Fall has Fallen

Fall has always been our family's favorite time of year.  I love everything from the spicy warm smells to the cute scarves and layers you wear.  I love that I can put apples and pumpkin in everything, and that so many vegetables and fruits are in season.  Chase loves that it's football season, and even Mckay and Logan love all the fun activities, including harvest farms/festivals, Halloween, and playing outside enjoying nature's (in my opinion) most beautiful season.

 We finally took Chase to the Mall of America.  The train ride was his favorite.  No, really, it was, because all the other rides made both of us kind of sick! We are getting old . . .

 Me and my sweet boys enjoying one last carousel ride at Mall of America.

 One September afternoon we went to Apple Jacks, an orchard/farm festival type place.  While there, we got to pick our own apples.  Logan loved doing this, and may or may not have eaten one while we picked.

 Mckay is our little animal lover.  His favorite part of Apple Jack's was the petting zoo.  The goats loved him too!

 The last weekend in September we got a visit from Grandma and Grandpa England.  We were so excited to see them and show them our new stomping grounds.  One day, while Chase was at work, we took them to the Children's Museum in St. Paul.  I'd heard so many good things about this place, and it did not disappoint!

 This fall was absolutely gorgeous, with perfect temperatures.  The boys and I practically lived outside whenever we could.  We spent many a day at Schmidt Lake Park.  Mckay loved to ride his scooter to the park.  He has become a scooting master this fall, and rarely wanted to go outside without his new favorite toy.

 One Monday night for Family Home Evening, we went to Komo Zoo.  It's a small (but free!) zoo in St. Paul.  We were surprised just how large and nice it was.  The boys had never seen a zebra before, so this was one of their favorite exhibits.

 This fall has been so wonderful, but in some ways it was also kind of hard.  With my growing belly has come some growing aches and pains.  I have had a lot of back pain this last trimester, and have been forced to slow down in many ways.  I am grateful that Chase and so many friends and ward members here have been helpful and understanding.  I truly am so blessed.  Here I am at 7 1/2 months.

Every Sunday afternoon this past month we've taken the boys to French Park, a big, beautiful park/lake/reserve only five minutes from our house.  They have a small paved trail that goes around the park and leads to Medicine Lake.  Mckay loves to scoot on his scooter, and Logan rides his 4-wheeled zebra (pulled by Dad) each Sunday.  We always end at the lake and practice throwing rocks in the water.  It is so beautiful there, and has become one of my favorite activities of the week.

Here is Mckay with some of his preschool buddies at Minnetonka Orchards.  As you can see, Mckay will still not pose for the camera for me!  Both Mckay and I really enjoyed going to (and teaching) preschool this year.  I think we've both learned a lot, and are grateful for the good kids and parents that we participate with.

 For Halloween this year Logan went as a Dragon and Mckay went as Mickey Mouse.  Both of them are old enough to get the concept of this candy-collecting tradition, but neither of them yet have that killer instinct to run as fast as they can and get more more more, so it was a very chill, relaxing night of trick-or-treating for both of them.  We also got to go to a great ward Halloween party and trunk-or-treat as well as a preschool party, which was super fun, and gave them both excuses to wear their costumes a few times.  Chase and I enjoyed levying a "candy tax" from each of our boys.  I think I may have taken all of their Reeses (and feel kind of bad about that!)

I love these boys, and I love our life together as a family.  Mckay and Logan make me see the world through more curious, innocent eyes.  Even though so much of our lives hinge around mundane tasks and routines, there are jeweled moments in every day.  I love the ages and stages the boys are in, I love that Chase is enjoying his job and learning new things every day.  I love that we have new and exciting things to look forward to, including the arrival of baby #3!

Where did summer go?

As I write this, the high for today is 68 degrees and the leaves are just starting to turn colors.  Summer has officially left, and fall is here.  My blogging has been pretty sporadic lately, (mostly due to a dying computer . . . and Instagram!) but we've had such a fabulous few months, I am happy to finally record some of them.  I'm gonna apologize in advance for a long post and lots of pictures!

 4th of July we invited a few friends over to our house for dessert and fireworks.  I didn't get a lot of pictures of the actual fireworks (mostly because I was too worried about Logan burning himself) but I love this family portrait that someone took.  This is also a good view of the cul de sac we live on.  It's such a great, quiet place, perfect for a young family.  We're so lucky to have found this house!

 Towards the end of July we got lucky enough to have Jeannette, Courtney, Jax, and Chelsea come to Minnesota to help us put the finishing touches on our newly moved-in house.  While here, we went to the aquarium and the Mall of America.  It was fun to do the tourist thing in the city we now call home, and we loved being with family again.

