Cook Family September/October

Wow! So much has happened in the last 6 weeks and so much going on right now! Yesterday was our first official day building with our group. Our house is still getting a foundation laid, so we'll get the first 5 houses to the point where contractors come in for electrical, plumbing etc. and while they are doing that we will start over on the last 5 houses. 

As we were driving up Saturday morning at 8am it started snowing and I was like noooooo! But then it stopped after about 30 minutes and it was sunny (but still kinda cold!). The winter is seriously going to be miserable but we'll just have to keep reminding ourselves that we get a house out of this in the end!! And 60K in equity! Josh hired a "volunteer" to help with about 10 of our hrs per week. His name is Franco and we really like him. Super easy to get along with and a hard worker. 

For those of you who may not know, I joined a choir and I am LOVING it. Seriously it's the best, just what my soul needed. So we had our first concert a couple of weeks ago and Anna came with her boyfriend Scotty. We went out for ice cream with them afterwards and got this new style where they spread it out really thin on a big flat surface and get it super cold so it hardens, then they take a spatula and push from one side so that it curls into this cute little coils of ice cream. Nothing spectacular about the quality of the ice cream but that place was packed! It's a novelty thing I guess.

Clara is super fun right now. She had a phase where she was obsessed with seaweed but a week later she's not digging it anymore. She also loves to take everything out of a drawer/container, etc. and then put it back in. For a while she would grab everything she could find in a room and stash it in one place (see above picture). Clara is also extremely opinionated and determined to have her way and control everything. So that's great. But I'm bigger than her so I usually get my way. 

She is now overjoyed to be using a spoon and fork to feed herself and often wont let us help much. So meals just take like 5 times longer, NBD.

  

 Went and spent a couple of days with Heather and Mom. It was so fun! Heather and I got to go on a short hike and do some bentonite clay face masks. Ayla and Vera are quite the entertainers. This is them dancing to the "Barnyard Dance". Not pictured are the scrumptious caramel apples that we made (this is the third year now so we've definitely got to keep the tradition going). 

 
Anna and I made peach jam and raspberry peach jam together! It was so fun. We're holding the leftovers here that didn't make it into the water bath. I've also been dehydrating peaches, pears and apples and they've all turned out delicious! I think I upped my homemaking status a few notches this summer. :)

 A few pictures from peach days. Clara danced a long with the dance teams and the bands. We enjoyed the prayed for about 10 minutes and endured it for another 20 or 30 before going home. :)

Been doing some fun fall hikes and drives. Can't get over the colors! This is Anna's BF - Scotty. We all like him a lot and i'm hoping he's the one!!

We moved in with Natalie (Josh's sister) exactly one month ago. It's a pretty sweet set up. They watch Clara for us on Saturday so Josh and I can both work on the house. I watch Max during the week and our rent is very low. We have a little kitchen and no dishwasher. It has been good character building! I just listen to books or podcasts now while I do dishes, clean, etc. so I don't mind the chores so much anymore.

Fun day at the park and a lovely fall stroll down Provo Center street. Don't the babies look like they're having a ball? ;-) 

 
Sunday "Siblings Dinner" with Josh's Utah siblings. Classic BBQ and s'mores.

We were able to get all seven of us, from what we call the MTC "dream team", together for a short hour a few weeks ago. My old boss, Heather, is on the far right. I worked closely with these people and love them dearly! It really was the dream team. And now I'm planning to go back to the MTC and be a teacher again for about 10 hours a week. Natalie is no longer working full time so she'll be able to watch Clara while I take a few shifts.  I'm absolutely elated!