changing

 It has been a wonderful autumn.  We began our September by attending the Brigham City Temple Open House with some friends - thank you to Kellee for getting the tickets and to Boualay for helping with my three.  The kids did rather well and it was fun to share some temple facts with them.  Lily's favorite part was the 'diamond lights'.  I'm pretty sure Jackson's favorite part was the cookies at the end.  :)

Isaac has been exercising his ability to make me feel like I am a first time mom.  I didn't realize how similar Jackson was to Lily, because Isaac is totally throwing me for a loop with how much he changes his schedule and preferences and everything.  Although he always sleeps through the night, so that is awesome. 

 By far one of my favorite happenings of this season has been spending time with my buddy Jack.  Lily gets picked up for school at about 7:30 a.m. and the 'sound volume' is significantly decreased compared to normal.  So Jackson just starts chattering away, asking questions, telling me to look at this or that, and is just SO MUCH FUN.  The first few weeks (it snowed this last week so that is ending) we went jogging on his day off, which worked wonderfully as he gave Isaac toys and snacks so I wouldn't have to stop, and totally kept me company with his comments of what he saw and questions of why or what.  Totally treasured memories. 

Isaac loves Jackson and Lily so much.  Sometimes he will be super fussy and won't eat and isn't tired, but then I will walk into a room where Jack and Lily are he will start giggling and wiggling to get down to play.  I am hoping they will stop treating him like a toy baby soon so I can leave him with them for longer periods of time and not worry for his safety. 

 Lily is doing so well in school - it's so fun to see her acquire knowledge and enjoy going every day.  She still loves to make people laugh - here she was showing me how she smiles without showing her teeth.  She and Jackson started going to gymnastics and are having so much fun.  Her favorite thing ever is to get tickled - especially if I say I will tickle her until she pees her pants.

Also in September I got the chance to go and visit Amanda to see her new house and paint a lot.  A lot!  Isaac and I flew over and left Adam to spoil Lily and Jackson (movies, a trip to the zoo, silly string, lots of candy and treats) for a long weekend.  It was so fun to be with the Nays!  After being around Amanda for a few days I feel like I can do anything - (small) home improvement projects; control my budget better; make meals that my whole family will eat; and of course be a better and more sensitive mom.  

 Isaac was pretty cooperative and handled the plane well, and slept almost perfect for me to be able to paint (a lot).   I wish I could have stayed longer and helped out more - they are going to be working for about two years on all of the things they want to do.  Although my clothes wouldn't have been able to fit if I had.  Here is a list of the treats for the weekend: home made mint truffles on my pillow; almond chocolate bars from Ikea; half a dozen Mrs. Duffy cinnamon rolls; red velvet cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory; sea salt chocolates (and lots of other kinds) from Lulu's Sugar Rush candy store.  I think I forgot something, but regardless it was a lot.  My hips are still suffering.

I got to babysit the boys one night - they were super good little pizza dough rollers!  I thought they were getting used to me since they were pretty happy after Amanda and Tyler left, but about 30 minutes later Henry started calling "hey" and telling me he was looking for his mom and dad....luckily the night ended well (except Peter had one bad diaper rash he was screaming about as I changed him). 

 The next weekend marked one of my favorite times of the year - our annual trip to Logan to see the leaves changing.  We picked the PERFECT weekend - the colors were absolutely incredible - vibrant reds, deep oranges, and pale yellows.  Jack and Lily even got tired of pointing out "look!  the leaves are turning colors!"

 Our first stop was the Utah State Ice Cream store, where the kids chose a quarter for candy instead of a cone.   We then drove around Utah State and pointed out the places I lived and studied, and headed up the canyon.  We stopped where we could get out and walk next to a pond to see the fish, run over bridges, skip pebbles at a small shore, and find the highlight of our trip: the spooky forest.  The kids had been mentally preparing for Halloween since the beginning of September, and we had already decorated the house and had some spooky parties (worm spaghetti, ghost toast, pumpkin-oranges, goblin peas) with the lights dimmed; so the kids were super excited to find a place to go and explore that fit the 'spooky forest' description.

 I have to say it was just pure heaven.  Just us as a family, with the kids exploring nature - even Isaac wiggled out of our arms and headed into the bark and dirt and sticks, happy as he could be. 

 After dinner at Jack's Woodfired Pizza, we headed back to Ogden to go through a corn maze (much more kid friendly than last year), go down the big slippery slide MANY times, and play in the corn pit (Isaac's favorite). 

 It was a great day.  Adam took the day off and it's awesome having him able to have more freedom to do that every so often.

 Speaking of great days....Isaac had his first birthday!  Since he loves dirt so much I wanted to make the dirt pudding cups with oreos and gummy worms.  He wasn't feeling too good the day of his birthday and so we did it the next day.  Lily and Jackson (and Carly and Carson, who were here for a sleepover) thought they were pretty awesome but Isaac ended up crying - we found out he had an ear infection a few days later :(. 

 Here he is that night.  Adam said he was so tired and finally fell asleep like that.  He is just such a cutie and so fun to watch grow up.  He loves clapping and as of yesterday and today will take a few steps by himself.  He's a little squawker and really lets you know when he's excited, or mad, or happy.  I can't believe it's been a year!  He's still a little pipsqueak and not appeasing the doctor's wishes for weight gain, but for the most part he's happy and satisfied so what else can I do (besides continue to nurse him like he's 6 months old since he still will just snack occasionally.....)?

 And here is our most recent babysitter, and one of the major downsides of winter: tree climbing.  When the weather was warmer, the kids spent most of their time outside in these two trees.  Jackson started getting quite inventive, and brought an 8 foot long 2x4 from the backyard (I still am not sure how) to start making a tree house.  In this picture the cords connecting the trees are jumper cables that the kids clipped on so they could more easily walk between the trees on the fence with something to hold on to.  One colder morning, after Lily had gone to school and Jackson had slept in until about 7:45 a.m., he got up and headed right outside to go and climb the trees.  We've only had a few tumbles but nothing serious - here's hoping that continues!