September Stories

When we moved here 2.5 years ago, we made a goal to be much less busy than we were in Huntington Beach. We've been doing a really good job at it, with the exception of this past September. (But even then, it is nothing compared to how busy we were in HB, of which I am glad!) We knew it would be a rough month, so we planned ahead as best we could and tried to take one day at a time. Tanner started preschool, I started rehearsals for Into the Woods at the community college, and I started teaching/working 10 hours a week. Oh yeah, and Jeremy and I went to Guatemala for a week. 

Here are some pictures of our last calm day enjoying a warm rainstorm before all the craziness began.

Playing in the rain!!

Labor Day was spent helping a family from church with replacing the siding on their home.

Dallin fell asleep while we worked. I set up a bed for him in the back of our car.

The next day was Tanner's first day of preschool!!

I thought it was cute how Tanner wanted me to include Dallin in the picture.

He was really excited. He goes to school on MTW mornings.

First day of school meant my first day to be with Dallin alone! I took him to the Nature Center. We played catch and then played inside with all the learning activities.

Tanner had a lot to tell us during lunch when he got home. Later that day or week, he was playing with Daddy's razor. I told him to stop, he can get hurt. He put the razor down, and when I wasn't looking, he tried shaving his lip, and of course sliced it. So that is why he has a band-aide on his lip! It was a perfect opportunity for me to help learn what happens when we don't obey.

That night I had rehearsal, and Jeremy took the boys out to eat.

One morning, the boys played so nicely in the backyard.

That weekend, Jeremy took the boys to Father and Sons Campout. They had a blast.

With the boys gone, I had time to work on this project. Jeremy helped me hang it up when he got back. The center picture is the Denver Temple where Jeremy and I were married. On the right is a frame with our family mission statement, vision statement, motto, and our family hymn and scripture.

The rest of the pictures are from our photo shoot in South Carolina, which goes perfectly with the beach theme of the rest of the room. I also made a cool word cloud for one of the frames. Every word in this cloud is part of a project that Jeremy and I did several years ago when we created our family "identity." 

One evening, Jeremy got some surprise visitors--kids that Jeremy works with in our youth group!

Dallin's personality is just smiles and cheer. He seems to get sillier and sillier, especially when he gets out of the bathtub. He did some pretty cool tricks on the beds this one night.

He also made fun of his own paci addiction by doing this one day.

September brought a small harvest from our garden. We kind of had to give up on the garden mid-summer because our garden fence was not keeping out the deer, and we didn't have time to buy and build a new one (we were gone a lot, and so that also made it hard to tend the garden). I was shocked that we got this much food because almost everything was devoured by the deer, week after week.

When we shucked the corn, Jeremy made fun of our crop. The corn on the right is from our friend's garden. The corn on the left is ours. 

Jeremy worked really hard and was able to finish the bathroom!!! (all except replacing the shower door that shattered when he installed it). I was really pleased at the job he did. It was his first time ever attempting something this huge.

Gorgeous, floor to ceiling ceramic tile in the shower.

Ceramic tile on the floor with custom subway design--my favorite part of the bathroom. Also, a new high efficiency toilet! 

Granite counter tops with custom decorative glass tile and new, undermount sinks.

All new hardware and light fixtures with brushed nickel finish.
I am a very happy wife!

I had rehearsals every night for 5 weeks. I keep finding pictures like this of what took place while I was gone.

I started teaching more! I work for MacPhail Center for Music as an Early Childhood Music Instructor. I have several Preschool and Kindergarten classes that I teach on M & T morning while Tanner is gone at school. I see each group once a week for 30 minutes. I also teach the family music class on Fridays, similar to what I have been doing for the past year, but with more resources and the MacPhail curriculum. Dallin goes to friends' houses and does really well with it. I'm so glad that things are going well with my new job!

For Dallin and Mommy time one day, we went with the MomGroup to pick apples in the country. It was a really great morning. Dallin sang in the car the whole way there (insisted on singing solos, I could not join him, haha). Then he played with the little farm kittie, he loves animals! When we started collecting apples, DJ tried to carry our bag, "Soooo heeeeeavy!" 

