Merry Christmas!

It's been a month since my last post, which I very much dislike not posting more regularly....however our life has gone from the every day busy & crazy to all out, over-drive crazy!

We are moving to SLC, Utah in 5 days - we are packing the POD in 4 days. Life right now is in a holding pattern of Christmas magic for at least two days as we enjoyed a Christmas Eve & Christmas without packing any boxes. It was wonderful to just focus on the children and this important holiday - that was the deal from the beginning of last week when Bryson came home with an offer after his trip to Salt Lake. We talked about possibilities - he needs to work on January 3rd, but should I just stay here with the children while he travels back and forth, should we all just make the move & be ready for the New Year in a new state? We decided to take the opportunity to just jump - I've realized with our moves that whatever time frame we have, we'll take the full amount right up to the end in getting ready, saying goodbyes and preparing in whatever way we can on the moving side. There was no need to wait anylonger --- we knew that this NYC chapter is closing and it's time to open a new chapter in our life.

We have many feelings about this move and change at this time - excitement, sadness, anxiousness & relief....finding a job right now has been a huge blessing and we are really grateful that this job fits so many of the points Bryson wanted.

I have more thoughts - so many more & I didn't even touch on the drama and craze that was the PTA the last two weeks. It wouldn't be the school & PTA if I wasn't living in the middle of one of the most craziest times in that organization that I have every seen! I have told everyone I am writing a book on this experience there - I think it will mix the genres of comedy and tragedy, and it will be epic. I am not kidding when I say that many of us have stood with our mouths open many times this year at some of the scenes playing out, knowing that they can't write day-time drama like this....it's too real and golden for something to think this up!

As much as I want to write now - I need to pack. I'll continue to mull over my thoughts and feelings and get them ready to write down when I have some time after our move. We aren't sure quite yet where we will be living - we will stay with my mom and look for a home to rent in that area....because true to our life this adventure will most likely pave way to the next adventure which would be that we move to Logan with this company in the summertime. We were in shock when we heard that the owner of the company wanted to relocated up to Logan in about 6 months - however, the thought has really grown on us and if that is where we are to be than we will go there.

We are grateful that prayers were answered, and doors have continually be opened as we are preparing to move. We have been blessed and we know that we are watched over. We are thankful that the Lord has been mindful of our prayers and the prayers of our loved family & friends on our behalf. Those experiences as well will be written down - until then we will be packing, moving & trying to settled and unpack in a new place.

It has been the most wonderful and definitely the busiest time of the year!

very thankful

It might sound very materialistic...but today one of the greatest things I am thankful for is my wedding ring. I love it for all it symbolizes...however, I just love IT. And for having it back.

I haven't been able to find it for over a week. I went to put my ring on last week, and could only find my wedding band in my jewelry case. I looked through the little boxes where my other jewelry is housed, thinking I had dropped it into the wrong area. It wasn't there. I thought it might be in the car, up front where I dropped it into a water holder when I was putting lotion on my hands after church - however, I finally drove somewhere yesterday and the ring was not in the car like I hoped.

I asked Bryson (Sr.) if he were planning some surprise with my ring, and had taken it out to SL with him last week - that was about the last time I had seen it. He promised he hadn't - and I was partially relieved, but then frantic because I had no idea where my ring was. I offered the children $10 if they could find my ring. Where was it?!

Today, as the children were helping me to put up the Christmas decorations - they found a set of boxes that I have which stack inside each other and they decided to play a game where they put a treasure in the smallest box, and make someone open larger boxes first, then smaller sizes until they get down to a box that is jewelry size. I overhead Jacob getting excited about his turn to find something special to put in the boxes & then he turned them over to Madeleine to open.

