Fall

Southern California is famous for so many things including its weather. I must say, we have taken advantage and enjoyed the time outside. However, I MISS FALL. Autumn here consists of hot and cold intermittent days full of green foliage with a few dying sycamores. Randomly you'll see a yellow tree and maybe a red, but they are rare and surrounded by flowers so their effect is minimal.

Not long after Siya was born, I took an hour to myself one evening and to Home Goods just to window shop. I saw a framed print their that brought tears to my eyes. An autumn landscape with aspens in the foreground. It reminded my of fall in the Wasatch mountains, so, after checking with Adam, I bought it.... and love it. I have my fall now and am satisfied.

1 Month, 2 Years, and 5 Years

Baby Siya at one month. She is chubbing up, smiling so easily as long as she can focus on you, looking like she was male patterned baldness with her baby hair falling out, and sleeping well some nights, not so well on others. My mom came out to visit again and we loved having her here. Siya loves being held and loves her siblings. She loves to arch her back and throw her had to the side and behind her which is what she would do in the womb to make herself turn transverse, which happened during labor by the way. That is a whole other story. 

Baby Jo is not the baby anymore. Although, she will always be my baby in my heart. I can't believe it was already two years ago she joined our family. I feel so bad for her that she has been displaced in some ways. However, she has put her foot down on some more independent things now that she is not the smallest, such as, she no longer tolerates being in the grocery cart and demands to walk with the other kids. We had a fun party with my sister, her husband, and my mom. Jo is spunky, sweet, feisty and just so darling she melts me heart multiple times a day. Even with the baby here, I love having time with her while the older kids are at preschool. She talks so much and I don't pick up everything she says when the other kids are around.

Amy and Beau. Beau sleeps every time he visits without fail.  He's so busy and sleepy

Delicately opening her presents...

Pretty ballerina. She puts her fingers together and then lifts them above her head and spins.

Baylub is FIVE. He is such a big boy, entering the phase of LOVING to tease his sisters constantly... for no reason at all. I enjoy that so much (insert sarcastic tone here). He is helpful and more reasonable as well. I forget how much he understands and still try to enforce things just because I'm the mom rather than explaining situations out to him. When I do explain, most of the time, it goes so much easier. He gets it and cares more now. We had a party with Adam's brother and his wife who were visiting us from Utah. We had chocolate cake and played spin the bottle, per his request. He learned of the game from the book "Arthur's Birthday" but we switched the kissing to hugging instead which was much more appropriate for a five year old birthday party.

 Spinning the Costco water bottle.

Baby Siya, looking so bright with the flash

One whole hand old! I remember my 5th birthday party. That, to me, is crazy that my baby boy is at that same age.

We have so much to be thankful for and have had a wonderful time this month celebrating the wonderful angels who have been sent to our family.

We moved... awhile ago

But I'm just getting around to letting the internet world know.

It has been uh-MAZING. Imagine living in large hotel room with a kitchen with three children, a wall a/c unit, and a couple of crazy neighbors and you will know my life for the past year and a half.

In August, the perfect storm occurred of Adam getting a raise, our downstairs issue-riddled neighbor flipping out and becoming quite confrontational as well as our next door alcoholic children-loving neighbor getting out of jail for a couple of DUI's and a hit and run. I was just done and the raise made our escape finally possible. We were still in our lease but we had to go. Our land lords worked with us thankfully, so we rushed around to find a place and viola...

we did.

Still two bedrooms but almost twice the square footage, a two car garage, no one above or below and just recently remodeled so everything is so nice and new I don't want to use anything for fear of smudging it. Another huge plus is we are in an area that is chuck full of young families with small children. Our ward has three nurseries, 150 children in primary, and absolutely the loudest sacrament meeting I have ever been to. It is quite unreal but I appreciate it on so many levels, mainly that our kids FINALLY aren't bothering anybody. What a relief.

We moved two days before my due date and a week before Siya was born. I am so grateful we were able to bring her home here and not to our other little apartment. I sigh with contentment every time I open or close our garage doors, and a smile when our kids run around loudly not having to remind them to walk quietly or else we will suffer the consequences of our crazy, downstairs, agoraphobic, never-leaves-his-apartment-except-to-yell-at-us neighbor. It's a little slice of paradise to be sure.