Rock-tober

When I asked M what I should call this post, he said Rock-tober. I can't think of anything better, it's been a rockin' month. It jump started with a virtual Leadership Development Conference. While listening to the conference, I tore a lot of strips of fabric. Grandma Blaylock had several fall-colored fabrics she let me use to make a cute fall garland. I was grateful to disconnect from regular work, and learn and enjoy some time in a conference setting, even virtually. 

For General Conference weekend, we went to the Merrill's on Thursday night after our self-reliance class. We have decided that driving late at night is worth it so we don't have to drive through traffic. We're blessed Jay usually sleeps the car ride and falls asleep again when we get there. Friday was a fun day starting with a morning run. Katey does her long runs, 3 miles on Fridays and the kids bike along. The pace she kept was amazing! Within the first two minutes M and I realized we were in for it. M pushed Jay and Katey was pushing her kids, so we were quite the party running through Longmont. We definitely chose to wait for some cars so we could catch our breath, but we ran most of the way. It was a good and tiring way to start the morning. We enjoying being outside and playing around all weekend. Friday at Goodwill we looked for costumes for Katey's kiddos. We found a few things, clothes for Kade, and a few things for myself. One of the things I bought myself didn't fit, so Saturday I returned it and found a cute winter coat for Jay and a two-step slide for his birthday. Both on such good deals, I felt like Heavenly Father was watching out for us to make sure we could find what we needed and something we wanted. In the evening, we watched the kids while Katey and Jason went on a date. Kade was distracted when they went, but as soon as he realized his Momma was missing he was very sad. He cried for a while, enough to get a bit of a bloody nose, and finally stopped when we all sat down to watch Brink, the Disney Channel Original Movie. After the twins were in bed, we made caramel apples with the girls. So fun, and so yummy! I was happy Katey and Jason got to go out, and we had a great time with the kids. 

Making apples! Kylee & M

M is definitely the favorite, so much fun and hard to crack on the trampoline.

M & Jay having fun on the tramp

Kade, Jay, Abby - so many fun toys all in one place!

The finished apples, yummmyyy!

Kade enjoyed riding with Jay for about 10 minutes, then chose to walk home.

General Conference was lots of fun! With 5 kids under the age of 8 it was quite rambunctious at times. During the afternoon sessions, we worked on our Fall garlands. Grandma Blaylock gave me lots of fun Fall fabrics, so we had a great time creating our garlands. The girls made little cloth scrunchies which turned out so well, plus little garlands for their room. Listening to Conference is always wonderful. Jay's naps aligned fairly well with the sessions which allowed us to focus more. Saturday night we played a game called Queen Bee. There are forced alliances, and I quickly let my emotions get control as I was the only Bee left trying to fight against everyone else. I realized my competitive side really needs to be in a non-competitive mode if we play again. 

Work in progress, crafting fun!

The finished product, I love it!

The past few months I have been trying to find a chiropractor here that helps as much as I found the one in Utah did. Unfortunately, there is no one here that does the same combination of treatments. I have had to do additional imaging and so many visits. Luckily, the chiropractor that I am going to is only 5 minutes away which means I can usually be out and back in 30 minutes which is a huge blessing. 

M had a game afternoon with KPMG! It was the first time he'd heard from them in a while, and he got to hear from some of his colleagues from BYU. I think he mostly enjoyed the event, even though it was virtual and networking-like. 

We wrapped up our self-reliance class this month too! What fun we had with the group, and we enjoyed thinking about how we may be able to save to buy a home more quickly. We all got together at our instructors home one Sunday evening, had root beer floats and wrote little notes as a service. I enjoyed meeting people in person for the first time, and it felt somewhat normal...which is hard to come by this year. 

One of the major highlights of the month was our long weekend at Grandpa Great's. Jay did great on the ride there, we left from Longmont and got there in good time. We had to make a stop in Ft. Collins to air up our tires, and we actually found a free place which was amazing. We pulled off at a park for lunch, but it was so windy we didn't get out other than to change Jay's diaper. Grandpa Great was there to greet us with warm hugs and great smiles. As always, one of the best parts of being at Grandpa Great's is talking with him. Friday night we had a tailgate party Friday night at the Brady's which was so fun! Mikey called and invited us because he'd planned the party. There was chip dip, puppy chow, delicious fresh salsa made by Uncle John, veggies, candy, popcorn, etc. And, BYU won, which made the extremely late night worth it! Jay was a champ and fell asleep at the beginning of the game, and we picked him up on the way home. 

Driving!

Learning from Grandpa-Great about the joys of music and hymns

Jay's new trick of standing everywhere.

Jay loved the shoes!

