Pumpkin patch + Friends and Family+Alpine Loop= FUN weekend

We had a really busy, but FUN weekend! Friday we went down to Springville to Jaker's pumpkin patch with the girls.  It was a pretty big patch and we got some cute little pumpkins. They also had a few animals for a "Petting Zoo" and a corn pit! 

So Random...a llama and a kangaroo (or wallaby) together.

On Saturday, Ben had a service project in the morning, then we loaded up the girls and went through a house in Provo, then met Grandma and Grandpa Brewer for lunch! (Yummy! Thank you G&G Brewer!) Then we went through a house in Orem. Its really fun/exciting to be looking at houses. We have a feeling its going to take a while to find the "One" though. We aren't in any big hurry.  After the showing in Orem, we came home, got the girls down for naps and CLEANED the house (It DESPERATELY needed a thorough cleaning). Our good friends Grant and Bri and their little Bracken came for dinner and we had fun playing with babies, going on a walk and carving pumpkins together. Ben and I did the cat and Grant and Bri did the fun face! It was a fun evening (Thanks Grant and Bri!)

Sunday was a great day at church. I only got to teach sunbeams for a few weeks, and now they've called me to be the Primary Pianist. After church, Ben and I went to choir. Ben watched the girls there while I subbed for the choir pianist. I love singing/playing Christmas music so early! After church/lunch/naptimes, we went for a nice Sunday drive on the Alpine Loop. It was GORGEOUS! The fall colors were so amazing and vibrant! The girls did extremely well on the long drive! The pictures don't to it justice...but here's a few.

What a GREAT weekend it was! Looking forward to Halloween weekend! Fall is the BEST!

FYI- Alice's MRI a couple weeks ago came back CLEAN AGAIN! YAY!

Cornbelly's!

This past Saturday we took the girls to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point. It was a BEAUTIFUL day and was a lot warmer than we expected! We started off with the cornmaze. We wound our way in a good ways and then tried to back track our way out. It usually takes us a LONG time to do these mazes and we didn't think the girls could make it all the way if we tried to do the "real" maze. I felt we were successful though! We got ourselves pretty lost and managed to find our way back out so that counts right? :)

At the beginning of the outing both girls were so happy and excited to be there!

eventually Merrilee had to get out and help push the stroller!

Merrilee had fun playing with the corn she found in the maze!

After the maze Merrilee loved playing in the corn pit while mommy fed Alice

After Alice was fed, we let Merrilee play on a big spider web and a hay tower/pit!

Then Daddy took Merrilee through the Snake maze for kids. Merrilee Loved it! Ben had to bend over and duck his head the whole time.

After the snake maze it was time for the Train ride through the non-maze corn fields. We did this a couple years ago at night and they had these creepy scarecrows and pumpkins and goblin scenes that were pretty freaky at night, but this time we saw them during the day and they were pretty silly and fun!

This is the best we could do for a family photo while we were there

After the train ride, we let Merrilee play with the duck races, watch the robotic farm animals sing and dance, get a snow cone, play on tractors, go down many slides throughout the park and see the pumpkin princess!

Alice had fun too, although I think next year she will be able to enjoy it a little more! She spent most of the time observing all the commotion like this...

But we did manage to get a cute picture of her in a little hay/pumpkin display! We tried to get both the girls together, but that failed miserably.

We were going to get pumpkins there, but they were crazy expensive, so we might go to a real pumpkin patch in the near future to get our pumpkins. If not, I guess Winco pumpkins will have to do! :)

Fun Weekend in Rexburg

 This past weekend we drove up to Rexburg, ID to visit Ben's brother's family for the blessing of their little baby William. The girls were really good on the 4 and a half hour drive there. Of course right when we got there we had to get a picture of the two babies together! Alice is 4 months and William is 2 months. They are both small for their ages. You can definitely tell they are related!

Saturday evening, Adam and Kylie showed us the orchard on the campus of BYU-I, where we went apple picking! First of all, I think it is AWESOME that the BYU-I campus has a beautiful orchard/gardens right on campus and that students can pick their own produce and pay minimal $ for it! Second of all, it was a perfect Fall evening for such a fun Fall activity! Thanks Adam and Kylie! That was fun! 

Poor Alice is usually sleeping when we take these "Family Photo" ops.

There were over 100 different varieties of apples!

Apple Tasting

You could see the Rexburg Temple from the orchard!

Merrilee loved tasting the apples

Alice woke up! We forgot her hat in the car, so a burp cloth had to become a little bonnet for this chilly evening

Sunday morning before church, Adam showed us around campus.  We found a nice spot to eat lunch on campus and as we were getting set up, a squirrel kept on following me! It came right up to me and would have walked over my shoe if I wouldn't have moved it! It also walked right UNDER Adam's foot! It was a funny squirrel and made lunch exciting. After lunch, we went to Adam and Kylie's ward for William's blessing.  It was very lovely. Right after the blessing, I had to go walk the halls with Alice for the rest of the meeting because she just wasn't going to sit through church. Of course she had to fall asleep right before it was time for family photos! :)

After church, Adam and Kylie had everyone over to their place for a luncheon. Alice woke up for that and we were able to get a few pics of the girls together in their cute Sunday dresses!

Merrilee loves giving Alice loves! :)

After the luncheon, we headed back home.  The girls again, did great in the car! What a fun weekend! 

On another note, tomorrow is a big day...Ben starts his new job and Alice has another MRI! 

Good News updates!

Its been a while since we last updated this thing! Here are some updates...

ALICE
Alice is 4 and a half months old! She is still just a tiny little peanut! At her 4 month checkup she weighed in at 11.62lbs (9%), 23in long (9%), and her head circumference 15.5in (9%). She is nice and proportionate!  All 9%!!

Some updates about her health...(If you are not aware of what is going on with Alice, see the posts Here and Here)  We got her September urine tests back and the levels they look for were normal! YES! GOOD NEWS! Within the next couple of weeks, we will take her for another MRI and a visit with the oncologist at Primary Children's hospital.

I took Alice to the eye doctor for a checkup on her Horner's Syndrome. As far as the doctor can tell, it is not affecting her vision. YAY! More GOOD NEWS!  We will just keep an eye on it and get it checked up on every 3 months.

Alice has some torticollis (a condition in which the head is tilted to one side). I took her to physical therapy today for the first time and learned some stretches and positioning to help.  I will take her every week for the next 3-4 weeks and then less often after that. They say it will probably take about 4-5 months to totally correct it.  Hopefully the therapy helps! Because of the torticollis, she tends to lay on one side of her head, causing flattening. There is a possiblility of putting her in a helmet later on, but we will see where she is at in about 2 months. 

Alice is such a happy baby and smiley all the time! She is such a joy to have in our home! She has rolled over a few times from her tummy to her back. She still gets up 1-2 times a night (sometimes 3...Yawn). Merrilee started sleeping straight through the night at 2 months old, so this is new for me. I guess she will sleep through the night when she is ready? I'll give her until she is 6 months old, then I'll start trying "methods" to get her to sleep through the night. 


MERRILEE

Tomorrow, Merrilee will be 20 months old! People always tell you how fast your little ones grow up, so enjoy it while you can! I am beginning to understand that now! Merrilee is very much morphing into a very busy toddler. She is always busy, busy, busy and on the move, exploring everything she can get her hands on! She still LOVES books, and is getting more interested in toys. Lately, she really likes babies. She has recently started being more interactive with Alice and acknowledging her presence! She loves pointing out body parts on her baby sister..."Eyes, Noz, Nom (mouth), Does (Toes)" etc. When Alice wiggles during these anatomy lessons, Merrilee giggles in delight and Alice, in turn, gives huge grins. These are the moments we live for as mothers! So precious! Merrilee also loves to talk! She'll talk herself to sleep, keep a running commentary on whats going on throughout the day, and she still reads to herself. Of course only a quarter of what she is saying is understandable to us, but she knows exactly what she is saying! Merrilee also loves to eat! But she is starting to be a pretty picky eater.  The only green thing she will eat is peas and any other veggie is totally out of the picture for her. I am planning on learning some fun ways to prepare veggies that Merrilee would actually eat...I think carrot bread (NOT carrot cake) might be on the "To-Do" list this week!

MAURA
These two little babies have been keeping me pretty busy! I love staying home with them everyday and enjoy being a "Stay-at-home mom."  I find satisfaction in raising these little ones and finding ways to make our little apartment more cozy for us. I like drawing on my education and teaching skills to do fun things with Merrilee. It will be fun when she is just a little bit older and more coordinated so I can start doing more "preschool" type activities with her. When she's ready, I'll definitely be ready for her! 


I got a new calling in church.  I am no longer the assistant choir director (*tear), I am now a Sunbeam teacher (3-4 year olds in our church's primary program)! I am sad to be leaving a music calling, but am absolutely thrilled to be in sunbeams! These little ones are so darling! Again, I am glad I have an education background for this class of 9-10 little 3 and 4 year olds! So fun!

Recently, I signed up to be a substitute teacher. I still keep in touch with most of the gals I went through the music program in college with and a few of them were teaching music the same year I taught (but they are mostly all still teaching!).  A couple of weeks ago, we had a little reunion with everyone in the UT area that went through the Music Elementary Specialist program together (We missed you Shaunel!). There were only about 9 of us in the class. Man I love these girls! You form a special bond with people you have to treat like children and practice teaching "Rig-a-jig-jig" to! A lot of us are married, some of us have children, but all of us are still involved with music in one way or another. We are all passionate about the power of music! This past week I got to sub for my friend Emily's music classroom while she was at a conference for a couple of days. It felt good to be back in a classroom and it felt so familiar and comfortable teaching those children music! 

The gang with Sis. Kenney (one of our beloved professors)

BEN
Since before graduation, Ben has been searching for jobs. He has had lots of 1st interviews with no offers. Luckily, his internship with Novell has allowed him to stay until he finds a job. Well...GOOD NEWS...he finally got a job offer last week! YAY! He is now the social media director for a company in Springville, UT. (Literally a golf course away from his Novell job!)  Its obviously not in the NW (Where we were hoping he'd get something) but it is a job! He got the offer last week on Wed or Thurs and they asked him if he would go to a convention they were holding in Vegas on Sat and Sun! Ben left Saturday morning, and came back Sun evening. It was good for him to get a feel for the company and start helping the company reach out through social media right away.  This week is his last week at Novell where he will find a replacement for his internship position. He "officially" starts his new job a week from today. HOORAY! We will most likely be looking to buy a house in the Springville/Spanish Fork area in the near future.

We are looking forward to a festive fall season and hopefully I can keep this thing updated more often so I don't have to do these LONG time-consuming posts all the time! ;)