One of my favorite purchases of the summer was this little slide and play set.  Mckay and Logan have spent hours on it, and it may or may not have addicted me to garage sales.  They have so many around here, and you can find some really great things.  

 Both my boys are readers, especially when it's time for bed!  I chose this shot because it was a good example of an everyday routine that's become part of our lives.

 In August we got to have a fun 2 hour visit with Grandma and Grandpa England in the Minneapolis airport.   They were there for a layover, but we managed to squeeze in lots of fun activities and visiting in the short time we had.

 The highlight of my summer was probably when we went back to Utah to visit family.  It was a short trip for Chase (he only had the weekend), but we made the most of it.  Saturday morning we went to Park City to watch Connor finish a half marathon.  Cousins, brothers, and in-laws all enjoyed the chance to catch up.

After a fun England weekend, I got a chance to spend a few days in Payson while Chase went back to work.  We went up Payson Canyon one night with my siblings and parents and enjoyed a picnic dinner.  Mckay and Logan were both feeling the affects of a different time zone and were asleep the entire time, but I didn't mind a chance just to visit with people and enjoy the mountains again.

I was lucky enough to get to visit my Grandma Beth while I was in Utah.  She's so fun to visit with and is such a good sport about taking pictures with me and my two wigglers.

One of the main reasons we went back to Utah was to say goodbye to Clayton, who is serving a mission in Mexico City for two years.  I am so glad my boys were able to say goodbye to him, he is such an important example for them!  We will miss him a lot, but there's nowhere else we'd rather have him be right now.

Feeling nostalgic for all things Payson, we took the boys to Rowley's Barn in Santaquin, Utah.  This cute barn has everything from harvest activities in the fall to yummy ice cream year round.  It was a fun way to end our Utah trip.

One of my favorite activities this summer has been going to the park play dates our ward has every Wednesday.  I've been able to take the boys to so many fun parks as a result, and we've made lots of new friends this summer.  Here are some of the boys' friends that also come each week.  As you can see, Logan has lots of girls to be friends with!

Mckay started preschool this September.  I am in a co-op with a few other moms in our ward.  He has enjoyed preschool, and it's a good social outlet for him.  I also love being able to teach him a few times a month.

We've had such a great summer.  We've played hard, especially outside, and enjoyed making new friends and new memories.

Minnesota so far

We have now been in Minnesota for one month.  It may be that this was the longest and shortest month of my life.  Moving in, meeting new people, settling into a routine, and exploring this new place we now call home has made for an interesting month.

 This is our new house here in Plymouth, Minnesota.  It's actually the back side of our house, but the kids (well, all of us) were so excited to have a fenced in back yard complete with a fort that here is where we took all of our pictures.

 Even though we started paying rent as of June 1, the movers didn't bring our things until the 8th, so we had a week to kill while living in an apartment.  Chase hadn't yet started work at Target, so our main job was to keep us all entertained while we waited for our stuff.  Though frustrating, it did allow us to explore the area.  Above is the beautiful French Park, just located off Medicine Lake.  There is an amazing playground and a beach that we enjoyed . . . until Logan fell in.  Swim suits next time!

One day we took a rainy 2 1/2 drive to Duluth, an industrial town located on the shore of Lake Superior.  There we took a train ride with the kids. It was really fun, especially in the outside car even though it was only 46 degrees!

 Moving day finally arrived, and we quickly began to settle into the house and our new routine.  One of our favorite things to do is to walk to Schmidt Lake Park that is about 5 minutes from our house.  There, the kids love to go down this big slide.

One of the best parts about living in Minnesota are all the lakes.  Our friends the Taylors have a wonderful backyard that goes right up to the lake, and they were nice enough to invite us over for an afternoon of boating and playing in the sand.

One weekend we were hit with some terrible thunderstorms that not only knocked out our power, but flooded our local streets and knocked out a great number of fences and trees.  Here is our next door neighbor's beautiful tree that fell over due to so much water and wind.

One of the most exciting things that happened to us was finding out that baby # 3 is healthy, due Nov. 14, and is a GIRL!  We are so excited for her to join our family.

A New Post With a Lot of Catching Up

So being morning sick and moving from one state to another does not a great blogger make.  At least in my case.  I don't think I've ever gone this long without blogging, but so much has happened and I've been so sick during 95% of it, that I honestly was on low maintenance mode.  However, now we are moved in AND I am no longer throwing up everyday, so here is my catching up post.

 In March, we went to St. George with some of our England side for Chase's last Spring Break.  While we were there, we hiked the "Short and Scary Hike", went to the park, and had our family portraits taken, among many other fun things.

 I wish I could have devoted an entire post just to our family photos.  The kids posed so well, and we got lots of great shots with their cousin Jax, their Grandma England, and Great Grandpa Stander.

