Fall Carnival

Bryce, Tanner and I attended the GWA Fall Carnival. Landon and Chloe were gone deer hunting.

We met up with Preslie and her family there. 

 Bryce had lots of fun playing the carnival games, walking on water in the inflatable balls, and the cake walk (where he won back his own cake). We also went to the Haunted Hallway, which he did not like at all and said that he didn't want to ever do it again. The highlight of his day had to be when he won a goldfish by throwing a ping pong ball in it's cup. 

Cake Decorating Contest

GWA holds a Cake Decorating Contest each year in correspondence with the Fall Carnival. They then use the cakes as part of the Cake Walk at the Carnival. It became a tradition when Chloe was in school there to make a cake for the contest each year. It was a fun tradition. I think she entered a cake every single year except for one. This year I asked Bryce if he would like to make one. He said yes. We looked at cakes and came up with the plan to make a mummy. I was able to find a mummy shaped pan on Ebay and Bryce chose out some eyes at the dollar store. With the use of our cake decorating set Bryce was able to decorate most of the cake with minimal assistance from me. He did a great job sticking with it until the end and the final product was super cute.

His effort paid off. He won 2nd place in his age group. He was super excited and so was I. 

When we did the cake walk at school Bryce won that as well and guess, which cake he chose to bring home...the one he had decorated. At least he knew it would be good :)

Staheli Farm

The first part of October we had Fall Break. I decided during that time to take the kids to Staheli Farm. Tanner even came with us. Landon didn't come because he had to work early the next day and those types of things aren't really his forte. Chloe invited a friend and we met up with some others there. 

We planned on doing the corn maze, pumpkin patch, petting zoo, and farmland attractions. The kids didn't want to do the haunted corn maze.

Bryce chose a pumpkin at the pumpkin patch that only weighed two pounds less than he did. 

 We weren't planning on doing the Zombie Rampage, but once we go there most of the group decided they wanted to do it, so Chloe and her friend did as well. The person driving was nice and let the rest of us who didn't pay tag along just to watch. The Zombie Rampage is a fun ride on a bus where you drive through a cornfield filled with zombies and try to shoot them from the bus windows. Fun but expensive-I'm not sure if we would do it again or not, but it was worth it one time for the experience.

We all had a fun night. I'm glad we are able to do these things as a family. 

The Cat Came Back

When we moved our cat of 12 years was lost and never moved to our new house. Four months later, our old neighbor Dave called and said that she had shown up at his house. We went to retrieve her. She wasn't in the best condition when we picked her up. Who knows how she had survived four months on her own.We weren't sure if she would stay at the new house once we brought her over, but miraculously she did.

We now have 3 cats-I never thought I would see the day.

*Update*-Sadly on Nov. 21 Cotton was hit by a car and killed. She just was getting to old and couldn't move fast enough. It was pretty traumatizing for Chloe and Bryce who were home with Landon at the time. She really was a good cat. 

September Book Recap

This is the first month and I would imagine the only one that I haven't read at least three books. I only completed two this month. All The Light We Cannot See was pretty long. 

I liked All The Light We Cannot See

 Not so much was Never Fade

September Goal Review

September Goal Review

Red Means Not Doing Well
Blue Needs Improvement
Green Accomplished or on Target to Reach Goal


Spiritual

-Read Scriptures 5 Days A Week
-Read Lesson Material for Relief Society each week
-Attend 2nd Hour (family history or Sunday School more regularly)
-No Social Media on Sunday morning Before Church
-More Personal Prayers
-Don't work on Sunday (I do some work from home for my Mom and I want to limit this to Monday-Saturday and not work on Sundays)

Health and Fitness

-Run, Walk, Bike, or Swim 1 mile once a week
I pretty much have substituted play Pickleball or Basketball instead of the other and I actually think I get more than the 1 mile a week in. 

-Only drink Coke once a week except for my period/headache week

Financial

-Do better at staying on budget and not spending my weekly petty cash before I have it
Um I suck at this!
-Save any dimes we get for the year (we read something about it and want to test it out)

Educational

-Read at least 3 books per month (I want to focus on reading more and being on social media less)

Personal

-Continue Blogging

Still not caught up...I'm trying so hard, but am still lagging

-Do Better at Keeping the House Clean

I am seeing more and more red on my goals as the year goes along. This is reinforcing my plan to next year focus on a single goal in each area for 3 months at a time. I think this will help me stay on task with what I am wanting to accomplish and not get frustrated and give up, for this year I will finish out this format just so I can see how it looks at the end of the year. 

September Softball Tournament

Chloe played with her Summit Softball team in a tournament in September. She had to work hard, because she was the main catcher that tournament, because one of their other catchers was hurt. It's fun watching her continue to progress and improve.

Bryce is always so good being dragged to these tournaments. Usually we spend like 8 hours or more in two days at ball games. I will usually let him pick out a little toy or something to help pass the time, but he is good to entertain himself for the most part, sometimes he will get a little whiny but usually we can cure that with a snow cone or something from the snack shack.

#ChloeEllison #10 #summitsoftball #catcher

BackYard

The backyard was one of the major projects we had to tackle when we moved into our new house. A big section of it was dirt. The people we bought the house from were planning to put in a pool, we didn't want to put in a pool, but we knew we wanted to do something in the area. We thought of several different ideas, but we finally decided to put in a sports court which would be for basketball and pickleball.

We did a few other little things first, such as bought a trampoline and added some grass and curbing.

Then it was time for the main project. Landon spent weeks getting the ground ready.

Then it was time for the big pour. Luckily my Jeff (my Mom's husband), my brother in law Brandon, a few neighbors, and one hired hand all showed up to help. It was a big project and hard work, but they got it done. 

The big pour happened at 4 am. Everyone woke up for the event, but Bryce ended up falling asleep on the frontroom floor before it was all over with. 

Then we just had to wait. The cement has to cure for 30 days before they could pour the sport court. Finally it was time.

They did a great job, and now we have an awesome sport court. It is an early Christmas present for the family. We all love spending time out there playing pickleball and shooting hoops. Sunday afternoon family pickleball has become one of our favorite family activities. I think it was a good investment.

We still have on more project we want to do in the backyard, but it will probably have to wait until next year. Stay tuned pergola and fire pit coming in 2019.