September was a wonderful month for our family! From the first day of school, to getting a new car, to doing lots of autumn activities, we made lots of memories. I think September is one of my favorite months in Minnesota!
The boys played a lot outside.
Our tree grew weird.
Perfect warm weather for watching the boys run in the sprinklers.
Trip to Walgreens with Jeremy.
Learning from Jeremy how to take care of our bikes.
We had a microscope party with the Ekins family because they are scientists and we want to be smart like them. Jeremy got a nice microscope for Father’s Day, so this was a follow-up gift for that. 
Jeremy had the kids run around the house and outside to find anything they wanted to put under the microscope! They brought back woodchips, leaves, swimmingpool noodles, toys, hair, and all kinds of stuff. After they saw everything they were intersted to see, they went and happily played together. The adults? We kept being nerdy with the microscopes.
The first day of school was on Sept 4! Tanner began first grade. We missed his school open house, which was unfortuante. He didn’t get to meet his teacher or learn about what to do when he gets there the first day, so he was pretty nervous. A couple of my teaching friends helped clue us in and looked out for him once he got to school. Fortunately, he came home super excited about everything. He was especially excited about having his own desk!
Dallin began Kindergarten! We made it to his open house and he was so excited about everything.
The boys were really excited to ride the same bus together, which is a big deal because they do not attend the same school. The bus takes Tanner to the elem school for 1st -4th grade. Then it takes Dallin to the kindergarten center. At the end of the day, the bus takes the reverse order. Their bus stop is at our driveway! We feel very blessed by the bus situation this year.
Tanner reading after school one day.
Campout with all the men and boys from church.
The highlight was this catapult.
Jeremy played with the marketing team in the corporate softball tournament one Saturday.
Alainea had a play date with us!
Basketball outside and inside is still a favorite.
Jeremy made a really nice appreciation breakfast for a team at work. He put a lot of thought and effort into it and made personal thank you certificates for everyone, totally went above and beyond.
We were able to squeeze in a camping trip to Myre Big Island Park in Albert Lea one Friday night. The boys were thrilled and we all had a good time.
For breakfast, Jeremy made delicious bacon in our cast iron skillet. Then we went on a nature walk and then headed home for other Saturday adventures!
One of the adventures was the Harvest Health Fest. I helped at a station in the HHH. For some reason, the boys were really excited to see me when they got there. They learned all about protein and made protein snacks.
Then we went to a pirate event at the library.
We met Jack Sparrow and learned the truth about pirates!
How cute is this!?
Bald eagle soaring directly over our house.
Finding new ways to play with Jenga blocks.
Reading “Mama Don’t Allow.” A classic.
I don’t know if this picture will show up in the blog book, but this is a cute assignment Tanner filled out for school. He put a lot of thought into each of his answers and worked really hard to make his handwriting his best. Here are the highlights of what he wrote…
My favorite game to play: Chess and Checkers
Favorite Food: pizza
Favorite color: blue
Favorite subject in school: gym and art
I like to collect: rocks and rare things
I like: nature, friends, human-powered vehicles.
I don’t like: being late, strong smells, when people leave.
My favorite sport: all of them
When I grow up I want to be: an everything man, which means I want to do most things like racer, farmer, scientist, cop, doctor, baker, business man, dad, musician and magician, artist and athlete.
September was the month that we gave up daily TV. The first four days were really hard. But soon, the boys got into all kinds of great habits, like reading to each other!
We were just about to sell our car, but then three days before the big day, it died. It took us a week to figure out that it needed a new alternator. Jeremy was discouraged that it would cost over $1,000 to replace it. So he figured out how to do it himself, which has become a common theme for him with this car. He found a sneaky, but tricky, way to give birth to the old alternator without taking apart the entire engine. It was a big moment for him when the thing finally came out after 4 hours of intense labor.
Jeremy ended up fixing the whole thing and saved us $500+. He was able to sell the Traverse to the dealership where we bought our new car. We got a Toyota Prius, hybrid, with a huge trunk. We love it!! Well, everyone loves it except Tanner. He was really sad to see our old car go and tried to convince us to keep it. He cried and cried when Jeremy drove it away, and he has been complaining for months about all the things that are different with the new car. Change can be hard sometimes. We try to remind Tanner that this car is better because it’s much smaller, easier to maintain, and has much much better gas mileage, but for some reason, he doesn’t care. 😉
We had a wonderful Sunday afternoon picking apples with the Gabrielsons. We went to the same little orchard as last year, just ten minutes outside of our town. It was a beautiful afternoon, hard to narrow down just a few of the pictures.
I began teaching another term of piano lessons with the boys and a few individual students. Taking apart the piano never seems to get old!
We enjoyed a fall activity for church at the bishop’s farm. The two things I remember were visiting with lots of great people, and arguing with my boys about wearing their hats.
The next day, we enjoyed doing the primary presentation!! It was such a fun experience helping the children learn the songs and write their speaking parts. Tanner and Dallin did a super job with their lines. Tanner read his clearly and with some expression. Dallin had his memorized, which was a suprirse to me! Both boys sang beautiful solos. Dallin sang “I know my Father lives.” Tanner sang “I wonder when He comes again.” As primary leaaders, we taught the kids a lot about the second coming and included a lot about it in our presentation. That is why we made sure to take a picture of all the children in front of this painting, which is a depiction of His return to earth in the Latter-days.
It is a blessing to have Carol Carolan and Karem Salas as my counselors in the primary presidency. I love and appreciate them so, so much!
The month ended with the boys making these cool hot wheels tracks.
