Snow

It's September 30th...you've got to be kidding me.

In happier news, we got a couch!

We got it for a really good price from a lady who bought it for her basement, but it didn't fit down her stairs so she had to sell it. It's funny that she bought it just to be an "extra", basement couch, and for me it's the most beautiful thing I've ever owned. It's sage green microfiber and it's huge! It didn't look so big in her big house, but we got it home and it takes up our whole living room. (But it doesn't even matter because now we have a bedroom to sleep in!) It's long enough that Devan can lie on it without his feet or head touching the arms and its wide enough that if we took off the back cushions, the three of us could lie down side-by-side. And it has an ottoman. My whole life I've dreamed of owning an ottoman. I'm just so happy!

Also, note Hannah's cute pajamas. Our Aunt Renee sent those to her. When I pulled them out of the box I thought there was no way she was going to fit into them, but they fit perfectly. What a grownup girl! And what cute doggy pj's. They're perfect for this cold night.

Last weekend we went to a place called Topaz Mountain. Legend tells that about 20 years ago there was topaz scattered everywhere in the dirt surrounding the mountain. These days, however, you need to bring chisels and hammers and break into the mountain to find topaz. We found nothing.

This is Devan attacking the mountain. It's not a great picture because I was quite a ways away, sitting in the shade of the motor home, "taking care of the children."

Jayden wanted to break into a mountain too...

Hannah had other plans for him.

This is a lizard Devan caught. It's actually harder to do than I would have thought. They were all too quick for me. The capture came with a price... Devan was bit, but he bravely hung on.

This is the place where strange people spend their Saturdays breaking rocks with nothing but an ordinary hammer.

Hannah still manages to make it look good.

And this week's winner for cutest Hannah picture...

There's nothing in the world like Oreos right before bed.

Escape Artist

I guess it's time to to retire the playpen...

We now officially have no control over our daughter.

Me?

This is Hannah in the cute jumper that her Nana gave her for Christmas last year. I'm so excited that it fits her now because it's the most perfect fall outfit. She brought me the blue socks herself and wanted me to put them on her. A couple of minutes after I took the picture I put it on the computer and asked Hannah, "Who's that?" and she said, "Me?" She's never said that before! Devan and I got all excited and she looked at us like were weird and wouldn't say it again.




Yesterday was our niece, Peyton's, 5th birthday party. I can't believe she's 5 already. When I first met her she was younger than Hannah is now. I think the picture below perfectly captures our lovely, quietly-thoughtful, growing-up-far-too-quickly, pretty, pretty, pretty Peyton.



For a craft all the kids got to paint little ceramic sculptures. Hannah did a good job on hers and I think she enjoyed painting, although she got bored easily. Oh well, that's about all I expect from a (in three short weeks!) 1 and a half year old.

A Relaxing Weekend

For all the Hannah fans out there...

All week we planned on going camping again this weekend, but when Thursday night rolled around and I still hadn't unpacked all our stuff from camping on Monday and I looked over all my course calendars and realized I had 3 tests coming up on Monday, we decided to skip it. And then Friday afternoon we all got sick. It was just a little bug and was a good excuse to stay in bed and study all weekend. Saturday I got more homework done and then in the afternoon Hannah went over to play at Nana and Papa's house while Devan and I went to see Star Trek at the dollar theater and then to Cafe Rio...oh how I've missed you, Cafe Rio! After we picked up Hannah we drove up a canyon to an overlook. We put a blanket down on the gravel and the three of us lay down under another blanked and stargazed. There were a few other cars parked there too, but after a few minutes of us being there, they drove away one by one. They probably saw our baby and though "We'd better stop what we're doing before we get one of those!"

This morning at 9:30 we went to church. Hannah still had her cold and was inconsolable, so I asked Devan to take her home about halfway through the first hour of church. I feel bad that he had to miss most of church, but I'm so glad I got to stay. It seems like it's going to be a really great ward. They say that it's really transitory because there are only apartments in our ward, but everyone was really friendly and welcoming. After church I came home and started making some soup for lunch and the food I was going to take to Sunday Dinner. As I was chopping up my vegetables and thinking of how much I hate chopping vegetables, I realized I should hurry and cut up the vegetables for all our meals this week so I don't have to spend time doing it later. Then I realized that as long as I'm cutting up all these vegetables, I should just make all the meals for the week. So...cooking a quick pot of soup turned into a two hour project, but now I have 10 cups of chicken and vegetable soup, 3 meals worth of spaghetti, 8 servings of a casserole, and a stir-fry to bring to the in-law's tonight. My fridge and freezer is stocked and I'm excited to not have to cook a single lunch or dinner this week.

That was my weekend. It was nice to be home, I'm excited to see how I do on my tests and to be done with them, and I'm relieved that I don't have to spend much time in the kitchen this week. Have a great week everyone!

Camping...Finally!

After a summer of sitting home missing my husband, I was finally rewarded with a camping trip! Of course I managed to forget my camera. But these are the things I would have taken a picture of if I'd had it:

* Hannah covered in dirt wearing her, "That's it! I'm calling 1-800-Auntie" shirt Aunt Renee gave her.

* Hannah covered in green marker after she found her cousins' stash.

* Hannah's hair covered in chalk after she tripped and fell on the stump that Kylee had colored in. It was the funniest thing -- her hair was blue for half a day!

* Our trip to the beautiful Provo River waterfalls.

* The licence plate of the creepy truck that drove past me three times during my jog down the canyon.

It was a great trip. We got there at about 7 on Friday night and got home at around 2 on Monday afternoon. We had a great weekend of not doing much but relaxing outside. It was a perfect end to a fairly stressful few weeks.

Now we're back home and getting ready to get back to real life. Devan has been studying the last few hours and I did the last of the unpacking and made some soup that should make great lunches the rest of the week. I'm finally starting to feel a little settled...tomorrow will be our two week anniversary in this new apartment and I'll try to post pictures when I get home from school...but we'll see.

Added 2 weeks later...

I was able to steal pictures from Jordan and Danielle's camera!

The men throwing rock into the river. Devan always thinks that's so fun ... I don't know why.

My super-clean family on our third night of camping

Hanah loves to be dirty!