Playing and Picking Pumpkins

During fall break from school we went to the Red Barn in Santaquin to pick out pumpkins. 

Thank heaven for my sister Gentri Lee and her photography skills (both taking and editing photos)

Sadly, I am absolutely UN-talented when it comes to taking pictures. I could be using the same camera as the top notch photographers, but my photos would still look awful. 

Here are a few favorites from our outing:

I think they nailed the theme here:

 Running through the maze:

 Gentri told Henry she was going to take a picture of him posing on the truck and he struck his best:

Lydia was disappointed that the rule was she had to be able to carry the pumpkin herself to take it home:

 Will was not a fan of the patch. It was colder than I anticipated and I felt bad that he may have been cold but this face is the perfect expression of how he felt the entire time:

 I was a hot mess trying to keep Will, his blanket and my purse all together and not covered in dirt. Will was being defiant and did not like the sling. (not sure why, he is usually a big fan)

It took Henry quite a while to find his pumpkin. He kept walking and searching and saying, "I just don't think any of the pumpkins here are right for me." But, alas, he did find the one!

If you like big words...

And extremely well written and drawn out thoughts on things like 

deployment to Afghanistan and trips to Alaska...

 then you should read my husbands blog!

scottadamsjag.blogspot.com

He's cute, isn't he?

It's only been two weeks but it feels like more. 

I miss him and his big words. 

And his stories. 

And the joke of the day. 

And arguing about which documentary to watch on Netflix. 

I say I get an "E" for effort

Today was a day that I should've just stayed home. 

(Ever sine I had Will I've always felt like that but today was especially insane)

I'm just going to break down the one hour we attempted to being church goers today:

As we were walking out the door (only 5 minutes late - that is good for us since Will was born) Gracie and Lydia were fighting about shoes. Gracie wanted to wear her new black shoes but they didn't match her dress so I told her to wear the boots and Lydia to wear the black shoes. This made Gracie really angry. I managed to coax her into the car but when we arrived at church she refused to get out of the car and so I left her there to throw her tantrum. 

Lydia was already waiting at the church doors and I was getting Will out of the car seat when I see Henry run through the line of cars parked in front of us and out into the parking lot isle as a Ford Explorer (with extra big and lifted wheels) comes cruisin' through. I scream to Henry and the Explorer comes to a screeching hault just inches away from my little boy. Shocked Henry turns and runs back to me as my heart is racing and I'm still trying to wrap my head around what just happened. I could've sworn Henry had gotten hit, from my perception, he should have been hit, but he didn't fall to the ground. As I replay the scene in my mind I can only envision Angels surrounding and protecting his little body. I wrapped Henry in my arms and we both sobbed for a minute and clung to each other grateful that he was unharmed.

After we pulled ourselves together we safely walked inside and found a place at the back of the chapel. 

In the first 10 minutes of us sitting William managed to spit up four times. Soaking my shirt, jacket and skirt and soaking himself. I thought, "If I can just make it through the next 40 minutes of Sacrament meeting I can take the kids to primary and run home to change us both". 20 minutes later Will is inconsolable and noisy so I take Henry with me and Will into the hall (because I don't trust him enough to leave him without my supervision).

I decide this is a good time to go check on Gracie and she is happily playing with my lipstick. I tell her it's time to suck it up, put on the boots and come inside. She agrees but as soon as we are sitting she takes her boots off and refuses to put them back on. So, I get frustrated and send her home to change her shoes. (We are living just around the corner from our church building in a quiet neighborhood. Just for a little clarity - I'm not sending her out alone in a big city)

Finally, Will surrenders and falls asleep in my arms just as I notice poop dripping from his onsie and onto my outfit. Nice. At this time Lydia decides to claim she doesn't feel well and refuses to go to primary. By this point I have lots all strength at keeping up our church attending ways and we all go home to watch cartoons. 

And here I am writing it all out so that someday I can look back and laugh at how rediculous my life can be sometimes. And even  as ornery as I am about today I know that sometime in the future I will miss this phase of my life. The grass is always greener...

The anticipation of our separation.

 Scott made me promise that I would blog while he is deployed. 

I hesitantly agreed. 

Scott left us two days ago but we were able to have a few weeks of fun, family playtime. 

Here is a rundown of what we've been doing: 

This was the night before he left. We had a picnic at my favorite park up on the mountain with an amazing view. It was perfect weather for a while then turned freeing and started to rain. This was the picture we managed to get before we all ran into the car. 

Just after we got to Utah

 we went up to one of my favorite places in the whole world, the cabin. 

It was Will's first trip up there and for the most part, he loved it. He loves being outside. 

My Lydia is getting so beautiful!

My papoose. 

Henry liked hanging out in the hammock. 

Gracie was excited for the fire roasted hot dogs. 

Scott ran the Logan (Top of Utah) marathon with his brother, Randall and they both scored a sweet trophy for finishing first in their age division. 

We were able to bless Will with both our families present and it was a very sweet and emotional experience. 

He is such a cutie tootie! 

The kids all started school here in Alpine and we were able to (sort of) get them started on a normal schedule. Scott and I were able to spend a lot of time shopping and what-not while Henry was at preschool. 

As much as I tried to defy time and the universe, the day of our parting came. We tried to relax, ate out at our favorite places and a bit of fun at Jump On It. 

Our parting at the airport was a bit dramatic. I was surprised at how emotional the kids got. Of course, that made Scott and I more emotional as well. Scott got mad at me for taking pictures, but I'm glad I snuck in a few:

*8 months. *31 weeks. *217 days. *5,208 hours.