When we got home from St. George, I started feeling a little bit queasy.  The more I was around food, the sicker I got.  Well, that prompted me to take a little test, and we found out we were pregnant!  It was a wonderful surprise that we are very grateful for.  Our little baby is due November 14 (same due date as Courtney Cope's).  And thus began about 3 months of morning sickness which I will try my very hardest to forget:)

 The last week in April we celebrated Mckay's 3-year-old birthday.  He was really excited for his birthday, and I decided to throw him a birthday party with a Mickey Mouse theme.  It was a great way for him to have his first "official" party and also to have a sort of going-away bash with all of our friends in University Village.  The above picture is of our two youngest guests, Logan and Walter, and Grandma Sainsbury.

 Opening presents was fun for every kid!

 This is Mckay saying "Cheese!" so that we could take a picture of his new scooter.

The following week, my brother Stephen married the wonderful Courtney Cook in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple.  It was a beautiful wedding and a beautiful reception.  I am so glad that Courtney is in our family now!

Chase graduated from the University of Utah with his Master's in Business.  I am a terrible wife, and didn't get a picture of him in his regalia, but the ceremony was great and I am so proud of him!  We've been married now for almost 5 years, and school has been a big part of our lives.  We are both excited for the next chapter . . . working at Target Headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

A week after graduation, we went to St. George with our Sainsbury side of the family.  Again, we love the "Short and Scary Hike", and went to the park, Nelson's Frozen Custard, played lots of games of Rook and Settlers of Catan, and went hot tubbing.

Upon returning from St. George, we spent the next three weeks in transition.  We moved out of our University Village apartments and spent two weeks going back and forth visiting both sides of our family.  The Copes were in town for part of this time, and Matt and Jaime were in town for another part of the time.  We were so grateful we got to see all of our family these last few weeks before we moved.

While with our England side we . . .

 . . . did some fun toy shopping,

 . . . went hiking,

 . . . went to Kamas and swam, barbecued, and went off-roading,

. . . and ate out at Chick-fil-a.  We had such a good time!

When we were in Payson, we. . . 

 spent lots of time on the trampoline and grandma and grandpa's garden,

 . . . went 4-wheeling and bike riding together,

. . . and spent lots of time with cousins (I wish Walter were able to be in this picture!)  They met their new cousins Brigham and Tacem (no idea if I spelled that right).  

We had such a wonderful, busy March through May, and since this post has been so long, I will end for now and blog about our new adventures in Minnesota another time.

For now, I just want to say goodbye to Utah.  Utah is where Chase and I were both born and raised, where we met, got married, started a family, and finished school.  Most of our major milestones happened in Utah, and most of our family is still there.  We will miss this beautiful state and all the memories and connections we have there, but are excited for this new chapter in our lives.

February

It's been awhile since I've posted.  Both Mckay and Logan are really fascinated by my laptop, so I hardly ever use it unless they are asleep, and when I have been blogging, it's usually to guest post on Rachel's blog.  So my family blog has suffered.  The good news?  There's lots of news and pictures to share!

First of all, we celebrated Chase's birthday on the 4th.  I have a picture, but it's on Chase's phone.  We went out to dinner for his birthday to Asian Star, and he got a washer and dryer for his birthday and a gift card to Olive Garden.  All of these gifts, I have to admit, really benefit me, but he didn't seem to mind too much:)

One balmy day in the beginning of February, my dad and Rachel came up to visit us.  We love visitors, and took them to the zoo.  The weather was gorgeous and the place was practically empty, so I really can't think of a better zoo experience.  My family hadn't been to the zoo since Rocky Shores opened up, so we spent a lot of time visiting the seals and polar bear.

The tigers have been, and will always be, one of my kid's favorites.  This time they even swam for us.

We celebrated Valentine's Day the following week.  Chase and I went to the Olive Garden (courtesty of his birthday present) for dinner.  After that we spent the night at my parents' house, because the next day we went to St. George for Presidents' Day weekend with our England side.

   St. George was a gorgeous 60 degrees, and we spent as much time as possible outside.  It definitely helped me get over a really serious case of winter blues.  We spent a day at Snow Canyon climbing the red rocks.  Mckay and Logan loved it, and it was a safe enough hike that I wasn't freaked out the entire time.

We also flew kites at the park nearby.  The weather was just breezy enough for good kite flying, and Mckay and Chase kept that penguin kite in the air for hours.

Mckay wanted to hold the actual handle, but occasionally Mom had to take over in order to keep the kite in the air.

 Logan started walking this month.  He loved to toddle all over the grassy park.

We also spent some time at the playground.  Mckay is  lean mean rock-wall climbing machine.  He takes after his Dad.

All in all, February has been a great month.  I am super excited for March though, because winter and I are officially sick of one another.  I am ready for spring!