lessons learned

The latter part of October and beginning of November was a challenging time for Paul and I as we passed through a difficult trial but I would feel so ungrateful if I did not publicly acknowledge my gratitude for sweet family and friends and their concern, prayers, kind gestures and thoughts to help me. I am also thankful for the lessons I continue to learn from this experience.

I am grateful to my loving Heavenly Father for giving me chances to grow and learn more about myself and his plan for me and our family. I appreciate that the fact that I have trials in my life is because He is helping me and wanting me to become better. Everything happens for a reason and will be for our good. Reminds me of this poem that I love: 

Many times when I go through trials in my life I feel isolated, like I am the only one dealing with heavy situations or like all I can think about it what is happening to me and feeling bad for myself. When in reality everyone has trials and everyone is going through something. In this same time frame that I was dealing with my burdens I learned of three other friends facing hard challenges in their lives, friends that are good people and you would never think anything could be wrong. It gave me the motivation to be always available for others to serve, help, or be a listening ear and to never think that I am the only one with challenges in life and no matter what happens it could be worse.  

This is all part of life and learning to live it the best we can...

neither here nor there

October according to Instagram:

joys of motherhood: october

-Nolan likes animals from afar. He can spot a dog from a mile away but when they get close up he gets a little scared. It takes him some time to warm up and sometimes he never gets around to actually touching but I do think there is an animal lover inside of him. At a store we were at they had a bunch of animal puppets and he loved them and wanted to be by them but then I put a horse one on my hand and made it open its mouth and "neigh" at him and he got SO scared!
-My kids are full of gas. They are tooting ALL THE TIME and it's loud and stinky. And also super funny. It doesn't even phase Nolan but usually when Caitlin does it she giggles and says "oh! excuse me" It is gross but it makes me laugh so hard.

-Caitlin had a little playdate with her friend Bella Bills and they were a perfect match in princess tea party heaven. We took them to the park and played at home and they held hands wherever they went and did endless dress ups and dancing. They were adorable.

-We've been able to watch Zoey a few times for the day while Chelsea is working and it's been so fun! She is so sweet and my kids are absolutely obsessed with her when she's here. Caitlin likes to hold her and give her bottles and Nolan likes to snuggle her and hold her too. He always says "bebe!" and he nuzzles her and just can't get enough of her.


-We had a little Girl's Night to celebrate Heather Pack's upcoming baby, another little girl for them and we are so excited to meet her!

-It snowed at the beginning of this month and we had a little on our lawn so the first order of business for the day was of course to put on "warm clothes" and go outside. Luckily Daddy was home to do that with her because mom is not a fan of the cold, especially in the early morning.

-We took a trip to the mall and then I took my good little shoppers out for lunch. They were so cute just sitting at the table eating chicken bites and dip its. Moments like that I love, when I just get to do stuff with my little buddies and everyone is happy.

-At dance class they've been doing a dance where they make a potion at the end in a cauldron and they put in things like bats and spiders and eyeballs. The teacher asked what else to put in and Caitlin told her something and she had to ask a few times and finally said "ok, put that in" so when they came out I asked Caitlin what she wanted to put in the potion and she said "Ursulas!" (like from Little Mermaid)

-Nolan is starting to be pretty good at some animal noises. He does: duck, dog, cat, and sometimes cow. He also LOVES horses but when he sees them he just says "hoys!" he doesn't make the sound. He also says "brrrm brrrrrm" for cars.
-Caitlin is a still crazy sleeper:

Happy Halloween

Halloween was so fun this year. The kids are at great ages for it and they totally got into it and we had a great day. Our little Tinkerbell and Peter Pan spread Halloween cheer wherever they went.

 -We visited Daddy at work to trick or treat and have lunch. The kids had fun visiting people and showing off their cute costumes. Caitlin's costume is one she wears often but we added the wings and the necklace and of course the sparkles. I sewed Nolan's shirt and hat and found his awesome tights (now his second Halloween wearing tights but he didn't seem to mind and filled them out nicely).

-The kids loved helping to pass out the candy to everyone who cam by. They loved seeing their costumes and Caitlin would send them off with a "Happy Halloween!" We took them trick or treating around the neighborhood and probably hit about 12 houses but it took us over an hour. The kids took their time at every house and at first they wanted to walk in and wouldn't just stand at the door. They would walk in, mozy around, find the dog, take some candy, make themselves at home. Luckily we went to friends' houses and our neighborhood is so fun... everyone is excited to chat and hang out. Some houses were making scones, had movies projected, everyone was out and about and the weather was actually not freezing. Caitlin was very sweet and polite and did a good job saying "trick or treat" and "thank you." Nolan would say "thank you" and pick out his candy. He went straight for the chocolate bars and kit kats. Jordan and Rebekah went trick or treating with us and my mom and sisters were back at the house handing out all the candy.

-When the kids got cold and tired we headed home and had the traditional chili and cornbread with everyone.

Han Solo + Princess Leia forever

Us and a few friends decided to put together a couple's Halloween party. Costumes were mandatory and people did not disappoint! We had appetizers and desserts, played minute-to-win-it games, ate donuts off a string (and subsequently off the floor), played dancing signs, and stayed up way too late on a school night. It was a blast.

 Paul and I went as Han Solo and Princess Leia. Let me just say I LOVED our costumes. My dress was actually my Grandma Joanne's back in the day and when she was moving out of her house I had found it in a closet and I knew it would be good for something. My perfect hair was a headband that gave me the most exquisite Leia buns. Paul's costume was put together mostly by clothes I found at Walmart and some cowboy costume parts I tweaked. It takes a lot to get Paul to dress up, and I think it came together pretty well.  

while Grammie visited...

When roundtrip flights from DFW to SLC are $130 why wouldn't my mom come up?! Coupled with the fact that I had a traveling husband and a kid in a boot and a million things to get done, I welcomed my mom's visit in more ways than one and almost completely monopolized and took advantage of her time visiting!

We spent time at home and around the house and my mom watched my kids a lot while I had meetings and appointments to go to. The kids loved having Grammie here and constantly wanted her to watch shows with them and brought her books to read.

We went and explored Gardner Village one day as a fun girl's outing. Both of my sisters came and we walked about the village and looked at the shops. They have it all decked out for Halloween and they have witches set up everywhere doing different things. They had a scavenger hunt to find all the witches and the kids loved walking around and looking at things. We had a yummy lunch together at one of the restaurants and had a great time. Caitlin got her face painted for the first time. I don't know why we have never done it before but she saw some posters and wanted it done. She chose which design she wanted and sat very still while she was doing it. She looked in the mirror after and just had a surprised expression and a big smile. As we were walking away i asked her what she thought of her face paint and she said "It's wonderful!" she was very proud to have it all day.



We went to the "Barnyard Boo" at Thanksgiving Point. They had games set up around the farm and also had story time with Millie and witch. The kids always love going to the little farm and all the Halloween touches were cute. Caitlin got to have her face painted a second time and she was just in love with the idea.


We went to a Halloween party at the Library and Caitlin decided to be a "garden flower fairy" and Nolan was Elmo. He thought he was pretty funny with his big hood on. Nolan listened for about 2 minutes of the story time then spent the rest wandering. They read stories, made a little craft and played games.


Caitlin had her "Halloween Dance Performance" during the last 30 minutes of her dance class they invited in parents and we got to watch them perform all the things they've been working on. They showed us their stretches, danced like falling leaves and did a special choreographed dance to "Monster Mash". Caitlin takes her dancing very seriously... she was so excited to have us in there and would wave from time to time but was also very serious about listening to her teacher and doing her dance moves. It's probably her best time of focus ever. Plus she is just ADORABLE when she dances. The kids could wear their costumes and she chose to be a black kitty cat because I told her we could paint her face.

Nolan was able to take off his boot on the 30th... 4 weeks after his break. I'm so glad that the 4 weeks went by so quickly and he is doing great with walking and picking up where he left off. That kid just does not skip a beat! We stopped by the waffle truck on the way home to celebrate.

We also made a quick attempt at carving pumpkins for Family Home Evening. The kids were into certain parts of it and not as into other parts but we ended up with a carved pumpkin.

weekend review

Friday (10.18):
Took the kids to Cornbelly's with a few other friends. The weather has been amazing and it was fun to be out in the sun. Caitlin liked the jumping pillow, the big slide and the princess playland. Nolan stayed in the stroller most the time because of his boot but he got out a little and enjoyed just being out and about. They both rode the cow tractor with me and had fun.

Saturday:
Paul has been hunting whenever he can lately and this weekend was no exception. He went on the deer hunt to southern Utah with his dad and Jordan and Grandpa and Uncle Steve and shot a buck. This coming weekend he will go to Wyoming to look for antelope. Stewart has been here hunting with the boys and it's been fun to have him in and out.

The kids had two friend's parties during the day that they loved and then that night we went to dinner with Rebekah and a few of her friends.

Sunday:
I had to brave church alone while Paul was still coming back from hunting and it about did me in. (Literally. I was in tears by the end of the first hour.) Just had to insert that because once day I'm sure I will read back and think that I really had it so easy!

Monday:
Paul left to go out of town again (for business) and the Turnbull twins had their 5th birthday party at a trampoline gym. My fearless little frenzies loved it, even Nolan in his boot couldn't be torn off the trampolines and big mats to climb on. I was also dieing watching him sit at the kid table and stuff his face with pizza and cake. We love Mason and Cal (and Nora) and my kids aew so lucky to have them as their sweet little friends.