"It's almost Fall!"

I think Fall has officially arrived, but Galina remarks every time we take a walk, "Look Mommy! It's almost Fall!" The leaves are starting to change and fall, it's very chilly in the mornings, sometimes during the day too, but last week was absolutely gorgeous weather. It's been rainy the past few days...oh well, I guess it comes and goes.

     I have been jogging recently, since early August, and am enjoying it immensely. I decided to download the app 'Couch to 5k'. I loved it! I completed it, and now I'm doing '5k to 10k'. Loving it too. Wishing I hadn't started jogging so late in the season. I'm contemplating making the kids some stroller blankets that are something akin to sleeping bags, but that are triangle shaped, and have a wind resistant material on the outside. I think about five minutes of it and Johnny would be flaming mad that he couldn't kick it off, but I'd at least be jogging...pros and cons :) A few weeks ago, it was pretty cold, Galina would hold an aluminum bottle of hot chocolate the whole time.

     Since I'm jogging in the mornings, we don't typically walk the dogs. They get let out to run around when we get back from the run and I stretch. But Brian has been at work a LOT lately and that means that we eat dinner later and later. I think Hawaii spoiled us so badly. We ate dinner at 4:30/5 p.m. Here we aren't eating until 6:30 p.m. If Brian gets home any later than that, the kids and I eat without him. But, by the time he gets home there just isn't enough daylight for a walk and a stop at the playground. Especially with the cold. So, we're still adjusting to life here. I think each season is going to be a big adjustment for us. Except summer, we love summer.

     Johnny pulled my camera off of the computer desk about a week ago and it hit the carpet pretty hard. Broke the battery door. So now, I have a very expensive paper weight. I'm having to use my phone and the camera on mine is not at all good!

So, just want to update each of us:
     Me: Doing good, looking for things to keep busy. Decided to finally put furniture in our bedroom (although Brian will promptly tell you that we had a nice bedroom set, but I sold it...) and bought two cheap dressers at a yard sale ($40 altogether + $10 in paint), was given an awesome nightstand that I actually painted, instead of staining, and am going to paint the dressers and our bed (which we got free off of the curb in HI) black. Then the nightstand is a muted silver, and our computer desk (which I stained last year in HI) is my new nightstand. I can't quite bring myself to paint it yet. I bought a $40 computer armoire to keep downstairs, that locks, and soon I'll have several tupperware "dressers" freed up for filing papers away in, and keeping craft supplies. I look forward to that! I also started a book club here. I loved Book Club in Hawaii and missed that connection with other women. So, I asked around and have 6 people coming to my house on the 3rd Wednesday of October, to discuss 'Edenbrook: A Proper Romance' by Julianne Donaldson. I love the book and am excited to host! Now I get to clean and decorate and come up with some fun fall drinks/treats!

     Brian: He's at work today, it's Saturday, and was supposed to go in tomorrow, but that has changed and he'll be able to come to Church. Yay! I hope he's able to come until December, when Johnny will go into nursery! He's at work a lot. A lot, a lot. We see him for about an hour a day. Galina is the one that misses him most, not that I don't, but she absolutely loves that man. In fact, she now knows how to call him with my phone and I will occasionally catch her talking to him. If he isn't home in time for dinner she wants me to video call him. She's very attached. Brian is trying to go to a black belt course in January. It would be very good for him and we are very anxious for him to be able to go! I suppose he may try one more time for MARSOC, next year. But I think he is still up in the air about it. We will definitely be in MA until Feb 2014. I guess it's nice to know that far ahead at least.

     Galina: She's growing like a weed. Already in 5T, and she just turned 4. She's becoming more and more social. She'll acknowledge people out in public now, but she's not always encouraging. I think she offended the cashier at Costco today, who asked her for a high-five. The lady got a blank refusal. No touching. She came to me this morning and said, "We need to go to the Exchange for one thing." I said, "What?" She said, "Mulan. I've been thinking about it." I love her. She thinks about a lot of things and loves to talk to us, which I am incredibly grateful for. Brian didn't get home from work until after bedtime the other day, his custom is to go in and say goodnight if he's home before 9:30 p.m. Galina said, "Daddy will come and say, "Goodnight!" and then I will talk for a bit." She's just fun and has very honest eyes. Now that I do singing time in Primary, I get to watch her for a little bit. I love it! She loves to be in Primary and listens to everything, but I'll be darned if you can see ANY emotion on that little face! At home she is so animated and active!

      Johnny: He is...adorable. And trouble. His little face is just amazing to look at. Am I biased? Probably. But, I can't help it. He is one beautiful child. But, he does not STOP moving. And he goes from one mischievous thing to the next. The tables at the chairs have to be pushed in. Plugs cannot be visible. The movies are constantly laying in a pile on the floor. The stairs have to be blocked off. There can't be anything for him to stand on in the kitchen. If you light a burner, he comes running and then will stand there and turn the burner knob from hi to lo, no matter how much you get upset or correct him. I have to babygate the kitchen sometimes! He has discovered that he likes to be talked to on the phone and will give his little, "huh" answers, and he will wave bye-bye to the phone. He likes to bring me books to read, but will not sit still while I read them. He hands it to me, climbs into my lap, then instantly takes it back and jumps up to go sit in his own chair. I can't sit down at the piano without him climbing all over me to get to it too. He doesn't like the bouncy house we bought last Christmas. Not. At. All. He has four front teeth, two top molars and three bottom front teeth. He loves to brush his teeth, loves to take a bath with Galina and blow bubbles in the water (and pretty much copy anything she does 24/7) and when we all go into Galina's room to say prayers, he goes up to her mattress and puts his head in the mattress for the prayer. Still won't fold his arms though...We rarely make it through Sacrament with him :) He's always dirty. When he wakes up in the morning, and from his nap, he won't get out of bed without his blanket or his puppy dog. Throughout the day he'll grab either one and just squeeze it and hug it. He's a snuggly little guy.

     Well...we're doing pretty good here. Just going along with things. I'm hoping we'll get a Saturday, before Fall becomes Winter, to go to an orchard or a pumpkin patch. Galina wants to pick her own pumpkin and, I'll be honest, I'm just as excited to go too :)