She opened and opened and then I heard her say, "Jacob, where did you find a ring like Mom's? Is this a play ring?" I thought he had perhaps taken a play ring which I did have and put into the garbage last week and so I came over to their play over slowly - but then when I saw the ring Madeleine was holding, I exclaimed, "That IS the ring - that is my real ring!" I was so happy and a bit frustrated at the same time - where had Jacob had my ring?! I asked him, and he told me that he loved my ring so much, he had taken it and put it into his drawer. I tried not to think how easily it could have been lost by this point - but thankfully it wasn't lost and now the entire situation was figured out and I put my ring back on and gave Jacob a hug and also a reminder NOT to touch Mommy's jewelry! I gave him a $1 since the ring was returned....I just didn't realize I would be paying the person that had taken the ring in the first place!

Thanksgiving Day - Part I

Thanksgiving is brought to our family this year in 2 parts....Day 1 and Day 2. This option was given to us due to the fact that our family is sick. Again. and STILL! There is nothing like feeling and being sick to help you realize how thankful you are for good health!

We have been sick since Sunday - the crazy day when Bryson and I were sick, and Jacob was throwing up (see post from that day) and then Madeleine had the stomach bug on Tuesday night - we had everyone stay home from school on Wednesday as the coughing was going strong, and we hoped to have it clear the system so we could enjoy the parade, dinner and all the parts of a Thanksgiving celebration.

I went out last night to buy all the things for our dinner - yes it was the night before Thanksgiving and I was out trying to find food....I don't recommend that again, and yet with being in an apartment it's hard to buy food too much earlier! I was worried I had missed the chance for a turkey, as the grocery store I went to first was out, I called Costco to see if I could run by there to buy one - and they were out! I drove home by a different grocery store, and thankfully they had a few birds left. I had no idea turkeys could sell out! When I came home, the kiddos were busying to get ready for bed, excited to be up early so we could go to the parade. After they were in bed, Bryson and I were up talking and then started to pack up backpacks and getting out chairs for the parade. We decided on a plan to have him take Madeleine and stake out a place, and then the boys and I would follow a little bit after. We decided to have our Thanksgiving Dinner on Friday, so that we wouldn't have to worry about getting up even earlier to start the dinner, or to hurry home to finish it up....one event each day with how sick we all were sounded fine - and realistic.

Game plans are nice ideas - I'm just wondering if they work better on other families, because rarely do we actually do the plan that we talk about. Bryson work up feeling worse than the day before (he has some major swelling to his face, where the Dr. thought a saliva gland was clogged and a sinus infection - he gets at least one a year and they are terrible!) and so he decided to stay home and sleep in as the boys did not want to get up either....and I got up and went to the parade with Madeleine.

We left the house a little before 9am - there was no way at this time we would get great seats, let alone good standing room. We knew we'd probably not get close to the front at all, but we just wanted to see some of the balloons and check off from our bucket list that we went to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. And now that we've been - I have to say that seeing it from home is SO much better! You get better views, you don't have to wander down the maze of NYC streets trying to figure out which are closed and which are open, and you aren't standing behind crowds that are about 10 people deep to catch a view of the parade!

The best view we had of the parade was a fluke - we hopped off the subway at 57th Street and walked over to 7th Avenue where the parade was coming down & after going up and down the street twice, we ended up on the walkway part of the sidewalk, where the police officers were insistent that people continue to walk - there was no standing! That is we couldn't stand until we got caught at the red light (there were letting the traffic cross in between times of the parade) and we waited there for the light and had the best view of the balloons and floats that were coming by.

It was hard to have to move on (yet there wasn't any choice with so many NYPD officers hovering over), when I had the feeling that we wouldn't get quite the same view at another spot....and I was right. We tried walking down multiple streets and we could not get close to the parade again....sometimes we were back about 1/4 of the block - like here...thankfully the zoom on the camera got a better view than we did!

We did think that this balloon of the world was so cool - it looked like it was just floating through the streets and that there were no strings attached. We loved this one!

We finally made our way over to Columbus Circle and went inside the Time Warner building, to see if we could catch a glimpse of the parade from upstairs...which the view wasn't close, but it was a very unique view!

