Rest of September

I had been growing my hair out for forever and I was ready to be done. When I took Peyton to get a back-to-school haircut, I asked if mine was long enough to donate and she said yes, so I went for it. It ended up being really short, but it was a nice change from really long.

We went to Chick-fil-A with the Martyns to drop off stuffed animals for a sleepover they were having.

They decorated pillows for them to sleep on. That frog with a crazy eye is Corbyn's.

And Peyton left her Flutter Shy.

After we stopped at Barne's and Noble to turn in Peyton and Corbyn's completed reading logs and get their free books.

I missed the first game of BYU's football season (a win against Portland State) while I was running Hood to Coast. The first game I got to see we lost to LSU and started a 7-game losing streak. We had Kevan and Krislyn Willes over to watch with us as well as Greg Baker. I made my Grandpa Ririe's favorite rice krispy treats since BYU football will always remind me of him.

Sometime when Cluck Cluck Sew was having a pattern sale I bought her Morning Glory Pattern. It's the perfect pattern for a quilt for Peyton, so I took her to Fabric Depot with me and we spent an afternoon picking out fabric. Of course I haven't touched it since, but it's high on my list of quilts to make in 2018.

Our beautiful Columbia River Gorge caught fire on September 2nd when some teenagers were playing with firecrackers. We were heartbroken as we have fallen in love with the Gorge since moving here. We did a handful of hikes there this summer, but I feel like we only scratched the surface of what the Gorge has to offer. We'll see what the damage was next summer when we go back. Hopefully they'll be hikes left to do! 

I'd experienced smoke from fires living in Utah, but never smoke from a fire so close. We weren't close enough to have to evacuate or be in any real danger from the fire, but we had ash raining down on us, we were told we couldn't exercise outside, the kids couldn't go outside for recess, it constantly looked overcast even though we didn't have any rain, and after coming inside from being outside for even just a few minutes, we'd smell like a campfire.

One of my sunflowers opened right around the time the fires started and I'm not sure it was related to the fires, but it drooped and never recovered.

Our street was made a no-parking zone during school hours because of all the high school kids that were parking there. They put up a sign right in front of our house, but Rog got them to move it to an existing pole farther down. It's definitely less effective on that pole as cars will still park along our curb during the day occasionally, but the sign was an eyesore.

We went on a date to ride these animals around the mall. It was one of the most fun dates we've been on. We also got ice cream at Salt and Straw. 😋

Our stake had a day of service at the Lone Fir Cemetery in Portland. We cleaned headstones which was slow work, but also pretty rewarding.

We worked for a couple hours and then they had pizza for us after.

That night was the BYU vs. Utah game. We had the same friends over as the week before plus the Yates. I made pizza dip which was the best part of the game. It was actually a pretty close game, but ultimately a loss. 

My second sunflower opened up toward the middle of the month and did much better than the first. 

While I was taking pictures of it, I decided to take pictures of my garden before we pulled out the plants. It's amazing to see what a little plant can turn into.

Beginning of Summer

End of Summer

Beginning of Summer

End of Summer - I should have taken this picture sooner because it was covered in purple flowers not too long before this. The yellow flower just randomly started growing. Isn't nature amazing?!

I think this qualifies as a drive-in movie. 😂

This was the start of Logan learning to crawl in and out of his crib on his own. I was worried it was the end of naps, but that has not been the case. If anything, it made nap time easier.

Primary Program Sunday.

Peyton's part: "Jesus is the perfect example."

Corbyn's part: "When Noah followed the Lord's command to build the ark, he saved his family from the flood. Noah was blessed for choosing the right."

We had 3 solid months without rain, so we were happy to be waiting for the bus in the rain again. It was just what we needed to stop the fires and clear out the smoke.

I can't remember exactly what happened here anymore, but I'm guessing the rain had something to do with it.

Corbyn thought he was hilarious wearing these socks that didn't match his outfit. Totally not like him at all and totally not like me to let him.

I went back in time about 5 years to a time when it was just Corbyn and me all day and Buzz went everywhere with us.

Logan and I went to OMSI with our playgroup. He spent 90% of his time here pretending he was Jake.

He was very into all the steering wheel things.

I had Logan's speech and language evaluated since his still isn't talking much. As a 2.5 year old, he was still within the normal range (on the low end).

We listened to the BYU vs. Utah State game with a free 1-month subscription to Sirius XM Radio since it wasn't on any tv stations that Rog's parents get. 

Rog had just gotten the SNES (an early Christmas present), so he and Corbyn played while we were listening.

And Logan, Peyton, and I cuddled and played peek-a-boo. Not a terrible way to listen to a game although it was terrible that we lost yet another game.

I worked hard to get all my binding ready, so I could do the hand binding part while listening to football games and conference.

I made two pillows out of my huge fail at sewing strips together. I didn't have enough of the fabric I used to bind the quilt left to bind both pillows, so I did a scrappy binding for one of them.

In the past I've always decorated with BYU football stuff in September, but now that I actually have kids in school, it seemed appropriate that I add some school stuff to my September decor. This is the September Shadow Box from the Wood Connection. I bought it just in time as they recently discontinued them.

School Block Trio and blocks made with paper from the Wood Connection. Plus a bouquet of freshly-sharpened pencils and a chalkboard quote I made from You've Got Mail.

And that was September!