October

October was a fun month. It started off with Conference. This was our breakfast spread between sessions on Sunday:

Lizzie got her senior pictures done. She and James did a combined session. She wasn't thrilled with them but I thought some of them turned out really cute. These were my favorites:

Joe and I got to get away for a weekend down to SLC. We stayed at the Grand America hotel and went to a Faith Matters conference. We got to hear a lot of our favorite LDS writers speak and had fun eating good food together. We also got to meet up with Matt, Brad & Kelli for dinner one night. Unfortunately Melissa was in Europe:

Eve and I had fun hanging out together. She loves playing with play dough and I remembered the old trick of blowing out circles from the roller to make little cakes. She loves doing that now. :)

I love finding pictures like these on my phone:

She and I also had a blast going to the little free pumpkin patch in Twin:

Becca and her kids met us there:

We got lunch from the food trucks there. It was so fun and festive! I love pumpkin patches.

We also went to our ward's Halloween carnival at our friends' the Doughty's house. That was a blast too. Eve especially loved the cupcakes:

Nate dressed up like Dwight and was even in a little skit that the youth put on:

Natalie was busy putting on a play at the high school. They actually worked with Canyon Ridge to write and put it on in only a couple of months. It was called NME. Natalie ended up doing a ton of the writing and editing (otherwise it would have been hours long--no one wanted their parts cut). It was really fun to watch them put it all together and it turned out pretty spooky. It was the perfect Halloween play.

I caught this picture of Eli dancing with Eve:

I thought this was sweet--Eve found a doll at the library and was snuggling with it:

We got to go to the big pumpkin patch with Regina and her kids and then Becca and her kids met us there. It was so much fun! We especially loved watching the older kids pretend like they were young again.

We did a race on the inflatable pillow that was so funny to watch:

They had these fun round tubes you could roll, too:

Natalie got these pictures one Sunday on the way to church:

I can't remember why Eli and I weren't there

We took Nate on his birthday lunch one day to Outback and he and Eve loved playing in the rain while we waited for it to open.

Eli had his last soccer tournament in Boise so he and I drove out for it. It was a cold morning but it was fun to watch him play. He made some great plays!

We had fun carving pumpkins together. Unfortunately, I didn't realize one of the pictures was blurry:

Eve and I got to go to his school to watch his grade do a Thriller dance:

We had a fun Halloween. The girls were off doing their own thing so the younger kids and I joined Chris and Regina's ward trunk or treat and then went trick or treating with them our Tom and Shari's neighborhood. It was fun to watch Eve get the hang of it. Here are the kids' costumes:

Nate is 13!

 Nate became a teenager! Now we have three--pretty crazy. I think it was a little bit a disappointing birthday for him (as he told me later in the week) but I guess that's part of growing up. He struggles to come up with things he wants sometimes, too, which probably doesn't help. On the day of his birthday, we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast. He wanted pie instead of cake so I made those during the day--a berry pie and a coconut cream pie. It was a busy evening with different activities but we had roast beef before Eli, Eve and I left to watch Eli's first soccer scrimmage. Then we came home and did presents and pie:

His poses crack me up :)

 

Nate had a big year. We moved to Jerome and he started middle school not knowing anyone (except Lily but he rarely saw her at school). He played his first year of football and baseball here, plus all-star baseball. He got braces. He learned a lot and did great through the challenges. Even though Nate is more introverted, he always manages to make a lot of friends and stand out in school. He's super smart, which probably helps, but he also is kind and respectful so teachers love him. He loves when they plays games at school and he often wins them :). He is still very competitive and tries hard in anything he does. He was frustrated when he didn't get much playing time in football. It was fun to watch him shine in baseball, though, and he had a great season. He's great with younger kids. He has a ton of patience with Eve but he doesn't coddle her too much, which is good for her. He loves playing anything sporty outside. He loves video games too and is quite good at them. He's really good at figuring out tech problems and solving them. He's also really good at word games. He definitely has a problem-solving mind. He loves watching his favorite youtubers, Marvel movies, cereal, and Outback steakhouse. He is super funny and makes us laugh a lot, especially when he breaks out his amazing dance skills. He is very musical and he progressed so much this year on the saxophone. He constantly amazes us with the songs he learns and can whip out when he wants. He's super fun to watch sports with, of all kinds. He's also very spiritually and emotionally mature, even though he doesn't express it much. He takes everything in and listens well. We're so grateful for Nate and can't imagine our family without him!

September

We had a great September. Eve and I had lots of fun times outside.

We especially love our picnic lunches under the big tree:

George joins us too:

We love to lay down and look up at the leaves:

Another one:

We also like playing on the trampoline:

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Another beautiful sunrise walk:

Eli started playing with a competitive soccer team and the we would kill time at the red park in Twin while he had practice. Eve loved it:

Nate found ways to entertain himself too:

It was so fun to watch Eli play. He is really good for never having played and really fast:

We had fun playing in our backyard too:

Lizzie made some super delicious buttermilk pancakes one day. I think she's better at making them than I am at this point:

Eli had a playdate with his friend Jayden at the park one day and I loved watching them play soccer together:

And he found a four-leaf clover:

Another beautiful sunrise:

I found this picture on instagram during a school assembly:

I loved this picture from a family event:

Joe and the boys got to go to the BYU/Baylor game and they won! They got to rush the field:

Nate got to ride on a float with his football team:

Someone hung a huge American flag over the canyon for Sept. 11th:

I loved this moment of Eli comforting Eve:

Nate entered a Gabb talent contest by sending in a video of himself playing the Zelda theme song:

I thought it was amazing but he didn't move on to the next round.

I started my grad program--the Applied Math masters through University of Washington. Lizzie wrote me this sweet note on my first day and it meant so much too me:

Lizzie took all the younger kids + Lily and Maddy on a hike one day and I loved the pictures they got: