Elk Bugling

The boys had no school Monday and we had a good day together. I think year-round school would be really wonderful. That night we did a mystery shop all together at BJs and they thought that was so fun. Mystery shopping takes me back, it's so funny to do it with four kids in tow when we started doing that just the two of us.

Tuesday we did yoga and made smoothies for Young Womens and I loved that calm activity :) I need to do more Yoga in my life. Bennett and Westin LOVE when they have activity days during Young Womens and I think they have the greatest leaders ever, they're so lucky.

Michael chaperoned Camden's preschool field trip on Wednesday to the pond and he said the kids were really cute. One little girl held his hand the whole time and it just cracked him up, preschoolers just love.

I went to my young women's orchestra concert Thursday and one of them did a cello solo for It Is Well With My Soul and I just think that song is so beautiful. She did such a wonderful job. 

Friday we took the boys to the Canvas Community Classic, which is when the high school teams play each other in the CSU stadium. Westin loves football so much. I think I've written that sentence in 100+ blog posts but it's just really true. 

Michael volunteered all day Saturday at a free dental clinic that Colorado does every year. I took the boys to watch the BYU game with friends, then to Westin's football game, then we got ready for Bennett's party that night. We grabbed pizza and cake from Costco and he had a bunch of friends come jump with him that night at Fly High. Michael met us there and the boys had fun jumping with him. Bennett is so stoked about turning 8!

My favorite part of the weekend was Sunday night -- we drove the boys up to Rocky Mountain National Park after nap time for a dinner picnic and a dusk drive during the weeks the elk are super active. There were so many, and they were bugling so much! Which is such an interesting sound and nothing like what you'd picture it to be. We even saw a couple males fighting and the sound of their antlers hitting was amazing to hear. I loved it up there, and it was such a pretty night. We stole the idea from some friends and saw them there for a few minutes. Westin said he wanted it to be a tradition, which means it was a good time :) 

The boys had a Monday off of school for a teacher work day and Bennett did every puzzle he could find.

Got Westin involved by the end.
I love how Bennett can entertain himself so well,
he's always been like that.

Such a cute scene to spy on while I do dishes.

"Jim and Nancy give me it!"
Lucky little boys to have such nice neighbors.

They had some inflatable obstacle courses at the Canvas Community Classic football game,
and Westin and Bennett thought they were so fun.

Bennett can't be bothered by the picture,
and Asher actually was really bothered by the picture,
but you can find his legs if you try hard.

Team photo! Westin liked flag football this season so much.

We recently acquired a wagon and I feel the same way about it I felt about my play kitchen.
Which is, I wish I bought this two years ago.

Have you ever ordered a cake from Costco?
What a weird way they still do it? But can't beat it!

Asher was all about this cake.
My favorite thing lately is when they say, "Can I have some more?" I just say, "Sure!" and give them the tiniest bit. And he did that like four times, which didn't even equal a whole slice of cake really, but he was just soo happy to feel like he had full access to this cake haha.

Sometimes you just need to hold hands while you eat cake.

Trying to get some candy from the bishop with some memorized Articles of Faith...
he needed some big help from daddy ;)

Sunday drive through Rocky Mountain National Park 

We ran into the Baileys there and she gets full credit for the everyone-looking-and-smiling photo,
my boys all love her so much so it was achievable for her.

This little deer came right over to eat dinner by us!
The boys loved seeing it so close.

So many elk.
And so much bugling!
We even saw two large males fighting and the sound of their antlers hitting was really awesome.

Super Moon

We had some fun nights this week!

Monday was trivia night again with some other friends, which I just think is so fun. Then Tuesday night we walked up Coyote Ridge with a few other families to try to catch the Super Moon and lunar eclipse. We could see it so well! There was no Young Womens that night because of a youth temple trip on Friday, so it was fun to just get together with friends and be outside that night.

Michael had a meeting Thursday night so it was just me and the boys. They were so great with bedtime. Some nights aren't so smooth but I was grateful for their help that solo night. Then Friday I went to the temple for an endowment session before meeting up with all the youth and leaders for baptisms. 

Saturday was tennis and High in the morning for Michael and me, then Westin's football game. We had a babysitter that night to go out with the Dimonds but their little guy was pretty sick. Michael and I went out for Vietnamese food and did a little birthday shopping for Bennett, then came home and watched the INSANELY FUN BYU game against Kansas State. What a wild game.

We ate dinner at the Schmidts house today, and Bennett and I got to the temple this afternoon to take some pictures of him for his baptism program. He's getting to be so big! 

This little hoarder man.
Every couple weeks we clear it all out and he seems relieved a little,
but then requests thing by thing each nap and night until he's once again
sleeping in sweet chaos.

