Have a happy Halloween.
Quoth the princess, two days ago:
I asked Jacey if she was sure she was feeling completely better (she's had a sore throat, and I didn't want her to go to preschool if she was sick). She said "No mom, I'm fine. I don't want to miss any great opportunities."
My super fun, super talented, super sweet friend/sister-in-law Corby agreed to take some family pictures for us last Saturday. As we were driving to meet her I realized that the last time we were driving to meet a photographer for the purpose of having our pictures taken was when Will and I were engaged. For our engagement photos. So . . . yeah 7.5 years and two kids later . . . I think it was time.
I've been debating keeping them secret because some of them are going on my Christmas card, but I can't not post them. I think I could easily get addicted to having family pictures taken. And the thing is - I love the candids just as much as the posed shots. I love seeing our family interact, and frozen in a photo. Love it.
Some of my favorites:
(I love how you can see Jacey's undies here. So typical Jacey. Add BELT to the list of things I can never remember to buy.)
Even though Londyn's birthday was over a month ago, this week I'm officially declaring her to be 2 years old. Why? Because she has learned the "Why?" game. Everything I say, she responds with "Why? Why? Why?" Every. Thing. I. Say. Will said, "Doesn't she know the rules of this game? She's supposed to stop when you finally say 'Because'." Nope. Just more "Why?"s.
In other news:
Jacey and I went to the pumpkin patch yesterday with her preschool class for a field trip. The weather was just perfect - just cold enough to make it feel appropriate to be going to the pumpkin patch.
They had a corn maze there, and in the corners they had signs with corny jokes. (Ha!) Jacey repeated this one all day yesterday: "What do you call a witch at the beach? A sandwich!" Followed by hysterical laughter. Apparently it gets funnier the more times you tell it.
Maybe she told it to Miss Dawn. (I couldn't get all the kids in the picture - there are 10 in her class total.)
The weather has warmed up considerably since last weekend so I think we are going to try to finish up some should-have-done-this-when-it-was-warm-outside projects this weekend. Namely, repainting the front door frame and moving some shrubs around in our flower beds. Our front yard was done by "professional" landscapers when we moved in, but you would never know it. The grass is lumpy and the shrubs are just thrown down any which way. So Marie volunteered to help us fix it. She's got a green thumb, that girl.
Well, I think that's all for today. Except maybe this - my new favorite picture of Jacey. I keep going back and forth on her haircut. I think it is adorable, so I love it. But I think it makes her look too grown up for me, so I don't love it. She told me the other day, "You're going to be sad when I turn 5, huh mom. Cause you only like me little." I think I'll take her any way I can get her. But I certainly do like her little.
My favorite month of the year has come and gone. Luckily, despite a brief showing of snow on Saturday, October is starting out on a pretty good foot. Today was just about perfect weather in my opinion.
I really don't have anything to say. Just backing up photos again from September and thought I'd post a few. I do have a little Jacey anecdote to share though.
Sometimes Jacey "calls" me on the TV remote. She hands me the other one and then says "ring ring" and I'm supposed to say hello. And we have a nice little conversation on our "phones". Well the other day she handed me the remote and then asked "What do you want your song to be? Tell me the stories of Jesus?" I didn't really know what she was asking so I just said "Sure." So she starts humming Tell me the stories of Jesus. About halfway through she whispers "Mom, say hello!" Apparently that is my new ringtone. Talk about a digital-age kid!
They really are too sweet to me. I mean, announcing my birthday to the whole world every year. If I was shy it might just make me blush.
So I had a birthday on Saturday. My 29th one. But I'll forgive Google for getting the number wrong on the cake.
On Friday night Will took me to the Kalai concert at Thanksgiving Point. I have been a fan of Kalai since I was first introduced to his music in college. My roommate married one of his good friends, so she had his CDs and we played them in our apartment a lot. In fact, I liked his music so much that Will actually surprised me and sang one of the songs from that album to me on our wedding day. I have been hunting and searching and scouring the DI shelves for years looking for a copy of that album. But it's not available anywhere. And on Friday I found out why. Will went up to the table where they were selling CDs before the concert and had the following conversation:
Will: Hi, do you have Kalai's first album?
CD-selling-girl: Sure, it's right here. (Points to Acoustacism)
W: Um, no I mean is first album.
G, eyeing Will quizzically: This is Kalai's first official album.
W: Um, I'm looking for an album my wife heard in college. Back when Kalai worked with a guy named KC Blake.
G, surprised: Wow, I can't believe you've ever even heard that album. Kalai hates that stuff. He still has some but he doesn't sell them anymore.
I was so bummed. I harassed Will through the rest of the concert to go back and beg. "Did you tell them you sang a song from it at our wedding? It's our wedding song! You didn't tell them that?!?! Did you tell them it's my birthday?? It's my birthday and all I want is the album with our wedding song on it! You didn't tell them that??"
Despite that disappointment, I had a really nice birthday. I really enjoyed the concert, and I fell in love with his rendition of Be Still My Soul. (Which has always been my favorite hymn.) On Saturday, Jacey and I went to the practice for the primary program in the morning, and then I came home, watched some college football and HGTV and took a nap. EXACTLY how I wanted to spend my day. Marie and Ky had us over for a yummy dinner, then Marie, Mom and I went to the Relief Society broadcast. I always head into those things with a sour attitude (Why does this always have to be on my birthday? mumble grumble) but it was SUCH a good meeting. I loved Elder Uchtdorf's talk. The whole meeting made me excited for Conference this weekend.
