Monday

Finally made it over 7miles on my run again

Extremely rough parenting day

Madd'x Football game; Travis even biked over to make it for the end

F.H.E lesson on Following the Commandments

Tuesday

Medical Alliance Service Project at the Crisis Prevention Center

Attended an intense gym with my friend who'd like me to join

Snuggled Aaron for an hour, Best ever. 

Attended an AwEsoMe Bday party for a girl in Maddix's class

Wednesday

Normal busy day with gym, library, playdate...

... then came home to a front room of diarrhea from the dog!

Cleaned.

Thursday

Aaron got a haircut, then was my buddy for errands.

Mommy-Maddix Date: eating cake at the lake, watching a man fish in the sunset, silly selfies, and duck calling from the docks. Simple. Wonderful. Magical. 

Friday

Friday girls night with a group of women so different from women I've known before; I felt like a fly on the wall seeing a whole new way of living. Was very fun. Such kind and nice women. Just a little surreal for me. 

Saturday

Morning cartoons

Last Football game (with the most beautiful weather, such a blessing)

Saturday Deep Cleaning

Primary Program Practice (rough Parenting moments)

More cleaning (Good, proud parenting moments)

Zootopia and Homemade veggie pizza

playing football out front

Baths, books, blanket snuggles, songs, and sleep

Sunday

Only day of the week I get to sleep in (poor Travis, He's still on 12's, so he doesn't have a day off until next Saturday)

Listened to talks, caught up on scriptures, journaled, and just finishing the blog, all as the boys came in and said, 

"it's 8:30, we wanted to let you catch up on sleep, so we've been playing nicely in our room." 

Such nice boys. 

Now we'll have our neighbor and her husband come to the Primary Program; Maddix and I invited them, and hopefully it will go well. 

Travis works all day so I'm sure the boys and I will just snuggle and eat all day! 

Happy Sunday! Remember to find joy, despite your circumstances! 

New Haircut

Halloween Costumes arrived! 

You might not be able to see... but he has the BIGGEST smile on
his face. He loved football season.

After 6 years, Trav and I are now adults

Maddix just had his 6th birthday; that night as Travis and I went to bed we realized... we're not kids anymore. I mean, that's been evident since I get motion sick on the swing, can't eat junkfood without instantly gaining weight, and heartburn comes as a companion to excess salt intake... however, those are just physical signs of aging. NOW, we realize we're adults. We look around and think, "we no longer live with family, we've graduated school and have a real job now (I mean, how is it that Travis actually a doctor now?? When did THAT happen??), we've moved passed driving my old old rattle trap, we're staying in a location for more than one year at a time now, and Maddix is in school now... which brings a whole level of routine and structure by itself. 

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is there is very little else that could change to make us feel more grown up than we do right now at this point in life; and for some reason Maddix's birthday brought all that to the surface. We're doing pretty good. Residency for us.... nowhere near as bad as Med school was! 

Maddix's Birthday: Pokemon Themed. 

We had a Pokemon party for him at the park with some of our closer friends, and there were still 16 kids there! And we were missing two families! Maddix's favorite part was the piñata! He chose McDonald's for his bday dinner (yuck), and we waited until that night to open his presents so Trav could be apart of some of his birthday fun; he was spoiled by family and friends . 

Saturday we decided to celebrate his bday again since Travis finally had a Saturday off. He had poke ball pancakes, went to football, attended a Fall event hosted by the hospital (travis ran one of the booths), and we were going to sing happy birthday and eat his cake, but didn't because the boys were 

TERRIBLE... beyond TERRIBLE little boys so we told them we'd do it today if they can behave. Sometimes you just don't realize how good you have until they melt down and you miss the good little boys you're used to being with! :) 

Halloween class party

Babysitting some friends one night

Playing at Fred's 

We've even squeezed in a date night

Football just after dinner as Travis arrives home.

The fall is so beautiful 

~Fall time Smiles~

Aside from some weather issues, we've had such a pleasant week in Mason City. So many fun times occurred: International talk like a Pirate day, Maddix scored a touchdown in Football, Aaron's first school group, first library reading time, Got to eat lunch with Maddix at school during Parent Week, Our Apple Day, Star Wars Birthday Party, Sad BYU game, Women's Broadcast, Trav's 4 day weekend! Daddy-Son dates, and our temple date was cancelled due to some sicknesses.

F.H.E on the importance of listening

waiting in line for lunch... just like Buddy! 

Group Naptime

~Apple Day 2016~

This Face

Apple Pie resulting from Apple Day:) 

~Two Chapters in, and we're loving the story~

Two chapters in and I'm hooked on the my Book of Life. Chapters meaning weeks, and this new chapter being one in which Maddix is in school and Aaron is starting his scholastic endeavors. We are at such a pleasant place in life. The boys are getting along better than ever and it melts this mama's heart; at this very moment they have been playing together in their room peacefully with legos and Pokemon for the past hour and a half. I was able to clean up the kitchen, front room, and settle into my bed to watch Anne of Green Gables (always been considered a Sunday appropriate movie) while I write this blog. Having Maddix gone in school builds that happy anticipation each day to soak up as much time with our special guy as we can get; weekends are such a treat when he's around. 

look at the way he admires his older brother

And in turn... Maddix is
a typical older brother

In the past two weeks we've transformed our life from ultimately commitment free to almost every moment of each day jam packed. We have school, the gym, errands, callings, playdates, the library, alliance meetings (it's a medical association group), BYU games, yard work, etc. SO, the past two weeks in a nutshell, We've:

Played Ultimate Frisbee with a group of friends;

My brother came home from his mission!

The stomach flu pass through our home (poor Maddix);

Took Travis to a mandatory work retreat and on the way home went exploring;

Went to an Officer themed Bday party;

Mourned some BYU losses;

Went to an Alliance meeting at the most BREATHTAKING home;

STARTED FOOTBALL (We've had two games & team pictures)!!!!!!!!

Started up group lessons at the Gym;  

We now stay after school with the same group of friends/parents, then walk home with the same friend each day. We had a playdate with them, Fred is Maddix's age, and B is Aaron's age.

Back to School Night while it rained BUCKETS; Travis even made it! 

Had more playdates; 

Facetimed with my mother and siblings. 

He was elated to play football

GoOo Team! 

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Dress ups

Cried in time-out until he
fell asleep! 

 Saturday cleaning! They did GREAT

 Football celebrations, and then the mourning over consecutive losses. 

And then after spending months unhappy with a terrible haircut and color job, I'm happy to say it's FINALLY growing out to the point I enjoy it again: Must be documented that I have been getting ready for the days!