Spirit week continues

America day on Tuesday! Adi had ordered some tattoos so they all shared after seminary. We have a lot of 4th of July gear too, so we shared that and everyone looked so good!

I didn’t have the heart to tell her it was backwards, but she did mention it after school 🤣

It was an exciting day for this guy! Matt works from home now 90% of the time, and our tiny 13” monitor was from 2006. During Prime Day he ordered 3 monitors, 2 for the desk upstairs and 1 for seminary use downstairs. He called me over several times throughout the day to show me how cool it all was, and I will admit it is a huge difference. We also got a new laptop because our desktop is also v old. 

Big boxes are fun. Delaney hung out in them and Matt attempted to scare her, but he doesn’t have my stellar scaring skills. 

Adi and I grabbed a mini date. Because perfect is the enemy of good, I left Matt working on our yard project (we do about an hour a day on weekdays) and we got ice cream before dinner. I’ve been wanting to do dates with the girls and having a hard time finding the right time, so we went for it. It was a really nice little date and the ice cream was 10/10. 

Amy texted me Monday night and asked if she could bring dinner to lighten my burden since we have leadership training this week. 🥹 I am working on being a good ministering receiver, so I told her it wasn’t necessary but very much appreciated. She’s been a seminary teacher and relief society president and it was just so sweet of her to serve our family this way. It made me happy all day knowing we had a healthy and delicious dinner waiting for us. ❤️ And Delaney loved it so much she requested it for lunch today. 

Today was something like Pirates of the Caribbean vs. Mama Mia, or something. 

In other news, Matt’s fighting a bug. He’s not really sick, but also not 100%. I feel pretty ready for leadership training, just need to organize my thoughts a bit. Delaney’s Halloween costume is all ordered and Adi’s gonna be a witch again, but Frankie is still looking. The plumber found the leaky bathtub problem and it was a simple reattaching of something that had come loose with the faucet, or something. Sooo grateful it didn’t require cutting into any drywall and sooo hoping this fixes the problem. We’ve had a plumber come out 3 times in the past month and so we’re also hoping for a little break from them. But we’ve got a good plumber if anyone needs one! And next Friday ends the 1st quarter of school!

Jerseys vs. Jersey Shore

It’s homecoming week! I love watching the kids dress up and be silly all week! Unfortunately I didn’t remember to come down for a pic until Grant had left, but these girls represented for jerseys vs. jersey shore. 

It was a half day for indigenous peoples day and Matt was off - hooray! We took our half day and ran with it all the way over to Forrest Hall for some pumpkin patching. 

Like last year, the girls ran all around the corn maze while Matt and I meandered. 

Delaney loves hiding from people. I. Don’t. Know. Why. But she hid from the girls and entertained herself. 

I spy an Adi on a lookout!

This guy! Seminary teaching has been a tough transition but he’s faithfully trying his best and I know we have been and will be blessed as he strives to teach these kids in the way the savior would. 

I always like pictures of pictures. 

Delaney was hiding, as one does. 

These crazies have been coming to this farm since they were wee babes. We were laughing about how many times I lost one or more of them during our visits. 

We picked pumpkins and only Delaney wants to carve this year. Will I ever miss not having at least one carved pumpkin? I don’t think so, but I’m open to the idea. 

Delaney is special 👆🏼 

It was just this side of chilly, but soooo nice. 

We got Arby’s for dinner and came home to clean bathrooms. Don’t ask how long it’s been since I’ve really cleaned ours and the girls bathroom might just be getting torn up tomorrow as our bestie plumber searches for this never ending leak, so the girls each took a section of their bathroom to clean too. It was a lovely break from school and piano and sometimes bathrooms gotta be cleaned. Then the girls and I took Delaney to ballet and the girls went to Sephora and i couldn’t keep my eyes open so I napped in the car. Don’t knock a car nap, they are chefs kiss. 

Weekend ratings

Christian and Jeanne bought a house! They are excitedly painting all their rooms and moving their things over little by little. They have lots of big and wonderful things happening for them and we’re so proud of them!

I was going to do a day in the life post, but I lost steam for it around 7:30am. But for what it’s worth my first alarm goes off at 5:20 and Matt’s usually been up for awhile before me.

I wake girls up and come down and put away dishes and make sure everything is tidy and lights are on and doors unlocked. Except the one morning I’d accidentally turned my alarm off and Grant, who is always first, found a locked door and dark hallway. 

In September I thought it would be fun to do some crafting but were in a busy season now and these cute ghosts just became another thing to do. Especially when the little brads holding them to the rope keep falling off. 

