September Happenings

Time sure does fly once school starts. School activities, homework, and PTA volunteering has kept us all super busy. Here's an update of what went down for us in September. Of course, school started. I usually do a blog entry for each girl at the end of the year, but I like to at least include a first day of school picture in the blog at this time of year. So here they are. Abby - 5th grade, Tessa - 3rd grade, and Aubrey - 1st grade.

Over Labor Day Weekend, Scott, Nevla, and Chloe came to visit us. It was fun to play games, hang out, and visit. Chloe wanted to roast marshmallows, so when we started up the firepit, I finally took some pictures. This was the girls making silly faces while eating their s'mores. Scott and Nevla brought their dogs, Dozer and Shyla, with them this time and my girls loved it. We had so much fun with all of them.

Before the weather got too cold, Taryn and I met some friends at a splash pad on the east side. The water was a little cold, but the sunshine kept it warm enough. We even got to meet Tyler for lunch, so that was fun. The girls' school does an annual family picnic and this year it was on Sept 11th. We made it late, but I grabbed a picture while we waited in line for dinner as the firemen were taking down the huge American flag that they had flying for most of the evening. I really liked how the picture turned out.

The girls had picture day at school mid-September, so I always take my own pictures when they're all dressed up. I loved them all, but here are some favorites.

Even though Taryn is not in school yet, she has to have her turn as well. 

September 19th is National Talk Like a Pirate Day and if you dress like a pirate, you can get free donuts. We didn't have enough pirate garb to dress our entire family, so we just dressed up Abby and made her talk like a pirate to get our free donuts. She was all excited to do it as we got ready, but she almost got too shy to go into the store to actually do it. We talked her into it, and she was happy once she ate her donut. It was fun.

September is also our yearly ward campout when we travel to Cloudcroft, New Mexico to go camping with our church ward. We always love going and this year was no exception. We worried about the weather like we always do, but the rain stayed away and we had a fun time. The girls of course loved the zip line and I took pictures as they waited in line to take their turn. Even Taryn took a couple turns and loved telling people all about it.

I also took individual pictures of the girls. I had to get this closeup of Taryn because it shows the huge bump and bruise on her forehead from when she fell on the blacktop at the school when we were there for Aubrey's PE class. She scraped it pretty good. It didn't bleed but left some wicked red scrape marks, so that when we picked the girls up early to leave for camping that day, Tessa asked if that was her brain. Luckily, it wasn't too painful and Taryn didn't seem to be bothered by it at all. 

Here's Aubrey and Tessa as I grabbed them to take pictures while they hiked, explored, and played with friends. 

Besides the zip line, the girls also liked playing at the playground where there is even a seesaw. I also wanted to post that Abby is in the orchestra at school this year and is playing the bass. She is only 1 of 5 who chose the bass of all the 5th graders and she's the only girl. I'm so proud of her and I love to hear her practice.

One of our final September activities was the General Women's Broadcast for church. They now have it for all women ages 8 and up, so Abby and Tessa get to come with me. This is the second time that some friends and I have gotten together afterwards to get a treat and I took some pictures this time. All the girls had so much fun together and I love being able to do these special outings with my girls.