Life Lately

We went to my parents' house during the priesthood session of conference.

The family wanted to spend time with Caleb while he was in town. We celebrated Jonah's, Paul's and my birthdays that night. We tried going to Leatherby's but it was packed, so we got some cartons of ice cream and ate them at home instead.

Tessa got to be Queen of the Jungle at preschool. She liked being spotlighted and having the class learn more about her.

The weather right now is great campfire weather.

I love that we can play outside without being too hot or too cold right now.

This made me laugh! I found Damon with his toy phone in his back pocket, like I do with my phone.

Rockwell has been into making forts lately.

Al had Rockwell and Tessa over to play. The sure love playing with their cousins! 

The kids had their primary program in church. They both did great saying their parts that they had written. We are proud of them.

My mom had some fun Halloween activities for the kids on the night we got together to celebrate Mel's birthday. They played Bingo and went trick-or-treating to the rooms inside the house. They loved that.

Field Trips

Tessa has had two preschool field trips so far. The first was to ride the train in Lindon. The kids got to play train games and make a conductor hat, but riding the train was everyone's favorite part.

The conductor asked for a mom to sit on the seat right behind him to make sure the train worked properly and let him know if anything went weird. I happily volunteered because I knew Damon wanted to ride too.

The next field trip was to Hee Haw Farms. We got to pet goats, sheep, and pigs, go on a tractor ride, go down the potato sack slide, and pick pumpkins. The slide was a big hit for Tessa and Damon.

Family Pictures

I took the kids up Provo Canyon for one of Rockwell's homework assignments about our community, and ended up finding the perfect spot for family pictures. I wasn't planning on taking pictures this year, but I changed my mind as soon as I saw how breathtaking it is up there right now. Al took them for us, and I love love love how they turned out.

I think this family picture session belongs in some sort of record book. The kids all cooperated so well, and we were done super fast. There wasn't any complaining. Damon was laughing his head off the whole time, and it was adorable!

We had to try to get him to stop laughing so we could get a regular smile. Al would ask him where his smile was and if he could show it to her camera. He would point to his smile and say, "My smile right dere." So cute!

Dad's Birthday

Paul woke up to some pathetic decorations for his 37th birthday. :) Luckily he got The Office reference right away and thought it was as funny as I was hoping.

Tessa, Damon and I took some birthday lunch to Paul's school. We were both laughing at how many presents the kids ended up getting that day. They get pretty spoiled whenever we go into his school.

They each ended up with two suckers, a sticker, a toy police car, a candy bar, and a bracelet.

We gave Paul his presents when he got home from work.

Keith was given 14th row Jazz tickets at work that day. He and Al were taking Jonah and all his friends there already for Jonah's birthday party, so they gave the tickets to Paul. That was so sweet of them! Getting a sitter for the whole night didn't work out, so Paul took Jon with him to the game. I was glad he was able to go and enjoy the game in such good seats with his friend. 

Mom's Birthday

I turned 34 last month! Paul and I went to Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's Soul2Soul concert Wednesday night. The tickets were actually a Christmas gift, but it worked out great for our birthday date night since it was just 2 days before my birthday. We went out for curry before the show.

A Tim and Faith concert has been on my bucket list since I was a teenager. It was amazing!

Paul was in Park City for a conference Thursday and Friday. He was able to come home for a little bit before heading to his school to work Friday night, so he and the kids gave me some presents.

  
Rockwell made me some very sweet cards. And tackle-hugged me when he gave them to me. :)

Paul was so sweet and arranged a girls night with my besties once he realized he had to work the night of my birthday. We found out Caleb was coming down from Idaho to open his mission call at my parents' house that night too, so we decided to do our girls night in Taylorsville. After dinner we all went to my parents' and got to watch him open his call. He's going to be serving in Merida, Mexico! Caleb is such a nice, caring, fun kid. He's going to be a wonderful missionary.