October and November in pictures

Here is everything the last couple months. I was really busy the beginning of October then my mom got a call from TOSH saying they had an opening and they moved her surgery up to October 27th. So we had less than 2 weeks to prepare for that but I'm so glad she got it done. She's been doing amazing! She'll get her life back and be able to do anything once they're both healed up. So excited for her. So here's what I've got in pictures.

The girls were wanting to use face paint for volleyball. We ended up starting a trend because another ward started the same a week later. 

This is half of my young women. They are so awesome. I love all my girls so much!

Feeling thug-ish... yw medallions and all :)

For a while I was walking close to 50 miles a week. The weather was much better then. I just love the views I get to see each day in this beautiful valley. I am surrounded by mountains but have a great view of the Salt Lake. Tooele is the perfect place for me. I love it so much here!

I remember this walk. I walked down Pine Canyon after walking Charlotte to school. I was hoping to get 5 miles in. Jack is a trooper. I could see these clouds in the distance and I kept watching them. I got stuck in some cold rain one day and didn't want it to happen again. I have never walked as fast as I did. I even ran on some of the downhill part back to the house.

This is that same walk. The clouds were getting closer and we were maybe a half mile from the house. Made it just in time. It started raining as soon as we walked up to the house. Phew! Thank you Heavenly Father for helping me out! Got in 5 miles and stayed dry!

Scott had been really busy with work, I was really busy with YW so come conference weekend, we really wanted to spend some time together as a family while listening to conference. We decided on an adventure to Mirror Lake and the Alpine Loop. Found Scott's initials on the mountain near Kamas. 

There was just enough breeze that we couldn't get a good reflection picture on the lake

We pulled off the road before leaving. We stopped for some lunch where it wasn't snowing or raining. Lots of nice little camping spots up around there.

The kids were having fun playing hide and seek behind trees while we ate lunch. We haven't had a family vacation in a long time. Like 2-3 years. So this was a really nice little trip.

Poor little Jackson has my sensitive tummy. We drove the Alpine Loop hoping to get to see some fall colors but it was really lacking when we saw it. Then the winding roads made Jack sick to his stomach so we had to pull over a couple times to get him fresh air and let his tummy get better. This last stop we pulled over near the Tibble Fork Reservoir and just got out of the car near the river and let the kids throw rocks. Jack got his fresh air and then we could head home with a calm tummy.

I had to do some shopping in SLC one day so I took Jack to the zoo for a bit once we got Charlotte off to school. He had fun. We flew through in 45 min. He was so fast going from one exhibit to the next. 

Found these at the store one day. They're so good! I think I was starting my whole30 challenge at this point. 

After some major eczema issues I decided to try a round of whole30. Our new stake YW pres told me about it and its been a huge blessing. My skin is almost completely healed. It was so bad before. I have discovered that I am lactose intolerant. I have learned some hard lessons with that the last month! It helped me lose some additional weight. Since my highest weight in like August I think, I have dropped 25 lbs. It's amazing what you can do when you eat healthy. And I was eating a lot! I wouldn't even be able to eat the portions of some of the recipes. It was too much. I went through 1.5 Liters of olive oil in 2 weeks. But I dropped weight and lost about 20 inches off my body. Still working on losing more. It'll come as I figure out what my body can handle and what it can't. Now that I know what dairy does I'm able to make better decisions. But every now and again I might endure the pain. But it was worth it. It really helps you to realize how important it is to keep the junk out. Even the "healthy" processed stuff. My spirit can actually communicate to me better because I'm not constantly thinking about food. Apparently addictions do that to you :)

Our October combined activity was at the Tooele Gun Club. So Tooelean of us. The kids really wanted to go shooting so we took them and they of course get a little lesson on gun safety. It's set up so well there and its great to have it so close to us. This is the majority of my yw and 5 of my 7 leaders.

Dusk at the gun club. Great view of the lake and valley from up there.

Found this guy in my parent's garden. Kind of creepy! I think its a tomato hornworm.

My parents always have a stash of mint chocolate chip ice cream at the house and Jack loves it. It is his favorite. 

Love early morning walks on the weekend when Scott is home. I can see the moon and planets. I think here it was Jupiter, Venus, Mars and hidden on the horizon is Mercury but it was getting too light to see it.

Sometimes I'll walk around the park and I love the colors in the west as the sun starts to come up.

Tooele County Fire Dept put on an event at their firehouse on Main St. The kids get to climb in firetrucks and they have food and all sort of goodies. The kids had a blast. Air Med was supposed to be there earlier but it showed up just as we were leaving. It parks like a half mile from our house so we get to see Air Med a lot but still cool when its even closer!

