September Sampler

This is just a collection of random photos from the month of September. We had a lot of fun. Above you will see Steve and the girls swinging away at the golfing driving range.  Below you will see pictures from when we went hiking at Dinosaur National Monument as a family.

These next few shots are of Amara's wild and wacky morning bed head.

Lily has taken a liking to learning to cook. Below you will see her kneading dough for scones.

I guess we saw some strange things from the bug world in September. We saw a praying mantis actually laying its eggs in a corner on our house. 

Then there was this little bug that flew into our house. It is quite small actually, but it looks so strange. Can you identify it?

We spent some time with grandma. We love when she comes over, and we are so blessed that she only lives five minutes away!

Our new neighbors two doors down got a dog named Bandy which the girls absolutely adore. There is also another house that was in the process of being built next to ours. That house is now finished, and we have new neighbors.

Stephen and I went to the temple, and the girls were being babysat by some young women in our ward. When we came home they told us all about the snake that they had found in our garage. I was shocked and horrified. Below is the picture of the snake that they found.

We also visited our family along the Wasatch front, and spent time outside with them at parks and such.

My pregnant sister was growing, and she gave birth in September.

We went on a walk to go get donuts at the grocery store near her house. It was fun, and my girls got to do some sweet free walking.

We had the treat of having Spencer and Ellie, their dog, join us. Ellie is one energetic puppy!

There's a park in Spanish Fork that is really pretty and has ducks and a fun playground. Mandy's family came down to join mine and April's family at that park for a picnic lunch.

April did her best to go into labor.

We also spent time with Steve's side of the family. His parents have a new deck, and they have these birdfeeders that welcome the birds. Steve captured fun photos of the birds that landed there.

And we had a fun get-together/birthday party with Steve's side of the family. 

I love how my husband will still stop to look at the cool bugs. He actually pulled over our van when we were on our way to Mandy's house, and picked up this woolly bear Catapillar off the side of the road just so that he could show it to the girls.

I also canned a bunch of salsa at my dads house before the month was over. I had brought a whole bunch of tomatoes from my garden that would be going bad if I didn't do something with them. So, I canned them during my stay with April, at my dads house.

When we got home, my kids captured for themselves several woolly bear Catapillars in our own yard. It was the first time I had ever seen them by our house.

Steve is quite the photographer now. He is learning a lot researching a lot. On our drive home, we stopped off at a couple scenic locations for him to take pictures.

Below are a few of his pictures.

Amara, Lily, and I volunteer at the Villa care center. We enjoy our time there with the residents. In September, they had another volunteer bring in an adorable puppy to share with the residents. Lily and Amara loved holding the tiny fur ball. 

Nikki is one of our favorite residents. She is my age, and she really relates to Amara in things she likes, and she I s in a wheelchair. She showed us the parakeets that they have there now.

Arsula is another one of her favorite residents. She is 98 years old, and has a pretty crisp mind and a friendly demeanor. She painted her nails pink with blue polkadots because pink is her favorite color, and blue is her late husband's.

Amara went on a nature hike around our backyard, and found the prairie dog skull. 

We took a day trip to the Sandwash reservoir. Steve and I took a couple selfies, I love us.

The leaves have started to change pretty colors in September. We went ice blocking near our house and took these pictures below.

And we end our September random post with this beautiful picture of the clouds that Steve took.