September Highlights

Seeing as it's November, I thought I'd catch up on September. Ha. 

My mom was in town for her birthday (Sept 15th). We celebrated at my grandma's house with dinner and cake with Aunt Wendy and Mandy. 

My mom and I made tons of progress on the office during her visit. The kids were eager cheerleaders and made it fun. Every time we completed another part of the office the boys were so excited! One Sunday morning I found all three boys sitting at the desk playing on the computer.

We got to spend an afternoon with the Smith's while Ryan was at school. We went down to Orem after Camden's nap and had lunch and played at a park. It was strange to not have Ryan there, but Brady and Camden had fun! This was the first time that Bronco really gave Camden any attention and Camden loved it. I can't wait to see these two little squirts become buddies like their older brothers!

Ryan had been dreaming about the red Power Ranger costume he saw at Costco. We have so many costumes already, so I refused to buy it. Enter Grandma Jodi. She was so nice and found one of the last ones in the store up in Salt Lake while she was staying with her mom. She brought it back for Ryan and he was so, so happy. Aren't grandma's the best?

Of course, once Ryan was in his costume, Camden had to try out his. They sat on the couch, ate popcorn and watched a TV show together.

My sisters, mom and I had a Girl's Night Out while she was here (Thanks to Zach's willingness to get the kids in bed all by himself!). It was a total blast! I love hanging out with my mom and sisters and it was a real treat to be able to carry a conversation without being interrupted by three little rascals.

We met Anne after she got off of work at Pei Wei. She score a double fortune cookie. It was a cookie inside of a cookie. Pretty sweet deal!

After dinner we went to a movie. We saw The Giver. The movie was okay, but the great company made up for it!

I hesitated to even post this next picture, but I had to (Sorry mom and Lindsey). I completely forgot to get a picture of the four of us before the movie, so we had to compensate with awful selfies in my driveway when we got home. I was sad Anne wasn't there, it was a crazy fun time. Emphasis on crazy. 

I had been wanting to make a map to hang in the office. With my mom here, it was the perfect time to turn my vision into a reality! There was no way I could have survived Michaels with two antsy little boys on my own as I measured and laid out canvases.

It turned out just the way I envisioned it! I love when that happens.

Toward the end of September Brady started getting a lot better about preschool drop off. With some practice (and a little bit of bribing from Zach) he was able to walk in with no tears! He even told me he didn't want to bring his Dragon Tear anymore because "he is brave and doesn't cry at school." What finally did the trick was Zach promising him a trip to the dollar store if he could go a week with no tears at preschool. It worked! And we haven't looked back since.

Camden insisted on wearing his Puddle Jumper to the playground. It was hilarious.

Zach and I got to go out on a date while my mom was here. We love when she's in town!

Camden had his first week of nursery and he rocked it! He didn't cry at all. He even came back to us with a bubble in his hair. Adorable. He now fusses a little when we initially drop him off, but his teacher says he stops as soon as we are gone. He is always happy when we pick him up! I couldn't be more relieved and thrilled to have a kid who will go to nursery on his own. Hallelujah!

Zach's coworker gave us a bike trailer his family had grown out of. The boys immediately wanted to take it for a spin with Zach. Camden and Brady loved it! Now I just need to get a bike...

I love these handsome boys of mine.

On my mom's last day in town we met up with Anne and Lindsey and Rick for one last hurrah at the Wild Zucchini for lunch. I love being with my family.

I've been trying to get our garage in order. (I WILL park in the garage this winter!) One evening I was out working in the garage and I found a decent sized black widow spider. Yuck!

Yes, I screamed for Zach to come kill it. We got some bug spray and sprayed it, but the little stinker crawled up behind the drywall before I could confirm it's death. The next morning I was pleased to find him dangling from his own web, dead. I took a picture and then smashed it with my shoe for good measure.

This may not look like much to you, but this is monumental! We have a CAR in our GARAGE. This is huge. Since this picture, I've cleaned it out even more and we can now almost fit both cars!

Right as my mom left, my sister in law, Rachel, arrived with her two boys. Rachel's and my mom's planes literally passed on the runway at the Salt Lake Airport- how's that for timing?! Rachel's youngest son got a bad chest cold and was down and out for a few days. Lucky for us James was healthy and he got to come play for a few hours one morning while Rachel took care of sick Sam at her parent's house.

 We played in the basement, ate lunch, fed some ducks, built a fort and played some more! It was fun to see James. I am always blown away at how old he and Brady are- weren't they just born?!

The morning adventures with James must have really worn Brady out. As I was chatting with Rachel when she came to pick up James, Brady made himself a little spot to sleep in the kitchen and passed out cold.

Brady has been really into playing games recently. His favorite is Uno and he's actually really good at it! But he doesn't discriminate. If you are willing to play a game with him, he will play pretty much anything. He loves board games and card games and wants to play any free minute we have. One day I was just plain tired of playing games so I told him to play a game with Camden. It took a little bit of trial and error, but they finally came upon a game they could play together by them selves. The fishing game. It was awesome.

Zach took a business trip to Boston in October. He had a conference for work and was gone for three or four days. He texted me from the airport that he was going to bring home some lobster for us to try. I texted him, "Great!" thinking surely he meant lobster meat. It wasn't until I saw his picture on his Instagram of a box that said, "Live Lobster" on the side that I realized he meant he was bringing home lobster for us to try! He flew home with two lobsters in a box from Boston to Salt Lake. Crazy. They "lived" in our produce drawer for about 20 hours before Zach boiled them and turned them into the most delicious lobster rolls for dinner. Yum!

I hate to leave you with the lobster tale (or tail, get it?), but that was September in a nut shell! Now on to catch up on October!