Swallow Family Blog : November 2019

October 2019: Fall and Halloween

We always count the days until we get to play in the leaves. It is a favorite family activity! I'm always frozen and quickly come inside to watch from the door.

Our ward had a Fall Festival. The kids loved the games, face painting and treats! They did not enjoy the soup for dinner options. They are picky. We are working on it?

Nolan lovingly helped Lyla navigate the pumpkin walk.

We went to Rendezvous park again to take some pictures of my baby sister who is graduating in the coming spring. The kids LOVE this place! Especially all the water they can throw sticks and rocks into. It was FREEZING and we barely survived, but we were successful! The picture below is one of my favorites.

Tyler got a picture of me getting a picture and the kids playing around the water.
Gotta get that shot! I think both boys had wet and cold toes, because they followed Tyler along some logs.

Grayson's school had a pumpkin walk so we spend one evening being creative! Grayson designed a dinosaur snowman pumpkin (Maybe all the pumpkins were gone, OK? We made do with what was available.)
Nolan made a mom and baby bat. Lyla just painted and painted and painted. She was at the table the longest and was last to get bored and finish.

For the first time (I think), we carved a pumpkin. Nolan and Lyla liked squishing and playing with the guts. It wasn't Grayson's favorite activity. Each boy got to design one side of the pumpkin. We lit it up and the boys were in love!

Lastly, we finish off October with Halloween and some trick-or-treating. We helped with the party in Grayson's class and went to the trunk or treat at Nana and Papaw's church. I originally bought Lyla a cute witch costume on a sale, but she wouldn't have it. As soon as she saw Nolan's Spiderman costume, there was no looking back! Thank goodness Emma had a dress up around her size and let us borrow it!

Happy October, now on to THANKSGIVING!

Until next time...

October Swamily 2019

Two times a year, we get together and do some kind of activity with Tyler's family. This year there were two new babies so we spent the day in Logan. We started by walking the Rendezvous park trails. It was beautiful! We saw horses and had lots of time to just run around! Lyla did not like sharing the wagon. There was even a rope swing that all the big boys had to give a try!

We also took a fun family picture! Well, the best we can manage...

Next, we ate lunch and stopped at our favorite store, Logan Outlet. After shopping we went to Mountain Valley Trout farm for a little fishing. We kept all the fish and had a delicious dinner!
Lyla caught the first and largest fish of the day! Kenney fell in and Nathan went fishing for his glasses. Lyla is still worried that her Papaw fell in the water.

Bonus picture of Nolan and Amelia; practically inseparable when our families are together!

We love spending time with our families!
Until next time...

October 2019

October alway begins with General Conference. This year we started conference binders, the kids can earn conference cash to spend at our conference store! Tyler printed and EVEN laminated all the "cash" for me... if you want to know what true love looks like! It may be a little bit of bribery, but they are listening and learning! During some of our breaks we got to help on Papaw's farm. The kids love it and there is always lots of space to play and things to do!

We finished up football. The boys really enjoyed playing this year! It was even more fun that they got to play with cousins! We look forward to playing again next year. One gameday was so cold, that I thought we were living in Idaho!

I got the latest book in the Dragonwatch series. I'm a little obsessed, I absolutely love this series! Grayson has grown up so much lately! He works so hard on his homework and is really loving this year! One night he set his clothes out in a person, just like Tyler used to do as a child so we had to take a snap!

He was SO SO SO excited to hold his newest cousin!

We got a tiny bit of snow and it didn't last very long, but the kids were READY to get all dressed up.

The boys practised and rocked their primary program! I loved watching them sing the songs. They did "Love One Another". Only the sign language and music, no singing. It was so powerful and my momma heart was happy! They also got to decorate the programs that were handed out.

Nolan and Lyla keep me on my toes. They are always up to something and making me laugh!

Tyler competed in a Biggest Loser challenge at work. He worked really hard and even learned how to cut water.... it was effective, but I wouldn't recommend it. He FELT. LIKE. CRAP.
BUT! He won $400! He was shooting for $500, but apparently, even adults cheat...
We are proud of his efforts! He also took this as an opportunity to shave his face. Lyla was NOT a fan. She said her daddy looked different and she wanted him to go back.