It's Autum time, It's Autum time the leaves are falling down

If you ask Ashlyn what her favorite primary song is a lot of times she will say, "Autum time." She loves the song, but I think she loves the season too. She has been watching the leaves change in our neighborhood over the last couple of weeks and was getting a little impatient that they weren't changing colors or falling to the ground fast enough. She kept looking at me like I was full of it when I would tell her it really was autum time. So on Sunday Brad and I decided to take the kids for a quick trip up American Fork Canyon to see the leaves, and prove it really is autum time!

We need to bring along friends next time so we can get a family shot all together!

This was a last minute idea after church on Sunday so we weren't really prepared with your typical picnic food. Here I am with our smorgasboard meal. Quesadillas with very little cheddar cheese (we were running low) so I supplemented with string cheese, deli turkey, gogurts, and apples! What a meal!

Tanner loving the fact that I gave him an entire apple to himself and didn't cut it up for him to share with his sister.

Loving our apples. Ashlyn loves telling her friends when they are over eating the apples with her that they are from her Grandma and Grandpa's tree.

Ashlyn loved taking us exploring and playing follow the leader. She would also let us know when we needed to hide from pretend skunks. She knows that skunks live in the bushes so she is skeptical of going near any bush that looks suspicious.

The un-even ground posed a little bit of a challenge to Tanner at first, but he quickly got the hang of it!

We made the mistake of stopping to see the Lake. Brad literally had to hold Tanner's upperbody so he didn't go in head first and his lowerbody so he didn't just walk into the Lake. Needless to say we only stayed at the Lake for 2 min.

Ashlyn's Fieldtrips

Ashlyn asks every Tues. night when I leave for young women's if she can come with me. It is torture for her to know I am with all her favorite babysitters doing fun things and she can't be there. This last week we finally had an activity that she could come too. All the girls brought a little sister or friend with them to make candy haunted houses. Ashlyn was in heaven. She looked forward to it all day.

This is Ashlyn with Camee. She is by far her favorite babysitter of all times. If Brad and I haven't had her over to babysit for awhile Ashlyn will start asking when we're going to go on a date again. The YW playing duck-duck- goose with the girls. They were such good sports!
Ashlyn also got to go to the Firestation with her preschool class.

Ashlyn, Isaac and Bronte.
Her whole class. (They weren't too happy to take the picture because they were looking right into the sun.)
The last fieldtrip Ashlyn had to the Dinosaur Museum I wasn't able to go, and she was so distraught about it afterward. She kept asking me why other kids mom's were there and why I wasn't. So I made sure I made this fieldtrip. She was so funny though because she didn't want to leave my side the entire time. Her teacher was laughing because this was so out of character for Ashlyn. I guess I should take it while I can that she wants to be seen with her mom when she's with her friends. I know the day will come too soon that she'll hope I don't come on the fieldtrips or anything she is doing with friends.

Gardner Village

Every October I get together with two of my lifelong friends, Alex and Carly, to take our kids to see the witches at Gardner Village. This year we just happened to go on the COLDEST day of the year. I was so cold I didn't really want to stop and take the time to take pictures!

Here we all are together Isabella (in the stroller) Alex, Grace, Carly, Tanner, Me, Olivia and Ashlyn. Poor Tanner is so out numbered, and it is only getting worse. Both Carly and Alex are pregnant with girls. Cute little Tanner. He loved being out of the stroller and free to wander. The only problem is he kept running off and would run into different stores that had their doors open. I need a leash for this kid! All the cute little girls. The girls favorite upside down witch. They think this witch is so silly and will just giggle the whole time they look at her.

My Handyman!

If you know Brad, then you know he is happiest when he has a project going. His latest project has been building a shed in the backyard so we can have a clean "non-cluttered" garage. When he started building the shed I asked him if he knew what he was doing. He said of coarse. I asked him if he'd ever built one before, he said no. This is what is amazing to me. He didn't buy a kit with directions or anything. He just made his own plans and built the thing (with his dad's help). This is something that always amazes me about him. He loves to figure things out, and he always figures them out to perfection.

This is the finished project. (I LOVE having everything out of the garage too.)

Grandpa Gunnell, Ashlyn and Brad on the roof. Tanner helping get the first wall up. Tanner is obsessed with Brad's tools. He loves to help out with any project that involves tools. I remember awhile back I was complaining to my dad about Tanner being such a mama's boy. And my dad just laughed and said enjoy it while it lasts because pretty soon he is going to want to be with his dad all the time working and doing projects. I see Tanner doing just that. He seems to prefer Brad over me a lot more lately, and while it is nice to have a little space, it is also a little sad.