I love these glass stars that hang from the ceiling - at night they light up into different colors for a light show to music - we need to come back at night to see the entire show, yet they are still magnificent hanging from the atrium ceiling at any time of day!

This was a piece of artwork on the top floor that Madeleine and I loved. It has major places from around the city printed over each other - it was fun to stop and see which places we love that we could find!

After we viewed the parade from all 3 stories and realized we just didn't get the view we wanted, we went downstairs to the basement to get a hot chocolate from Whole Foods. That set us back about 40 minutes, as the machines broke while we were there and they were trying to serve about 30 people their hot drinks and it was CHAOTIC! By the time we got back outside, we saw the end of Kermit going down 59th Street....

And then we saw the little Macy's men floating along which signaled the coming of....

Santa Clause! Thankfully there was a steel post near us that opened up, so Madeleine was able to stand on it to get a better view & we watched the jolly old man wave to the crowd and shout out 'Merry Christmas'!...at least I assume that is what he was shouting, we weren't actually close enough to hear him, so it could have been 'Ho, Ho, Ho!' as well :)

After we saw the Believe balloons floating by, people turned and started to walk past us, which meant finally the front of the parade route was finally open! Madeleine and I boogied right up to the gates and positioned ourselves where everyone had left & then I looked around....everyone was moving - what was going on? It took me just a few moments to realize between everyone moving away from the parade and no more floats or balloons or people walking along the parade route....that it was done. What?! I suppose the 40 minutes spent getting a hot chocolate had something to do with that!

Although the event did not go exactly like I had thought or we had planned....that is life. We have realized with a bit of a laugh, relief at lowering some expectations and perhaps a tinge of sadness with letting some ideas go to the wayside - someone(s) in our family is usually sick during most holidays. And unfortunately, with a day like today - having a glitch in the idea is hard because you can't really recreate the event next week, or month....it's a yearly thing! We have made our bucket list of things we really want to do here in NYC, and because our time here might be trickling down if a job offer comes through - we are working to get our items checked off in case there isn't a next year option for us. Just in case :)

We did miss the boys, yet it was nice to have some time with just Madeleine and myself....and it was a lot easier cruising through the crowds with just the two of us. Bryson doesn't have a lot of patience for crowds & the way I work to get to the "perfect" spot - the way Madeleine and I moved locations the entire time we were at the parade would not have bode very well...and the boys can get a little crazy (all the time) - so as much as they were missed, perhaps in the end we each did what we all really like to do.

And now we can say CHECK off for the Macy's Day Parade. And just a note - it is worth it to do it once. Once was great. And other years are really great watching it on the couch, and seeing everything close up.

Happy 1st Day of Thanksgiving ----

and tomorrow we will have Celebration Take 2!

kiss & tell

After Jacob gave me multiple kisses on the cheek - he looked at me and said,

"I give you so many kisses, maybe I'll marry you Mommy!"

I love this boy's tender heart!

better than the movies

You know when you watch a movie, and they show a scene where everything is so upside down and topsy-turvy and crazy that it's not really possible? Or, really it is possible - and you laugh knowing you could live out a scene like that at your house?

We had those scenes today - straight out of the best comedy ever, in fact better than the best comedy because it was real, and you can't script real life like this!

The day didn't start out very funny, in fact it was pathetic waking up feeling like your body was a piece of lead. Our throats hurt, nose was stuffy, head hurt and in all the kiddos colds from this week came crashing in all at once. The children were up and Madeleine had even gotten ready for church on her own....when Bryson and I realized we were so sick we couldn't get ourselves to church. I called our neighbors, and they were willing to have Madeleine go into church with them, and then she'd come home with another family that lives in the neighboring building. I tried to go back to bed, but the boys were anxiously engaged in battling things out and I stumbled out to the couch while Bryson Sr. slept for a few hours.

