a lot of stuff

We went up Waterfall Canyon the day before everything changed.  This is one tough hike, and except for a handful of times that I picked him up to get over a big boulder, Isaac went the ENTIRE way up by himself.  Crazy!  He wanted to be held most of the way down, but I couldn't believe what a trooper he was!  A bunch of people remarked as well who saw him.  He stayed with me, chatting up a little storm and asking lots of questions.  Such a cute boy.

Here we are at the top.  I love this shot of Lily even though I look kind of goofy.  The next morning I had finished doing homework with Jackson, the house was semi-clean, and I had the thought that finally - finally! - we were settling in after the move.

No more crazy big house projects for a while.  No more rushing around like crazy trying to get a million things done post-move.  School was going well, the kids happy, good teachers, settled in at church with our callings, etc etc....and that's when the phone rang.  Adam had gotten a call from his Dad asking if he wanted to go to St. George to work.  Things fell into place quite quickly and that was that.  Here we go again!

 We have been trying to keep things as normal as possible, not that it is working that well, but a lot better than throughout the first move.  I almost think that move prepared me for this one to go a lot smoother than it would have had I not had the practice.

Homework would be 139% easier if Isaac didn't constantly ask Jackson if he wants to "play x-box?"  "watch Star Wars?"  "play the Wii?" When I say no Isaac whines and screams and throws a fit, even though Jackson is fine.  Ha!  Little stinker.  He fell asleep one day like this he was so worn out.

Saturdays start early with Lily's game at 8 a.m.  Jack's are later.  Soccer season with the mountains are a big tug on the heart strings for me.  Adam played 2 weeks of JD Clark softball but we missed those games.  Love that crisp autumn air!

 Ada is still growing.  Four kids definitely has killed some brain cells and made me feel like I am a piece of taffy needing to be pulled in five different directions, but man oh man.  This little girl is a little chunk of sunshine and happiness in my life every day.

If I ask Isaac if he is my little cuddle buddy he will say yes.  Don't know if it is just his personality, or the fact he was the first kid I didn't leave weekly to go to work, but this kid likes to be around me.  Which is pretty awesome after having two super independent kids.  He will always ask if I am going to stay and sit down at a friend's house (instead of drop him off).  If unknown kids come to close to him he gets a nervous look on his face and points to me and says "This is my mom!"  He has such a sweet heart and is always looking out for his siblings, and says 'tank you' and 'good job!' when necessary.  I can't believe he will be 3 in a week!

One of Lily's favorite things is to get a camera or a phone and take pictures or videos of herself.  The crazier the better - this girl loves to laugh!  For a while she had an obsession with snorting, and was always trying to laugh so hard she would snort.  Which of course would make her laugh harder and snort more.  Lots of goofy videos from her and various friends when she confiscates Adam's phone to play!

 Jackson loves to tell everyone he sees that we are moving to St. George because his Dad got a job there.  This stems from us telling them the past year or so that we weren't moving to St. George because Dad's job is in Ogden, and we live where Dad works!  So Jack took the camera one day to capture a few shots of what he would miss in the house.  Number 1 being the chalk wall I painted for him, even though I haven't let them play with chalk besides this one time.

And the hallway.  Love these vaulted ceilings.  This was such a neat house to be in for a few months.  It is a lot of fun to see how much we improved the space from what it was.  A lot of hard work paid off in the end, even though we're not going to be around to enjoy it.

Adam let his work know he would be leaving and just gave 2 weeks notice - super fast!  On his first weekend back we packed up the van to drive up to Logan for our yearly visit.  It was rainy so we didn't get our nature hike in, but we enjoyed ice cream and a drive up the canyon, and lunch at the Bluebird on Main Street.  Next year we will be staying in a hotel, and will go later - the leaves were just barely beginning to turn so there was still a lot of green.  Gorgeous in the rain though.