Jack loves firetrucks. One day while walking to the school we saw one drive by and he got so excited. Especially since the really nice fireman driving the truck could see his excitement and was waving to him. Jack thought that was so cool. 

The kids loved spraying the hose too. TCFD did a great job making a lot of kids happy that day.

One day we had a late start getting ready for school so we didn't have time to walk. Instead I threw the stroller in the trunk and after we dropped off Charlotte, we headed to Smelter and walked that. Love the views up there.

I have tried and tried to figure out what this is. My best guess is a type of wolf spider. It was huge! Bigger than my palm but smaller than my hand with its legs out. He was a nasty bugger and I almost stepped on him. He blended so well with the road!

Got to go on a hike with my dad and his two Webelos since my mom couldn't. We hiked up Bates Canyon just a bit. Got a great view of the sunset. Love this valley!

Got excited one day when I saw this on my bananas. Westlake! So close to home. I used to have to go out there a lot to get blueprints for my dad. It was the first place I ever tried ColdStone. Still my favorite drive through the canyon to get to Leo Carillo. Lots of good memories. 

More Whole30 food. Real food. That's what is so great about it.

This is still a favorite. Bananas, coconut milk and unsweetened dried flaked coconut. Yum!

My parent's cat, Oliver. Wish he caught more mice and less birds but he's a sweetie none the less

Jetta bugs him all the time. She really wants to play but he doesn't. They pretty funny.

Creeper always creeping. We also refer to him as little Jerry Seinfeld. He's a fighter! He's nice to my mom but will go after everyone else as soon as your back is turned. Punk Raptor.

These two are above the rules. Notice the ribbon down by Dove. Yeah, they don't care. If they are out front and want green grass, they will push through anything to get it. Cute punks.

It was sport team day. Charlotte doesn't have anything in her size so we made dad's shirt into a dress :)

Any time you cut down branches, the chickens come over and start climbing in them. They're as bad as kids!

One of my favorite snacks. I didn't get hungry too often in between meals on whole30 but if I did, this was a great go to snack. A handful of nuts and a fig or two. I still will eat these if I go too long between meals and just need a little something to tide me over.

Chia pudding... yum! I did mine so it was compliant with whole30. 

If the bird feeder outside at my parent's doesn't get filled then the birds go to the chicken yard for seed. The sparrows can squeeze through the wires but once these doves go in, they have a hard time finding their way out. They usually end up cutting themselves flying into the chicken wire. Sometimes I think Oliver find them and pulls out their tail feathers. I've found them missing all or most of their tails. Poor things. They are really sweet though and will perch on your finger until they feel okay enough to fly off.

While my mom was in the hospital I took care of the pets during the day. Tried to feed Art one day but he didn't want to. Still a little runt and he's 15 years old!

All my friends in the evenings

Charlotte's first Halloween costume. After fits and more nonsense she changed. Good thing I didn't actually pay $50 for that dress! I think I only paid like $20 for the dress, shoes and tiara. The wig was like $20. Should fit her another year so hopefully next year she'll wear it all.

Found this beast in the house one morning. Freaked me out. I couldn't even get rid of it. Scott came home from work to take care of it. He's the best husband ever. He needed food for lunch too so that worked out well :)

Jasper used to live 3 houses down and his mom was my second counselor. We love their family so much. She came out to have lunch with me and my first counselor. Jack was so excited to see his friend again. Really going to miss them when they move again! Love the Day family!

First snow of the year. Look at all the leaves on the trees still!

This horse gets so dirty in the mud! Little punk! :)

My dad needed to get a half ton bale of hay from a local guy in Lake Point named Leonard. He's so sweet. He picked flowers from his yard and wrapped them in pink baling twine for my mom since she had knee surgery. He's cute. 

When you find chicken feathers and decide to make the dog Indian. Haha! She loves me :)

This was my mother in law's German Chocolate Cake I made her. My favorite recipe. Love it!

I love all the fall colors in our neighborhood. So pretty!

The neighbors cat keeps coming over and Oliver doesn't like him but puts up with him. He's chased him a few times.

After taking my mom in for a check up, we decided to go to Cheesecake Factory. I learned a hard lesson the next day. My body is not a fan of dairy! 

There has been an owl hanging out at my parent's in the evening. So cool!

Our last official class activity of the year we decided to do rice crispy treats. Got creative and tried some combinations. It was fun. Our class will be growing soon!

Think we like basketball much?

Waffle Love was at Scholar Academy when we were walking to Macey's one morning. We decided to check it out. Expensive but oh so good! I got the Sunshine one and Charlotte went for chocolate filled with whipped cream. Holy moly are they amazing!

