September

At the Brigham City temple open house.  Brigham thinks an entire city was named after him and he is proud of his temple.

The potato/earthworm harvest.

Brig was the potato hauler.  I find great satisfaction in watching my children work.  If they work well enough I will even take pictures of them.

Brigham arranges the potatoes so that they can dry out in the sun. 

There were so many skills learned this year in the garden and they are documented.  Good thing, because when the entire box of potatoes rotted in the garage in less than a month I could look at these photos and know it wasn't a complete loss.  I think I need to take a trip to Ireland to see how to properly store potatoes.

This picture is from one our boy adventures while Kenya is at kindergarten.  Brigham led us up the mountainside behind First Dam.   It was pretty steep and intense.  Just imagine a mama with 3 boys.  Isaac in my arms, Brigham and Andrew sliding down the loose gravel and sand, and me trying to save them from rolling down the hill and into the water.  Next time I might have to filter the ideas a little better, but they thought it was a pretty sweet adventure.

We wanted to have a grand camping adventure with all of the ingredients: beautiful scenery, hiking, camping, and a campfire to roast hot dogs and marshmallows.  Here's how it went down.  Tony Grove provided a great spot for a picnic and adventure.  We didn't ever find the cave that we were searching for but there was a lot of this:

And this:

Some of this:

This: (Bean and Andy are both concerned about different things, but they have matching expressions)

 And this:

One where I'm not the photographer:

Back at the picnic site.

 We made it back home to set up the tent and get the campfire going.  Our backyard is as good as any campground that I have been to.  Plus, Isaac can sleep in his own bed!

 The children collect the firewood.

Even Isaac.

Kenya shows the beautiful pile with a pose.

One of the best things about the night was having our neighbors join us around the campfire.  Don't forget Ruby the dog in the background.

Bean and his steak.

Bean makes amazing roasted marshmallows, seriously, perfect every time.

We ate and told stories around the campfire until it was time for bed.  Then it was up the hill and inside to get ready for bed. There were some more stories out in the tent and I put Isaac to sleep in his crib where he slept through the night.  No sleepless night for us!  In the morning I was inside sleeping in a cozy bed with a snuggly baby when I heard some serious laughter out in the tent.  I came out to find Andy awake first going crazy over this feather that Bean was blowing in the air.

"Hey, what is all the ruckus about?"

"Ya, I am just trying to sleep peacefully here with my turkey feather!"

He could have kept going for a while longer.

The fascination with a feather.

Just because he is cute and drools a lot.

Okay, moving along, we have a whole month to cover.  In the Spring we transplanted some raspberry bushes from our friends.  We waited all summer for the fruit.  Here Kenya is holding probably our biggest raspberry harvest of the summer.  But boy did we enjoy those few raspberries that we got!  One of my best tactics when things were getting a little rambunctious inside was to say, "Hey, why don't you guys go outside and see if there are any raspberries?"  After a few minutes they would come inside with huge grins and a few raspberries, each which they would savor.

Bean's new method for carrying all four children.

Bean ran to get out of the kid trap.  "Get him!"

Brigham became proficient at the monkey bars.  He really wants to learn how to ride his bike without training wheels.  We better get on that one before it snows.

 This was one of those, "What are we going to have for dinner?" nights.  With a burst of inspiration I decide we are going to have scones like my mama used to make.

Start to finish 10 min.

And so yummy.  Don't forget the butter and powdered sugar.  If only these were better for you, I would make them once a week.

This year we were finally able to grow a watermelon.  So, I have to document our success.

This month included weekly Sky View football games.  Our neighbor (whom my boys think is practically superman) plays so we thought we would go support.  After every game the boys wanted to "play" football.  Here's how it would go.  We divide into teams, usually boys (Brigham and Andy) vs. girls (me and Kenya), you hike the football to the other person on your team, then that person runs it, throws it to the grass, or passes it.  You either make it to the end zone (sand volleyball court) or you get tackled by Andy.

The boy pile.

Utah State homecoming parade.  Too bad we didn't realize Brigham was wearing his BYU sweatshirt until walking down the sidewalk.  He didn't get beat up, but it was close.

And last but not least, we get to spend Sunday evening with the Great-Grands.  The evening includes a fabulous meal provided by Grandma and Grandpa teaching the boys some football moves with the cushion.

Isaac soaking in all of Grandpa's wisdom.