A little while after the boys had some breakfast (the mommy award this morning was letting everyone get their own cereal), Jacob was laying on the floor watching a show (okay that was the 2nd mommy award) and looked up at me telling me his head hurt. Then his tummy hurt. Suddenly he was dancing around and saying he needed to throw up - so we ran down to the bathroom and up came breakfast. I was blown away - no fever, he had been feeling better from his cold, but throughout the day everything came up from his little tummy and nothing was staying down.

The highlight to the sickness came during late afternoon, when we were trying to get dinner cooked, and still working on writing assignments for Madeleine & Bryson to be turned in tomorrow. Jacob started his dance around, he seriously dislikes going down the hallway to the bathroom alone (we don't have a large place, so I'm still not sure why he dislikes the hallway so much!), and suddenly he decided to run down the hallway which was the signal that this was serious! I heard the splatter of Gatorade hitting the floor and right after Bryson Sr. ran down the hallway and then I heard them both turning back towards the kitchen and that is when I saw a fountain shooting out of Jacob's mouth and then a few seconds later they were at the kitchen sink where I hoped there would be less clean-up than the previous two spots.

It turned out, that Jacob threw-up most of the liquid in the hallway and then when Bryson scooped him up, there was a 2nd surge that came up and that was what came pouring out and hit the wall and went all over the kitchen floor. It was the craziest 2 minutes we've had in our house in a long time....and of course the clean-up was about 100 times as long!

After that was cleaned up, dinner was eaten and we were moving onto the next phase of the night - Bryson Jr. came up to me and told me he wanted to act out a funny joke he had seen on America's Funniest Home Videos. He had a rubber band in hand, and was going to jimmy rig the water sprayer attached to the kitchen sink to try and trick Bryson Sr. I told him this might not be the night to play this joke - we'd already had a lot of cleaning up to do, and another time would be better to laugh at this joke. I didn't stay the course to find out what he was doing, as I was finishing up editing Madeleine's writing. However, I figured out about 20 minutes later what Bryson Jr. had ended up deciding to do ---- I went in to the kitchen and needed to rinse something off when I turned on the water and a different kind of fountain than before came shooting out of the kitchen sprayer, right past me, and onto the fridge where all my papers were completely soaked! I turned off the water and started to laugh - turning to Bryson Jr. who had come running into the kitchen when he heard my cry of surprise. He was laughing, and it helped me to remember to laugh through the moment...because it really was funny, and thankfully I didn't get wet....my papers were soaked but thankfully there was nothing super important.

We went on to wrap-up the night, and I popped into the kitchen to get Jacob a drink of water after another throw-up incident, when I turned on the water and got a shot of water right on my arm! That little turkey had rigged the water sprayer up again - AND I fell for it again!

In a way it was nice to find the comic relief in the situations of today - having most of us sick, and stuck inside a tiny apartment had some moments of disaster. However, when looking at the big picture I realized that there are my 'I Love Lucy' episodes on a daily basis, and it really is so much better to laugh about things than cry, or pout, or whine, or get upset. Still learning on this - but hopefully it's an uphill progression in learning :)

as luck would have it...

Today I took the time off of life to spend time with the middle child - little B, Bugaboo, Bryson Jr. He needed a Mommy & Me date, and I had a Groupon that expired today. After an explosion last night with this temper (which shall be recounted later in a dramatic story telling....), I realized this child needed some one-on-one attention.

I told him that the two of us would head out to the NY Hall of Science and let him explore and discover. Oh his excitement was what I had hoped for! Instant smiles, a huge hug and the excitement that this was going to be his day!

After my Visiting Teaching appointment, I came home and we packed up snacks and went out to the car and buckled in for our adventure. Thankfully the museum is out in Queens and a much easier drive than a subway ride...at least it would have been an easy ride if the navigation system had worked completely, but after a few loops around we finally made it and I was impressed that we were arriving within a short time of 10 o'clock - the museums opening time.

