Something good happens every day. Here's what happened in October 2014:
Wed 10/1/14: I love crisp, autumn mornings in October! The sunlight always seems to have more of a yellowish glow in October. This truly is one of my favorite times of the year.
Thu 10/2/14: It's nearing Halloween and the decorations are coming up everywhere. David loves spotting pumpkins and spiderwebs on peoples' houses. He calls spiderwebs "Spiderman," and he likes to growl at pumpkins like the pumpkin did in his favorite Halloween book by Margaret Wise Brown, "The Fierce Yellow Pumpkin." He has also become very fond of skeletons. He likes to call me a skeleton when I wash my face before I shower. I guess he associates white faces with skeletons.
Fri 10/3/14: The weight is coming off slowly, but the fact that I can easily slip out of pair of unbuttoned jeans that I couldn't even come close to buttoning 3 months ago is a really good sign.
Sat 10/4/14: Little D turned 3 years old today! He's such a darling. Scott and Emma blew up a bunch of orange balloons today, while Brad and I went to buy Papa Murphy's pizza. Lizzy and David LOVED the balloons. Lizzy had fun drawing pictures on them, and David had fun making the jack-o-lantern balloon growl like "The Fierce Yellow Pumpkin. We had a small lunch and birthday cake with Grandpa North.
Sun 10/5/14: I loved watching Scott and Brad get geeky together and play Dungeons and Dragons after General Conference. They looked like they were having fun. Grandma and Grandpa Whitcomb came over for dinner. I made chicken and vegetable stir-fry. It was yummy.
Mon 10/6/14: Tonight was the first episode of Studio C season 5! Some of the sketches were very funny. I loved the opening sketch the best: "Studio C Secrets Revealed." Can't wait to see what other fun stuff they come up with.
Tue 10/7/14: Whoo hoo! Brad is getting a raise!
Wed 10/8/14: My highlight of the day was working on the Totoro hat I am making Brad for Halloween. I finished the ears and the eyes. He's starting to look more and more like my favorite Studio Ghibli character.
Thu 10/9/14: David and I gave my parents a surprise visit today. I thought it would be a good day to go for a walk by the river. Mom joined us, and we walked to the park by her house, then walked along the paths by the river. David got his shirt wet at the park, so I took it off and he spent all of his time walking shirtless. He pet a couple of dogs, and he liked seeing two white horses trotting on the horse trail.
Fri 10/10/14: I was in good spirits today. I did a lot of grocery shopping this morning with Lizzy and David. In the afternoon we headed over to Brad's work to get flu shots. Lizzy and David got the mist sprayed up their nose again instead of getting the shot, which made them happy. Lizzy does not like getting shots, but she enjoyed watching me and her dad get shots.
Sat 10/11/14: We headed over to Murray this evening, to attend a western-themed party with my parents' ward members. They had a chili cookoff, pumpkin growing contest, and lots of food and family activities. Lizzy liked panning for gold, and David liked roping and sitting on the rocking horses there.
Sun 10/12/14: We had dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house tonight. Mom made us chili and potatoes, leftover from the party on Saturday night. We went for a walk around the neighborhood, looking for Halloween decorations. David especially was very excited to see the pumpkins and scary things. He's REALLY into Halloween this year. Mom and I visited one of her ward members on the walk, and got some delicious home-grown veggies from their garden. Murray is a good place to grow a garden. Everything is so green and healthy there.
Mon 10/13/14: Brad and I took the little ones to Pumpkin Point Farms tonight. David was ecstatic to see the pumpkins everywhere. He wanted to pick up every small pumpkin he could and put it in the wheelbarrow. We finally settled on 5 pumpkins, paid $15 for them, and then had a fun time exploring the corn maze, saying hi to Mater the truck, riding in the hay ride, and watching Lizzy and David climb in various tractors. It was a fun evening.
Tue 10/14/14: U2's Songs of Innocence album was released today on iTunes. Brad of course, was thrilled beyond thrilled when he found out that the album was free and automatically sent to his iTunes account. U2 graciously gave away their new album to everyone on iTunes. It was pretty awesome.
Wed 10/15/14: As I anticipated, Brad and I have been listening to a lot of new U2 songs today. They are starting to warm up on me, and I am liking them more and more as I continue to listen to them.
Thu 10/16/14: Lizzy, David, and I went to Grandma's house this morning, to see the baby snake Grandpa Whitcomb caught a couple days ago. The snake was of course very shy, but my dad held it up for the kids to see, and I got to hold it a little, too. It was very cute, and the kids loved seeing it. We also enjoyed walking to the river later, and playing at the park.
Fri 10/17/14: After a month of thinking my wedding band made its untimely end, falling into the abyss of my kitchen sink, Lizzy found it tonight hiding under the big brown leather seat in our living room. My heart is happy!
