September 2017 - Part Two

The kids passed a Sunday afternoon planning a fashion show for us and Uncle Brady. We're kicking ourselves for not getting pictures of every outfit - believe me, they were spectacular. Tommy wore his superhero outfits, complete with props and action moves. Lily styled all of Annie's outfits and narrated the show. The grand finale was this outfit they titled "Blue Velvet". Not sure how they came up with the name, but we thought it was hilarious. 

 Last year we accidentally killed our apricot tree after over pruning it. The tree went into shock and never recovered. Our neighbor offered to help us pull it out. We are sad to see it go, but now we have an easier straight shot into the shed while driving the mower. We're learning the hard way that our climate isn't the best for fruit trees.

 It was Spirit week at school for the high school homecoming. The girls go to dress up for Hawaiian day, sports day, pajama day, school colors day and red-white-blue day. In the craziness that is gettign ready for school, I didn't always have time for a picture. On the morning of sports day, Annie lost her second front tooth. All she wants for Christmas is her two front teeth!

 On Thursday September 14, Mommy had trouble with her back. While working out something just felt off, so she went home to rest. We sat down to say family prayers before Daddy left for work. After the prayer, Mommy couldn't sit up to get off the couch. Daddy tried to help push Mommy up and the motion caused a massive back spasm. Mommy couldn't move or breathe because of the pain. Daddy came home early from work and we got some pain medication and muscle relaxers. They helped to stop the spasms and Mommy started improving a little. Unfortunately, Daddy was supposed to leave early the next morning for his Spartan race in Washington. There's no way Mommy could tend the kids in her condition. Grammy and Grampy to the rescue! They came in just a few hours to help us and we are so thankful they could come.
On top of Daddy being gone and Mommy being injured, Tommy got a short lived tummy bug. He and Mommy spent most of Saturday morning on the floor in or near the bathroom. Grampy went to buy some ginger ale and after a few drinks, Tommy started to perk up.

Henry J. Eyring, son of President Henry B. Eyring was inaugurated as the new president of BYU-Idaho on September 19. Daddy was a guest at the luncheon before the ceremony and got an almost front row seat for the devotional and ceremony. Pretty exciting.

We have neighbors who do concrete work. They offered us a huge discount on the materials and labor for our extended patio. Daddy got to work cutting out the sod and getting the sprinklers turned off. His boy scouts even showed up one night to help move the sod rolls. Mommy paid them with hot chocolate and cookies.

Lily was a good helper for Daddy. The little kids just wanted to play on the sod rolls and squish the mud. Hopefully we'll get this project done soon. Having a mud patch just outside the back door is less than ideal with four kids.

We did all the prep work we could only to find out that the cost will be double what the neighbors originally quoted us. GRRR! It's still cheaper than fully hiring someone and easier than doing it ourselves, but Daddy was not happy about the sudden price change.

Lily and Annie have been cursed with small mouth genes. They both had permanent teeth not coming in and growing in the wrong places. Annie had two lateral incisors pulled and Lily had her two bottom canines pulled.  We're hoping this will help their adult teeth come in. Lily's procedure was harder for the dentist, he said he couldn't get his instruments around her teeth because of the crowding. Lily was back there for a long time and looked weary when she came out. By the next day, you would never know they had been at the dentist. They were pain free and happy as could be. Coupons for free Frostys from Wendy's probably helped.

Daddy got to go on a camp out with his scouts and the next older group of scouts too. After weeks of warm weather, they of course were camping on the first night of freezing weather. Everyone stayed warm and had a good time. The next day they did some rock climbing. A few of the boys are working toward their merit badge and passed some things off.

That's Daddy in the picture on the right above.

 

Daddy again in the picture on the left.

The mud pit is the boys favorite place to play. I think we just need a dirt and gravel pile in the yard for them to play on.

We braved cooler temps for our annual trip to the campus orchard. The kids love that they can just pick apples off any tree and eat them.

Tommy has entered that boy phase where they make silly faces for pictures rather than smiling. I would think it's funny, but I know it lasts until they are 24, so I have 20 more years of goofy pictures to look forward to. Joey kept sampling apples from the ground. We had to watch him like crazy to be sure he didn't get a rotten one.

I love seeing how the kids get a little braver each year and can climb higher in the trees and higher on the ladder than the year before.

Lily found this cute apple that looked like a baby chick.

 

Almost impossible to get a normal shot of four kids. But I love both of these pictures because they show the kids' personalities.

After picking apples we did a race across a lawn in the gardens. Tommy totally cheated and turned around only half way. Annie and I gave it our all to try and catch that little cheater, but he still won.

With a few days of hard frost coming we had to harvest our pumpkins. We got 47 this year. Most of them are small so they will go in our widow boxes. The rest we will carve and use in the front yard. The kids are so proud of them. Fall is here!