Remember September

Speed blogging time!  'Cuz November is here and I'm tired of talking about September.  Even though it was beautiful.

While Brooklyn was at orchestra rehearsal, we discovered the new play area at Sugarhouse park.  So fun!

 Plus, we indulged in birthday cake at Baskin Robbins.  Bliss!

In September, the Wheeler brothers united.  Lance flew in from Chicago, so all the boys got together.  Plus, Lance brought me the world's best kitchen knife as a birthday gift.  It's so sharp that I accidentally cut through the plastic cutting board last week!  I love it--thank you.

Annika loves hanging out with her uncles.

There's always plenty of crafting going on in the Wheeler home.  Here's Annika helping Talia make plarn (plastic yarn) while Talia helps Eli with his new Lego set.

Annika also made this saddle out of a toilet paper so that she can reign in any stray horses wandering the neighborhood.  The stick is the saddle horn, of course.  And as for Jason in the background, well, some things are just too weird to explain.  He was sympathizing with Zoe and her impacted glands.  Now who's going to sympathize with me for tolerating such strangeness?


Talia joins the oddities.

Speaking of odd, did I mention we now have brine shrimp as pets as well?  Talia brought a whole slew home from her field trip to the Great Salt Lake.


On a saner note, Brooklyn crafted this nifty hut for her US History class.

Plus, Jason and his colleagues crafted this pretty nifty accessibility ramp.

Being able to get in and out of your own home is a pretty monumental.  Nice work, Assist.


And here we are crafting paper airplanes at the Sprague library during NomiAnn's visit.

Talia decided she'd rather read.

Here are some more happy memories with NomiAnn.  Cheering Eli on at his baseball game.

 Sharing a pumpkin smash Jamba Juice.

Can't forget dinner at Sawadee.  Pie Pizzeria is tasty, but this one really is my absolute favorite.

Brooklyn's wearing a cute new shirt, courtesy of a fun day shopping resale with NomiAnn.  Grandparents are the best.

On Saturday we took a trip into the mountains to see the changing leaves.  We stopped off at a (retired) apple orchard on the way so that Annika could practice picking apples.  In kindergarten she learned how you "lift, twist, and pluck."


Pausing for a picnic and some playtime along the alpine loop.


Love you, Mom.

NomiAnn in her happy place with the Salt Lake grands.

Annika is holding another fuzzy bear caterpillar that she found.  She even came prepared with a bug cage.  Unfortunately, this caterpillar was pretty sickly when we found it and didn't last long.

Setting out for our hike.

Such a glorious day!

These gals are the cutest.  There's nothing better than having your sister be your best friend.

Handsome Feller.

Getting set up for family pictures.


Cheese!

Windy!

 After our hike, we continued our drive through the Alpine Loop and over to Cascade Springs.  The changing leaves are so fleeting--we were blessed to see so many.

We made it to the waterfall...

...and even crashed a wedding.

Thank you, NomiAnn, for sharing such a special week with us.  Even though we live far away, we feel so grateful to have you close in our lives.

September really was a month to remember.