I got some paperworky things done and I love our cute Halloween decorations. Except a lot of our stuff is old and not my favorite anymore, but it’s hard to get rid of. 

I try to do a little family history every day, which usually consists of clicking through leaves on Ancestry or looking at ordinances on Famiky Search. I found a bunch of cute yearbook pictures of my mom that I’d never seen. And 60’s hair was amazing. 

We’ve got several different house projects going, including finding someone to stretch our carpet in our family room. So annoying. 

Frankie went to a Halloween dance on Friday and it ended up being just Quentin, Frankie and Abby. Adi didn’t want to go and I decided to give her this one. She’s 16 and we’re trying to lead her to make grownup decisions. Anyways, Chelsea said the kids were cute and weird, which obviously. 

Saturday was blaaaaah. Matt wasn’t feeling great and also feeling overwhelmed. I have not been feeling overwhelmed, I’ve actually been feeling grateful for all we’ve been able to do and that we’re making progress, but sometimes goals and attitudes and often ideas are different and take some finessing. We looked at lots of options and talked through lots of plans. 

That evening I dropped Frankie off to babysit at the Gravelle’s and then Amy picked me up for Lana’s book party. It sounded fun but originally I wasn’t going to go. I’m finding myself pulled more towards home lately even though i know how important friends have always been to me. Anyways, I went and it was so nice to be with a wonderful group of women and talk about books and pretty things and I’m so glad I went. 

Everyone made a basket with a book and some fun goodies related to the book and we white elephanted through the baskets. I picked Better than the Movies and got a popcorn bowl with popcorn and movie snacks. I thought it was cute and a little different. I honestly wanted every basket to the point where at my turn I almost said I’ll just pick whatever is there at the end, but I got a cute basket with a book I would never have chosen on my own and I’m excited to read. 

Today I went to the White Plains ward. I was 100% surprised to find it was fast Sunday. Whoops. In RS several people shared testimonies about President Nelson’s beautiful General Conference talk and they’d asked me to share too, so that was sweet. I met with a single sister after, trying to understand how better to minister to that group, and then came home for a missionary coordination meeting over Zoom. Matt and the girls made a yummy pasta dinner (🎉🎉🎉) and then we took the nicest family walk to see the Halloween decorations. The weather has been 10/10 and tonight was so pleasant and Halloween is so fun. We ended up meeting a new to us neighbor who was v friendly and we chatted with him for a long time. We’re in 3 Nephi so family scripture time has also been 10/10 and was a lovely end to the weekend. 

Apples and overwhelm

Delaney and I were reading in For the Strength of Youth about stress and how to avoid it and I was all like “I’m pretty good about not stressing and giving myself grace and not worrying about things I can’t control.” And then I was writing my to do list for Wednesday and I was all like “ahhhh! I have a lot to do and a lot of it is time sensitive!” So then I was all like “Shell (that my name when I talk to myself in my head) take a deep breath, you got this.” And then I was all like “Heavenly Father hellllp.” And I prayed a bunch and guess what?! Ideas were flowing and I got so much done!

One of those things was shopping for my caramel apple bar staff appreciation event for today (Thursday). I had made a signup genius but the principal didn’t share it in her weekly email. This is not an uncommon occurrence. 👎🏼 So I was waiting and hoping she’d send it out but then she never did so I was left to find everything the day before. I just decided if I can find everything, great, I’ll still hold the event, and if not, I’ll do it next week. And in between yard projects and dental appointments, I was able to schedule 3 pickup orders for Walmart and Target and then I went to Forrest Hall Farms where the lady hooked me up with 100 apples for $20! She was all excited about 2 new apples - Apple X and Ludacrisp and she cut one of each up and we shared it. 🤣 She was so great! Then I got 2 huge mums and some yummy new apples for us and she gave me a deal on that too. Way to make my day Forrest Hall Farm lady! Prayers answered. 

Delaney had a dental appointment and then we  went shopping. Matt got a new phone so big girl Delaney went in by herself to find the case he wanted while I waited for my grocery pickup. 

We were able to pretty quickly get everything I needed for the apple bar. I also was able to organize my brain around our stakes invitation to feed the missionaries at the visitor center in December and extended those invites and also coordinate our tree decorating for our stake tree assignment. 

For the first time in awhile I even went to bed by 10. It was a good day. 

