September...Lately

Lately...Logan took the D&D crew to a special Pokemon event at Best Buy and they had the best time buying collector cards and opening packs. Deacon blessed them before opening by smelling each pack. 

Lately...T and friends plus Moms sang a musical number at church. It was called I Will Stand and it was very powerful. I loved singing with my boy. 

Lately...we watched the first BYU game of the season and I decked out in my new BYU jammies and even wore my BYU blue eyeshadow and eye liner. Sophie got to go to her very first game in person and really loved it. She even got a Cougar Tail!

Lately...Sophie FINALLY had her first day of school. She was desperate for school to finally start. She LOVES her classes and of course did not drop any and kept them all. Here we go! She got to take cute pics with her fun roommate after class!

Lately...Logan has a big trial in NYC and got to ride the subway and try Katz Deli for the first time. He loved it as much as I knew he would! I'm so jealous! 

Lately...I love this Pickleball tradition...celebrating Ali's birthday with pickleball and lunch at Sam's club foodcourt! Ha! 

Lately...harvest time! Yum!

Lately...is there anything better than September evening walks? 

Lately...I finally got to get started on my Wizard of Oz rehearsals at the middle school. I think this is going to be an awesome show. I'm very happy to have my best sidekick come help out! She's a dream!

Lately...T got to participate in the Color Games at school and came home looking like THIS:

 

Lately...it's fall ya'll! I got my favorite fall decor up and I got my fall nails and I even stepped on a crunchy leaf! I'm so excited!

 

 

Lately...T got a sweet new haircut but was cracking me up because he COULD NOT stay awake in the chair. 

Lately...Soph has been having lots of fun with friends and roommates and doing a great job balancing school!

Lately...I got to host Book Club for the most fun book, The Secret of Orange Blossom Cake! I made a delicious orange cream cake and a charcuterie with orange fig spread and olive oil crackers. I got a billion of my new favorite drink, orange San Pellegrino. Amazing! I even found orange herbal tea with orange honey sticks and everything was so good! We ate of of Grammy's blossom plates. It was really fun!

Lately...It's HOCO season! Cute Toby surprised Claire with the perfect Michael Jackson poster and her favorite flower and her favorite ice cream! She was so impressed and so excited!

The theme was 'Ticket to Paradise.' 

Wacky Tourist Day at rehearsal:

On 'Travel Day' (pajama day), she found out on the way to seminary that she had been nominated for Homecoming Royalty again! She was so flattered and honored (and overwhelmed). She was nominated with 3 other girls that she deeply loves and admires so it was a great honor. Everyone was so kind and sweet to her about it this year, a great difference from last year. 

Super late Thursday night, we got the email that she had won and we were invited to the football game to escort Claire on the field. Then we realized that she didn't have anything to wear. So I had to run all over town trying to find a dress and then we had a fashion show in the church bathroom next door to the school where I pulled her early from math class right before lunch. Then she chose my outfit over text. LOL!

We met her right at rehearsal with her stuff so she could quickly change and get down on the field to receive her sash. Such a special moment to celebrate this darling girl under the lights and fireworks. I want to be as kind and cool as Claire when I grow up!

After the game, I dropped them at In and Out to hang for a bit. 

Then, FINALLY, Saturday was the big day! 

Claire looked absolutely stunning in her beautiful dress! 

SHOE CHANGE!!!

And behind every gorgeous homecoming princess is a bedraggled Mom who looks like she just crawled out of a dumpster. Cheers everyone! Time for a nap!

Though there were 4 schools Homecomings in this town ON THE SAME NIGHT in the same school district, we were miraculously able to snag a reservation at Red Robin for all 20 of them! They had a great time. 

They stayed for the whole dance and had a great time! 

We had the after party at our house too! We someone ended up with 25 kids over. I did not take pictures. But we had a soda bar and Logan made a fire pit for S'mores. We had chips and candy and karaoke in the basement. They had a great time. 

They had the best time. Now we are all ready for the longest nap!

Lately...Sophie got to have a much, much needed get away!

She drove up to Rexberg to go to the Lauren Daigle concert with Landon. He got VIP tickets, so they got special shirts and got to go to the meet and greet with her before the show where she answered questions and spoke about how she writes her songs. Sophie said it was incredibly inspiring and so up lifting. She even got to meet up with her babyhood best friend Boedy! They had the best time hanging out! Sophie is now half convinced she needs to transfer to BYU-I! In the morning she drove out to visit her friend Lucy at her farm and spend the day with her before her farewell in the morning. They rode horses and went swing dancing and had the best Sophie had a great time and is feeling much more herself!

Lately...

Lately...Claire got a role in her play Almost, Maine at the High School! 

She was so excited because it was a very small cast so she was thrilled to get a part. Not only that, she was cast as the only serious scene in the show and that is not her usual character. The director cast her and the monster she performed with for Young Frankenstein as her scene partner and he really pushed them. They grew so much and learned so much during this process. She was so proud of this role! And so proud that she got to pain the call board that is outside the school!

Opening Night was amazing. I was actually blown away. Claire and Caleb blew us all away with their talent. The auditorium was silent. Their scene was actually guttural. It made me cry. It was way too realistic. They played a couple struggling in their relationship. It broke my heart! They had so many fun friends come to cheer them on. It was so heartwarming!

Friday Night, another great show! Even with a different vibe in the audience, they crushed it!

Lately, I finished my summer puzzle just in time to start a fall one as the weather turned. Made myself the first cup of fall cider while I worked. Yum!

Lately...T gave a great Sacrament talk!