This is right after he said to me,
"Mom, I'm going to turn you into a boy.
Abracadabra, I give you a................ boy head."
I was cracking up so much and he seemed confused as to why I thought he was so funny haha.

Super Moon with a little eclipse!

We loved walking up Coyote Ridge with friends to catch the special September moon.

Michael turned some jalapeños from my parents into some jalapeño poppers.

Westin has become skilled at managing bedtimes once in a while and I love him for it.

Soccer! Camden loves soccer Thursdays. He's totally into it.

Signs of little boys -- trucks doing yoga on my yoga mat.

Another Saturday Flag Football game.

Krispy Kreme opened in Fort Collins, woohoo!
I knew the boys would love watching the donuts being made.
They were making fresh apple fritters and they put them straight from the line into our box.

This little cat. She's so cuddly.

Some baptism photos for Benny boy!

He is so excited to turn eight next month.

He had to write about building something in his experience journal for school,
and specifically what he does when it breaks.
"If it breaks, that's ok! You just start over!"
That sums up Bennett :)

Last time my parents were here Camden asked and asked if he could make a gingerbread house with them and to be honest that just kind of went in one ear and out the other for me because, so random? And gingerbread houses are not on my mind yet? Then when they drove away he said, "Well it's so sad we didn't make a house together." Breaking my heart! So I kept my eye out for Trader Joe's haunted house kits they usually put out and he's so excited to build this with Grandma and Grandpa when they come back out for Bennett's baptism. What a funny guy.

A BYU Birthday

We have four really cute boys. They're so fun right now! I loved this week with them.

Monday we did trivia night again with some different friends than last week. I think it's so much fun. I went on a walk along my favorite trail with Diane on Tuesday and it was so good to catch up. The boys went bowling that night for activity days and they were totally looking forward to that.

Thursday I hosted book club, which had me reflecting on how many house projects we've done! I hosted over a year ago in a different room of the house with no ceiling lights, hardly any furniture, holes in the walls and ceiling from electrical work, different floors... we've changed so much the past four years and it feels much more homey to us around here.

Saturday was my football-themed birthday! Michael was sick that day, which was a real bummer all around. I felt bad for him, so annoying to be sick on a day with fun plans. I went to High with my friend Lindsey who was so sweet to pick me up with flowers and toffee. Michael made omelettes for a late breakfast/early lunch, and then we went to Westin's flag football game. I told him to try to get a pick six for my birthday and he did it! His first touchdown, he was so stoked. 

We had some down time that afternoon and I prepped our car with snacks and waters and blankets and jackets to head up to Laramie for the BYU-Wyoming game. We were a little worried about taking the kids up there with the reputation of Wyoming fans, but we just went for it and it was really fine. Just a couple choice words yelled at us right when we started walking toward the stadium haha, but then a smooth night after that. 

Westin was so thrilled to meet Jimmer! I spotted his family when we were getting a drink from the drinking fountain at halftime so Westin hung around to catch a sighting of Jimmer, and then was brave and asked him if he could take a picture with him. He was so nice to everyone there who was wanting a photo with him. Westin also just loved yelling "FIRST DOWN!" with the crowd led by a super dedicated fan that was giving a totally enthusiastic "AND THAT'S ANOTHER COUGAR..." after every first down. Westin thought that was so fun and loved seeing us sing the fight song after every touchdown. "How do you know the words to this song?!" Haha he's such a football fan. It was a happy game to watch, too, and he loved staying after to see the players run out and even got to give Cosmo a high five.

Sunday Michael was still feeling pretty sick so we couldn't do dinner with the Dimonds and just had a low key Sunday. But I had a teacher council meeting during second hour of church about loving those you teach, and I thought it was such a wonderful meeting. I really love the people in my ward.

Such frequent nose injuries for this little biker...

Wearing his Halloween costume already. Do we think this means he'll be over it by late October and asking to be something else? Most likely.

Taking the trash out.
:) Our city is consolidating trash services so we got some shiny new trash cans and Westin wanted to test them out.

My favorite part of our apple tree is the leaf shadows.
I just love the way sunlight turns them red and the leaves shade them from that!

Asher loves Dear Zoo and Road Builders right now, over and over.
And Pizza Mouse. I love their favorite book stages.

First day of soccer!
I brought Asher's chair hoping it would buy me some peace and he sat so happily the WHOLE hour, apart from when he was Camden's water boy and handed him his water bottle at every break :)

Camden and his buddy Benjamin are ready for a new season of soccer!

We're going to miss Teresa this school year while she's traveling.

BYU ready!

Such a fun game. The 93-yard run was a happy moment and I loved watching Westin yell, "First down!"

Jimmer!!!!

I loved this lesson about "Loving those you Teach."