Sept 21 - Natasha took these pictures of this super bright rainbow we saw driving home.
Jake took a couple pictures of the same rainbow on his drive home too :)
Sept 22 - Scotty Cuddles
Sept 24 - I was taking some family pictures today after Thurston's soccer game, so I had my nice camera with me and took some shots of his game.
The dog in this photo cracks me up.
He lost his cleat on that last shot and had to stop to put it back on. He played really well and worked hard, but the teams were evenly matched and the game ended 0-0 (my favorite thing -- note the sarcasm here-- about soccer).
After the game we went to Lewisville park and looked for good places to take pictures.
Then Hahn's met me there and I took some family pictures for them.
Sept 25 - Tamsyn found a praying mantis and of course brought it straight in the house to show everyone.
Sept 27- I had the lump on the side of my nose removed. I had a mole removed from that spot when I was a kid. The Dr way back then froze it off, but ever since I have had a lump there that seems to keep getting bigger. I thought it was the mole coming back but the surgeon said it was a different type of tissue.
I didn't think to take a before picture but this photo shows pretty clearly how big the bump was. It really bothered me and I usually tried to turn my head so it wouldn't show in pictures.
This is right after I came out of the doctor's office. I went to the cross country meet the next day with the bandage on my nose. The kids were too polite to ask what happened until after sweating from running all over the course to cheer the bandage fell off and they saw the stitches.
This was taken a few days after the stitches were put in.
I got the stitches out one week later and the below photo is a few days after that. There is still a bit of bump from the scar, but I have some scar cream that supposedly will help that go down if I massage it on twice a day. I guess the massage part is pretty important. Even if it doesn't completely disappear it is much better than it was previously. I learned that the tissue around the nose is incredibly sensitive. I have had many many mold removed and lots and lots of stitched and none of them have hurt as much as the ones right there on the edge of my nose did.
Sept. 30th - A few pictures I took during XC practice. They were running intervals on the hill and the small track at the elementary school. It is fun to be there and know who works hard and who doesn't. I haven't seen Natasha slack once all season. It is impressive.
Oct 1 - Natasha has been playing fall basketball with the high school team. It is mostly the varsity players that go, but everyone from freshman age up was invited to go to practice. Natasha has been the only freshman going. They have practices two night a week. Once on Monday and then again on Wednesdays. It is a lot with cross country and adjusting to High School homework, but she has been making it to at least one practice a week and has been improving a lot. I was able to attend their games on October first. They usually win, but they lost one and won one that day. The game they lost Natasha didn't play in, but she got some minutes in both halves during the second game because they blew the other team away. That is typically how it goes, so she usually does get a few minutes each game and though she looks pretty hesitant, she is definitely getting more comfortable. I am happy with her willingness to go and work with the older girls. They have been pretty positive with her.
Oct 2 -During General Conference the kids had the rubber bands out and were making bracelets. We enjoyed our new sofa that we all can fit on to watch conference.
I had a stack of photos I needed to go through that I organized while listening to conference. I found this gem in their. I love it so much. Natasha stands out like a sore thumb. We were joking with her that she must not of understood the photographer when he said in Chinese that the children should put their feet on the ground and their hands on their knees.
Here are a couple more we found ...
Oct 5-7
Molly gave me a whole wheelbarrow full of pears a couple weeks ago. They are Bosc pears and you pick them then let them ripen in a cool dark place. They have been in my garage since we picked them and are now perfect for eating and making all sorts of things from.
I spent the first day drying some and making a bunch into pear sauce. The pears were very watery, so I had the boys drain off the juice. They filled a gallon pitcher with pear juice! After posting the above picture on FB Rob jokingly commented that I should make him some pear jam because it is his favorite. I still had a whole bunch more pears to use up so I took him up on it. Tamsyn also has wanted to start stocking up on things that she can make and enter in the fair so the morning of late start at school we strained some of the juice the boys had gotten the night before and made pear jelly. Then while the kids were at school I made a batch of jam. I left it a little long in the water bath (I might have forgotten it was in there and got busy doing something else) -- anyway it turned a peachy color. Tamsyn made another batch of jam after school and her batch turned out a lovely pear color.
Oct 7 - Holly Smith asked me if I would take some family photos for them before their oldest son Isaac leaves on his mission in a few weeks. The only time we could swing it was in the evening and it was super cloudy and getting dark fast. We rushed and I got a few that I thought were okay. I wished we had more light though.
We took them at Lewisville Park -- I snapped these while I was waiting for them to arrive.
October 8 - Another Saturday and another day of flag football for D and soccer for Thurston.
After we got home the kids harvested a bunch of carrots for me. We planted the colorful ones this year. They are so much fun to pull out of the ground.
Bruce Devine from our ward invited Jake to go crabbing with him. This time Natasha got to go. Willohm Allen went too. They had a ton of fun and brought back so much crab we were eating it for 3 days straight.
Natasha brought this smelly starfish home! Ugh
They didn't get back until almost 9pm that night and left at around 4:30 in the morning. It was a long day, but I'm pretty sure they loved every minute of it.
Oct 9- We sure loved the spoils of their labors. Yum!!
