It's Time

Hey all you people who wondered why I seem to have fallen off the edge of the blogosphere!

We have been having so much fun lately now that we've committed to doing/going to one new place to us a week.  Last week we went to Kimball Farms and took no pictures but ate some incredibly delicious ice cream. I'm trying to talk Reed into going one last time before they close for the season in October.

(I've been evading the blog writing because chronologically my next post would be about a visit we had a few weeks back to visit Reed's brother and wife and kids in New York. Except, see, I'm not ready to publish those pictures and think about the inevitability of them moving in approximately 10 days. Back to the Other Side of this great continent. Leaving us, sadly, with no fun family to visit and no more planned trips into NYC with people who are veterans of driving there and who know personally the fun attractions to be seen.)

Instead, here's a little update about our family!

Let's start with our main man. Reed has been back in school for about a month now and in his usual fashion took a pretty laid back approach to his classes until last week when it suddenly hit him he's a little behind in his classes and has to catch up or else it'll be pretty crazy until the end of the semester.  So we've been seeing less of him lately but I'm pretty used to this already thanks to last semester. This semester feels like a breeze compared to last semester. We're not just moving in, and starting school and finding our way around this crazy town. We're pretty well settled into a routine and know our way around. We went to a school sponsored get together last Friday night and really enjoyed ourselves. They had lots of free food, live music and it was fun to walk around campus with the girls and show them more about "Daddy's school". Aftyn loved it! I'm sure the cotton candy will only make her MORE excited to visit Daddy's school in the future, in the hopes of having more. :) On the calling front, have I mentioned Reed is now the Elders Quorum President? This can make for a pretty hectic week depending on how many people are moving within the ward. Thankfully, it's been quiet on that front for a couple of weeks.

I wonder if a paper Reed would be as good as the man himself? :D

As for me, I am trying to do my usual juggle of cleaning, cooking, parenting and trying to do something I find to be fun like sewing. I haven't been able to find much time for sewing lately but that would be because I'm working on losing those last pounds of baby weight, so I've been expending my energy in working out when the girls go to bed. That usually wipes me out. :)  I'm still the 1st counselor in the primary presidency here and I have really learned to love that job. This last week at church I had to fill in at the last minute for the primary chorister. That was interesting, and I've decided since it could happen again that I need a fun "schtick" that makes me stand out and makes it fun for me to substitute for that calling. Any primary choristers have any good ideas of what my thing could be? I am certainly accepting any and all ideas.

Aftyn. Recently instead of saying "yes" to everything she has started responding with "yeah" and a sullen sort of head shake that reminds me of a teenager. I don't know what to make of her lately. Seems like she's suddenly having a hard time in certain areas of life. Hopefully it will pass soon, but if not we'll keep on hugging her and having fun family times that seem to bring back the sparkle in  her eyes and the smile on her face. I'm also trying to come up with ways that we can get together with friends at least once or twice a week as I really think that would help too. I love this girl and want to help her to be happy, I just think lately that she's feeling sad and I'm trying to figure out how to help her out of this funk.

Bronwyn is our little star shining brightly. She makes everybody laugh, and if we're not laughing then we're probably trying to chase her down and stop her from being naughty. She has so much personality. She likes to nod her head when appropriate and says "a-huh". She loves to give hugs and lately even kisses. She has the hardest head, and usually without knowing it will bonk me in the head quite hard while trying to snuggle into me. She loves to dance, and play with Aftyn. She loves books and generally anything Aftyn likes Bronwyn likes. She finally had a significant growth spurt this last month and grew 1 3/4 inches! :) Because of that growth spurt, she has finally started to fit into 18 month clothes, and has started to feel like more of a toddler when I pick her up. We sure love her infectious smile and her giggles. Especially when her giggles and Aftyn's giggles are combined. What a sweet sweet sound.

Evidently, Bronwyn does not care for mustaches. :)