Third Quarter Reading

I read 11 books last quarter. I've gotten into a pattern where I read one fiction book and then a non-fiction book. The fiction (usually chick lit books) are my favorite and I go through them much quicker than the non-fiction books. But I like to break up the more fun reading with a little non-fiction to make me smarter (or at least that's what I tell myself). Also I've been reading the How to Train Your Dragon series with Corbyn. We read a chapter almost every night before bed which definitely helps boost my numbers. (And I can't believe it has taken me so long to get this posted!)

Excellent:
1. The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan - This is a highly fictionalized version of Prince William and Kate Middleton's courtship. I liked the first half well enough, but after I got to the second half I could not put it down. It was the perfect summer read. Although it did open my eyes to what it might be like to be a celebrity and made me feel so so bad for them. I haven't looked at the tabloids in the grocery store the same ever since!

2. The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty - Sophie unexpectedly inherits the house of one of her ex-boyfriend's aunts and suddenly becomes part of a rather unconventional family on Scribbly Gum Island - home of the famously unsolved Munro Baby mystery. The mystery hooked me from the beginning and it ended up being one of my favorites of Moriarty's books - right up there with What Alice Forgot.

3. The Life Intended by Kristin Harmel - Kate has spent the past 12 years mourning her first husband's death, but she's just become engaged to a new man and is finally ready to move on with her life. That is until she starts having extremely vivid dreams about her first husband and the life they would have had if he hadn't unexpectedly passed away just months after they were married. When some of the details from her dreams show up in real life, she starts to wonder if there is some kind of a message behind the dreams. It was a pretty light read, but it had enough substance to it that it gave you something to think about.

4. This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen - Having grown up with a mother who is constantly getting married and divorced, Remy doesn't believe in love. But then she meets Dexter (who is completely different from the guys she normally dates) and things start to change. After reading Saint Anything last quarter, I wanted to read another of Sarah Dessen's novels. This one did not disappoint. It has solid characters, a good story, and a great romance to top it all off!

Great:
5. Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games by Mitt Romney - I have a slight obsession with Mitt Romney and since I was living in Utah during the 2002 Olympics, this book really appealed to me. It was fascinating to read how Mitt turned everything around and saved the games. Did you know he wouldn't take a paycheck unless the games finished in the black? (Disclaimer: He talks a lot about budgets which was interesting to me with my accounting background, but that part may not appeal to you if you aren't into that sort of thing.) It did make me incredibly sad that I was living in Utah during the games and I didn't get to attend a single event - especially since one of Mitt's goals was to make the Olympics accessible to the general public. (I did get to experience some of the Olympic magic - the torch ran right past my high school and they had the cheerleaders dress in our uniforms and cheer as it ran by - just not as much as I should have!) The very best part was reading about how the actual games went from Mitt's perspective - they were spectacular and he deserves every bit of credit for them.

6, 7, 8. How to Train Your Dragon, How to be a Pirate, How to Speak Dragonese by Cressida Cowell - These books are much different than the movies. The chief of the vikings has a scrawny son that is friendly with dragons, but the similarities pretty much end there. They are just plain fun - Corbyn loves them and will randomly quote parts of them throughout the day. And even though they are written for kids, I genuinely enjoy them. They are well written and it's fun for me to have something special to share with Corbyn.

Good:
9. Fit2Fat2Fit: The Unexpected Lessons from Gaining and Losing 75 Pounds on Purpose - by Drew Manning - I find Drew's story fascinating. I mean, who would gain 75 pounds on purpose to understand what your clients go through? The book was good, but it didn't really include too much that I hadn't already heard from listening to him talk at Pinner's Conference 2 years ago and following him on Instagram. I laughed when he described me perfectly - a runner that just wants to run.

Meh:
10. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Condo - So many people raved about this book, but I just wasn't into it. I thought Marie is kind of crazy and a little unrealistic in her approach. I agree with the idea that you should get rid of anything you don't absolutely love, but don't agree that you shouldn't keep anything from the past or for the future. I hated that she is so insistent that her way of organizing is the only right way. Also, so many times as I was reading I thought, "You obviously don't have kids!" I'm not afraid of getting rid of stuff and am excited to go through our whole house as we pack it up to move next spring, but I just can't bring myself to talk to my possessions or do some of the other things she suggests.

11. Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek by Maya Van Wagenen - 8th grader, Maya, is a social outcast. When her father finds an old copy of Betty Cornell's Teen-Age Popularity Guide (published in the 1950s), she decides to test the theories presented in it and write a book about her experience. I read this for book club and I didn't hate it. BUT I could definitely tell it was written by an 8th grader (yes, a pretty mature 8th grader) and a lot of the time that was really annoying to me. I was impressed with her insights about what it really means to be popular. I just couldn't get past the middle school writing style.

Five on Friday

Five things I have been loving lately.

1. If You Give a... Books. If You Give a Dog a Donut is my favorite, but they're all too cute. (And also, Scholastic book orders - cute books at good prices and they help earn books for my kids' classes. What's not to love?)  

