During the summer my parents kept saying that if my brother and sister-in-law moved into a new house with land, they might move with them. The plans kept going back and forth, but finally the deal went through and my brother bought a house on 7 acres of land that included a small guest house. So my parents put their El Paso house on the market and sold it within a couple of weeks. We helped them pack up and after a couple of smaller trips to San Antonio, they filled up the moving truck with the rest of their belongings and we helped clean their empty house.
On their last day in town, they stayed at our house and drove off to San Antonio the next morning. The kids had to push their car out of the driveway to help them on their way. I wish I had gotten a picture of them together, but didn’t think about it until they were gone. My parents had lived here in El Paso for over 4 years and we loved having them so close to us. We’ll miss having them over for dinners and calling them up to attend concerts and games, but they’ll be helping my brother and his family of little kids. Luckily we travel to San Antonio a lot and they’ll always have a place to stay here when they pass through on their way north. My dad celebrated his 70th birthday in San Antonio on September 11th. He shares his birthday with my nephew, Daniel, so they each got to blow out a candle. We got to see them through Marco Polo videos and wish them a happy birthday that way this year.
One of the youth activities that the girls got to participate in this fall was floating down the Rio Grande. During the summer and fall months, the Rio Grande is filled with water and goes right through our city. After September, they drain the water and it sits basically dry and empty through the winter. All of the youth met one Saturday with their floaties and kayaks and floated down the river. I dropped off the girls, took some pictures, and then went home for a couple of hours. Then I picked them up at the other side of town where they ended up climbing out of the river.
I was able to get some pictures from some of the leaders who took pictures along the way. I also took a few pictures as I waited for them to climb out at the end. The girls said they had fun. Abby and her friends hooked their rides together so they wouldn’t get separated, and they took their time floating down the river. Tessa took a turn on a paddle board so she moved along pretty fast and ended up one of the first ones at the end, so she was already out of the water before I could take any pictures of her in the river.
In September we were able to start going to church in the church building again. After a couple of weeks going, I finally remembered to take a picture of us outside the church. We have to wear masks the entire time and sit separately from other families. We aren’t allowed to sing or have classes, but it is still good to be in the church building with some of our ward members. Tyler always has to go early to help usher and he stays late to help clean and sanitize before the next ward comes in, so he’s never around for the pictures even though he’s there. I also had to include this picture that I accidentally took on my phone one day while Abby and I were in the store together. We have to wear masks all the time in public and while we were separated in the store finding things on our list, this is how we communicate. I accidentally took a screenshot while we were talking, but I figured it was a good picture to save to remember the times that we are currently living in.
BYU football started in September and we watch their games every week. We love seeing the Romney boys play since they used to live across the street from us and we know their family really well. We love BYU and football anyway, but it’s fun to have that connection to some of the players. In honor of their first game, we made blue jello and decorated football sugar cookies to get into the spirit of football season. They won that game and have been winning their games since then and are currently undefeated, so it’s been a great season to watch this year. The garden that we started this year did not yield as much produce as we were hoping, but we did get a few good sized cantaloupes. We hadn’t ever tried growing cantaloupe before, so I was pleasantly surprised how well these grew. They were not as sweet tasting as I hoped they would be, but the girls added some sugar and still gobbled them up. We were able to get a ton of jalapeños, basil, and cilantro this year, but only one green pepper and one red tomato, and no cucumbers or zucchini. We did get a couple of huge cucumbers, but they were hiding so by the time we found them, they were too big and yellow to eat. Hopefully our garden will do better next year.
With spending so much time at home, the girls still have to find things to entertain themselves and one of Taryn’s favorite things to do is use my phone to talk to her friends on Kids Messenger. Through that app she can take pictures with filters, so I’m always finding pictures like this one saved on my camera roll. Most of them are pretty cute, although I don’t save them all. I figured every once in a while I need to post the cute things Taryn does while on my phone. She’s definitely a cutie - and a keeper!
While searching through other pictures on my blog and phone, Abby came across this picture of herself when she was probably around 5 years old. She got a kick out of her smile, so she wanted to attempt to recreate it and this was the best we could do. It is fun to see the differences and yet similarities in pictures as the girls grow up and get older. I love them all so much!
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