Fall

We've had construction in our house for half the year, but now that it's done, it was so worth it! The kids bedrooms look amazing and are so functional and fun for them. Deacon and Boston are sharing the big bedroom with a basketball theme, Leo has an Avengers themed room, and Bentley has a Taylor Swift pink wall room to herself now. We are loving the basement so much as well and it's been a great place for all the toys to go. One of my favorite parts is the new built-ins in the living room with wood backing. It looks amazing and really refreshed the look of our house. We got new light fixtures, stools, and even had Matt paint our whole house a lighter color, and it looks so much better! It was done while we were at the cabin, but we didn't quite realize how big of a mess it would be when we got back. It was sanded everywhere, and so cleaning up all the dust and putting the furniture, closets, and food from the pantry back together was a big process! We did have to leave the house for one more weekend while the lacquer was touched up, so we stayed at the Wingate and went swimming. After getting the furniture together that I had ordered for some of the rooms, we were good to go! We love our house!!

Some other Fall activities included taking Bentley and Deacon to a Stampeders Football game. We had never been before, and Jeff got tickets from Ryan at work, so we decided to check it out. We got special passes to eat all the food at the Stamps House and it was unbelievable! The kids had a blast going to all the different tables and choosing what to eat. They even had a sushi bar so I made sure to get my share of that. Then we all got hot chocolate and took it out to our seats. The game was a lot of fun to watch, but we got cold towards the end and then went back to watch it from the Stamps House and eat whatever snacks they had left there. It was a great night!

We also did our usual routes for the Food Bank and it was a blast as usual. Cindy decided to join us on pickup day with Emri and Bryce. It was a little different this year, as they decided to go bagless, and hope everyone would find bags to put the food in on their doorstep. It made for a lot less donations unfortunately!

Deacon was the only one who decided to do cross country this year, but the rest of the kids came to cheer him on at the races! He did great. Bentley had fun hanging with her friends and didn't regret choosing not to run one bit. We were great cheerleaders!

Tammy took Bentley and Deacon to Heritage Park one day and sent me a bunch of pics. She is so great and I'm so happy our kids are great friends. 

Activities started up again. Bentley and Deacon started activity days, and included is a picture of a hike they went on. Community basketball started up for both the kids. I brought Deacon up to U11, even though he should be playing Tykes. He made Team 9, and Jeff decided to be an assistant coach to Lee Stanford, along with Leo Liscano as another assistant coach. Their team is doing incredible! They had a welcome pizza party at Lee's house. Bentley made team 3 and didn't know anyone on her team, but got to know them pretty quickly and started enjoying it. They had a welcome party at DQ after one of their games. She also decided to do a recreational gymnastics class. I was worried she wouldn't like it because she didn't have any friends join with her, but she ended up having the best time and making a best friend out of it who actually lives in Legacy. She looked forward to it every week! We decided to put Leo is swimming lessons and he quite enjoyed that. Deacon was also recognized as "Dragon of the month" for September and I was just so happy to hear that! He is such a kind boy and his teacher recognized that and saw that he was really good at helping other kids. Leo got it the following month because his teacher loves him and sees how hard he tries. 

Thanksgiving came and for the Monday we decided to see the movie "The Wild Robot." Scott and Kellie came with us and we all really enjoyed it! Boston still talks about it and how much he liked it. Deacon started reading all the books afterwards. Grandma Ady gave the kids matching shirts, and we all ate turkey dinner at their house afterwards. My parents were out of town so we did the Nielson Thanksgiving a different week. I also posted pictures of a Taylor Swift turkey Bentley (and me) made for school. She remembered it the night before it was due so I stayed up late to help her finish. Sometimes projects like these are great times to hang out and bring many memories. It turned out super cute too!

Lastly, I've been trying new recipes and the end photo is my new favorite breakfast that I make all the time. Chia pudding, made with greek yogurt and almond milk, with berries, mangos, honey and almond butter toppings. It is amazing! I've started going to F45 a lot to work out and love when I can eat healthy too. The other photo is a salmon dish I love with cilantro lime sauce.