So much to love in this post

James loves Legoes. They keep him so quiet and occupied I now bring a few blocks in a baggie to church.

 "I build a temple." That's what he always builds.

These two crack me up. James runs over to the hair bow drawer whenever I do Erica's hair and piles on the headbands.

 I'll miss this age for both of them.

Have you noticed my sad dining table? The table came from my mom---I stole it 3 years ago from her shed while she was in on her mission (We had a table for 4 back then and Erica was soon to be out of her highchair). It was from Shopko and my brother used it as his desk and it had water marks and the finish was all but rubbed off. I stole it to go with chairs Justin bought at a yard sale that same summer and three were bright red, three were bright yellow. I spray painted them white right away and reupholstered the seats with the highest grade vinyl money can buy at Joann's. But the table? I was at a loss on what to do with a wood veneer table. So I did nothing.

Anyway, fast forward 3 years and I still hadn't done anything with the table except not care if the kids spilled or scratched or drew on it. I really just wanted to buy an expensive forever table instead.

And while we've got the money saved for this beautiful table of my imagination, there's no way it will fit in our dining room. Which means I better get brave and tackle this project.

For many days we ate off this ginormous folding table while I sanded and painted and sanded and painted in the garage.

And then when the table was done, I switched it out for the 6 chairs and sanded and painted for another week and we sat on folding chairs.

It was all worth it! (Although keeping ash from settling in the garage was a test of my patience.) Ta da!

#1 of #35 for 35 Years of Life -- Refinish the kitchen table and chairs. Two weeks, 4 coats of paint, 6 coats of finish later. The table and chairs are all now the same color, a "greige" they call it--greyish beige.  I wanted a light color since my floors and walls are so dark but also something that tied into the brown of the seats.

 I'm still getting used to how bright it is in my kitchen.

 I went with a high gloss for easy cleaning.

 It shows up everything but it also wipes of very easily.

 James is a fan. During the table/chair swapping we folded up his highchair and he hasn't missed it. He loves sitting on this stool and I love not maneuvering around his highchair. And he hasn't tried climbing on the table during a meal so I think he's mature enough.

 He also likes this frisbee.

Now I feel more grown up with a coordinating table and chairs instead of a college kid.

This is from more than a week ago when the Pole Creek fire really kicked up and spread smoke all over Spanish Fork.

It was really spooky that first day.

It was kind exciting the first day but sad when Elk Ridge and Woodland Hills had to evacuate. Justin and I stayed up late talking about what we would grab if we were evacuated (hard drives, documents, clothes). Today is the first day (10 days later) that I haven't smelled smoke.

Moving on.....

Every morning after I get James out his crib and change his diaper and get him dressed, he picks a car out of his basket to take down to breakfast. Every day.

Here's a sneak peak of #3 of #35 for 35 Years of Life--a quilt by me, for me.

If I unload James into the back of the car along with the groceries, he can make it to the driver's seat before I can close the back door and make it to the front.

"I dibe a car!"

Saturday we drove to Logan for the Ag Day BBQ. It wasn't until that evening so we had some time to do other fun Logan things. First stop is a pumpkin patch in Nibley. Their pumpkins are so cheap!

All the kids got to pick out their own but it took a few tries to find the right one.

James picked the only one small enough for him to carry.

$9. Total. I think it's worth driving all the way to Cache County just for that.

The Dyes in pumpkin form.

We grabbed some sandwiches at Old Grist Mill (also a great deal. $13 for 6 sandwiches) and went to Merlin Olsen Park to eat. I love this park because this is where we went the most as kids. Thomas always had his birthday here until we moved. The playground is different but the stream is the same.

I played Pooh sticks off this bridge too. Well it was probably an older, more unsafe bridge.

Pulling grass and throwing it in the water.

Erica took her shoes and socks off and hiked up her pants just like I told her to if she wanted to put her feet in the water. She lasted 20 seconds before she put everything back on.

Not a great group shot but Justin, my mom, Lisa, Jaana, Kyra, Kenny, Rachel, Zach, and Mason were there. My kids were running around.

My mom and Rachel went to Gossner foods but we took James to Matt's to take a nap and then I took the kids to Macey's in Providence so cousin Peyton could make us ice cream cones and I could get a new Aggie shirt ($5!)

 #2 of #35 for 35 Years of Life---take a spin in a ridiculously expensive car.

This is a BMW 740i (MSRP $80k), on loan to my brother while his new Tesla is perfected at the body shop.

