October

 

I talked about family pictures in my September post but I posted them here in October so maybe I didn’t get them back till October. Who knows. Haha. As long as they are documented I guess. :) I guess we officially said goodbye to Dallin Oct 1st too but I also posted about that in September. I think those pictures were when he came and spent one last evening with us playing ping pong and poison and eating dinner and watching some holy moly etc. But then he came over to my mom and dad’s house the day before he left for the MTC and gave the boys one last hug. Two years is a long time but I’m so dang proud of him.

Just like we have every year for about 43 years we went to Sundance and to look at leaves and get hot chocolate and suckers. Jake came with my parents which was a surprise because we haven’t seen him in a very long time. It was good to have him there.

On that first Sunday I was missing Elle extra hard…we all were and we decided to head up to Logan after church and spend the day with her. We met her at my favorite park up there and we hugged and played tennis and had a picnic on the lawn and then we drove to the Logan Temple and walked around it. I miss being a family all together. It was hard for me to pull away. But like Toby always does I have to look at the bright side…that I can be there in only an hour and half and spend time with my girl. 

On October 11 Tob and I celebrated 20 years. TWENTY years of being married. Gosh I love him. How does it feel like yesterday I married him yet it also feels like I’ve known him my whole life. I love the life we’ve built together. I love our home and our kids and our little world. I’m so happy and I’m so grateful for all he has done for me and our kids and for the way he treats me. He is SO GOOD to me. 

A few days later we headed up to Island Park for our annual Downs vacay. It was a fun weekend full of animals, driving, the cabin, games, bears, wolves, ziplines, fishing, cousins, sweatshirt making, and church. Church was wonderful this year. It was just my mom and dad and our family and the talks were just so good. A missionary or two spoke and someone else about missionary work. Then they sang the song I’ll go where you want me to go. I looked over and Elle had tears running down her face. My dad thought she was crying missing Dallin but I knew why. She felt the spirit so strong and it was such a special experience. 

In October we also went to the pumpkin patch, we watched Signs, Elle and I went to the gem studio, we made Halloween costumes, made spider cookies and Carmel apples, and more. Tate was wolverine and Kemp was Cyclops. Gosh they looked good. They were seriously the cutest.

And then we ended the month with a trip to St George for fall break with the Stevens and Ashbys. We swam, played tennis, ate yummy food, played game, and went to the St. George open house. It was so beautiful inside. Like so so beautiful. It was also Kat’s birthday so we all went out to dinner to Longhorn Stakehouse just the adult and that was so fun. Sure love being together the 6 of us. 

And then it was Halloween. Kind of a different Halloween for us. A little bit quieter since Jamie doesn’t come and Josh didn’t really show up till the end and same with jordan. And my dad wasn’t feeling great so it was just us and my mom for a big chunk of the night. But the boys had a great fun night trick or treating and just like that October was over!