*hi*

 HI! It's been a year and a half since we blogged. It was good to take something off my plate and not feel like I was falling behind, but today I was writing in my journal and realized I missed typing these updates and posting the pictures for us to remember and look back on. Stockton found the blog recently and loved looking at all the old posts, especially of when he was a baby. It was gratifying to see the blog being used exactly as I had hoped: enjoying the pictures and memories as a true family history. I don't know how much I'll keep up going forward, but it feels right to add a lil update right now : ) 

Family: we moved to Casper, WY, bought our first house, are getting ready to buy a new van, and traveled to San Diego (twice), Panaca, NV (at least twice?), Salt Lake (100 times), and Yellowstone National Park, to name a few. We like trying new recipes, playing Boomerang Fu on the Switch, going on adventures, and reading. Recently we started reading the Book of Mormon at breakfast each morning in addition to whatever Come Follow Me scriptures we read at night, and we've noticed specific blessings already - it's been powerful!

Austin: loving work at Brant Audiology, also temporarily works a couple Saturdays a month for the VA in Cheyenne; finished two marathons since our last blog (St. George and Big Cottonwood); still plays basketball at least once a week and runs; still loves reading and NBA and not spending money.

Jessie: almost finished with my Masters in Education so I can be a teacher; teaching piano lessons; working with the young women at church; wanting a bigger house but can't even keep this small house organized and clean; still loves naps and spending money. 

Natalie (10): auditioned for and made Casper Children's Chorale and is loving that; has some anxiety issues that we're working through (tough!! and she's not even in middle school yet!); best friend is Chloe at school and she's excited to be a "sherpa" in 5th grade and get to participate in extra jobs around the school. 

Stockton (9): still loves Mario games and the Switch; recently acquired an Alexa Echo dot for his birthday and he is obsessed; doesn't love doing work at school but does enjoy his friends and teacher; made the decision to be baptized almost a year after he turned 8 and it was a highlight for everyone. 

Jack (7): loves friends, sports, activities, being outside...still our enthusiastic happy child!; loves playing Zelda games; Mario always sleeps in Jack's bed at night, which is as cozy and cute as it sounds; tried karate but it wasn't exciting enough; wants to play basketball.

Claire (3): finally a little less stubborn, hallelujah! Overall a bright and shiny light in all our lives; started preschool and doesn't hate it...again, hallelujah! Loves friends but loves being with Mom more; loves helping in the kitchen, going on errands, and doing whatever the big kids are doing. 

Mario (9?): still lazy, happy, sleepy, and perfect 

These pictures populated randomly and are from the end of September until now:

Our stake primary did the coolest activity! They built this 100ft whale out of plastic sheets taped together, inflated it, and had "Jonah" inside of the whale to tell his story. The kids loved it and I love that the scriptures came alive for them!

They did other activities too, and Stockton loved the parachute. Actually, his favorite activity wasn't part of the primary but he mopped all the bathrooms in the church while the activity was going on and did a great job! He loves mopping, especially at the church. 

When we lived in Wyoming as a kid I don't remember there being fall colors (or trees), but wow fall is bursting in Casper and it's so beautiful! We're in the solid gold stage of leaf transformation and Claire said "the trees are like sunshine!" Claire and her friend Cheyenne had a great time on this little hike at our lovely state park right outside the city. 

Progress on the temple has been so exciting, especially this week! It's been about a year since they broke ground and we've watched the whole process. We can't wait for it to be finished!

One of the perks of Claire being in preschool is that I have most mornings to myself for a couple hours, and one of my favorite ways to spend that time is hiking! It feels so good to be in the woods, on the mountain, enjoying the fresh air and hard work. I love it so much!

Mario and Claire were being cozy after I folded laundry. Mario thinks that it is his finite right to lay on the couch in "his spot" even if someone or something is currently sitting there. 

Jack still loves his otters!

Claire gave up naps earlier in the spring but still falls asleep almost every day during nap time, in the car. 

Took the kids to a froyo place downtown while our car was getting an oil change. Stockton likes it because it has a zombie theme inside, and he loves (nice) zombies. 

Caught this cute moment of Jack reading to Claire the other night 

Claire and I have a lot of fun together while the other kids are at school - she's my little buddy and sometimes we go on adventures and other times we watch movies but whatever we do, it's fun!

Something we started doing is Sunday drives. We don't go shopping, participate in organized recreation activities, or a lot of other "during the week" type of events on Sundays in order to keep the Sabbath day holy, but there's hardly any better expression of God's love for us or our appreciation for Him than through nature, so we pick a place to explore or drive through and enjoy being there as a family. On this Sunday we rode bikes at Edness Kimball Wilkins State Park, enjoying the fall colors and pond.

 

More hikes - it's fun to see Casper from the mountain view!

In September I completed my classroom observations in 3rd grade at an elementary school, and it was such a good experience! I loved the teachers I worked with and the kids were cute and I learned a lot and overall it was just really fulfilling and gave me a lot of purpose. I would love to do my student teaching here, and/or work here eventually! This is the aftermath of our celebration on my last day there - qdoba, crumbl, diet coke, and friends : ) 

This is a derpy mascot from the Home Depot Tools at Braves games, and my brother recently sent this to me and now he's part of our family culture haha. Phil the Bucket!