This is what luxury driving feels like. Work hard and you too can drive someone else's loaned BMW.

Matt says he'd take his Tesla over the beemer any day. Sounds like we need to go back to Logan soon and be the judge of that.

BBQ time! You pay an entrance fee and then there's a bunch of booths set up and it's all you can eat. I went last year without Justin or the kids and I didn't want Justin to miss out again so here we are.

Cheese, deli meat, apples, watermelon, corn, pork, lamb, onion rings, salad, nachos, Creamies, chocolate milk, tulip bulbs, dried cherries.

Sorry for the blurry picture but this captures the crowdedness.

My kids got their $6 worth in watermelon and chocolate milk.

Justin and Henry went to the football game with my dad and Matt. Matt bought Henry this shirt. He has worn it every day since--we're on day 3.

Show me the true blooded Aggie from Utah

Henry had never been to a football game before and he loved it the entire time even though it started at 8:30. The Aggies won and they've also won a fan for life in Henry. Well, until the excitement wears off. He says he likes USU more than BYU now but we'll see what he does when they play each other in a couple of weeks. But I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty proud. Gosh I love Logan.

This is Justin's "Even Aggie football is better than no football" face.

Sarah went to a corn maze with Lisa, Jaana, and Kyra and Rachel's family. I stayed at Matt's with my mom so I could put James and Erica to bed at a decent time.

And I'll leave you with this totally awesome photo of James. He loves to wear headbands backward that smush down his ears. He also wants to count everything. "I count!" he says and then he touches the stars on the page or the shirts on the sales rack "1...2...1...2.... He can only count to 2 but we're working on it. I think that's really smart for a 22-month old, I don't care who you are.

Sidenote: Today's high is 73 and it is brilliantly blue with no wind. Today's weather kicks all the other weather's butt. Go fall!

Growing Up

Erica hit a big milestone this week and I don't know how I feel about it. She started preschool last Wednesday. All summer long she would come up to me and say in a sing-song voice, "Mom...I'm going to preschool soon. Doesn't that make you sad?"

Yes. Yes, it makes me really sad.  Getting her backpack ready the night before just felt wrong.

Watching her hang it up felt wrong.

Leaving her with Mrs. H just felt wrong. She looked at me with her big brave and scared eyes but didn't ask me to stay.

"I just left her there!" I texted Justin an hour into her day. It hit me. It isn't easier the third time around. It is probably harder with her than the other two. With Sarah, she was so bored at home and had to wait until nearly 6 to go to kindergarten anyway and she was so brave about going and didn't look back. With Henry, I knew he needed preschool to ease into the structure of kindergarten, a warm-up year. Plus he was so young for his grade.

But Erica? Sweet, reasonable, content, little shadow Erica? She didn't need to go or want to go. She is just doing what she's heard the other kids talk about. She went along with it. I went along with it.

Deep breaths. It's only 5 hours a week. 5 hours she'd spend most likely spend watching TV or messing up the family room anyway. Deep breaths. And she has really enjoyed her first two days.

Speaking of growing up too fast, I hit the big 3-5 yesterday. I also don't know how I feel about it. It makes sense since I have a near 10-year-old and I've done a lot of stuff but I thought I'd have more figured out at this age. I still don't know how to curl my hair in a way that I like.

But I do know how to make a cake. I made a white cake with Italian Buttercream. It took me awhile to find a recipe that didn't call for an entire box of butter but this Australian lady came through.

It was pretty tasty and I had it for lunch today. And lunch dessert.

 Justin took the day off work and did all the chores I don't like to do plus made me breakfast. Then he took me shopping to buy some stuff. I found a jacket and pants at Eddie Bauer but decided to order them online in the color I wanted. And then I found some great finds at DI like this hemisphere cake pan and a juicer. $3!

Plus this new piano lamp!

 These bouquets are from (l-r) Sarah, Erica, and Justin.

 This crown is from Henry.

 Here's my lamp assembled and lit up. We are a legit piano house now.

I'm working on a list of 35 things I'm going to do while I'm 35. Some things are just going to happen, like be a mom for 10 years. Other things are goals like make a quilt for myself for once or learn to play a TBD song on the piano, or actually do a photography project I've been thinking about. Maybe I'll share my list when I'm done.

And finally, my favorite part about my birthday:

He would randomly jump and raise his arms and shout "Happy to you!" all day long.