OCTOBER

CONFERENCE WEEKEND - I realize this is a really gross way to start off a whole months of updates, but this is how our October started.  So the Saturday session of conference was on September 30th.  That same day there was a WSTR roping in Homedale so Jed went out to rope at it.  The rest of us stayed home to watch conference.  Jed called me on his way home to say that he was going to stop at the Caldwell office because he had hurt his hand pretty bad.  I didn't really know what that meant and when he got home his whole hand was bandaged up like a boxing glove, but he wouldn't show me anything so I had no idea what had happened.  He just told me his hand got sucked into the dally.  Finally after about a week I caught him changing his bandages and saw the damage.  This is what a rope burn looks like - a really bad rope burn - after a week.  I couldn't even believe it.  He's pretty sure he broke a finger too, but he popped it back in after it happened.  I was so glad it wasn't worse, but sickened at how fast it all happened and that he could have easily lost his fingers. 

Jed said the worst part about it was that after it happened he still had to go back out and rope again.  He shouldn't have told me that because then I just got mad.  I think my exact words were, "You are an idiot."  And I didn't talk to him the rest of the night.  I was so mad that he would risk losing his fingers for stupid roping.  Oh I was so mad!  Jed knew it was dumb too.  He was pretty worried about the whole thing because his hand really hurt and he was trying to play it off like it wasn't a big deal, but I could tell he was worried about if it would heal and how it would heal.  So I felt bad being mad, but honestly I swear team ropers lose brain cells in the arena and especially Jed gets so competitive and only thinks about winning he forgets there is real life outside of roping.  Sometimes I really hate roping and this was definitely one of those times.  Luckily for Jed the conference talks were so good on Sunday morning softened my heart and then we went over to Manwaring FHE for lunch and I couldn't be mean to him in front of my whole extended family otherwise I'm not sure how long I would have been mad at him.  Also he did clean up the entire basement without me knowing so that helped.

DALLIN 17MOS - Life in Eagle is treating Dallin well.  I realized I never posted this cool statue in our new little downtown area.  The kids think it is pretty cool.  Dallin is still growing like crazy.  I can't believe we are only one month away from nursery! Hallelujah. Church is a nightmare with him, don't let that cute little face fool you.  I have given up so many Sundays and just brought him home more Sundays than I have stayed and I don't even feel bad about it. 

Because Dallin is so big for his age and Kinsley is so little and because clothes shrink after so many washes - these two are in the matching clothes sizes Ava & Kasen wore when we lived in Chicago.  It is fun to see them in the same clothes.  It doesn't seem that long ago!

 This is a comparison - Ava age 5, Kasen age 2.5, Kinsley age 6.5, Dallin age 1.5.

Some things about Dallin this month:  he loves getting hugs and especially a "Dallin sandwich" hug.  He has figured out how to climb into and out of his highchair.  Sometimes when he is climbing out he gets scared and is just hanging for dear life though.  He loves making animal sounds.  He seems to be interested in Toy Story and especially Buzz Lightyear.  He will climb up on things and raise his arm up and make a loud noise and then someone will say "to infinity and beyond" and he laughs hysterically.  He usually does this on our little leather storage bench in the living room.  First he turns it upside down and then stands on it though. ???? He is still obsessed with the broom so I finally went and bought him his own little broom.  He packs it around everywhere and loves to push it around the floor.  It reminds me so much of Kasen - exactly the same age and everything.  One thing he has started hating is getting into his carseat.  He will do the arch back thing that is super fun.  It takes about 5 minutes to get him strapped in and I'm usually sweating at the end. 

 

Dallin loves bath time, but he likes it a lot better when someone else gets in with him.  One night I had to go check something outside so I asked Ava to watch him for a minute and when I came back in Ava was fully clothed in the tub.  haha I guess that's one way to watch him while he's in the bath. 

BEAUTIFUL FALL - I thought our yard was so pretty in the summer with all the bushes and the flowers in bloom.  I had no idea that fall would be every bit as pretty.  All the trees lining our driveway changed colors into the prettiest red.  I loved driving up the lane.  Looking out across our backyard and the neighboring houses and trees it was so pretty.  Probably my favorite view so far.  Pictures never did it justice though. Even Dallin liked to unroll his window and drive slow up the driveway looking at the trees.