2. Chex Clusters cereal. I don't always eat cereal for breakfast, but when I do this is my current cereal of choice.

3. BYU Creamery's Graham Canyon ice cream. I'm feeling very sad that I just barely discovered this flavor.

4. The Longest Ride movie. I haven't read the book because my sister says it's not as good as the movie and I don't want to spoil it. When it came out on DVD I couldn't resist buying it.

5. Monopoly Deal. I seriously hate Monopoly, but the card game is nothing like the board game. (And it's only $4.99 on Amazon!) Jared, Cailey, and my mom are kind enough to play it with me almost every Sunday to give me my weekly fix.

Conference Weekend

Conference weekend started out the best way possible with a BYU football game Friday night. We always get a Cougar Tail at one game a season and we decided to get it this game because the kids weren't there, so we didn't have to share.

We beat Connecticut 30-13 - it sure felt good to get a win after 2 hard losses! 

Saturday morning we exchanged treats with some neighbors. Kelli and I both made Pumpkin Snickerdoodles which was pretty funny mostly because Rog always says we are practically the same person.

After the afternoon session of conference my mom, Cailey, and I went to the Wood Connection for a fun girls' night out. They had giveaways every so often and I won a Gather letter set. 12 is my lucky number, so it was fitting that I won it with the number 12!  

Sunday morning we went up to Salt Lake for the Ririe Waffle Breakfast. We watched the morning session there. Corbyn and Peyton were good for all the sessions of conference, but I think this was their best session. They played quietly doing puzzles and other activities pretty much the whole time.

I love how often my dad wants to hold Logan! 

In between sessions we drove back to Spanish Fork and then watched the afternoon session at my parent's house. My mom, Cailey, and I worked on a craft we got at the Wood Connection while we listened. Peyton helped Grandma with hers.

It was fun to see our different interpretations of the same craft. (I didn't do a pumpkin because I already have a lot of pumpkin decorations. And my mom also did a moon, but it's not pictured because she hadn't finished that one yet - I ran out of yellow glitter, so she had to buy more before she could finish it.)

There were many wonderful messages shared, but Elder Holland and President Nelson in particular shared messages that were just what I needed to hear. As always I can't wait for the Conference Ensign to arrive, so I can study it and find the gems I missed! 

School Fun

Corbyn is loving Kindergarten and learning so much! They use a reading curriculum at Rees that was developed by one of the teachers there. She just retired last year, but luckily they are still using her curriculum. UPSTART gave him a good base to start, but I really think it is her curriculum that is making the difference for him to learn to read. They are learning a song for each letter sound and it is so fun to hear him singing them at home. I am constantly getting them stuck in my head - they're pretty catchy! 

I signed up to help in Corbyn's class twice a month. It's fun to get a glimpse into what he does at school. I get a lot more details out of him when I can ask about specific things I know they are doing rather than just asking about school in general.

Peyton loves going to her preschool at Rees. I'm so grateful she was able to get in because she always wants to be doing everything Corbyn is doing. She would have liked any preschool, but it's even more fun for her that she gets to go to the same school as Corbyn! 

I was nervous about how Corbyn's school picture would turn out. We spent many days before practicing his smile and it actually turned out pretty cute.

I had to take Peyton in for her school picture since it was on a Friday and she doesn't have preschool on Fridays. For some reason she was absolutely terrified of getting her picture taken and it took about an hour to finally get her calmed down and the picture taken!

A few weeks ago it was Red/Green Ribbon Week. I loved dressing up for school spirit weeks when I was in school. It seems like boys aren't so into dressing up as they get older, so I better enjoy Corbyn wanting to dress up while it lasts! Even Peyton got to dress up for preschool on Tuesday and Thursday.

Monday was wear red day, Tuesday was crazy hair day, Wednesday was superhero day, Thursday was pajama day, and Friday was team jersey day. Since Corbyn's hair is so short, the only thing I could think to do was dye it with Kool-aid. I was just planning on doing Peyton's hair crazy, but she had to dye hers too. (Corbyn's only lasted a few days, but weeks later Peyton's is still pink on the ends - although it has faded a lot.) They also had a fun run Friday morning. I took Corbyn over for that since he has afternoon kindergarten. K-2 did one lap around the school and all the kids got medals for finishing. It was a lot of fun!

We are loving Rees Elementary!

Weekends in September

It's the time of year when our weekends revolve around BYU football.

September 12th we beat Boise State 35-24. It was one of the very best BYU football games we've ever been to! With 45 seconds to go we were losing 24-21, but we miraculously scored 2 touchdowns in those last seconds to win!

It was also Logan's first tailgate. (Grandma took him home for the game, so he's still waiting for his first football game.)

Friday night was movie night at Rees Elementary... (The movie was Rocketman and it was one of the dumbest movies I've ever seen, but the kids had fun.) 

And Sunday was Regional Conference, (So, Rog was home all day and we had time for pancakes for breakfast!) 

The next weekend (September 19th) we lost to UCLA 23-24. The weekend started out good enough. A long bike ride for Rog...