In this picture I had just gotten Tanner up from his nap and usually he would want to stay in my arms and have me hold him, but this time he went right for Brad.

Ashlyn's Birthday

Ashlyn is 4 years old... finally! She has been waiting and waiting for her birthday for months now. She kept telling me, "Mom I've been 3 for a long long time, it's taking too long to be 4." For the week prior to her birthday she would stumble into our room every morning still half asleep and let us know how many days were left until her birthday. She was pretty excited when the day finally came. I had balloons all over the house and had her kitchen chair decorated with her favorite breakfast cereal. It was a fun filled day and week (she celebrated 3 different times- see pics below). Here she is getting her new Diego Scooter. She rode it around the house all morning.

She had a great day going to preschool and then to a "play place" for dinner. She could careless about what kind of food they have as long as there is a slide. Then we had both sets of grandparents over for cupcakes and ice cream. Ashlyn wanted chocolate cupcakes with chocolate chips in them and chocolate frosting... she is learning young what the good stuff is!Ashlyn and her Grandma Gunnell share the same birthday. She thinks this is pretty cool!A new baseball bat. And she later got a baseball glove from her Aunt Lisa and Brandon... she was thrilled. And a singing unicorn from my parents... it doesn't have an on and off switch. The song gets stuck in your head and you sing it all day. I'm not sure if Brad is on speaking terms with my parents after this gift, but Ashlyn LOVES it. A cute story about this, she had an upset stomach and was throwing up all night the next night and everytime she'd throw up she would ask me, "Can I just have my unicorn sing to me." It was cute and it gave her comfort!

We had her birthday part with her friends the next day. It was a Dora and Diego pirate theme. The kids made some pretty cute pirates.

The Dora pinata was a big hit.So was all the loot inside the pinata. Ashlyn's upset stomach came from eating all her candy in one afternoon with her friend Afton. As she was throwing up she acknowledge it was the candy's fault and she was never going to eat that many treats again... we'll see about that! I had to smile when I saw this picture. I didn't realize when I was taking the picture that they were holding hands. Ashlyn adores her cousin Sam!
Party #3 came on Sunday with Brad's whole family. We celebrated for Paula and Ashlyn and everyone was generous to Ashlyn. I think this week will probably top Christmas. She felt pretty special.
It's hard to believe that Ashlyn is already 4. I can't imagine my life without her. She is so excited to grow older and do "bigger" things, but it makes me a little sad. I don't want her to grow up too fast. I just love her to pieces!

Spiritually Uplifted

On September 21st Brad and I were able to attend my in-laws Stake Conference. It was such a wonderful meeting... many things contributing to that. First and foremost, we were kid free so we could actually listen. My parents were kind enough to watch our kids so we didn't have to fight them through 2 hours of Stake Conference. Secondly, Elder Holland and John Huntsman Sr. were presiding at the meeting so we were able to hear them speak. Elder Huntsman talked about the importance of children and how much the Lord loves them. Elder Holland was actually pretty funny during his talk. He talked a lot about reorganization in the church and how incredible it is that the entire church is run by volunteerism. They were reorganizing the Stake Presidency and something he brought out was just because the old presidency is getting released and a new one put in you don't automatically stop loving the old presidency and start loving the new one. There is plenty of room in your heart for all... love mulitplied is not love divided. You don't have to love someone less to love someone new, rather your love grows exponentially and you are capable of loving even more. I think this applies to so many areas of life... motherhood especially!
When Brad's dad called and invited us to attend his Stake Conference we of coarse assumed that he would be getting a calling, but we were all stumped because he had already been Stake President in that stake. Brad and I had our theories on what his calling would be, and we guessed right. Leigh was called to be the Stake Patriarch. What an incredible and honorable calling. Elder Holland was able to set him apart, and it was such neat experience to be there. To shake the hand of an Apostle of the Lord and to hear the setting apart. One of the things that struck me the most was the complete trust the Lord has in Leigh to have him hold such a high and holy calling. It is the only calling in the church that doesn't have a presidency- people to keep you in check. He works directly with the Lord and recieves inspiration for those he is blessing through the Holy Ghost.

Leigh, Elder Holland, Elder Hunsman, Paula and Kelsey

We went to dinner at Brad's parents house after the meeting, and as we were visiting in the living room I thought what a perfect environment to receive those blessings. They will be having a lot of visitors in their home. They just finished an entire remodel of the upstairs so it looks nice, but more importantly I was thinking their home is a place the Spirit can dwell at all times. I dare say they don't have a single movie, book or cd in their home that would offend the spirit. Both my mother-in-law and father-in-law are two of the best and most righteous people I know. I think they both have lived very worthy of this calling. Congratulations.