Today I woke up to the lovely voice of Stef who called and woke me up at 8:20(I know she was jealous:). She told me how much she loves homeschooling and I told her Henry loves Kindergarten and riding the bus where he learned that "what the F" was a bad thing to say. Another mark for reasons to homeschool. Anyway, we went to Bea's ballet class which is always the most darling thing to watch and then my friend Alissa and I with all our girls headed up to Heber to pick free organic apples in someone's front yard. I was in heaven.
We probably picked 100 lbs of apples which we will make into sauce for all our babies. Clementine was banished to the stroller after multiple attempts to cross the super busy street and Bea and Ella were intent on climbing the ladder no matter how many times we told them it was the "mommy" job. The sign advertising the free apples had a very minor spelling error on it. No biggie.
The best part is that they used the lower case "L" so it looks more like "apies" which is even more hilarious than leaving out one "p". lol.
Really great apples we just couldn't reach. These trees were not pruned so they grew really tall and the apples were tiny, but hey, who can argue with free and organic?
Happy "apie" eaters
Clementine banished to the stroller. Poor Clemmie!
We raced home to Justin who was all ready to go up Big Cottonwood Canyon for a bonfire where we, along with Alissa and Ella who decided to join up with us, roasted hot dogs, marshmallows, played on a playground and let the kids put on a show at the amphitheater.
afraid of the fire
Clementine, once again, banished to a life of restricted access. As long as she had a marshmallow she was happy to be there:)
Bea was unfortunate enough to get an ember in her hair and now has a nice little bald spot right where her only head freckle and part usually is, so we'll see how that looks in the morning. After scrubbing the kids down and putting them to bed Justin came home with probably $60 worth of produce from our CSA and I spent quite a bit of time scrubbing down multiple winter squash, potatoes, carrots and fruit galore. My counter tops are overflowing with fruits and vegetables and I am reminded of the good ol' days in Pittsburgh when I had no kitchen space left after buying multiple bushels of peaches and had a garden full of giant heirloom tomato plants that would produce more tomatoes than we could possibly eat.
Perfectly roasted marshmallows with chocolate stuck inside. One of my all time favorite treats
What's not to love about the fall?
Rare view of my pregnant-ness
I really love the fall for every reason: winter squash, pumpkins, Halloween, my Birthday, this baby finally leaving my body soon, cool nights and fall colors. All you East Coasters who say that the fall is the best on the east because there are so many trees, believe me when I say that it's way more beautiful when you're looking at those colors up super steep canyons on breathtaking mountains. The leaves are already changing here and with all the rain we had this year the colors should be extra vibrant. I miss Pittsburgh, but it's so amazing to be up the canyon in a matter of minutes doing what we did today. What a fabulous day!
A special thanks to Alissa for providing me with all my photos since my camera is acting up. You've got skills, sista!
My Mom, Henry, Bea, Uncle Will and Oliver in Island Park, ID. We got to work on that fake smile, buddy.
Henry in front of Old Faithful. My Brother said he started running toward it to get a look down the hole. Good thing they stopped him. Crazy boy!
Today was officially the end of summer and boy did it feel like it too. We went for a hike around Silver lake up at Brighton ski resort and we actually had to put on long sleeve shirts and jackets. It's pretty sad that summer's coming to an end especially because that means the new baby is coming right when it get cold and I will not have the option to send the kids outside or go to the pool where they all just play carefree in the water for hours without bothering me so much. I would have totally preferred to have this baby in the spring, but Irish twins were not in the stars this time.
Henry, Will and Bea at the lake
Cousins Henry, Jefferey, Lisa, Luke, Bea, Miles and little Anthony with Aunt Mary as a support
Henry and Bea went last weekend on a road trip up to Idaho to spend some time with my mom and step family which worked out wonderfully. They had a fabulous time playing with their cousins and uncle Will and I had an extremely relaxing and productive time here while they were gone. My mom took them up to Island Park, ID where they went to Old Faithful and did a lot of outdoorsy stuff. They slept well and were perfectly behaved! That's usually how they are when there's a lot of fun going on, so I was very grateful for that. Clementine and I had some wonderful bonding time and I even got down on the floor and played with her for hours like I used to do with Henry when he was little. I miss that time of discovery.
Heinrich and Beatrice dancing a jig with Daddy peaking over the top
Another thing we did this weekend was go to Oktoberfest up at Snowbird. Other than people waiting in line to drink tons of beer we saw some interesting German bands, danced the chicken dance up on stage(well, I did with Bea just standing there and Henry hiding under the bell table up on stage) and let the kids bounce on the bouncy castle. They enjoyed watching people go down the Alpine slide, which I did many times as a kid, and seeing other people go up the lifts and come down the zipline. I have vivid memories of my brothers flying off the alpine slide and getting really beat up. They always wanted to go as fast as humanly possible which always landed them off the track with bloodied limbs. Anyway, we had a fun time up there. We are so blessed to live in such a beautiful place! Justin and I always comment all the time that we would fly halfway around the US just to come to places like this on vacation but now we live here and it's nice to just drive 15 minutes and we're in the most beautiful mountains ever!
Henry in front of the Snowbird Tram
Also, I have to note that after all my raving about homeschooling I decided to put Henry in Kindergarten this year. Things like busing both ways, half day afternoon class, and having a baby in 6 weeks weighed heavily on my decision and I knew as soon as the baby came he would just be playing video games all afternoon while I took a nap while the babies slept. I figured that Kindergarten had to be better for him even if he does have 30 kids in his class and he's way ahead of them in most areas. At least he'll learn some normal social behaviors which I think he actually needs. I definitely have a problem with him doing things that just aren't appropriate and he really doesn't realize that they aren't. He just thinks he's invisible when he hoists himself up on a restaurant counter to grab 10 cups and lids and 20 straws because, hey, they're free anyway!
There's never a happier boy than one dressed in pirate gear. He can't wait for it to rain!
The Finch kids(oldest to youngest) Alivia, Rex, Lucy and Jack
Me with my most favorite mission companion ever! She's the best!
So, here's Henry in his new pirate rain coat, umbrella, backpack and boots. I still have to get him a backpack that isn't big enough for him to fit inside of. The one he's using hangs down to his knees. haha. On his first day of school my MTC companion Sister Schill, now known as Julie Finch, came for a visit from Australia with her four kids whom I have never met and we hung out for the morning. It was so hectic that on his first day I forgot to feed him lunch, his hair wasn't even combed, his clothes and face were dirty and we almost missed the bus. I didn't even take a photo. The other mothers took photos of their kids getting on the bus and then went up to the school to take a photo of their kids getting off the bus, but my girls were already asleep in the car by that time so I just told my friend to take a photo for me with her phone and I went home. It was so anticlimactic. As soon as I put them down, I took a nap.
