September life

Time for an update!

Emmett and Logan - both are doing well. At this stage Emmett is learning that it's not appropriate to throw bark and other kids at the playgroud. Ha! I love listening to his little-boy jibber-jabber. Emmett is FAST. My favorite things to do with him are take him to the playground where there's a trail loop and let him walk/run it with Logan in tow. Leaving the playground is the trial of his life but he still crashes for a nice 3-4 hour afternoon nap. It is amazing!

Logan boy is still doing his worm-crawl. He's at the point where he launches himself forward almost like he's suspended in mid-air before landing. It's pretty funny. He's been trying a few solid things - banana, avocado, oatmeal, refried beans, applesauce, etc...just whatever is around that's soft enough. He is SO interested in trying to eat whatever I'm eating - if I'm not careful he'll grab whatever I'm holding and try to get some for himself! His top two teeth are coming in - one has broken through the gums with the second close behind. His favorite thing is to go see whatever Emmett is doing. Having these two boys is the best thing ever! I love this mommy life.

The Prophet came to Seattle! On the 15th, 49,082 Mormons gathered at Safeco Field (where the Mariners play) to hear him give a devotional. I don't know why but the bishopric gave us a parking pass which allowed us to park at the stadium parking garage which was AWESOME because most people had to park elsewhere and walk. Thanks to Chase and Rachel having then Elder Nelson seal them years ago, I didn't feel pressed to go early to try to get good seats. You can't beat being in the temple with him, cam you? I was happy to arrive just in time to snag a seat in the nosebleed section and sing the opening hymn. We did not bring Emmett for everybody's sake :)

Elder Eyring spoke first and didn't talk into the microphone so probably half the stadium was able to hear him, but then Sister Nelson spoke and she knocked it out of the park! She is one sharp lady. President Nelson's message was wonderful too. It strengthened my testimony that he is the prophet and that he is directly instructed by Jesus Christ to lead His church. It was a wonderful experience to be there and I'm proud of the way we filled the house! The news later said the stadium has never had an audience filled to the capacity it was that night.

An update on the whole30 front: we didn't finish 30 days. I'm happy to be back to normal - depravity just doesn't work for me. While I lost 9 pounds, I gained half of it back when we went back to normal! I did like how it forced me to meal plan, however, so I am continuing my online grocery orders and meal plans and holding onto some of the substitutes.

Metric Clothing Co had their grand opening on the 21st. We've been selling since August but this was to try to get the masses out to the store front. I've started a new lettering workbook that I got in the mail - I thought it would be perfect to practice fancy writing during conference since I'm not really in the stage of life where I can sit and take pages and pages of notes.

Overall a slow month with lots to be grateful for and just enjoying our every day. I'm looking forward to Halloween and more beautiful fall weather.

 new paint job on the windows - much needed and they look loads better.

one of my cute consultants bought this for me <3

Emmett loves playing with my starter kit

My unit won the trophy for September!

It's pretty much impossible to take this boy's monthly picture 

We threw Katie girl a sweet 16th birthday party at my house - she absoluetly loved it! She has Down's and is constantly planning parties so this time we planned one for her.

It was a surprise so the girls sang her Happy Birthday as she walked up the driveway

We went to the Puyallup Fair one evening - Emmett enjoyed petting the sheep and goats best

20 new boxes up and running!

got them all out!

The county forced our HOA to cut this tree down - we'll miss it!

Chick fil-A on the porch

determined to bring it all inside in one trip!

aren't these chairs fabulous? I got them on a Labor Day sale and have been living in them ever since!

Happy Anniversary and Whole30

At our Oregon vacation, Justin's brother and his wife James and Bonnie were talking about their multiple rounds of Whole30 and their success with it. I have been super skeptical of this fad because among restricting refined sugars, any and all processed foods, and dairy, it also restricts beans and whole grains - like, what's the point of that?? So I refused to consider it further on the merits that we LIVE off beans and rice.

Well I flirted with the idea for way too long that I finally decided I might as well just do it and stop thinking about it. And who knew? Maybe it would help Justin lose a few stubborn pounds or help with Emmett's skin? So August 20th I rid our entire house of all the restricted food items (or had Justin hide them somewhere in the house for future use - hello, not going to throw away tubs of flour and sugar) and we jumped on the bandwagon - August 21st was Day 1!

So far, what have I noticed? Today is Day 13: Emmett's skin doesn't seem to have changed much. However, I also know that the skin is the last organ to manifest changes in diet so I'm giving him three weeks until I start to draw conclusions. He definitely has been sleeping more and going down for bed easier. Behaviorally I'd love to say that eliminating all these inflammatory foods has made him a perfectly behaved two year-old but alas - he is still our tempermental mini-Hulk. I have definitely lost some weight. I have no idea how much because one of the rules of Whole30 is you can't weigh yourself inbetween - only before and after. Justin's face looks slimmer.

