Sunday, October 13, 2013

We're Back

Well, we've been in our home for about a month now, and we've started getting back into the swing of things. Unfortunately, when we unpacked our desktop computer (the one with all of our photos from the summer), it didn't boot.  The pictures are all still there, but we just can't get to them right now.  So this post will cover everything that was on our camera...

While we were staying at Kyle's parent's house in Logan, waiting for our home to be built, we went on a number of hikes.  One of the last adventures we went on was up Green Canyon, where we climbed up to a cave.  The kids loved climbing the walls and getting dirty.




We took a trip to San Francisco in September to witness Kyle's brother, Justin, get married.  He had the gall to get married the week that we were closing on our house - we even had to shorten our trip to get the finishing touches wrapped up.  We had to spend some time on the phone with our builder and lender trying to make sure everything was in order. But we weren't about ready to let that ruin our vacation!

Jen was almost eight months pregnant and got really tired walking around San Francisco, but we weren't about ready to let that ruin our vacation either!

As part of our sightseeing, we took a tour of Alcatraz, which we really enjoyed and recommend.  Sadly, our camera battery died just as we were leaving, so we didn't get many pictures :-(  
We also visited the pier, and drove up to the Muir Woods (a redwood forest just north of San Francisco). 

  
It was fun to get to spend time with Kyle's family, and it was very nice that Jen's parents were so willing to watch the kids for us while we were away.  

The wedding itself was really nice.  Justin's wife is half Chinese, and they had a yummy luncheon with Chinese food that Jen hadn't had since her mission - it's hard to find that kind of food in Utah.  That evening, they had a beautiful reception at a very nice house. They had a sit down dinner and dancing. It was the classiest wedding we've ever been to. It was much more elegant than our reception in a stake center gym.


When it was time to go home, the seven of us piled into the SUV with all of our luggage, and it was a very crowded drive to drop us off at the airport.  We were glad that we flew.

A few weeks back, we though it would be fun to take the kids to Build-A-Bear Workshop so they could build a new stuffed toy for their new little brother.  They picked out this cute little puppy for him.
The workers at the workshop filled the puppy with stuffing, and then each of the kids got a heart to put inside.  Before doing so, they touched the heart to their nose, and made a wish...



Then they put the heart in the toy...
 And gave him a bath...
Then they got on the computer, registered the baby's new toy, and gave him a name -- Charlie.
 Then we checked out and brought home the new little bundle of joy for our future bundle of joy.

While we were at the mall, we visited the new Lego store.  It was almost like Christmas in October.






After looking out of our windows, watching the leaves changing color, we took the kids on a hike to see Autumn in action. There are a lot of trails near our new house, so we picked one that looked fun, and headed out.




With Halloween drawing near, we thought it would be fun to take the kids to a Pumpkin Patch to pick out their pumpkins.  After a quick search online, we learned about a patch just down the street from our house.  It even included a straw maze for the kids.  They had a blast running around the maze again and again.




Then we ventured out into the pumpkin patch to select the perfect pumpkin.




After choosing their pumpkins, the kids went back for a few more laps around the straw maze.




The buffalo in the field behind our house is feeling pretty lonely.  LOL.


The baby is due in just ten short days.  Jen is getting tired of people telling her how small she is, especially with how huge she feels. Here's proof...


Stay tuned for our next post, which will likely include a beautiful new baby boy (who can come now that, after a month of searching, we finally found the screws for his crib amid all of our boxes).