There were still a few strange things that happened.  I got an alert one night around 2am with this news article about Yellowstone.  I was so confused that I didn't read it completely and I thought that it was saying that the supervolcano had already blown.  It wasn't a good feeling! lol  I'm still not sure why it alerted me in the middle of the night.  Another night we were just getting ready to get to bed when I opened the door to throw some scraps to GIGI and a bird flew right into our house.  It flew upstairs and all around.  It kept trying to fly out the window.  It took forever to get it outside.  The kids were screaming like it was the best thing on earth.

Dallin loved helping his dad with the chores.  This kid loves to be outside so much!  It is getting to be a bit of a problem because he figured out how to open the doors and started sneaking outside without anyone knowing.  I saw him walking across the grass as I was walking past a window headed straight for the horses.  A few days prior while outside by the horses he crawled inside the horse pen to get closer to them.  So now the deadbolts are always locked. 

With all the beautiful trees we had lots of beautiful leaves falling this month.  We had raked little piles her or there, but by the end of the month we had a whole ocean of leaves to rake up!  Thank goodness for leaf blowers and for Kinsley to remind us that gathering leaves is a fun activity.

NEW JOB - As the kids were gone all day I started getting the itch to be more productive.  I was searching through craigslist looking at the job listings.  I really wanted to find something that was work from home and I even applied to a few things, but no one was ever interested in me.  Towards the end of September I found a listing for a preschool teacher in Eagle.  It was at a local daycare facility called Polaris and the job would be to assist the preschool teacher in her class.  I went in to get more information and found out that while I was working Dallin could come for free and be in his age room.  The only negative thing was the position was actually full-time hours so they also said they had an option to work as a floater - basically someone who just floats from room to room and relieves the full-time employees while they take their hr break. My hours could be whatever I wanted them to be and I could also have any days off that my kids had off.  It seemed like the best of both worlds to be able to work a little bit, but also see Dallin whenever I wanted.  I started on October 16th and my schedule was M-F from 9-3.  It was a little bit of a rough start for Dallin.  He was pretty overwhelmed.  The first week was hard for both of us and I wasn't really sure if it was worth it.  The boss told me to give it 3 weeks and see how Dallin adjusted, but by the end of the first week he was fine and even napping on his cot without any problems.  Sometimes I think it is really great for Dallin to be around other kids his age and other times I'm like this is really bad for him.  I haven't really figured out how I feel about it yet.  Another positive thing is that the chef makes pretty healthy food and he eats lunch and a snack there everyday for free.  He loves recess time and is obsessed with this duck toy that rocks back and forth.  Dallin has had to really adapt quickly and has learned to sit at a table and eat with a spoon.  He is learning that he has to listen to his teachers which is probably a good thing!  A lot of days I am in the classroom with him so that has been fun.  I've been really surprised at my patience level being around little kids all day.  We will see how long it lasts! lol

SCHOOL & SPORTS ROCKSTARS - The other three kids are learning and growing and loving most every minute!  Kinsley loves 1st grade and she has such a fantastic teacher.  They went on a nature walk around the school neighborhood and gathered leaves.  She made a chalk drawing of her teacher and wanted me to email it to her.  Her teacher's name is Ms. Kraft so now all of a sudden Kinsley loves Kraft Mac n' Cheese.

Kinsley also loves to do her school work.  This was a cute paper she brought home one day.  She received a special award from her teacher called the Principal's Pride Award.  Her teacher nominated her because of her outstanding qualities as a student and so she got a special charm and lunch with the principal. The letter her teacher wrote was so thoughtful.  I'm so proud Kinsley is such a sweet person at school.

Kasen's team finished another season of flag football.  They played some tougher teams this year and even lost a game.  But they ended up winning the championship again.  His team plays really good together and they are all friends so even though it is not convenient for him to play in this league now that we have moved I don't think we will make any changes.  In 3rd grade boys can start playing tackle football which both Jed and I think is way too young.  So we will let him play flag with this group for as long as it lasts.

Ava had her first choir concert this fall.  It was a mix of patriotic songs and Michael Jackson songs.  I'm not sure how they related to each other, but the music was lovely.  Ava submitted a drawing for the cover and it was chosen by her music teacher to be printed on a 1/3 of the programs.  So she was excited by that.  Ava also had to do a science experiment for her science class.  She decided to test which classical composer had a greater influence on a 9 year old's productivity and memory.  She conducted an experiment over the fall break and asked some kids in the ward to come participate.  Her information sheet to the parents cracked me up.  She is so detailed - I told her she would make a great researcher.

Ava also finished up her sewing unit in Home Ec.  They made little monsters.  We thought hers turned out pretty cute.  Kasen and Kinsley signed up for an after-school jump rope club.  Kinsley hated it after the first day because she "wasn't any good at all."  Kasen thought it was pretty fun.  He learned a few new cool tricks.

