Middle of Fall

Since I took the Wii away from the kids so they could enjoy their lives and enjoy their friends, I think it's only fair that I give up Facebook.  I have been meaning to give it up for a while now.  There were a few people that I was harboring ill feelings towards because of their status updates.  I was wasting too much time reading senseless information, and  I really wanted to be able to enjoy people for who they are.  Socializing online is like eating sugar. You crave it, but it only leaves you wanting more. A feeling that is very unsatisfying.  I find that if I chit chat with the other ladies at the park, people at the store, or close friends and family, that I have much more fulfillment in my day knowing that we shared a happy moment, or a listening ear.
Today the kids had one of those happy moments that they would have missed if they were inside playing video games.  They were outside collecting leaves to make a huge pile and the wind picked up and started blowing them everywhere.  They started chasing them around trying to catch them, it was like they were in a money machine.  They were all screaming and laughing as the wind blew even harder.   Milo came up to grab his jacket and he was out of breath and smiling so big he could barely talk.  And I was there to watch it because I wasn't on Facebook reading about what people were eating for lunch.

 Makay enjoying an apple appetizer while he watched the storm from the front porch. 

 (After the crazy leaf incident)

One of the other reasons of getting off of FB was so I could put more focus on our family blog. This is our journal and the kids love reading about their lives.  And it's a good excuse to stay away from scrap booking.

Sweet Moments

We stopped by to visit Grandma and Grandpa Johnson (Milo is named after them, and we lived with them when we first got married). We had a nice visit and we got to talk to Grandma and Grandpa Mendenhall on in Nepal. Nora climbed right up on his chair to talk. She sees pictures of them and says Gampa...She LOVES her grandparents.

Fall Colors

Sitting down for a little lunch that we shopped for at Grandma's house. We didn't have any treats to bring so we swung by my mom's house since it was Sunday.  

Oh yea thanks mom. Hope you were having fun in St. George. 

 I love this girl. She's my little buddy. We talk all day long. 

Usually in one word sentences, but she's great company.  She likes to say watch mom. And she knows way too many movie lines. She usually can say them right on cue. Her latest favorite is On Diary of the Wimpy Kid, "Bubby did it" She loves to watch Yiyons (lion king) and ready Scary Books. Her latest favorite is Miss Nelson is missing. She is great at listening to the story's too. I don't remember the boys listening to a whole story at this age. 

 Look out ladies....the heartthrobs of the next generation

 Makay is looking so big. Where did my sweet little boy go? 

He keeps promising me that he will always be sweet and tell me that he loves me. 

 Missing some teeth? We were getting ready to take our family pictures and Milo's last front tooth was hanging sideways in the middle of his mouth, so I told him it was Tooth Fairy bonus day if he got that thing out. So he spent some time and a bunch of methods, the winning trick was using floss, tying it to a Nerf Gun, and throwing the nerf gun. It ripped that sucker right out. All grown up. 

 Look how much these boys love each other. They really do, even if they won't admit it. Makay was bragging about Milo to his friend today by saying, that his brother knows his mom and dad's phone numbers. He's so smart. 

We went up to Silver Lake this Sunday for a nice walk in the mountains. Well, us an the rest of the Salt Lake Valley. It was so crowded, it took 20 minutes to find a parking spot.  The kids had a blast. Nora walked almost the whole time, I am guessing about a mile.

I am thinking I need to get a new camera that doesn't add wrinkles next to my eyes. It's so weird what technology can do these days. My mirror at home even shows some of  my hair as grey in the wrong light.  Oh well. At least it's just a mean trick. 

The After Picture

We were supposed to be taking the year off of home remodels, so we decided to do the backyard. I couldn't find a before picture, but after having our backyard being full of dirt and garbage concrete this is a welcome sight. We put in the fence, built a retaining wall on the side, ripped out the patio ad put in these pavers, and added a pergola. I also have beautiful Zinnias growing against the fence that Duncan said "were just beautiful."
So after 6 months of work and spending money on the house, we have classified the next "year off" as updates we can do that don't require a saw. So that would leave painting and accessory buying.