The Lant's Come to Town

A little while back JJ's Uncles asked us if they could come see us.  They were going to fly into St. Louis and then drive over to Indiana.  JJ's family has farm land in Indiana and they were coming in town to spread Granny's ashes on the farm.  We told them of course!  It has been many years since we have seen uncle Jef and I had never even meet Uncle Mike or Aunt Mary.  They got in town late Thursday evening and then spent some time with us Friday.  I spent most of Thursday cleaning like crazy so I went to bed before they got in Thursday evening.  We had breakfast together and then got ready to head to Big Joel's Safari.  Since we don't get to see this family often we kept the kids home from school to send time together.  We wanted to go somewhere fun but close.  JJ and Lucy had never been so it seemed like the perfect time to go.  It was chilly and we weren't prepared since the day before felt like summer.  The kids had fun feeding all the animals!  We got sticks of food to feed the parakeets.  Nolan thought it was so fun until a parakeet landed on his arm and he got scared.  I had to hold the stick after that.

 

 

 We had a nice time walking around feeding and looking at the animals.  Mike and Jef loved teasing the kids.  They were always pinching and tickling them.  The kids thought it was fun.  JJ loved it because it reminded him of his Dad.  Lucy asked later if that is what Grandad was like.  JJ told Lucy that yes his Dad was the same way.  I know it makes JJ happy to have the kids get to know his uncles.  It is a great way for them to know his Dad and that side of the family.  

 JJ and Jef have an ongoing rival between BYU and Gonzaga when it comes to sports.  Jef brought JJ a late birthday present which JJ thought was fun.  A Gonzaga sweatshirt, he loves it and he said he will proudly wear it.  

 Mike, JJ and Jef

 

I really enjoyed meeting Uncle Mike and Aunt Mary.  They are both so sweet and friendly, I am so glad we had the chance to spend time and get to know them. We went out for a BBQ lunch with everyone.  Jef said they don't have good BBQ in Spokane and we were happy to have BBQ.  They loved it and it was nice to enjoy time visiting with them as we ate.  They left for Indiana straight from the restaurant.  We were so happy to spend time with them.  What a neat experience to have them come stay with us. 

Conference weekend we had a nice time relaxing at home listening to conference on Sunday.  We enjoyed sitting around as a family and relaxing.  I worked on a puzzle while I listened.  I finished the whole puzzle during the two Sunday sessions.  It was a puzzle of Nauvoo, all the red brick houses were tricky.  We had some friends over that evening for soup, homemade rolls and sugar cookies that evening.  We also had fun decorating sugar cookies together.     

One morning while I was cleaning the kitchen I got the beans out for Nolan to play with.  He had a blast.  He spent a good time pouring the beans into different containers.  It lasted long enough for me to get everything picked up and even though he made a big mess it was worth it.  It wasn't hard to sweep them all back up. 

I try to sit and do something with Nolan each day.  It can be hard when I can always find something to work on myself.  I know he really enjoys when I spend time with him and do things.  We got the beads out and strung them on a shoelace to make a necklace.  He did good threading them on with just a little help.  We also colored and did some singing with our music makers songs from year ago. He likes singing songs and putting the different pieces up on the board. 

We mowed the lawn for the first time since aerating and over seeding.  We gave it two weeks so the seed to have more time to take root.  It was long and thick, I had to go over the back twice.  It looks so good right now.   

Nolan loves to help me mow the lawn and will follow me for almost the whole time.  He also loves to "mow" everyday in the front.  One night he was pushing his little mower around when the neighbor boy started to mow his yard.  Nolan started heading over right away.  I knew he wanted to go mow behind that boy.  He was obedient and stopped right by the line in the road I tell him he can't cross.  He kept taking little steps and seeing how far I would let him go.  I would call his name and he would hurry and back up to the line.  It was cute to watch. 

Lucy went to her activity day leaders house this week to make Halloween Oreo pops.  She loves going to activity days!  Her pops turned out really cute and they were very yummy. 

The Hill workout

I love heading to the gym in the morning for a great workout.  Its a great start to my day!  I love all the instructors and friends I have there.  With the weather being so nice right now we have done a lot of our workouts outside.  I love it, I love switching things up and having fun while we exercise.  For the past two Tuesdays we have jogged over to a big hill nearby to do a hill workout.  It is probably only half a mile or so from the gym. The instructor always has her phone so if child care needs us they can call her.  Of course half way through they called me to head back and change Nolan's diaper.  I knew that was going to happen!  I was able to get plenty of running in that day.  It was still fun and we all got a great workout.       

 

 

 

The weather was great again this week so we headed back for another great hill workout.  I told Nolan he couldn't poop while he was at the gym because I didn't want to run back to change his diaper.  I thought this workout was much harder.  She knows that she can push us hard and she always does.  I was exhausted!  We did a ton of sprint runs up the hill and my legs were tired as we ran back to the gym.  I forgot my gloves and JJ was so sweet to drop them off to me on the hill so my hands didn't get all scratched up in the grass.  I am thankful for the opportunity to go to the gym and get a good workout in.  I love it and have fun doing it.  I also feel so much better being able to socialize and build friendships with the other girls there.  I am glad I have a healthy body to keep up with everything we do!    

