We have had so much fun with family time! The kids love playing kitchen, blocks, hide n’ seek, tag, and everything else. They were singing “Find a way to play together” from Daniel Tiger the wholeee time they were playing the other day and it cracked us all up!

Graham follows Candace and Tommy around and just wants to be just like them. We help them play hide and seek with Mel and it’s such a blast.

This week we all went to Scary Hill and it was SO much fun! The kids loved golfing and finding their way in the maze, seeing all the “Spooky Scary Skeletons” and more.

In the midst of lots of work, we have had so much fun and Graham is growing up like crazy! He can repeat all of his favorite books back to us, loves singing songs to us, is great at counting and naming colors, shapes, saying the ABC’s, and more. I can’t believe how big he is getting.

COVID has made this really crazy, but we’re grateful for the chances we have to spend time with family, wear masks, spend time outside and socially distant from friends, and more.

We have had so much fun in October so far! Ben and Kim and their family surprised us by driving from CA to visit. They knocked on the door and my parents were in SHOCK. It was so fun!

Graham and Mel love playing together. For some reason they wanted to play inside the Pack N Play and Graham started being SO WEIRD. It made me laugh!

Painting pumpkins!

Great Grandpa Dave also drove down from Colorado for a quick visit. He has been really cautious with COVID and so have all of us, so we decided to move our hunkering down together for a little while. It was great for Graham and the other great-grandkids to get to spend some time with him!

We loved watching General Conference, we made some AMAZING food, biscuits and gravy, arugula, hash browns, eggs on one morning, and cinnamon roll waffles the other. We spent time with family too and it was just a great weekend.

Plus, a drive up to see the leaves is always my favorite thing.

This weekend we went to Scary Hill and it was a BLAST. We played mini golf which Graham loved, rode the bumper boats, did the maze, and rode in the tractor. Graham had such a blast and it was so well put together—everyone wearing masks, not too crowded, and just a great time.

Randy passed his first CPA exam!!!!! I COULD NOT be more proud of him. To celebrate we had Chinese food for dinner, and then there was a knock on the door. It was my brother and his family!! They drove from California and surprised us all to come stay for a few weeks. It was honestly SO awesome—I actually knew before that they were coming but the surprise element was SO fun. We’re stoked to hang out with them and do some fun fall activities.

The changing leaves are one of my favorite things in the world. Every fall I love taking drives up into the mountains to catch the leaves as they start to turn to fire. And now getting to show that to Graham is making me love it even more.

We also love pumpkin sugar cookies, pumpkin candles, cozy sweaters, new decorations, and more. I’m obsessed with fall and even though things are strange this year, we’re still having the best time celebrating the seasons.

My hero. My icon. The woman who made things possible for me and millions of women, and men. Who made sure I was able to do anything I wanted with my life.

Ruth is truly one of my greatest heroes. Her partnership with Marty is what I aspire for. Her passion for helping the voiceless is something I share. Her commitment to family motivates me. I want to be more like her. We should all want to be more like her.

She worked harder than anyone I know. She gave more than anyone I know. Up until her dying day, she was fighting to make our world better.

I’ll cry now. And then get to work to keep the legacy she gave me.

Needed some nature after a hard day.

Summer is officially done. We had our last day at Cherry Hill after the crazy windstorm, but it was really sad. The kids have had so much fun playing there this summer and we will miss it.

Graham went from not wanting to go down the big slides and being so afraid to BEGGING to go on the Dragon Slides the whole time and swimming by himself with his life jacket. He’s progressed SO much and has been so brave and willing to try new things. I COULD NOT be more proud of him!

He’s also such a ham hahaha.

We went back to church for the first time in six months! Graham wore his Buzz mask the whole time and did such a good job. Our ward is being so careful and safe and I’m so grateful.

We also stopped by the temple to talk about 3rd Nephi and it was really beautiful to gather there.

Graham loves singing songs (Skina-marink, Mr. Ray’s song from Finding Nemo, If All The Rain Drops, I Am A Child Of God), he’s getting good at naming colors, is obsessed with pushing his baby stroller, loves trains and cars, wants to read the same books over and over, always asks “how was your meeting?” after I’m on a call, tells us to stop being mean or asks us if we understand, and wants to hold my hand before bed. He’s the sweetest kid in the universe and I’m so obsessed with him.

It’s been a weird and wonderful summer and I’m excited to see what the fall brings.

