Fall

We have been having so much fun with family lately! Jeff, Julie and Emily last week and David's family this weekend. It was nice to get to see them and hang out a little! I am quickly discovering that one of my favorite parts of visiting these two families is that we stay up super late talking/playing games/laughing but since they aren't at our house we didn't do that! So both trips seemed pretty short, but we will have to work on that better for next time.
I used to always like starting school, but Fall was just OK. I like it a lot better now. Especially in California, although I do miss the trees on the mountains in Utah Valley. Other than this hot week we are having now, it is fun to have things a little cooler and pull out the long sleeves (not sweater weather yet, even last week when it was cooler.) I think having the kids' birthdays at the end of summer kind of kicks off fall around here. I don't have much for decorating the house for fall, or rather didn't as I have been collecting. There is so much going on and so many fun events coming up! Several bridal/baby showers (one I'm hosting), a weekend retreat for the attorneys and their wives (so...all 6 of us), Halloween, Super Saturday, teaching a class for a RS activity...anyway, luckily everything is spread out to about a week or so in between so it is just enough busy to be really fun.
Elizabeth is getting so talented! Her latest: she folds her arms and bows her head for prayers. It is the cutest. You either tell her it's time for prayer or she will see us all fold our arms and do it too. She signs Milk, More and All Done. She says Hi all the time, and is now starting to say it in a different tone that means 'Thank You'. She knows she is hilarious. She climbs up and down the stairs no problem any time she wants. She follows Zach wherever he goes and is fairly tough when playing with him. She is a hungry girl. All the time. She will sign 'more' when there is no food in sight and this means I'M HUNGRY! She can almost always be satisfied with food. The only thing she has ever refused so far is green beans. She doesn't do baby food much, just eats whatever we eat which is nice since I don't like baby food for them much. She kind of skipped that phase. She moved right on to milk from formula last month and from bottles to sippy cups. She is NOT interested in walking, but she does walk along the sides of things and thinks she is pretty daring if she goes from one piece of furniture to the next. We are just fine with her waiting a while till she walks :)
Zach should have his own TV show. Today on the way from lunch to a meeting a few streets away he played with Elizabeth's new dolls and had hilarious conversations between them, and then started singing 'Popular' from Wicked, which he has heard twice but somehow learned 3 or 4 lines to and does the infections perfectly. I was laughing the whole trip and trying to keep up with his train of thought.