Boy Scout Activity

We decided to sign Garrett up for Boy Scouts with the school troop.  We went to the information meeting and Garrett was really excited about doing it.  Several of his friends are in his troop and he thought the activities sounded really fun. Our main concern was the time commitment.  We were also worried about having things fall on a Sunday.  They told us that he can always do any of the things with our family on his own time if he couldn't make it to the activity.  We signed up for a troop that only meets one time a month and then we have the pack meeting.  They had a fun activity Saturday afternoon that JJ took him to.  They had lots of stations set up where he could pass things off and some just for fun. He loved it and JJ had fun taking him.  He enjoyed holding the snake and shooting paint balls at a target with a sling shot.  We are looking forward to having Garrett do boy scouts, he is loving it. 

Firetrucks at Home Depot

We haven't been to the home depot kids workshops in a while.  I saw a friend post on Facebook that she was going and they were making firetrucks.  I knew the kids would like going.  We have been working on a few projects around the house and Nolan always wants to be involved with the tools.  He was excited to go build something and use the hammer.  When we got there it started to sprinkle and so we grabbed some umbrellas from the car.  They had everything set up outside since they had firetrucks and squad cars there for the kids to climb inside of.  They also had hot dogs they were grilling for everyone.  We looked around the trucks first incase they needed to leave and then started to build our firetrucks.  We sat under the umbrellas and built them as quickly as possible.  Thankfully it only sprinkled for a brief time and then stopped.   Both Lucy and Garrett were able to build theirs all on their own and I helped Nolan.  He wanted to do all the hammering but I would get the nail started and let him finish.  They turned out good except the stickers got wet and were ruined.  We grabbed some hotdogs and called it lunch since it was almost lunch time.  We stopped and said a quick hi to JJ and work and then headed home.  It was a fun morning and the kids had fun.  

Fall Party

Friday night JJ and I headed out together for a fall party with some friends.  Our friends the Tilton's have a fall party for adults only each year.  We have enjoyed going and were looking forward to visiting with friends we haven't seen in a while.  Since our ward split we miss hanging out and seeing lots of people regularly.  The past two years I have won the huge candy jar by guessing how many pieces are inside.  I promised I wouldn't guess this year but they said I had to because it would be to funny if I won again.  Thankfully I didn't win and I was happy to see someone else go home with the candy jar.  We had a fun evening chatting with other couples and enjoying yummy food by the fire. I love date night and I am glad we were able to go out together.

Happy Birthday JJ!

JJ turned 35 on Thursday, which sadly is one of his longest days of the week.  His seminary class was cute and made some funny memes and hung them all over the class room and front door of the church.  Most of them were inside jokes between him and the students but they put a lot of work into it and JJ thought it was fun. They had been taking pictures of him while he was teaching which were pretty funny.  The weekend before a few of his students TP-ed our house and JJ thought it was funny because he caught them doing it.  He TP-ed their chairs the following Monday.  We had just had our lawn aerated and fertilized and JJ is very particular about the lawn, so that is where a few of the memes came from.

 

He picked up some donuts on his way home from seminary.  The kids always get excited about celebrating a birthday because we get donuts.  Nolan and I meet up with JJ at Chick-Fil-A for lunch.  Nolan was excited to play and it gave us a few minutes of piece and quiet while we ate nearby.  Thursday evening was busy but just before putting the kids to bed we made sure to sing to JJ.  He requested a no-bake cheesecake with raspberries and strawberries.  We put some candles in and sang.  We all gave him some cards with some candy and a balloon.  Nolan got ahold of the candy and opened a box and ate almost half of it.  Sneaky kid!  He got a new BYU t-shirt and will probably get some new work shoes with some money his parents sent him.  We kept it small since he reminded me he got a new bike earlier this year.  We hope he had a nice day because he deserves the best.  He works so hard and lately has been exhausted trying to keep up with everything. 

Story Time

Nolan can't sit still for very long.  Taking him to church or anywhere that he would need to sit and be quiet for a little while is very difficult.  He can play and have a toy keep his attention for a while but sitting still quietly is another story.  I have been trying to take him to story time so he can practice.  Each week I hope we will improve.  We make sure to get there early so he can play with the trains and other toys for a little while before heading in.  He goes between the floor and my lap and he usually tries to escape at least once.  He always likes to use the glue stick for the little crafts they have after the stories.  I am hoping the older he gets the easier sitting quietly will be for him.  He is just a busy boy and likes to have his freedom to move around.  It was really nice this week so after story time we headed to the park with some friends who were at story time with us.  He loved running around and playing at the playground.     

 We went to story time at Chick Fil A this week also.  It was a Clifford story time so they had Clifford the big red dog. He liked seeing Clifford and sat and listened for a short time to the story before he wanted to run away.  It was hard for him to not be able to go into the play area during story time.  It was very quick and then he played in the play area for a little while before we left.   

Nolan is also very much a two year old.  I have a hard time finding the patience to deal with his tantrums.  He seems to have days where he cries and fights me on everything.  He is very back and forth with what he wants.  One minute he wanted me to cut the apple and another minute he didn't.  I cut his apple for him and he totally lost it.  I think I need to spend some time reading so I can refresh my memory on how to deal with toddlers.  He is making things difficult and I find it hard to keep my cool with him lately.