September

We'll start at the end of August....

*Paul, our boys, and I were sealed together for all time and eternity on our 7th wedding anniversary (and my birthday) at the Salt Lake Temple. It was so beautiful. I am full of gratitude and love for those who came to support our sealing. It was neat too, as my cousin and his wife were married later that week so Paul and I had a chance to see a temple marriage so soon after our own. Absolutely wonderful.

*Kade started speech therapy. He's been going twice a week since the end of August and his speech has improved dramatically already. Not only is he doing well during sessiosn, but he's spontaneously using the correct letter sounds at home too!

And throughout September...

*Trent's vocabulary has just soared! He says at least 40 words, with new words added daily. At 17 months he folds his arms for prayers, eats well with a spoon and fork, drinks from a regular cup all by himself, kicks a ball, walks well, tries to run, enjoys "reading", throws paper airplanes, loves to pretend and dress-up, always says "thanks" after receiving something, says "amen" after bedtime prayers, loves feeding the ducks and chickens, thinks showers are the best thing in the world, poops regularly in the potty, and lots more. Yes, he is still a breastfed babe!

*Kade is trying out riding Braxton's two wheeler bike and actually stays on by himself for a moment or two! He is so amazing. Kade started school at a private preschool (yes, we are still homeschoolers!) so that he can make friends with some other kids his age. He loves it there. His teacher was a homeschooling mom herself and has taught preschool for over 20 years. Every day that I pick him up he is just so excited from the time he spent at school. When I ask him what did he do that morning he says, "I played with toys, I ate a yummy snack, I sang some songs, Read some books.....it was so much fun!!"

*Braxton's reading and math skills have really taken off. He enjoys reading the children's versions of The Book of Mormon, Old Testament, New Testament, and then of course Dr. Seuss, Arthur series, and anything that has anything to do with the ocean. His new favorite obsession though is paper airplanes. All day long he is working on those engineering skills as he designs and formats new plane ideas.

*We ate our rooster. Yes. It's true. And I don't advise anyone to eat a 1 year old bird. It was awful. Not only was the slaughtering horrific, but the taste was just terrible. Whiskey enjoyed it though.

*We acquired two new ducks, after finding out the three remaining ducks were all boys. Boo. So now we have two egg layers that we are waiting on to lay eggs. And since we don't want to just feed lots of male ducks, we gave away 2 of the 3 males. I would like to believe that they are now living happily together in a nice yard, enjoying shade and a lovely pool of water, but I think the lady who picked them up was licking her lips too much for that to happen. I have a feeling she ate orange sauce today.

*We went to the Utah State Fair and had a fantastic time. We don't do the rides or much of the expensive food. Instead we enjoy seeing the animals, the crafts, and watching the various magic shows. And the Ice Cream Festival. Oh yes, my friends, an ICE CREAM FESTIVAL. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

I think this about sums up the last month and a half. I can't believe the year is 3/4 of the way over already. Now we are getting ready for Halloween, Braxton's 6th(!!!) birthday, Puerrrrrto Rrrrriico(!!), and then the holidays. Whew! That's exhausting just thinking about it. Oh, and I found a snail in the washer today. It came from Kade's pocket. I remembered after pulling the gooey-shelled creature from the penny catcher that Kade had put a snail in his pocket while we were on a walk the other day. Good times.