As we drove into the parking lot Bryson commented, "Mom, there aren't a lot of cars here". I looked out and only thought how nice it was to find a spot near the front and that for whatever reason the Ticket Booth to pay for parking wasn't open. Hmmmm...must be an old ticket booth I thought.

We got out of the car and put the bag together to take in. I finally had my camera loaded with a full battery and the card reader so I could take pictures of this great day with little B. We walked up to the door - enjoying the bright sun on the crisp fall day. It has been freezing over the weekend with the crazy winter storm that came through on Saturday - so to walk with just a sweater on and feeling the warm sun beat down made my heart so happy. Bryson looked up at me and a big smile cracked across his face too. He started to skip and our hands swung together up into the blue sky. I thought to myself - this is one of the best days I've had in a long time ---- we both needed this day to do something different and just enjoy time away!

We were nearing the entrance when a big guy in the white uniform from the museum walked out.

"Ma'm - we're closed today."

"What? It's Monday - why would you be closed?"

"We're always closed on Monday."

"Really? Because it's not just Monday -it's Halloween! How can you be closed on Halloween? (which the holiday has nothing to do with science, but it made sense to link them together at the time) And I have this coupon - it expires today. It's good for the two of us to come into the museum - we've been planning on this!"

"I'm sorry. We are closed."

"Can he at least play out on the science playground for just....a....b...."

The man was shaking his head a BIG NO, and said, "No way! Are you crazy?"

I wanted to say - YES! Yes, I am crazy! That is why I planned this amazing day to have with my son, and didn't think to check the website. I only knew my Groupons expired today and that I needed to have some time with my son. Can't he just run on your playground for 5 minutes?!

Instead, we turned around and walked to the car. I apologized to Bryson and told him I was so sorry that it was closed - and that we would come another time. I felt terrible - he had been so excited for this day! Surprisingly - he was not drastically upset. I thought he would be screaming and throwing a fit (recent experience assured me that it could be a crazy one!).

When I told him he was a good sport for not getting upset, he told me "Of course I'm a good sport - I'm good at just about every sport I play!"

We spent the rest of the afternoon running errands - talk about a really good sport! We went to Aldi's - a favorite grocery store that was in Virginia when we lived there. We returned some things to the mall and then we came home and he sat on the couch and read for over an hour!

All in all, it was still a great day. We spent time together and we enjoyed doing something different for the day....I think he just needed a break from school - and I needed a break from school/PTA as well.

Even though it turned out well - I still felt a bit like Clark Griswald (played by Chevy Chase) in the movie 'National Lampoon's Vacation' when he takes his family to Wally World, only to drive up and realize it is closed. I haven't seen the entire movie, but I remember watching it on TV and the part where he drives up the theme park that they drove all the way across the country to visit.

I only drove across part of Queens - but I wanted that Hall of Science to be open! Next time....oh next time I'll check the internet and be sure to double-check the days & hours of operation!

back to September

September seems like ages ago, and if I'm not careful it will be another age before I update with pictures and stories.  The days become weeks that go by in a blur - which means October is waiting to be updated so here we go with a little back story-telling.  

I already posted about Governor's Island, but I don't want to forget how much fun we had going out there to enjoy bike riding around the island and having a day together...these 3 made the outing so fun, and someday we all hope we'll be in a place where they can have bikes and ride them to their hearts content!  

One kick-back afternoon back at the apartment one day, the children took advantage that I had moved the kitchen table and chairs to wash the floor to create a fort for their imaginations to run wild!....

Back to School Party!  There are two other families from our ward that live on Roosevelt Island where the kids go to the same school (there are 2 other families with school age children but one family homeschools and the other family goes to private school).  The moms had been saying that some of their children were a little nervous to start school.  I thought it would be fun to do a Back to School Party together with the all the kids so that they could be strengthened together.  On Labor Day/Monday, we got together for a Family Home Evening lesson and cupcakes & to let the kiddos play together before starting school in a few days.  

