The End of Summer

 My mind still cannot believe it's September, and yet here we are!  Almost a full week in even!  So crazy!  The weather is quickly turning to fall.  Jackets are needed at night, the mornings are cold enough to not want to leave the bed, and the days are still flipping hot.  Haha!  Sort of reminds me of Utah ;)

I feel like so much has happened in the last two weeks and then also it feels like really nothing has.  I have been dealing with some serious brain fog lately so it feels like I just can't remember things. It's not my favorite thing ever.  Thankfully, I don't forget to take pictures haha.  So even if my brain fails me, I can refer to pictures to remember what we did!  

Since nothing really extraordinary happened since I last shared, I think I will just give a quick synopsis and then share a few pictures.  Pictures are really they best part anyway.  We signed Logan and Clara up to play co-ed soccer through the Y in town.  We went and got them some shorts and shinguards which they were very excited about.  We also had to get some socks.  Apparently the socks Logan wore two years ago don't fit.  Weird. ;)  Their first scheduled practice was rained out and Clara was absolutely devastated!  She cried and cried and begged me to call the coach and tell him they would wear jackets and it would be fine!  Unfortunately, I did not call the coach, and the fields weren't ready.  They didn't want anyone getting hurt and the coach's mind was not swayed.  So we had to wait another 3 days for their next practice.  Naturally, I was too busy chatting to take a picture, but they had so. much. fun!  Their coach seems to really love coaching and you could honestly see improvements in the kids by the end of practice!  Clara picked it up super quick, which is not surprising, and Logan played some great defense!  I really am excited to watch them play this season!  First game is on the 9th, so expect those deets in the next post :)

Dallin and I purchased a rug for our living room as an anniversary gift to ourselves and it has seriously been the best!  We all love it and have been spending much more time in the living room all together.  Little by little it's feeling more home-y here!  Don't worry, I still daydream about just ripping out walls and changing it all up, but for now it feels good to do what we can.

Henry just barely (like today) cut his first tooth!  That's so exciting!!  And it also explains why he's been so grumpy lately haha.  I say grumpy, but really he wasn't bad.  Just wanted to be snuggled all the time.  I'm trying not to get my hopes up that he will start sleeping through the night...but a mom can dream ;)  

Clara and Logan both lost another tooth!  This was Clara's second tooth and Logan's eighth tooth!  The tooth fairy forgot that Logan had lost a tooth, but came promptly the next day.  She may have also forgot to take a picture of his one less toothy grin.  Whoops!  

Fred came by to cut hay and we were just about to leave when he came so we were chatting with him and he asked Dallin to help him load the wrap on the baler.  Well then we all wanted to watch and we ended up not running errands and Dallin helped Fred because the baler was struggling. (Which I will epxlain in a sec.) The girls got to take a turn riding with Fred and then Danny and Logan got to go.  Danny was in heaven and he shed a lot of tears when he didn't get to ride more.  Dallin was running around the field with Fred so he could help pour water on one of the roller parts that kept seizing when they tried to wrap the hay, so Dallin was super helpful and I am so glad we stayed because I don't know how Fred could have done that all himself.  There was one bale that didn't get wrapped so Fred picked up the bale to roll it down the hill and then re-bale it, but it hit the power pole in the middle of the field hahaha!  So Dallin ran over and unrolled it, BY HAND, down the hill and then had to throw all the hay by the pole out into the field so it could be picked up by the baler.  He was dripping sweat and EXHAUSTED haha.  It's no easy task to do hay!  And his hands were full of little slivers from the weeds and thistle in with the hay.  In fact I just pulled two more out just yesterday!  It was gnarly work, but like I said, we were glad we were there to help!  

We have been able to spend a little bit of time down at the creek and exploring the property.  Dallin used his wicked farmer boy skills to call a cow back into the pasture and patched the fence up.  (We have lots of fencing we need to fix. *sigh*)  So we got to go check and make sure it was only Big Momma that got out, which she was.  While up there the black and white cow let the girls pet it!  I really think they are starting to get used to us and it makes me really want to have my own cow.  Like reeeaaaalllly want to haha.  Soon, I hope!!

Our garden is pretty much dead haha.  We harvested a watermelon and it was actually pretty good!  I think it could have used a few more days before we picked it, but the kids absolutely loved it.  I forgot what it's like to have a watermelon with seeds haha.  We also harvested our onions (which are taking over my kitchen counter and driving me crazy), our pumpkins, the last of our cucumber and squash, and we are still getting a lot of tomatoes and bell peppers!  For how little I took care of that poor garden, it delivered more than we knew what to do with, and I am so grateful!  I'm looking forward to next year when I have a little more experience under my garden belt :)  

The Boone's hosted a Labor Day cookout at their house yesterday in conjunction with a birthday party for Lexie, who is now TEN!  The kids had so much fun!  Danny was in absolute heaven playing with the balls and running around.  He's 100% going to be our sports kid.  The food was great, the company even better, the view to die for, and ultimately a night well spent.  

Model. 

Home 💚

Laughing at jokes related to poop and baling hay haha!

Logan finished all 7 HP books in 9 days 🗲

I post a lot of this view from the Boone's, but it NEVER gets old!

Tyler was so proud! His first time rocking a baby to sleep :)

If you look reeeeaaalllly close you can spy a little toothy in there!

I love him. I love him. I love him.

Labor Day ushers in the true end of summer and we can feel it.  The nights are so crisp and clear.  So many leaves are changing and the humidity has increased significantly.  Which plays into the extreme weather shifts during the day haha.  We've settled into a nice school routine and I am feeling really happy about how that's going.  We are most likely going to join a co-op by the end of the week which I am really excited about doing too!  We're also settling into our home routines and managing to stay on top of our chores and housework!  I know that sounds odd, but it's always been a struggle for me and I really feel like we may have found our groove.  Some tweaking I am sure will be needed, but for now it's working.  So really, life is good.  It's so wild that we have been here over a year now.  It feels like it's flying by and it makes me anxious because there is so much we/I want to do and it feels like time just won't slow down and wait for us to figure it out haha.  We are still so grateful to be here though.  We've had many many tender mercies and blessings from Heavenly Father.  We know we are where we need to be right now and that feels the best of all.  Thanks for being here!

Have a blessed day! 🤍