The thing about doing this is the cooking! Thanks to Rachel who got me on board with Walmart grocery pickup - hello game changer! - I didn't feel overwhelmed about hunting items down in the grocery store. I can just order them and pick them up! It's my new favorite thing. I'm also not wandering the ailes while tempting and strictly off-limits food favorites are staring me in the face. I've been cooking a lot more and I'm finding that I kind of like it and am actually kind of good at it. We've been eating a much larger variety of food and budget-wise have stayed within our regular grocery allowance because eliminating Ben and Jerry's from your bill leaves lots more room for zucchini.

Yesterday was our 6 year anniversary - wow! Pretty soon it will be 10 years and we'll have more kids added to the spread. We took a day trip to Seattle to celebrate. It was the busiest I've ever seen it! With Labor Day weekend and a Sounders game there were people everywhere. It would have been a beautiful day for a ferry ride but we didn't like the size of the crowds there so we just hit the market. We found a hole-in-the-wall homemade sausage place to eat that was compliant with our strict diet and bought fruit and flowers - my favorite!

Little Logan boy is growing like a weed. He's able to worm-crawl his way where he wants to go which is usually wherever Emmett is. It's fun to watch him follow his brother around. He'll be crawling in no time to keep up with him I'm sure. He's wearing all 9 month clothes now - I had to officially retire his 6 month wardrobe. He is wearing the same clothes Emmett wore when I first got pregnant with Logan.

Someone found mommy's makeup! Purple gel eyeliner smeared alllll over...

Metric Clothing Company is doing well-ish. They've had to pretty much fire all their sales reps except for one. Aaron is trying to network with some distributors to get more sales going so we'll see what happens there. Mary Kay is going well - I'll be working to double my unit size this fall so wish me luck in that endeavor. Life is good.

Oregon Coast

Logan boy is 5 months old! In the last few days he has gone from just rolling over to now up on all fours to now rocking back and forth on all fours! He will be crawling soon I'm sure. I can't believe it.

This week we spent at the Oregon Coast for the Rose Family Reunion. Justin and I prepped all last Saturday getting ready with food and packing. We left Sunday after the sacrament, came home for some last-minute food preparations, and made our way to Warrenton which is just north of Seaside. We got to the house first and were blown away! It was huge - The house basically had two wings: one with all the bedrooms and the other as more of a living space with a huge kitchen and sitting room in between. It also had a huge garage-like space that had been converted into a game room complete with pool and ping pong tables. Not to mention it was literally 200 yards from the beach! I was freaked out about a tsunami and was continually planning my escape route the entire time.

Once we were settled we made last preparations for dinner while everyone else arrived. I made the bbq brisket, grilled chicken, Mom's baked beans and Mom's cornbread. Justin made homemade macaroni and cheese, sausage, a peach lemonade, and dessert - he did a peacan pie with brownie crust and ice cream. It was very good. Everyone pretty much went to bed early that night so I glanced over the library the house had. I picked up Into Thin Air and read it here and there throughout the week. I could not put it down!

Monday we spent time at Cannon beach and Ecola beach. This was my favorite day because the weather was the nicest. Jon and Laura made us dinner that night. Jon also planned many group challenges and activities throughout the week that made for some fun surprises.

Tuesday was Seaside - we enjoyed the arcade and had lunch at the beach. Jon Judy and Joe made dinner for us and they went all out - steak and shrimp with Idaho-worthy baked potatoes...it was pretty amazing. Jon had us rate each other on dinner and dessert. The winner of each got a prize and these guys won both! We had a fire that night - my favorite!

Wednesday was a slow day. Mid-morning we explored our beach at low tide. It was COLD! Windy and cloudy - but Emmett loved playing in the left-over pools. In the late afternoon we drove to Fort Stevens to see the remains of a shipwreck. James and Bonnie did dinner, and then we had the talent show. Bonnie and I sang a duet on my Ukulele to open things up and then later in the program I did a Nicki Manaj rendition of Super Bass. Jon rewarded the top acts with five different gift baskets to choose from. A few of us stayed up late chatting into the night.

Thursday we checked out and headed home. It was nice just having to get through the rest of Thursday and today and now we have a weekend to recover. Vacation with kids is hard! We do it all for them and it's worth it, but it is hard. Emmett figured out how to flop himself out of his pack-n-play so nap time and bed time were quite an ordeal. We did our best to run him ragged so he'd crash each night. James loaned us some melatonin on the last night after he hadn't napped at all that day and was still running around at 11:00. Phew! Just thinking about it is making me tired. But we had a great time and appreciate everyone's efforts to make it fabulous. Can't wait for next time!