October

October has been a little crazy. I got sick two days before October began, and I'm just now getting better. I got a cough and fever and thought I just had a virus, and then finally went to the doctor about it 2.5 weeks later and found out I had pneumonia! I wasn't that surprised, because I felt really awful, but it was still a little weird to get pneumonia. Luckily, they were able to do a few things to treat me, and I'm feeling much much better. Turns out pneumonia really is terrible! Who knew? ;)

So anyway, most of October has been spent in survival mode. We did a few things, like go apple picking (see below), but that was really about it, and even that about killed me off (it's hard to walk around a lot when you can't breathe). Toward the end of last week I started to slowly get better and we were able to do some things we'd been wanting to do for awhile. First off, we had my ultrasound appointment on Friday and found out we're having another GIRL!!! We were so excited. Jeremy and I both really wanted another girl, but for some reason thought we were having another boy, but we were wrong! Even though she was extremely uncooperative during the ultrasound (I have to have another one because they couldn't see most of what they needed too), we were able to perfectly see proof of her gender, and we were so excited! The kids are really excited too. Anna had been saying all along that she wanted a boy until the day before the ultrasound, when she all of a sudden switched to girl. Perfect! She's excited to have a girl to share a room with eventually too. Hooray!

Then that night we had a fire in our backyard! The previous owner left his fire pit, but we hadn't used it at all until last Friday. We've been wanting to go camping all fall, but that hasn't happened yet, so we decided this would have to do for now. We roasted marshmallows and tried not to get too smoked out. It was fun!

Then on Saturday, we had some friends visit! Rachel and BJ Cox were our closest friends back at BYU and we have stayed in touch through the last 10 years. I saw them in Utah in March, but besides that we hadn't seen each other in almost 3.5 years. It was so fun to spend time with them just like the good ole days. It's pretty crazy how our kids all match up so perfectly too. Theirs are all 6 mo. - 1 yr older than ours, but their genders are all the same, and even similar personalities. The boys especially had a good time playing legos and being crazy together.

 Cute Lily and Anna

They were here for about 24 hours, which wasn't nearly long enough, but it was still really fun! We were so grateful they came to see us. They had been vacationing in Tennessee and took an extra day to come see us, and we really appreciated it! They are bosom friends. :)

 This picture below makes me laugh. Silly girls!

 And cute baby Kate! She has the brightest eyes and most perfect little doll face!

This week has been all about the apples. We had those 60 lbs of apples we picked that were sitting in our basement ripening away, so I finally felt good enough to do something with them - because there was no way that was happening last week. So on Monday for our family night treat, we made apple cider doughnuts (can we say indulgent?) and then last night and today we canned some applesauce! I only got 15 quarts though, so we're seriously debating getting more to do this weekend...we have a problem.

 My giant pot almost wasn't big enough....

And last but not least, we have been having gorgeous Fall weather and colors around here lately! There is nothing like Fall. It has been and probably always will be my favorite season. I just love the milder weather and beautiful colors. Today is supposed to be 75 degrees and tomorrow is supposed to be 80!! That's a little too warm, for my Fall taste, but the mornings have been glorious and the sun has been shining on the beautiful trees. All of my memories of October last year in Chicago involve us being heavily bundled in winter coats, so I am really enjoying this October. You've been good to us, Cincinnati!

 It's rough when this is your view. Somebody pinch me. And yes, Anna is swinging like a monkey from the trampoline (above).

Fall, I love you!