It finally happened...

Fall has finally hit, although it took a really really long time.  We had fire scares and a zillion triple-digit days.  We were so over it and so so our trip to Utah came at a great time.  We were really excited to catch up with friends and family and get out of the heat for a bit.  

We started the trip with a drive down to St. George for Spence to run his 2nd and probably last marathon.  We've both decided that just because someone can do a marathon, doesn't actually mean they should.  It's a physically and mentally torturous process and I'm not even talking about the running part.  Try being the wife/mom with a new baby and an active 3 year-old who is abandoned every Saturday for a minimum of 2 hours.  I know it doesn't sound that bad, but you weren't there.  It actually wouldn't be that bad had he been training now, when the new baby isn't so new anymore and the 3 year-old is now much better behaved.  Of course things never really work out in the most ideal way.  

Back to the trip.... Spence ran a great race and we had a really fun family getaway.  We swam, we ate (my first Cafe Rio visit of the trip) and we nursed an exhausted runner back to health.  We returned to Salt Lake just in time for Stella's baby blessing.  It was a slightly chaotic day, but it all worked out in the end.  And of course in all the chaos, I neglected to get out my camera and have no photographic evidence of that day... or really the entire St. George trip.  I'm a horrible person, I know.  I did manage to snap a few shots on my cell phone of Spence after finishing the race, but that's about it.   Let me make it up to you with a cute picture of Jamie in the bath.  

How can you not love this face??

I spent the week in the office and was fortunate enough to receive some tickets to the Bronco Mendenhall Show (a radio show they put on every week at the stadium) from a really generous coworker.  I, of course, gave them to Spence and his father while I went out with my girls for a fantastic dinner (something else I didn't get pictures of).  But that's only because Spence had the camera, which he used to take several pictures of their fun night.

Richard showcasing the great view

The man of the hour - Bronco Mendenhall - and also a former player/high school teacher of Spencer's.  

We were lucky (??!!) enough to see snow while we were there.... in October... like the first week of October.  We were ready to get out of the heat, but not quite that ready.  Jameson was enthralled...

We had some great family time. 

Stella was enamored with her Grandma.

Seriously loved her... that was the happiest I saw here the whole trip.  She's so hard to catch smiling on camera.  She's usually so distracted by the camera itself that she stops smiling, but she was all grins with Grandma.

Overall, we had such a great trip and got to spend a lot of time with family and friends and got a great break from the weather.  In fact, we came back to some cold fronts that have started to blow in.  No rain, of course, but definitely some cooler temps... including sweatshirt weather as evidenced below.  Ok, maybe I was a little overdressed as you can tell since my dad is next to me wearing only short sleeves and the kids aren't even in a blanket or coats.  I just really wanted to wear a sweatshirt...

Seriously love that face!

Halloween snuck up on us, but we were ready with costumes we had bought way in advance so I didn't run the risk of forgetting or procrastinating until last minute.  Jameson was a werewolf - some random costume we found at gymboree which was somewhat ineffective.  Everyone thought he was a bear.  Also, his gloves were too big and we could never get his little fingers in the right places so he was pretty ineffective at holding his own candy bucket.  But he really looked cute... kind of like a lumberjack werewolf.  

You can kind of sort of see the werewolf resemblance, right??

If nothing else, he sure loved candy.

Stella has been developing some new skills over the last few weeks.  I'm really bad at making my babies take tummy time.  I hate to hear them cry and struggle so I usually don't make them do it at all.  It's harder for them than normal babies because they have abnormally large heads and a head weighs a lot.  That, combined with their super-short necks, makes for a really tough go.

Showing off her super-strong neck muscles and her awesome tufts of hair

Looking super adorable and dressed for the cold front.  Truth be told, our cold fronts aren't really that cold...

One of our many Halloween activities was trick-or-treating around Town Square in Georgetown.  It was so fun to walk around the old shops surrounding City Hall.  I think we'll make it a new tradition.  

Stella munched on her fingers quite a bit.  

