October

When Mason found out his cousin in AZ broke his arm, he did this and asked me to take a picture to cheer Blaze up. That started a trend with some of Mason's younger cousins copying him and sending the same silly shorts pictures to Blaze. Haha!

Gracie turned 11 months old and couldn't get much cuter! She was standing on her own, cruising along furniture and so close to walking. She was also babbling a lot and learned how to wave bye-bye. Gracie's favorite things at 11 months were:

• Jumping in her jumper or by holding onto someone's hands
• Playing with her family
• Reading Llama, Llama Nighty Night
• Eating 3 meals/day (still an awesome eater!)
• Being outside
• Chasing Kiki
• Standing under the table

Dodgeball Activity Days:

School Fun Run! It was a cool, rainy morning but all of the kids still got out there and ran their legs off. Mason doesn't love running but it's better with friends and when your dad is counting all of the laps.

Watching all of that running wore Gracie out!

General Conference weekend: Gracie loved watching the singing especially this beautiful rendition of Gethsemane by a children's choir.

Cinnamon rolls have become a General Conference breakfast tradition for us. Alan was out of town on business most of the weekend and I was pretty distracted with a baby so we are so grateful to have the talks so easily available to study over and over during the next six months. 

Gracie loves her yogurt for breakfast and being outside!

I believe this was my 4th iron infusion. I have had chronically low iron since I was 20. Supplements don't help much and either did my first three infusions. My neurologist ordered a different type of iron for this one though and it raised my iron levels a ton! That didn't help my migraines like my neurologist was hoping it would, but it did stop my restless legs.

This isn't a good picture but Mason got stung by stinging nettle while playing at a friend's house one afternoon. He was in a lot of pain and it took us several hours and phone calls to his doctor's office to figure out what it was. I gave him Benadryl as soon as we figured it out and that helped with the pain quite a bit. Not fun.

Some one learned how to climb stairs and we had to put a baby gate at the bottom of the stairs in addition to the one we had at the top for awhile.

Rose City cross country meet in Portland. The traffic and parking are terrible at this one but they hold it on a day off school so we can make it. Spencer was nervous because he had run terribly at this race the past two years. This year wasn't a PR for him but it was much better than the past so he was happy. Mason liked hanging out with Alan in the timing trailer.

Papa's Pumpkin Patch 2024. Yay for awesome and cute kids and pumpkins!

I took the boys to the Pirates of Pinehurst show that evening. Mason had been the previous two years but it was Spencer's first time. This is a high light of the season for my Halloween-loving 10 year old!

After six months of my middle finger nail warping and dying, I finally got into a dermatologist. Turns out I had psoriasis in both my middle and index finger. I smashed that middle finger very badly 6-7 years ago and injuries like that make you more susceptible to diseases like that. My nails were pretty ugly for several months after this but eventually healed and grew back normal with the help of several prescription creams.

Hooray for fall flowers, October sunshine and fun big brothers!

Making applesauce. It's a great baby food and I love having my own, but man it's a lot of work!

Mason really wanted to grow watermelon in our garden this year. I let them grow as long as I dared before the mornings got too cold. We only got two and they weren't bigger than a softball but he was still super excited.

Mason decided to try Chess club at school. They met for 45 minutes before school on Wednesday mornings. Mason likes playing chess but needed more instruction instead of just having time to play against his friends. He only went 2-3 times. But, he still knows more about chess than I do!

Becoming a reader! Her big brothers are excellent examples!

How Gracie always sleeps.

Her hair is growing a little!

Searching for Halloween costumes at Goodwill with Alan

All ready for the ward Halloween party at the Burnett's. Spencer didn't even bother to pretend to dress up this year. Good thing Mason's enthusiasm for this holiday makes up for the rest of our lack! Haha! He was a sith from Star Wars. Grace got to be whatever costume I found for free on our Buy Nothing facebook group. She made a very cute butterfly and I went as her flower. Alan just put on a silly wig.

Alan's and my least favorite tradition of the whole year!

Geoff and Tanya were in town for some doctor's appointments for a few days. They spent some time visiting with us one afternoon and then were so kind to take us to dinner at Old Spaghetti Factory. 

Spencer FINALLY got all 100 hours of supervised driving time and took his driver's test while Mason was at therapy one afternoon. I had noticed a driving instructor meeting clients in the same lobby so made sure to sign up for that one when Spencer was ready. He did amazing and got 100%! The instructor was impressed and I was relieved. :)

Ready for Halloween day at school

Spencer's district cross country meet was in Beaverton on Halloween which made the evening kind of tricky. Thankfully, a friend invited Mason over after school so I didn't have to drag him to the meet. Geoff and Tanya were still in town so they came to watch and Alan was timing the meet so Spencer had a bigger cheering section than usual. He ran well and was happy with his time and the whole season. Cross County has been an awesome sport forSpencer! 

Alan took this picture. Spencer has really liked his coaches: Stammers and Poole. I don't know who the guy in the red is. Haha!

I took Mason and Grace trick or treating around the neighborhood that evening. Grace was heavy! Thankfully, Alan got home before too long and I took her back home before finishing the block with Mason.