This sight is becoming a normal morning thing. It doesn’t feel weird to have the youth walk in and head downstairs anymore. I remember Laura talking about how strong the spirit is when you have seminary in your home, and this was the first morning I really felt that. ❤️

Delaney and I headed to the middle school at 6:40 and got our caramel apple bar all set up. I love Halloween. 





In yard news, we’re making progress. Sometimes it’s frustrating when our vision doesn’t turn out the way we’d hoped. I’m proud of how much we’ve done in just 1 month. We still have a ways to go, but we’re making progress. 

The best weekend of the year

General conference was last weekend and it was so lovely. It was the kind of lovely where on Sunday you start to get sad because you don’t want it to be over. My only complaint is all the nagging projects we’ve got around here that sometimes make it hard to focus. We worked in the yard and went for walks and ate our weight in candy, but I also made dinner both nights, so 💪🏻.  I also didn’t take a single picture. 

On Monday I picked Chelsea up after she dropped her car off and we had brekkie together. She was going to borrow the space car, but as we were leaving the restaurant she got the call that her car was done. 

Adi relaxed on Johnna’s swing during piano. 

And Frankie and I went for a walk. We go walk every Monday, it’s a nice catchup time and I am always so grateful my kids like to share their thoughts and feelings with me. 

October love

October + Anne = Perfection 

Alli and Tenkor came down for an evening and while Matt was playing with Tenkor she scratched him right across his face. First time in all his roughhousing with her!

That day, last Wednesday Matt and I had been working on our drain. I came inside to get ready to take Delaney to the dentist when I saw someone in the backyard with Matt. I had my suspicions so I joined them. Long story short, one of the town guys tattled about our “unauthorized” French drains. Gentle reminder that in the *literal years* we’ve been searching for solutions to our water issues no one, not one person, including the town guy tattle taler ever said that French drains with a pop up near the sidewalk are prohibited. In fact, this was most people’s recommendation. I felt so frustrated and defeated and I let him know. Matt was frustrated too but then he changed his tune and mildly acquiesced. 

Well it turns out our unplanned good cop/bad cop (I am seriously skimming all the details of the interaction, i even cancelled Delaney’s appointment to stay and find out what was happening) routine worked and he told us not to do anything yet and that he would talk to the first town guy. The next day town planner guy showed back up to let us know that ours is a special case and they’ll allow our French drains. 🙄🤦‍♀️ Its so very frustrating, I’m just grateful they came around 

Delaney is a special girl and she’s been wanting to buy a skeleton for awhile. I finally agreed and then she asked if her skeleton could have a friend. I finally agreed to that and she paid for them and was happy as a clam dressing them up and positioning them just so. Their first night was spent in the seminary room being A+ students.  

Literally Delaney. 

We’re busy busy planning organization training and service project and visitor center Christmas stuff and temple and family history trainings. A season of abundance. 

And in the midst of all the abundance, Alecia and I had planned a whole day at the temple. My heart felt anxious as I left so many tasks to be completed at home. I was just praying to feel peace, and of course I did. We did 2 endowment sessions and initiatories and we were able to take our time and it was a beautiful day. 

And then we were famished and went to Cheesecake Factory where we ate so much that we left some sweet corn tamale because we couldn’t take one more bite. It was a really wonderful day. 

Matt asked me a few months ago if I wanted to go to an Australian Military Gala. Without thinking about it I said of course! And then a few weeks later I learned we had to pay for it and it was not cheap. I chose to be a supportive wife, but then the day crept up on me and I don’t own a formal dress and don’t really want to spend the money. Matt assured me any dress in my closet would work and I decided as long as Matt thought I looked good, I was fine.  

And then I was uncomfortable because of course we were wildly underdressed, even Matt was like oooooohhhhh. There was lots of drinking and silliness and it just wasn’t my favorite night. I think Matt enjoyed it and got to spend time with his new group for work. One funny thing - we walked in and there was a table with free champagne, so we went to the bar and got a soda, and the bartender was like “that will be $2.” All the free beer and wine, but not soft drinks. Got it. 🤦‍♀️

I also had to leave midway through (I wasn’t sad about it) to pick Delaney up from dance and drop her home and we hit 52,700 in the space car. Since I was stopped at a light when I noticed it, I’m memorializing it here. Fascinating stuff. 

Alien eye randomness. 

I sent the boys these cute pj’s. Holiday pjs>regular pjs. 

I’m printing pictures from Halloween’s past. 

I had 3 years unaccounted for. 

Got these prints and frames ordered and another task checked off my to do list. 

The mornings are dark and crisp and the days are cool and comfortable. October is shaping up nicely.