My birthday this year was CRAZY. I had a delicious breakfast in bed, got some awesome presents from the best family and friends, but then the WIND! The windstorm ruined all our plans to go on a hike, to the aquarium, and even go out to eat! But we made the best of it! I had a super relaxed day, we ordered in some delicious food, and watched my favorite shows, and I didn’t have to work!

So even though it didn’t quite go as planned, it was still a fantastic day.

I’m just feeling so grateful for what this year has given me. So much confidence, great friendships, a husband and son I adore, so much time with family, a job I love, things I’m passionate about, and more. I just can’t wait for another great year!

August is ending. I can’t believe it. We’ve had the best summer but I’m honestly ready for fall. I am nervous if it gets colder that we won’t be able to spend as much time outside, but it’ll be ok. I love fall weather and I am pumped for the change in the seasons.

We’ve been spending as much time as we can at Cherry Hill, Graham is getting SO good at wearing his mask, we’ve been making yummy food as always, and spending time with family and friends when we can.

We went to the zoo with friends and it was SO fun! Graham LOVED it and was obsessed with all the animals. He wore his mask like champ, loved walking around and riding in the stroller, and of course was obsessed with the train that we rode.

I’m so excited to see what the fall will bring and hope it means less coronavirus and strife.

I can’t believe summer is winding down. Kids are going back to school and I just can’t believe how fast it flew by.

We said goodbye to my brother and his family which was sad, Graham loved spending time with his cousins and we will miss them!

We spent the week playing with cousin Mel, learning colors, going to Cherry Hill (Graham is SO obsessed. We’re in trouble when it closes! Also this week we helped Graham and Mel learn how to hold hands and it was PRECIOUS. They kept wanting to hold hands everywhere and even when Mel was over it, Graham kept trying to make her hold his hand haha. We explained that if someone says no, you need to stop!), eating fresh peaches, reading Little Blue Truck a thousand times, doing crafts (Graham and I made pipe cleaner butterflies and he and Dad made a little August book), having nerf gun wars, and enjoying treats. Saturday we had a bunch of errands to run and had to return something to Home Depot. Graham is getting SO good at wearing his mask so we all went inside together for the few minutes to do the return. The super nice worker gave Graham a Home Depot apron and the kid’s craft! He and Randy had a BLAST putting together his little locker. So cute.

This week also marked the 100th anniversary of women getting the right to vote. 100 years ago we made a huge step forward. Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, Elizabeth Cary Stanton and thousands of other women used their voices to make change.
100 years ago some women were finally given the right to vote.
But it would take 45 more years for all women to get the right to vote. And more years after that for laws to be removed that stood in the way of women of color voting.
And today there are still obstacles in place that make it difficult for many women, particularly women of color, to have their voices heard.
So today I’m so insanely grateful for the women who have come before me, and done the hard work to make change. I’m grateful for women today like Michelle Obama, Kamala Harris, Jill Biden, Malala Yousafzai, my mom, sisters, and friends who are continuing to make strides for ALL women.
Today I’m so grateful for the rights I have. And I’m rolling up my sleeves and getting to work to continue fighting for every, single woman to get the things they deserve.
The future is female.

We have been having the time of our lives here! We’ve been enjoying so much time with my family, social distancing together. Randy is a favorite with the kids, building trains with them and pretty much doing whatever they ask! We’ve played games and eaten so much yummy food, played in the water out side, played on the swings (Graham got a little foot in the face from one swinging incident but he’s ok!) and CAMPING.

My parents have a big beautiful RV and we took it up to Idaho for a fun camping trip. The kids had a blast running around, playing in the dirt and moving their chairs around to sit. We had to rope off the areas so they knew where to go and not go and it actually worked super well!

We hiked, ate caramel corn, played games, had smores and cake, roasted hot dogs and really just had such a blast. Getting there was a small hiccup, we had to turn around and meet my grandpa to deliver one of our car keys back to our landlord to move our car. And then a Jeep almost rolled while we were almost to the campsite, so Randy hopped out to help, but other than that it was smooth sailing! It was so fun just to escape with the family for a few days.

Randy was also pretty into working with the fire and found this amazing stick that was perfect for moving wood and stirring everything so it was burning well. He fell in love with that stick hahaha we even did a little photo shoot of him with it at the end.

We’re lucky and so sad that our family is heading home now, but we can’t wait to all be together again soon.

Only a few more weeks of summer—I’m not sure where the time went really. We’re sad but hope that fall will bring some new adventures and fun times, and hopefully more coronavirus help and a chance to get more back to normal.