Sat 10/18/14: We harvested our fierce yellow pumpkin today! It has gotten very orange, and David couldn't leave it alone any more, so he pulled it off the pumpkin vine. It's sitting on our kitchen table now, awaiting its fate.
Sun 10/19/14: I hinted to Brad about what I want for Christmas this year. A signed copy of The Piano Guys newest album. I think he's going to get it for me!
Mon 10/20/14:We had a fabulous FHE on the topic of marriage and families today. We talked about making righteous choices when we date, and looking for someone who makes us want to be better than we are ourselves. We especially talked about the warning signs of dating someone who may have personality disorders that lead to divorce. For example, don't marry someone with a victim-like personality. They are nothing but trouble.
Tue 10/21/14: I love autumn! I'm not ready for winter to come just yet. The weather has been pretty mild for the most part.
Wed 10/22/14: Tonight was YW in Excellence at our ward building. The theme was pink and purple, so I wore my purple sashay scarf with a plain black shirt. Emma sat with us some of the time, but she seemed to like hanging out with her cousins best of all.
Thu 10/23/14: Date night! Brad and I dropped off Lizzy and David at Grandma's house after Lizzy's Student Led Conference this evening. We grabbed some Subway, then headed home after Emma's conference and watched some BYU soccer while we ate dinner. We LOVED spending time alone without children. Brad started a fire in our fireplace for the first time. We roasted marshmallows and drank martinellis in the dark while writing sexy love notes to each other. It was so much fun!
Fri 10/24/14: Scott and Emma came home this afternoon, after being gone for most of the month. Scott told us it was too long to be away, and he was happy to be home. Brad started another fire, and we all roasted marshmallows together. I love spending time together with my family.
Sat 10/25/14: Our neighbors and ward members put together an excellent little "trunk-or treat" event at the park tonight. Lizzy dressed up in her Kiki outfit and David dressed up as Tombo. Scott and Emma didn't want to wear costumes. Lizzy and David loved getting their candy from each decorated vehicle. They also enjoyed having balloons made by Sister Western. Lizzy asked for an "Elsa" balloon, and David ended up with an orange snake with yellow eyes. My favorite part of the activity was trying everyone's homemade chili. I tasted every one of them, and they were delicious.
Sun 10/26/14: I enjoyed giving my lesson in CTR 5. The lesson was on making wise choices, so we focused a lot on the wise man and foolish man parable from the New Testament. The kids were very focused on the lesson and participated a lot during it, which made me and Sister Ruff happy.
Mon 10/27/14: Studio C was fun watching tonight, especially with Scott and Emma home. My favorite sketch was probably Halloween Prank Gone Wrong. I loved watching Mallory and Matt react to Whitney possibly being a serial killer.
Tue 10/28/14: We carved pumpkins tonight! I helped Lizzy with her little jack-o-lantern. She wanted a traditional scary-face one. David painted his little pumpkin with acrylic paint. He did an excellent job covering most of his pumpkin with muddy purple paint. Scott carved two pumpkins-- a Two Face pumpkin and a Nightwing-ish one. Emma's pumpkin focused more on her passion for RWBY-- an American anime show. I tried to carve a Totoro pumpkin, but it came out looking like Turnip Head from "Howl's Moving Castle." Papa carved his jack-o-lantern to look like Margaret Wise Brown's Fierce Yellow Pumpkin. David was very excited to see that. "Grrr... in the dark!" That's David's favorite line to quote.
Wed 10/29/14: Our family, minus Emma, went to crash Westbrook 2nd Ward's Halloween carnival tonight. It was fun seeing old familiar faces there, and watching Lizzy and David participate in the fun activities. Scott enjoyed visiting Brett and Jordan. The Polaks showed up at the end of the night with Grandpa North. Zach dressed up in his awesome custom-made Compact Disc costume. He was an instant hit at the party.
Thu 10/30/14: One more day until Halloween! I crocheted a darling red bow for Lizzy to wear with her Kiki custom. She's going to look so cute.
Fri 10/31/14: We had a fantastic Halloween! I took the little ones to Brad's work to go trick-or-treating in the middle of the afternoon. Lizzy and David are always so very charming with Brad's coworkers. After that activity, we headed home and I made a spooky 7 layer dip for the Halloween party at the cousins' house tonight. Loralee, as always, made a fantastic dinner consisting of Slime Punch and Sandwich Snakes. My parents came to the party, and so did Grandpa North, Scott and Emma, Sterling, Marilyn, and Loralee's neighbors. We went trick-or-treating after dinner. The funnest part of the evening was watching David get genuinely excited every time we stopped at someone's house. David appreciated every Halloween decoration he saw, and he was always very polite. He received a lot of attention from everyone.
