Fall 2022

We had quite the start to the school year! It was an adjustment for the me and the kids, but mostly for Layla. Starting 7th grade as an SBO is no joke. She is BUSY! And she does NOT enjoy attending the games, or really sports at all for that matter. Can you blame her when she grows up in a family that puts zero emphasis on sports? There were occasional tears from both kiddos for the first month or two of school: Layla due to overwhelm on her introverted self and Marcus due to a new school with a new teacher and his teacher is quite strict (Layla had her too, so we were already aware). But now we're 1/4 of the way through the school year and all is well. They both learned and grew from their experiences. Layla earned straight A's for first term including Honors English and Science and 8th Grade Honors Math. Quite the girl! 

We spent Fall Break in Park City. We went 4 wheeling for a day and swam in the Midway Crater. The fall leaves were stunning and we had a great weekend spending time together.

We had Halloween. Marcus decided to be a light-up Stick Man again. Mitch made his costume by hot gluing LED lights on black sweatpants and hoodie. It looked ghetto fabulous during the day and freaking awesome at night! Layla and her friends wore onesie pajamas and went as animals (Layla was a cow). I appreciated this because I did 0 work and didn't buy a thing since she already had the cow onesie. Both kids were invited to trick or treat with friends, so Mitch and I are that old now, haha. However, Marcus's group of friends quickly grew to 10 boys, so I volunteered to walk around with one other mom to ensure that no boys were lost or hit by a car. :) It was a successful night and Mitch and I have been sneaking their candy ever since! We silently laugh at each other across the room when we see the other one nonchalantly come back upstairs from stealing candy. Sorry, kids! We love you ... and your candy! 

We went to Disneyland with my parents and brother's family. It was crowded and I'm Disneyed out for a long time, but we had a blast and enjoyed spending time with everyone. Brock and Natalie's kids are at such fun ages for Disney, so it was fun to go with them. I love that our kids love to ride the big rides now. 

We put up our Thankful tree for Thanksgiving. It's a 12" tall tree with fairy lights I display on our kitchen table. We write things we're thankful for on little paper tags and hang them on the tree. It's fun to see what everyone comes up with. So many things to be thankful for!

Trying to wrap my brain around getting ready for Christmas. I feel like the sales and materialism of it all sneaks up earlier every year. I'm trying to hold off without missing out on things that I want to gift others. Most of all, I want to keep the Spirit of Christmas and the wonder of the birth of our Savior alive. That can be difficult to do with kids who are excited for ear buds and Nerf guns. Not to mention, Mitch and I wanting to plan trips to various places in the near future. Need to stay centered on what matters most.

Speaking of materialism ... Mitch bought a new (to him) car! He bought a 2015 Audi RS7. It is the black panther paint (it looks sparkly dark purple in certain light) and it's loud and fast. So loud. Obnoxiously so to the non-car lover. It has launch mode and we love that. He is happy about it and says it's a good way to go out before he buys an electric car. He's ordered a BMW i4 that will be here next year sometime. He sure loves cars! And he deserves it. :)

Gonna try to add pics to this post before I have to prepare dinner. We have friends coming over for dinner that we haven't seen in ages and we're excited to visit with them.