Various October Stuff

I can't believe October is coming to and end! Time just keeps flying by! Anyway, here's an update on a few more things that we've done this month...

Since it's football season, these two girls get to see even more of each other than usual. This year, Ross and I are sharing a BYU season ticket. So when I don't go to the game, I get to watch these two cuties! They keep you on your toes, but they are so fun together. Of course I couldn't pass up putting a couple pictures of them on the blog.

 

One Friday night we went to check out a local family fun center. This place had a variety of activities like bowling, a ropes course, arcade games and even indoor surfing. We mostly went just to check things out, but while we were there, we decided to let Leah play on their toddler playground.

As luck would have it, she was the only one her age there at that time. So she got to play on it all by herself for about a half hour. She had a ball climbing and crawling all over and especially playing with the bouncing balls. Here's a few pictures...

She would have stayed and played a lot longer if we had let her. But it was getting late and was time to go home. But not without getting a scoop of yummy "Southern Blackberry Cobbler" ice cream. Here's Leah checking out the dancing video game.

In the middle of October we got to celebrate a couple of fun things with my dad. On his birthday, the bishopric in my parents' ward was reorganized and my dad was called to be the 1st Counselor to the bishop. It was great to be there to support him when he was set apart. Then after church, we all went back to the house to celebrate his birthday. Here he is with his cake and his "candle blowing out helpers." It's funny, my dad doesn't even like cake, but he has to have one every year so the kids can eat it and blow out the candles with him. But my mom always makes sure she has some pie for my dad to enjoy.

Leah is at a stage where she loves to feed herself with a fork of spoon. She had a grand time eating the birthday cake.

 

Look at that messy face.

Now I realize that the some of the funnest things we've done in October I haven't even mentioned yet, but stay tuned...I have a whole post of all our fun Halloween activities coming next!!!

Before and After

Ever since we moved into our house over three years ago, Ross and I have talked about how we needed to get new blinds. They were old, worn out and getting really brittle and hard to clean. They looked terrible and pieces were falling out a lot. But it wasn't a huge priority so we just never got around to it.

Well, as Leah has gotten bigger and started walking and climbing, one of her favorite things has been the blinds. They come down right to her level, so she loved to grab them and bang them around. Needless to say, this didn't help our" falling apart blind" situation.

Then one day back at the beginning of the summer, Leah had grabbed the blinds yet again. In an attempt to stop her, Ross tried to pull the cord on the blinds to lift them up out of her reach. As he did, the whole set of blinds came crashing down on Ross and Leah. Neither was hurt (I actually thought it was rather comical at the time, but I knew enough not to laugh just then), but the blinds definitely didn't fare too well from the accident as you can see from the picture below...

 

But I'm happy to report that at the end of September, we FINALLY went out and bought new blinds for six of our windows (including the poor window above that was definitely the worst looking)! And last week while Ross was off for Fall Break, we finally installed the last two sets in our upstairs windows. They look SO much nicer now. I'm sure you (and our poor neighbors who had to bare looking at them too) will agree...

A Football First

 A couple weeks ago we had a "girls night" at the BYU vs. Utah State football game. My brother-in-law couldn't come to the game, so he gave his ticket to my sister, Melyssa, who is a Utah State fan. This is the first time that the three of us have ever gone to a game together without any husbands, so I had to get a picture.

It was an exciting game and Melyssa got to do a lot of cheering for her team. But in the end (and I mean the very end) BYU pulled it off and won the game!

Here's a picture of my cute niece, Baby J, just because she's so cute...

For being so little, she did pretty well at the game. However, by the time it was over, you could tell that she was DONE! As evidenced by the picture we took with our parents who were at the game too.

Ross's Birthday

Last week we celebrated Ross's birthday! It's harder to have a big celebration when birthdays fall on a Wednesday, but it was still a fun day for Ross none the less.

After Ross got home from work, we went out to dinner at a local pizza and pasta restaurant. After a yummy dinner, Ross's cousin, Emily, was kind enough to watch Leah while we went to see the movie "Moneyball," which we both really enjoyed. After the movie, we had just enough time for opening cards and presents before going to bed. 

Lucky for Ross, some of the celebrating spilled into Thursday when he went to work at the elementary school (on Wednesdays he works at the junior high). The secretaries at the elementary school always take good care of him. They had a gift and a card and a silly crown for him to wear. Some of the speech groups even sang happy birthday to him. Later that evening, we enjoyed some blueberry crumb cake and ice cream for dessert.  

Here's a picture of the birthday guy and his little girl with their big cheesy grins at the restaurant...

And here they are doing the famous Leah finger point together. Happy Birthday Ross! It was fun celebrating with you!