37TH BIRTHDAY - I celebrated another birthday and it was very exciting because I had to go to work.  :/  Even though I'm an adult I still think my birthday should be a day long celebration of events and doing whatever I want.  I think birthdays should still be fun, but apparently I'm the only adult who thinks that.  So I went to work.  However, the boss gave me a Target gift card for $30 so that was cool.  The kids made me wonderful cards as always. 

Ava woke up early and made me breakfast in bed.  She had asked me a couple days earlier how to make scrambled eggs and I didn't think too much of it until she brought them to me that morning.  I was touched that she was so sneaky and thoughtful about my birthday. She woke everybody up and they came in to sing to me that morning.  That night Ava had volleyball tryouts for club and so we went to that.  She did awesome and ended up making the 13 Premier team.  It is a team of 7th graders who are 13 yrs old.  Ava and one other 12 yr old made the team so she was pretty excited.  They will have a lot of tournaments this spring.  She gets a break now until after Thanksgiving when practises start up again.  Even though it wasn't partying all day it was still a wonderful birthday and I'm grateful to have spent another year on this earth with the people I love most.

MERIDIAN TEMPLE OPEN HOUSE - The last weekend of October my parents came over for a couple days.  They hadn't been to our new house yet and they also wanted to go to the temple open house.  We were excited to have them come.  The temple open house was wonderful and so packed.  Dallin went bananas within the first few minutes so Jed couldn't go through with us.  We met up with them at the end.  Should I be worried that everything spiritual brings out the worst in Dallin???? church, temple, etc.  :(

The Meridian temple is very very large!  It is at the edge of a very tall hill too so it looks even bigger.  It was less than .25 miles from our last house.  Now it is only 3.5 miles away from our house now so it is still very close.  It is the closest we have lived to a temple so I guess now we have no excuses.

My dad brought over his chainsaw and helped us chop down some dead trees in our yard.  He also used one of the trunks to carve us a little bench for our firepit.  We had a great time with them here.  We went out to a fun BBQ restaurant and told lots of stories and laughed.  Grandma Foster played baseball with Kasen in the backyard.  Kinsley was glued to Grandma's side and after they left I found her buried in a blanket sobbing.  I said, "What's wrong?" and she said, "I just already miss Grandma so so very much!"  It was so sweet and sad, but mostly sweet in a sad way. haha

HALLOWEEN - The day before Halloween I got a call at work from the elementary school.  They said Kinsley had a fever of 103 and needed to be picked up.  We got home and I put her in my bed and she asked to watch tv.  I went to the kitchen to get her some water and when I came back she was watching The Great British Bake-off and taking breaks during the commercials to do her homework.  It was pretty funny.  She ended up being sick for the entire week.  I never took her to the doctor, but her fever lasted at least 4 days and then during a nap she woke up completely drenched.  At first I thought she had wet the bed, but she was drenched from shoulder to foot so Jed said her fever finally broke and the virus she had should finally start going away.  She was still very weak from not eating much but after that she did start getting better.  No one else got sick, but Dallin did want couch beds like his sister all week.

Halloween was on a Tuesday and because Kinsley was sick I wasn't sure we would do anything, but when Kinsley thought that she might have to miss trick or treating she rallied enough for a few hours.  All of our costumes were very last minute.  Ava thought of hers the night before.  We already had the witch costume from Ava.  Kasen went with a classic Western Bandit costume.  Dallin went as a cry-baby.  j/k  He wore his hand-me down Halloween shirt from Kasen and was a little skeleton boy.  I knew he would never tolerate an actual costume.

Dallin was really excited to pack around the Halloween buckets.  He wanted to pack all of them and the kids were good sports to let him think he was in control.  He didn't really get trick or treating and I got some cute videos of him staring at candy bowels with the most confused look.  One house had a fog machine and that really blew his mind.  He walked through it at least 20x.

We drove down the road and met some friends to trick or treat with.  The neighborhood was a lot quieter than what we were used to at our old house.  I offered to the kids to call some of their old friends and meet up in our old neighborhood for trick or treating, but they didn't really want to.  I was kinda' surprised, but I guess they've moved on.  They still got a lot of loot.  Even some full sized candy bars.  When we got home Tresa came over to see them and they did their annual Halloween candy wheelin and dealin trading thing they do.  I felt a little bad I didn't make more of an effort to make Halloween fun and exciting.  I need to do better at that with holidays.