Stella was a chili pepper for Halloween.  You can only see the top half of her costume here, but it was super cute.  She also suffered from costume confusion and because she was covered up most of the way with a blanket, everyone thought she was a pumpkin.  Oh well... we'll be much more obvious with our costumes next year. Lesson learned.

Overall, we went to one Halloween Carnival, one trick-or-treat in Georgetown, 2 different ward trunk-or-treats, and actual neighborhood trick-or-treating in my parent's neighborhood on the real holiday.  Our kids were totally spoiled.  Although Jameson learned a valuable lesson about candy - with a little help from the stomach flu - and has started to associate eating too much candy (1 lollipop and half a pack of smarties) with puking.  My apologies to the crew and fellow diners at Freebird's who had to clean up/witness that debacle.  Jameson generously passed the flu onto us - Spence had it on Halloween day and I had had it over the weekend so I took the kids out that day to trick-or-treat without him (sad). Jameson was also kind enough to pass the flu bug onto my mother... sorry again for that.  In all fairness, you did know he was sick and you chose to kiss him anyway.  Luckily, I think we're all over it and moving on to the next fun ailment.  In the weeks after starting Jameson in preschool (which I neglected to mention), we have been host to a number of various diseases, each one more fun than the last.  We'll all be grateful when this onslaught of illness has ended.  

By the way - Jameson started preschool.  Hallelujah!!  He really needed something where he could learn and grow without being hindered by Spencer and I's inability to spend quality time with him all day since we both work a lot when we're home.  Jamie has really blossomed in preschool.  He has better manners, has learned songs, started to master his letters, picked up new words, made friends, and has really started his love of education.  It's amazing how much he's progressed and he's only really been 5 times in the last three weeks since he's been sick so much.  I absolutely love his new preschool and am so thrilled with the decision.  Just wish the germs weren't part of the whole package.  

Things are moving right along.  Stella turned 4 months in the chaos before Halloween and I didn't even realize it until the day after.  What a horrible mother I am... or what a 2nd child she is...  The pediatrician placed her in the 95th percentile for head size, 85th percentile for length and 75th percentile for weight.  She's gonna be long and lean with a slightly large head.  :)  She's a great baby and is really ahead of the milestones - rolling from back to front to back and already able to use her exersaucer.  I'm fairly certain we'll have an early walker (so not ready for that).  She's also a big talker.  She'll blabber away to anyone who gives her attention.  And she'll be sure to blow a couple raspberries just to mix it up.  

Jameson has also grown quite a bit.  He's still on the low end for height and weight, but head size is still up on the top of the charts.  I'm not sure if these kids will ever grow into their head size, but that's okay.  Jameson has been learning letters and numbers, he's started singing and really getting into music.  He's very picky about song choice and frequently requests his favorite songs - Move Like Jagger by Maroon 5 and Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People.  He loves them and always asks me to play them again after they come on the radio.  He also likes Adele (much to Spencer's chagrin)... what can I say, the kid has good taste!  He thinks he's hilarious - he'll repeat things you say at the most awkward moments.  I was trying to have a phone conversation with my dad and was telling how badly I needed to focus to finish a work project and Jameson jumps on my lap and grabs my face in his hands and kept repeating "Focus Mom, Focus".  I was trying to be serious but it just wasn't working, he's too cute.  The other day I caught him mumbling to himself while rolling out playdough phrases like "Are you KIDDING me??" and "What the crap?"  After cracking a smile at how ridiculous it sounded coming out of a 3 year-old's mouth, I realized that I really need to enter that phase of parenthood where I start talking like a preschool teacher.  Blech... there goes the last shred of my pre-child persona.

Life is so busy now, but we're so happy to have great kids, great family and great friends to make it all worthwhile.  We're especially excited about Christmas this year - starting our own traditions and really trying to teach Jameson about the true meaning instead of glossing over with all Santa stories to get him hyped up to open presents.  It's so crazy to me that Jameson is going to be a Sunbeam in Primary this year - I can't believe he's that old!  Before I know it, he'll be packing up to leave for college!  I'm not ready!!!