pull off. I was so touched.

I feel so blessed and loved. My heart feels so full these days, like maybe I'm finally getting it together or something. I'm grateful for such a huge and dedicated support system. I'm excited for this newest chapter.

xo

oh, I forgot to mention that Herriman Library turned 5 this same week, so the storytime themes were all related to birthdays. It was a perfect coincidence. Scarlett loved the birthday hats, as you can tell... Amelia learned a lot about surprise parties and presents-- she would wrap up presents (play veggies) for me and yell "SURPRISE!" as I opened them. (Also, Amelia writes her own name on her name tag, and she's working on her penmanship!)

wee little witches

I adore all things Halloween! I happened upon a Mega List of Halloween Events a while back and marked our calendar for an exciting month! Last weekend was Wee Little Witches at Gardner Village, and we made our way down! We usually "hunt" for witches every year, so we were excited to see the special events for this weekend. There was a huge crowd of course, and crowds and young families don't mix well. Amelia was a bit nervous with the witches (even the pink witch!) The face painting and the bubbles and the market were fun, but I'm not sure we felt it was worth fighting a crowd. Oh well, we'll know for next year... In the end, I can't complain about a fun Saturday morning these three babes!

peterson's with the jones'

I love my Alicia! When we met in nursing school neither of us had kids, and now we're both nurses for the women & newborn center and have two kiddos each! These days are more busy, but it was nice to catch up for a morning. Pumpkin patch for the older kiddos, and we talked in between the playing of course. We stayed as long as we could-- Scarlett passed out before we even left the parking lot. Love you, Alicia Jones! (and Will and baby Cake, too!)

10/11//

This was a good Sunday for us. Primary program Sunday is always sweet, especially in our ward with Allison Clark as the primary chorister. Scarlett has been sooooooo great ever since she got her crawling down, she's just happy to crawl around us and pull herself up as she pleases. Amelia sang 'Gethsemane' with the kiddos and Lori told me afterwards that she was totally fine throughout the whole program, and then she heard Amelia singing and totally lost it. Those sweet voices, I tell ya! I spent most of relief society running around handing out personalized invitations to each sister for our activity on Tuesday. This new calling strangely fits the parts of me that loves parties and loves making new friends, but the introvert part and the exhausted mom part? Well, I guess we're still trying to win those parts over.