Kylee always leaves me random notes and I love finding them months later. Love being a leader over the YW

I love to make pies. Now that I have a good crust I like, I don't fear homemade pies anymore. Scott prefers Dutch versions so I did a Dutch Cherry. It was so good! Plus I found a use for all those frozen cherries!

The Tooele County 411 page referred to this day as Snowpocalypse. Haha! Toole got hit pretty good. We had about 8 inches in our neighborhood. Further south they got like a foot or more. I think my parents had around 6 inches when all was said and done. There were accidents all over. Because of construction there were barrels all over. We lost cell phone service in the afternoon and internet as well. It was crazy. I got my car stuck at my parents. I had to drive their car home which was a blessing in disguise. My car would have gotten stuck about 1/2 to 3/4 mile from my house and I would have had to walk carrying Jack all that way so it worked out. But tons of trees broke from all the weight because they still haven't dropped all their leaves. Very odd day but we survived with no tv or phones :)

Scott got stuck in our driveway. He had to dig himself out. My car sits lower so there was no hope for me. They didn't plow yet. Lots of people had to do a mile roundtrip walking in the snow to pick up kids. I was able to save a few neighbors from walking in it. Very crazy day picking Charlotte up from school. Even the buses were getting stuck!

We had a different FHE lesson planned but due to lack of internet, we were unable to watch the video. So we did something else really quick then Scott jumped in the snow. Haha! Just random dive in the snow and roll around. He's crazy! :)

This was sad. This is a bag of cat food my parent's hadn't been using. Apparently some young mice got in and got stuck. 3 were dead in there. Probably dehydration. Then two alive. We had to chuck the whole bag. So sad!

Saw this at Walmart with the YW when we were getting stuff for missionary packages. I can't believe this is real. The iFart shuffle? Serious?

She pulled this out herself at school! It's tooth #3 and I can't believe she did it herself. She was so excited!

I bought the kids these shapes on amazon and Jack loves them. Sometimes we make patterns during the day.

Rick's super sweet girlfriend brought us all a loaf of bread for Thanksgiving. I love her. She is so awesome and I can't wait until she is part of our family. I had to grab the banana nut. I love the walnuts. So good!

I love Tooele Valley sunsets. These were taken one day while I was feeding and putting away animals at my parent's.

This was the next morning. We were supposed to get snow that day but we got nothing but a little drizzle of rain. Pretty disappointing. 

Every week Scott's name is in the paper since he's the insert technician. The day before Thanksgiving he got his picture in with Issac, a kid in our ward getting ready to serve a mission. Scott is such a hard worker and works crazy hours on his feet all day. He does so much so I can stay home with the kids. I love him so much.

I love how the sky starts to glow a little before the sun comes up. It looks so cool with the dark mountains. 

This was Thanksgiving after we were so full and just sitting on the couch relaxing and watching football.

We got our tree the day after Thanksgiving. It stays fresh so much longer if you buy it while its fresh and while it'll still take water. 

The Saturday after Thanksgiving it snowed. I wasn't expecting it. But the kids were so excited to play in it. It was only like half an inch max 1 inch.

When I showed up to my parent's Saturday I found these fun little prints in the snow on the walkway.

As we wrapped lights on a tree, we found tons of box elder beetles hiding under the bark to stay warm. I had no idea they did that!

I've never been a fan of fancy decorated trees. Those are for hotels or businesses. But I love having mine and Scott's old ornaments and ones the kids have picked out. It brings back memories of Christmas growing up for me. Plus its unique. Charlotte kind of helped decorate. We had to move some stuff around a bit but she did a good job.

We got some lights up outside and in the window.

Another Kylee note. Haha!

I got home from ward council and took care of some stuff. Scott made him self some lunch and Jack decided he wanted pb&j. So he ate Scott's.

Charlotte in her new coat. She was so excited for this coat. There was an issue and some mix ups but my mother in law ordered her a new one and luckily we were able to find a used coat at DI to use in the meantime. Everywhere we went was cleaned out of winter coats. She didn't have a coat yet because we had bought her one for Christmas and figured we'd see if she could last until then.  But she had been complaining to me that she was cold at school during recess. I always sent her in long sleeves and the thickest sweater we had but it didn't help. So it was really good that this one showed up. The one we found at DI worked ok but I don't think it was very good still. But she's set now and its big enough to last her another year so we won't have to worry about a new one next year!

Took this picture this morning. My mom always gets a ton of doves at her house but I'm getting quite a few with the seed I put out. This morning they were all warming on the fence. They're so cute. I love birds!