And then play time at the park for these cute kids and their dad while I ran on the river trail.

We decided to go to Krispy Kreme for Talk Like a Pirate Day. They were giving away donuts (whole dozens) if you dressed like a pirate, so we picked up some eye patches and bandanas at the dollar store and pulled out some of our pirate stuff from when Corbyn was into Jake and the Never Land Pirates.

We finally made it inside after waiting for an hour and a half, but then the line stopped moving and we made the hard decision to leave. (We told the kids we'd get donuts at Macey's instead and when we went there were only a handful left!)

The game was a late one, so I watched it at my parent's house while Rog listened to it on the radio at home. I thought I was teaching Relief Society the next day and hadn't prepared enough during the week, so I worked on my lesson during commercial breaks and halftime. We were leading the whole game, but lost in the very last minutes. (And I got to church the next day and discovered I was not teaching after all!)

September 26th we lost miserably (0-31) to Michigan. We were at my Great Uncle Elden's funeral during the game, so we were saved from watching the massacre.

^This picture was in a video photo collage they put together - Elden holding me at my sister's baby blessing (so I was about 2).

Friday night Peyton and I went to a retro girl's night out put on by our relief society. Peyton was so excited to dress up together. She kept saying, "We're twinners!"

We painted our nails...

Took silly pictures... 

.

And had ice cream. (So glad I have my girl to go to these things with me!)

And finally, Sunday night we let the kids stay up late to watch the new Cinderella and Peyton fell asleep on my lap.

So after starting the season with 2 very exciting wins, we finished the month 2-2.

Logan's Quilt

I finished Logan's quilt on his 6 month birthday. (My goal was to finish by his 6 month birthday - I have to give myself deadlines or nothing ever gets done!) I had so much fun taking pictures of the quilt and Logan with it since he is so photogenic right now! 

I used Cluck Cluck Sew's Touchdown pattern. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love their patterns! I first discovered them when I used their Juice Boxes pattern for Peyton's quilt and I'm sure I'll be making more of their quilts in the future. Their patterns are well written and easy to follow and they have the cutest designs!

I had Just in Time Quilts machine quilt it in BYU's Y logo. (They have tons of designs to choose from and if they don't have what you're looking for, they are happy to add your desired stitch to their collection.) The design is kind of subtle on the front...

But really shines through on the back.

This wasn't on purpose, but Logan's quilt is the biggest of the kids' quilts. Which ended up being a good thing since he didn't get to use it as a newborn. And now he's like ginormous! I positioned him like this for these pictures, but he had no trouble holding himself up after I got him there.

I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. It is the perfect finishing touch to his room.

And if you're wondering, yes, this is the same onesie he wore in his 2 month pictures. Well, not the exact same one... Obviously. That one would be much too small now. I ordered another one in size 6-9 months, so I could take pictures of him with his quilt. I have issues.

And of course he'll be able to wear it to BYU football games too. About a quarter of his 6-9 months clothes are navy and/or football related in some way.

No brainwashing going on here. Ok, maybe a little. Or a lot. Go cougars!

6 Months

Logan turned 6 months on September 18th. How in the world is he already half a year old?! 

He had his checkup and shots on September 21st.

His stats:

Weight: 19 pounds, 10 ounces (80th percentile)

Height: 26 inches (35th percentile)

Logan at 6 months:

*Finally learned to roll from his tummy to his back, but he doesn't do it all that often.

*Gets into crawl position from sitting.

*Is trying so hard to learn to crawl, but ends up scooting backwards.

*Pivots around every which way while on his tummy.

*Loves to smile at anyone and everyone.

*Pulls on my hair while eating when it's down within his reach.

*Has reverted back to waking up about every 3 hours to eat at night. Hopefully as he gets better at solids, he'll be able to go longer stretches again and learn to sleep through the night!

*Laughs when he knows he's about to be tickled.

*Loves the bath, but hates to get out!

He had a pretty bad cold, but was smiley as ever for his photo shoot.

Logan's 6th month in pictures...

Ladies man! We had him out on a blanket in front of our house and all the neighborhood girls swarmed him.

He has no shortage of toys to play with - one definite advantage of being the 3rd kid! (Peyton got this dragon ball toy for her first Christmas and it is one of his favorites.)

Hanging out in my Uncle Kevin's backyard on Labor Day.

Before we started feeding him solids, he wanted to be up with the family during dinner. And he loved to play with our lettuce bag. (Yes, I know you're not supposed to put the Bumbo up on tables, but it was the only way we could eat in peace and we were right there watching him.)

This is how I got ready for the day for awhile. He was content to hang out in the sink while I stood behind him and did my makeup. (He has since figured out how to turn on the water, so he doesn't get to play up there anymore.)

Sitting in the cart like a big kid!

Had to grab my phone and get a picture of him asleep like this.

Nap time with Daddy.

We officially started solids a few days before he turned 6 months old. So far he is not a fan (like Corbyn), but we're working on it and this time I'm not so stressed about it. He'll figure it out eventually!

Someone slow down time! Before we know it he'll be 1!