Madeleine was acting out a story with Kyler and Lexie, who are 2 of 5 children in a family that moved here from Idaho last May.  We have enjoyed getting to know their families - and I love that Lexie's hair styles has created new interest in Madeleine doing her hair in more ways than just headbands! :)

First Day of School!

Jacob started full-day Kindergarten this year!  He was so excited to bump up and be there all day like the older two :)  He has Ms. Kaplan who is an older teacher and experienced....this has benefits, but also has some downfalls.  She can be a bit old-school in some of the ways she works with the children.  The other day Bryson picked up Jacob from school and was told that Jacob had been talked a bit that day.  When Bryson asked Jacob why he hadn't stopped talking, he said, "Dad I tried to stop talking, but my mouth just kept moving!" {he took his hands out and made the actions like a shark with his hands moving up and down}.  This boy always makes us laugh!

Madeleine started 5th Grade ~ she has Ms. Gambino for a teacher, and adores her.  She also had 34 students in her class which was a big problem for the first 5 weeks of school.  We were addressing issues of overcrowding & for a time I had my thought of trying to make a difference in the political arena or thinking that parents really do have a say in the Dept. of Education.  Both aren't the case - and I'm happy to just take the good & bad with the PTA...that has enough politics in it for me for this stage of my life!

Madeleine's class now has 32 students and she is happy - has great friends and even though I still wonder if we should homeschool many days due to the fact that she has figured out that the level of attention she gets this year, compared to last year in a class of 14 students, is really different....we'll stay in for  time.  Or maybe it will be the entire year.  It's week by week on that situation.

Bryson Jr. is in 2nd grade and actually has the same teacher that Madeleine had last year - Ms. Rubenstein.  His class jumped in numbers as well - he is in the G&T program, and the class that used to be 14 in Kindergarten, went to 22 last year and is now around 28 students!  The teacher is wonderful - very warm and caring and really helps the children internalize the love of learning and the desire to do well.  We have been really impressed that he wants to read longer every night for his Independent Reading Log & he wants to finish his homework with an Incentive Chart that Ms. R started for him (after a few weeks where homework was not happening!).  All in all, it is a great experience he is having - he is becoming more confident in his learning and participating in class - and he is once again referred to as 'Bryce' in class. {I'd rather it be Bryson, but as we have two Bryson's...it actually does help a bit to have a nickname every so often....at least just in school}

In other news:

1) Important but not so important - My camera finally got fixed!  My nice camera stopped working while we were in Utah over the summer - actually I think it started in Hawaii.  The lens wasn't producing clear pictures - they were really blurry - so I sent it back to the company to fix.

When it came back, I realized how much I had missed having the camera around and how much I need to start taking pictures again.

2) The city --- this is a picture I snapped when the camera came back, but in other news of this city....well, it's a city that brings surprises.  The kids started school on the 8th & on the 12th of September Bryson came home a little early and we enjoyed having him for FHE and putting the kids to bed.  When they were asleep and we were catching up on the day, I was telling him about my day and when I asked about his - he paused and said....'Well, I got laid off today'.

Wow.  That was a huge surprise.  We had thought that we were in the clear of the latest Bank of American lay-offs that had happened the previous week, of about 30,000.  Bryson went into work on Monday, and his boss was back from a trip out of the country - and when we got called into a meeting, he said he knew something was coming up.  The interesting part, is that Bryson has been giving everything he has had from Day 1 at the bank.  He is a hard worker and although there are times when he has needed to learn with the job - overall, he felt that things were going well.  When he came out from the talk with his boss, the secretary told Bryson that he wasn't the one that was supposed to be laid off...at least from last Friday.  We think that it came down to that it was between Bryson and the Analyst that was hired over the summer - and she is a female and a minority.  Unfortunately he didn't fall into the right categories and he was the more expensive choice as he had more experience.  Sometimes all the political corrective part  of life stinks when it means you are out of a job because you aren't the right gender or ethnicity.