Will asked what kind of cake I wanted, knowing that I don't like cake. I said I'd rather have pastries. So I got a pastry cake. It was yummy. :)
I might be biased, but I think these girls are the sweetest things ever. Londyn kept telling me all weekend, "It's your birfday! You're two!" I guess we told her that a few times on her birthday. After church on Sunday we went with my folks to look at a house they're thinking about, and then we went to dinner at Glen & Liz's where we had more birthday festivities. We took family pictures, which I considered a present to me since I know how the Robins family feels about pictures. Thanks, Corby, for making that happen!
All in all, a really fun weekend! And if it sounds like my birthday spanned three days . . . um, it kind of did. I didn't lift a finger all weekend. :)
This is our 4th fall living in Lehi, and would you believe that last night was the first time we have ever gone on a Fall Family Outing up AF canyon? I don't know why it took us so long. Marie & Co. invited us to join them for FHE. We took foil dinners and cooked them in the fire, then roasted s'mores. I had forgotten how much I like foil dinners & s'mores.
<--- By the time we left, this little girl was covered in marshmallow. Especially in her hair. But aside from that, and aside from the fact that we didn't smell very pretty when we got home, we had a great time. Jacey even said this morning that she wants to go do that again soon. Which I think is a great idea!
We had a fun weekend!
Londyn's birthday was on Friday, and she was basking in the spotlight all day long. I don't remember Jacey really getting into her birthday when she turned two, but Londyn absolutely knew that the day was about her. Early that morning after having a success on the potty (we've been using candy corn as a potty-bribe), she said to me "Can I get a candy? It's my birthday!"
We had dinner at the park by our house with the whole crew - both Robins' and Davises, missing only Bryan & Alex who happen to live a thousand miles away. We missed you guys! We had a fun time and the weather was absolutely perfect. The only downer was the mosquitos that came out right as we were finishing cake & ice cream. They pretty much drove us out.
On Saturday we went to our Stake Olympics. It was a really fun activity! We didn't join in the 5K, but who knows . . . maybe next year. They're planning on doing this on an annual basis and I think it's a great idea. Again, the weather was just beautiful. Perhaps a little cool for those in the dunk tank, but for those of us who stayed dry it was perfect. I was pretty bummed that we had to leave before Bishop Sharp got in the dunk tank. I really wanted those pictures. :)
(Will is going to kill me for posting this picture)
Then on Sunday after church we went up to Glen & Liz's. Another beautiful evening. (Have I mentioned that I like September?) After a yummy dinner we had angel food cake with fresh peaches and whipped cream (or "whoop cream" as Jacey calls is) for dessert. What a way to cap off a weekend! Yum!
I came across this on another blog today and I had to share it here because it reminded me of Will.
This is EXACTLY the kid of dad he is. I married Will for a few dozen of his wonderful qualities, but I had no idea at the time what an incredible father he would be to our children. It's been a surprise bonus!
I was reminded today on two separate occasions that I did not post this past week. And my response to both was this: I just don't have much to say. I lead a very boring life.
We've been potty training Londyn this week. I say "we" because my mom has been doing just as much work at it as I have. Londyn has had lots of success and a few accidents. She is making progress, so that's all that matters to me. I have stocked up on carpet cleaner so we'll just keep plugging away at it. She's actually doing pretty well.
My folks are here and getting all settled in. Jacey and Londyn are getting S-P-O-I-L-E-D with all of the attention they're getting. And I am getting S-P-O-I-L-E-D with all of the help I've been getting. And all the company I've had in the evenings. Will's been working busy-season hours these last two weeks, so it's been nice to actually have some company in the evenings. Hopefully this week will be the last of the late hours for a little while.
We had a little family reunion last night with Will's mom's family. We don't see much of that side of the family, so it was nice to get together and get reacquainted with them. I took my camera but left it in the car the whole time. That's kind of been the story for the last month or so.
We had Stake Conference today, along with the rest of Utah County. I never head into Stake Conference with a very good attitude, mostly because it's hard to keep kids entertained and quiet for 2 straight hours. But I really enjoyed the meeting today. And the kids weren't half bad. (They weren't half good either.) But Londyn only ended up in the hall for a small portion of the meeting, and so I really got to listen and hear several of the talks. I loved Elder Jensen's talk. It made me want to be more kind. I get grouchy a lot, and I tend to be short with people (mostly my family) when I'm grouchy. And I justify it by saying "Well that's just how I am." But that's a really lame excuse for being unkind. Anyway, Elder Jensen's talk made me want to try harder and do better. And I dig it when a talk gets to me like that.
Londyn's birthday is coming up this week. I had a really great idea of what to get her for her birthday. It was something we didn't already have, something she would LOVE, and it wasn't very expensive. But I can't remember what it was. I had the idea about 2 weeks ago. And now it's gone. And it's not coming back to me. I swear, one of these days I am going to have a computer built into my walls. And it will be voice activated, and it will keep me from going insane. Because I'll be able to say "Computer! Shopping list! Add q-tips!" right from the bathroom while I'm standing in my towel and looking, once again, into the empty q-tip container and thinking "Dang, I was just at the store. Why can't I ever remember to write this stuff on my list?" And when I have a brilliant gift idea, and I just happen to be laying in bed, I can whisper, "computer. gift list. Londyn. __________ (insert the brilliant idea I can't remember here)." Someday.
See, I told you I shouldn't post when I don't have anything to say.
But since I hate to post without a picture, here are my nephew and niece this afternoon in their Team Mara T-shirts. We're keeping Mara and her family in our prayers.
