November

November looked like this:

In November:

-I went to Time Out for Women with my favorite Mother-in-law
-Continued working out at the gym
-Made another maxi skirt, finished a super saturday project (necklace) and reached -35 lbs!
-Leaves, leaves, and more leaves
-packages started to arrive
-Our basement flooded just before Thanksgiving.  Now that the holidays are over, we'll be working hard to get it repaired.  We'll do some of it ourselves, and hire out some of it.
-Justin woke up every day asking for his "sword fight pants".
-Organized the computer area
-Went to Cache Valley for Thanksgiving.  Arrived late and tired and discovered that my siblings, Mom, and I were all wearing green.  Tyler had gone home by the time we took the picture, but he had on a green sweater.  Our families were super supportive of our crazy diet and went above and beyond to make sure we had food to eat.
-Todd's brother, Aaron, and family moved to Cache Valley, so we now get to see almost all our siblings when we make that trip.
-All four kids slept on the way home, while I worked hard on the Christmas gift I'm preparing for my siblings...which is now going to be a belated gift, but I'm determined to get it done, and when I do I'll share it with all of you as well.

October

October looked like this:

In October:

-Brayden turned 13!  I secretly planned for weeks to re-do his room for his bday, and when he left for school in the morning on the day before his bday, my friend Stephanie came over and helped me paint.  I had  everything put together by that evening, and the look on his face when he saw it, and read the comics I put on his bulletin board was priceless. He loved it.

-For his bday activity, Brayden chose to go to the corn maze at Staheli Family Farm.  We had a great time, and Justin got to have his picture taken with his hero, Jack Sparrow.

-Spent a lot more time than expected on a General Conference activity board.  It turned out to be worth it, because our kids listened better than they ever have, and when we played Jeapardy a week later I was amazed at how much they retained.

-Hiked the mountain behind my house with my Webelos

-Quilted a quilt for Vanessa and had it sent back the next day.  15+ hours of quilting...

-For fall break we went to Cache Valley.  We spend time with cousins, and remembered Grandpa on the anniversary of his passing.

-Discovered Dillon has a pretty good aim when he practiced shooting at Day Camp

-Hosted the Joy School Halloween party

-Took two kids trick-or-treating, while the older two went to a party. Sniff...

September

September looked like this:

In September:
-the ice cream truck found us
-we continued to eat healthy...lots and LOTS of produce
-the never-ending laundry
-organized the "art closet"
-lost 25 lbs!
-ran into one of my bff's (and former college roommate) who I've lost contact with, at Walmart, and discovered we only live 10 minutes apart.  One of the best days all year!!!
-Let my Webelos scouts use my quilting machine, and then let Dillon try :o)
-Justin got a much needed haircut
-Todd and I each made invites for our callings, and they reflected our personalities :o)
-Justin joined Brayden in his 7th grade child lab
-I finally made a maxi skirt, and actually wore it!

August

August looked like this:

-Justin turned 3, and we saw Planes for his birthday activity
-School registration and shopping
-Caleb started into Student Council and helped get the school ready for the first day.
-While at a dentist cleaning, I discovered Dillon was walking around in shoes with a hole in the bottom.
-Vanessa and her family stopped by on her way home from CA.  It was so good to see them!  My favorite part was watching our kids take off downstairs and carry on playing just like old times.
-We stayed with Kevin and Sarah (also friends from Loa) in Lehi while Todd attended a training.  While we were visiting, the kids discovered water in the sandbox and played in the mud. :o)
-We stopped at Thanksgiving Point and saw the dinosaur museum
-First day of school!

July

July looked like this:

In July:

-We made two trips to Cache Valley, first to visit family, and then we ended up going back two weeks later to take our trailer for Uncle Aaron to live in for a few months.

-We found a chiropractor who specializes in the endocrine system.  Todd and I "sold our souls" and started a six-month anti-inflammatory diet program with the hopes of getting healthy.  We were sick and tired of being sick and tired.  We cut out all sugar, dairy, grain, soy, eggs, tomatoes, and iodized salt.  After three weeks, we started to re-introduce foods...very slowly. Six months later we are off ALL our medications (even my thyroid meds!), we can get through the day without a nap, we feel better than we have in years, and we've lost a total of 85 lbs between us.
 
-It was blazing hot all month.  It only cooled off enough to be bearable during the time we were in Cache Valley (figures).

June

June looked like this:

 In June:
-We bought a summer pass to the aquatic center, and spent a lot of time at the pool
-Todd got a degree from You Tube University and fixed our dryer. Works better than it has in years.
-The weather got hot. Really hot. And it stayed...and stayed.
-We saw Monsters U in 3-D on the day it came out.  First time I've ever seen a movie on the day it came out.
-Todd quit his "day job" and jumped into full time private practice.  It was a risky move, but the pieces fell into place and it felt right.  It took several months to get to "full time" status, but we made it!

Catchin' up

I am completely distraught about the fact that I've missed nearly six months of blogging.  There's no way I can go back and catch up, but for some reason I can't bring myself to start blogging again until I at least make an effort to record some of our adventures.  I decided to make a collage for each month that I've missed, write a few highlights, and call it good.

And then, I have set a resolution to do better. 

And with that, here is what the rest of our vacation looked like:

California Adventures, my brother's graduation from USC, Mormon Battalion Visitors Center, never-ending laundry, and last day of school water fight fun.