After all the kiddos had enough apples to stuff their faces, we sat under some of the trees and I was asked to lead everyone in some apple picking songs and rhymes. A special shout-out to Sheila Hanke for organizing the event. We had a great turnout, and it was really a neat time. During the singing time, I looked around and noticed how perfect the moment was: warm weather, all our little ones content under the trees eating apples and singing with us. Seriously, how cool is that?! And I can't say enough about how kind and inspiring these mamas are to me! I am so blessed!!

We tried to keep up on the groceries in September, but I think this was just one of two trips that we took the whole time I was involved in the show at the community college. Dallin cracks me up. He wanted to wear boots in our warm Sept weather. The boys are getting better at our grocery trips, it seems that we can go quicker now that they are bigger. And check out these new carts we got at Aldi's!! The double seats have changed our shopping experience for the better.

Here are some more pics of Dallin being a goof ball. He has a knack for being funny, just like his Daddy. I love it because when Tanner or myself is stressed, Dallin will make a silly sound or comment and we all just start giggling.

Jeremy and I spent several days getting things ready for our trip to Guatemala, including getting the house ready for Grandma and Grandpa Z, who came to babysit the boys. Here is my last picture with the boys before I left them.

My sweet, sweet boys, sleeping so peacefully! They were really excited to wake up and see Grandma at our house. They didn't seem to care much that me and Jeremy were going away for a week.

Park Week

One perk of living in the Midwest, or at least in Minnesota, is that there are tons of parks and playgrounds everywhere you go, even in the smallest of towns. Our town of 24,000 people has at least 15 parks (not including school parks) that I know of, each with huge areas to run and explore, and each with playgrounds that have swings, jungle gyms, and other cool stuff like rock walls and merry-go-rounds. In HB, to find the kind of parks we have in MN, you had to drive at least 20 minutes, and they were always so crowded it was hardly worth going.

During our last week of summer (Aug 31-Sept 4), I decided to make it special by going to various parks every day. We made it to 7 parks and one museum! It was my last hurrah with the boys before Tanner started preschool and I started teaching music classes 3 days a week (6 hrs total of teaching a week).

It was so fun to see Dallin getting really good at climbing. I didn't think the day would come so soon when Dallin not only would make it to the top of the jungle gym without any help, but also beat his big brother to the top. Also, it is really amazing to see how well DJ catches himself from falling, he is really controlled with every step!

One day, Tanner helped pack a picnic lunch. After eating, we played King and Queen up in the playground because it had a tall tower. 

We went on family bike rides in the evenings when Jeremy was home early. I was hoping to take the boys on more bike rides by myself this summer, but my sciatica issues make it really hard for me to pull their weight, especially on inclines.

We took a friend with us to this park one morning.

Soon, some bigger boys showed up (about age 10 and 11). They were some of the nicest kids I've ever met. They played catch and chase with my little boys for 45 minutes, cheered them on, listened to them and went along with all their requests, and even pushed them on the swings and carried them places. When we had to leave, the big boys gave their major league baseball to Tanner. I'm mean, if that isn't "Minnesota Nice," then I don't know what is!

Selfies at the park near Burg's nursery. 

This park had big enough swings for me to do underdogs with the boys. Dallin loved them. Tanner learned how to slink through these squares without getting hurt.

Tanner kept begging me to paint his face batman style, so this seemed like the perfect week to do it.

The boys got plenty of time on the playground in our own backyard in the evenings. 

At this park, we played trains. I was given some really amazing food on this train ride to New York.

At this park, the boys were able to climb the red slide really easily. They climbed up one and then went down another, over and over again.

One afternoon, I found Tanner putting duct tape on Dallin's leg. Tanner said triumphantly, "Don't worry Mom, we covered up the pen on Dallin's leg, so now you won't get mad at us!"

The reveal.

I took the boys to the Rochester children's museum. The exhibit was a castle theme. 

We had a lot of fun in the craft room.

And then spent most of the time in the king's kitchen.

I really enjoyed this week to focus completely on my little boys. I had such a FUN summer with them! We had our fair share of travel, outings, camping, work and parties. But when it's all said an done, my favorite things that we did together were the simple things: school lunch almost everyday and playing outside in the yard. Here is our last day of summer, on Sunday, Sept 7, right after we got home from church.