The part that we think might work to our advantage....we were wondering how much longer we could survive in this job.  And I say survive even though I despise that word, and would rather say we thrive because of his work.  However, most often we are on survival mode.  It looks like the choice was made for us that we need to look for other work, and a difference in our life and style.

So, our life since then has been to have Dad home a lot more than anyone can remember in...probably 4+years.  Jacob has been amazed that Dad is around, because when you think about it, all he has known is that Dad is gone hours and hours at a time for work.  That is all his memory holds.  The other day, he was cuddled up next to Bryson on the couch and they were playing Plants vs. Zombies on Bryson's phone - and Jacob looked up and said, "Dad, I like this new job you have!"

If only he could get paid to be Dad and be home!

He is looking into work all over - around this area and out of state.  We think it might be time to leave the city - but we need a job first.  Or at least we hope we get a job first before we pack up and move.  Our lease expires at the end of February, and by then we will be out of the period where the bank pays us for being laid off....we hope to have a job by then, if not we might take up residence in Zucotti Park along with all the other OWS inhabitants that expound how terrible and corrupt those crazy bankers are!

Back on our little island - September brought the start of soccer season:

and needing to use the tickets to Victorian Gardens that is in the middle of Central Park.  Groupon had a great deal last spring and I picked up the tickets and finally used them a day before they expired!  The kiddos went to school Thursday and Friday - and Saturday evening I took the kids in for a celebration of school starting.  We tried to get Bryson to join us, but he was busy with work....and on Sunday he was busy too.  And then Monday he got laid off.  It's times like that - you wish you had the Crystal Ball so he could have said...'hey you are laying me off anyway, figure out this project on your own'.  Oh well - he left on a high note giving his all to that bank.  We are proud of him - although we missed him for this fun play day!

You can see all the buildings in the background - I'd forget that we were in the middle of the city in our magical Central Park, until I'd see the buildings towering in the background.  As always - I'm so grateful for whomever came up with the amazing idea to make sure the city has a park for all of us to enjoy!

I love the faces he makes - there are so many, and they are so fun.  Although my favorite is just a big smile form him!

Flying feet - years from now I'll probably look back and cry and how little these feet are and how much fun we had that day.  As always - it's so easy to be a mom when you are having fun and doing nice things for your kiddos.  Would every moment of parenting be so easy to have!

We were going to leave around 7pm so that we could get home in time for a decent bedtime hour for the kiddos.  However, the park was not crowded and the weather was beautiful - and it was so easy to stay for another 10 minutes - or another ride or two.  It was such a beautiful evening that we left at about 9pm!  Thankfully the kiddos got up in time for church the next day, otherwise it wouldn't have such a happy ending :)

Bryson had a fun surprise in seeing one of his classmates, David, at the park.  They went on a few rides together, and as always I'm amazed that even in this city with millions of people we run into people we know. How great to know it's a small enough world to run into people randomly!

The following week, Bryson went out last minute to Utah for a conference at BYU.  Since he didn't have to report to work, he decided to seize the opportunity of attending the Investment's Conference and jump right back into networking and trying to work with those he knows in securing the next job.  We were set to go down to Virginia for the baptism of the kiddos cousin - so I drove out on Friday afternoon and arrived 6+ hours later down in Virginia.  I tend to not to do well on timing with most road trips - it takes me a long time, with the stops for bathrooms & food stops.  Thankfully we finally arrived!  The next morning Bryson flew into town & we enjoyed a day with family and then the baptism that afternoon.  

Bryson Jr.'s hair is too long & he was making the goofiest faces - it definitely was picture worthy! 

Back at the Thiriot's for some delicious food and more time with the cousins - as Jacob refers to them, "Mom, can I go play with my best friends that have all those boys & live far away?"  He's still getting used to knowing what a cousin is - but he is right, cousins are best friends!

There is more to September....I shall post Part II later.  We are off to a Ward Halloween Party in the SNOW!  I thought this crazy weather only happened in Utah!