Labor Day Weekend

So much to update!

Last Monday night Justin and I had FHE with the Christensen family. They just got back from their 10 months of traveling the world. They fed us dinner and let us pick 3 bags worth of plums off their tree. Kari loaned me her dehydrator so I could turn those plums into fruit leather - more on that later.

Emmett is now 5 weeks old, almost 6. This baby is making me fall more in love with him every day - he coos, he smiles, he giggles! He is the cutest! I love him to death! He eats very fast, so he has quite the impressive projectile vomit followed by chest-thumping hiccups. He is quite gassy, but thankfully all the vomit and gas doesn't seem to bother him. He is gaining weight just fine, so mommy isn't worried but oh baby - it makes for quite a mess after he eats!

Thursday was our four year anniversary - oh the adventures we've had in just four years! Justin worked from home that day so we could take off early to Seattle. We dropped Emmett off at the Fillmores - Kaylee is in my Sunday school class and she babysat him - and headed to a sushi restaurant. It wasn't what Justin and I expected - kind of a hole-in-the-wall joint - but it was an experience ;) We had some sushi, some sashimi, Justin had a cod dish, and I had a spread of all kinds of weird stuff that I couldn't tell you what it was. We decided to make sure we loved dessert after an interested dinner so we stopped at the Cheesecake Factory in Tukwila on the way home to have yummy dessert. Thankfully Emmett did great with his babysitter to make for an overall great evening! Sadly we did not take a picture of us for the occasion.

For the long weekend Justin began a landscaping project. The trees in our front yard have never looked very pretty, and our grass is a total joke, so we mapped out a plan to get rid of the trees and add new plants. So Justin sprayed the grass and a few days later ripped it all out - by himself! This crazy guy!! We bought additional soil to help fill in what the grass took away, and Saturday we had bark delivered. Monday morning Jon came to help and he and Justin laid the bark down in the new bed. Plants at our local nursery go on sale next week (40% off - worth waiting for), so we will buy new shrubs, trees, etc next week to fill in the empty space. Now we just need to get our grass into good shape and our place will be lookin like a million bucks!

 Phase I: kill the trees and grass

Phase II: remove the grass

Phase III: add border to separate grass and flowerbed

Phase IV: add additional topsoil

 Phase V: add bark and decorative rock

Labor Day morning Justin worked on the yard and I worked on the plums - I blended them up and put the spread on wax paper on the dehydrator shelves. That project took all morning (the plum fruit leather is still drying as I type!) The Rose family came to hang out that afternoon for the holiday. We had lunch, played games, and played at the park. It's nice having family close by that can hang out at the last minute.

Now we are in the full swing of fall: the cooler weather is here to stay, school is in session...this year is flying by! We are loving every minute :) Last but not least, here are a few favorites from Emmett's newborn session: