Luke's Surgery

Luke had a small surgery done at Primary Children's last week. He did so well with everything. He thought having his own hospital room was awesome. He took full advantage of all the buttons on the bed, adjusted the bed up & down several times, controlled the lights, and loved the TV remote, he didn't keep it on one channel for more then about 30 seconds. I am just thankful he didn't hit the nurse call light. I told him it was only for emergencies, but stuff like that Luke can't help but push.

Luke thought his hospital visit was so much fun. Who wouldn't? As soon as he came out of surgery they offered him a slushie, Oreos & milk, Cheetos's, and anything else he wanted or could think of. My hospital experiences were never like that. Maybe I need to learn to flirt with the nurses like Luke...

Here he is trying out the "sleep mask"

Moab

For fall break we went to Moab. We did some camping, rode the ATV's, hiked, climbed the sand hill(Blake and I made it to the top), and explored with the boys. I am really starting to love Moab! The weather was amazing and there was so much to do. Seeing all the mountain bikers makes me want to try that out too. Hopefully Chad and I can go try it out sometime. First, I have to get rid of my 200lb Walmart mountain bike...

Moab is one of Blake's favorite places to go. Whenever we ask him where he wants to go camping the answer is always MOAB! This was Austins first camping trip, and it went smooth. I'm not gonna lie, having a trailer was a huge plus, thanks Grandma & Grandpa. Luke could not get enough of the sand. He was in heaven. He kept telling me he was at the beach.

We rode the ATV's out to Secret Spire

Bottom of the sand hill

Austin even got in on the hiking with his royal treatment

Hiking to the tunnel

Blake and Grandma Colyar

Lookout from the tunnel

Surgery

Chad had his 2nd knee surgery at the end of September, shortly after he completed his bike race. It ended up being better then we could have hoped for.

The ACL was not actually torn when they got in there. Excellent news! But his knee cap was in bad shape, and he had a huge bone spur, that would have eventually severed the ACL completely. Three incisions later, he is a new man, and is dying to get on the bike again. His recovery has been much better and faster then either one of us expected. I bet he is back on his bike by the weekend, he is having withdrawals.

Austin's Blessing

On September 5th we were able to bless Austin. Chad always does such an amazing job with our kids blessings. We were able to have all of our siblings attend except Chad's brother Dan and my brother Ryan and their families, we missed having them there.

After the blessing we hosted a small brunch with everyone. I was a little nervous to have it at our house because it's so small. But the weather was nice so we were able to have it outside and it all worked out.

We love being around family, thanks to everyone for all your love and support.

Kitchen Update

Because our house was built in the 80's, a lot of it still screams 80's. I never have liked that my cabinets and counter tops are an exact match. But I have lived with it because I couldn't afford to put in new cabinets and counter tops.

"Do-it-yourself" projects can be a bit scary because usually they turn out not what I was hoping for.

But I am famous for starting big projects on a whim. After a bit of research I knew just what we needed to do. So I called chad at work and let him know we had big plans for the weekend.

BEFORE

AFTER

I think they turned out awesome. It took us about a week to complete, and it was well worth it.

Jockeys For A Day

We were able to head up to Wallsburg to an amazing 35 acre ranch to ride horses for Savannah's birthday. We had so much fun! The boys loved riding and interacting with the horses. Luke could have done it all day if we let him.
Who gets a private horse riding party?! I guess it pays to know the right people...and in our case we know Craig and he has some serious hook-ups! Thanks Savannah for having a birthday...your party was the best ever. I hope your parents try to top it every year!

Heck Yeah I Did!

Every year I seem to amaze myself with the domestic skills that I pick up. This year I did the unthinkable and did some canning for the first time. That's right I said canning! My friend Tracie and I canned our very own spaghetti sauce. And it tastes amazing! I remember when my mom would pull out her canning stuff I would run for the hills. I wanted nothing to do with it. After doing it, I found out it was not that bad. From start to finish we were done in 2 hours. Maybe I can handle it if it's not an all day deal.
Then today I picked up some strawberries and busted out some freezer jam. Not to brag, but Chad loves my freezer jam. So when he came home and the laundry still had not been put away the fact that I made my homemade jam put a smile on his face.

Who knows what kind of skills I will come up with next.