A few special moments stick out to me about our trip. First, Grandpa played the organ and Jay loved it. I love hearing Grandpa play and I also played a few times which was nice too. I enjoy playing the organ because you can skip a note here or there and no one really notices. One afternoon, Grandpa told me to pull out a few boxes from the bottom shelf in his office. When I opened them, I found all the letters Grandma and Grandpa had sent to each other during their courtship and engagement. I guess good relationships always have some long distancing... ;) Grandpa asked me to read him a few of the letters, to just choose a few at random and keep them in order. As I read the cursive hand writing from Grandma, it made me miss her so much. I could hear her voice, and also how she may have been so embarrassed if she was there was I was reading. Her phrases she wrote were so her, i.e. she "couldn't find a thing" when she went shopping. She also shared her testimony and how grateful she was for Grandpa and how excited she was to marry him in the temple. She missed him a lot when they were engaged and she was in California, and I couldn't help but think how much she must miss Grandpa now and how much I know he misses her. It was a special afternoon, and I felt so grateful for the time I had to spend with Grandpa. On a lighter note, I loved seeing Grandpa and Jay interact. Jay loved Grandpa-Great's shoes and could hardly stay away from them. Grandpa even picked up Jay a time or two, which was so sweet. Grandpa isn't much of a baby guy unless they're a happy baby, so Jay won him over. I was a bit worried about stranger danger, but thankfully Jay warmed right up and made himself at home. Grandpa enjoyed watching Jay eat, play, and crawl. And, Grandpa would say, "the only time I saw Jay even cry was when he bonked his head on the fireplace." And, it's mostly true. Jay is one amazing baby. Sunday we went to church, and no masks were worn and social distancing was debatable. Katey and Jason came over Sunday afternoon and it was very fun to have all the visitors at Grandpa's. 

Jay was loving everything within reach at Grandpa Great's house

M playing his ukulele and Grandpa-Great listening with appreciating and entertaining Jay at the same time.

Jay, back at the shoe laces

Kylee took a bit to warm up, but once she did she talked and talked to Grandpa. It was so sweet.

Monday came all too quickly. With jam and raspberries in our cooler, we hit the road a little after 7. We made great time, and only stopped for gas and a quick pit stop. The winds through Wyoming were pretty gnarly, super strong and enough to make us nervous. We're already fairly nervous while driving and the winds certainly didn't help. Half way through the middle of nowhere Wyoming, M had to use the restroom. He held it as long as possible, but we ended up just pulling off an exit that didn't lead to really anywhere. You can imagine with the wind blowing 60 mph and flat Wyoming, finding a private place was difficult. We made good time, and got home within about 9 hours and not much traffic. Jay had a bit of a harder time on the way home and didn't sleep much, so bedtime came a little earlier. The alphabet game and great conversation kept us going through the long drives. When we were about 45 minutes from home, my manager called and told me they were planning to move me to a new role at work at the end of the week. I was excited and shocked, it came so fast! It's been in the works/conversation for a while, but we had no idea it would happen now. And, at the same time, the person who could take a lot of my work is staying on leave for a bit longer, so I'll be learning this new role and maintaining my current role which will be a bit of a lift for the next few months. 

The next day I got this in the mail from my manager, so sweet. 

M got to go watch Caden's championship football game. He had a great time and enjoyed watching Caden play! M loves football and he said it was cool to see how they adjust the game for younger kids and to also see what they don't adjust. Unfortunately, Caden lost, but Grandpa Blaylock and M were there to cheer him on while Mike and Jenna were at the hospital awaiting the arrival of baby Ty. 

We got a bad case of allergies/colds when the temperatures sharply dropped with the first snow. It was 70 degree weather, and then all of the sudden a high of 15. Brrrrr! We got about 5 inches of snow, which brought most of the leaves down and put the huge fires out. In our cold-ness, we've laid fairly low and watched a lot of the TV series Chuck. The shows are pretty clean and provide good entertainment, so we enjoy it. 

We've loved serving with the youth this month. M was the fastest at capture the flag, and his team won every time. I taught the young women how to play Kubb while we waited for pickleball courts. We had a combined activity with the boys and we as the YW presidency were way more into Pictionary than the girls were, and needless to say the boys won. This last week, the YW came to our house and I taught them to make caramel apples. Jay stayed home with me, and as soon as the Sister's came over with their enthusiasm, Jay lost control. I think being surrounded by so many people he didn't know was overwhelming. I could hardly calm him down enough to get him to eat, and I put him to bed early. Poor kid will probably have great stranger danger in life. 

With the YW, so fun!

The last week has been a whirlwind, and lots of fun! We found out my job change will officially be a promotion, which is very exciting! Best of all, we spent the weekend at the Merrill's again. We picked up some canning supplies from Grandma Blaylock and hit the road mid-morning on Friday. I had to do a little work that afternoon, but enjoyed most of the afternoon canning and canning. Katey had already started a little bit of apple sauce when we got there. The girls were good helpers running the Victoria strainer and we immediately got my Instant Pot going so we could have more apples coming off. About 10 hours later we finished the last apples and the last bottles. In total, we bottled 89 pints and 14 quarts of applesauce! And, only one didn't seal, win!! Jason helped as soon as he got off of work, and all four adults kept things moving throughout the entire day. It was busy and many hands truly make lighter work. 

I got a dozen gluten free cookies delivered to my house from my new manager, awesome!

Applesauce galore! 

Jay was loving Jason's iPad, and Kade was a little worried about his dad paying attention to someone else. 

My three-eyed monster taco

The magic of homemade Root Beer! 

Watching babies give babies hugs is so cute! Kade hugging Jay, and Abby watching with a thrilled look.

Saturday was our fun day. I took Kylee to her soccer game and Tia and I tried to keep each other warm as we watched. It was sunny, but the wind was nippy. As we got back, we changed into our costumes and headed out to the ward party. The Merrill's looked awesome, they were characters from a graphic novel and the girls were soooooo excited! M and I got to hand out candy during the walk n' treat, while Katey took the kiddos around. Unfortunately Jason had to work so he missed out on the fun at the park. Jay was a total champ, didn't wine about it being cold or windy at all. After we got all the babies down for naps, we carved pumpkins! It's been a few years, so it was fun to do a little creating while carving. And, we got more creative when we had to light them because Katey only had birthday candles. They worked fairly well for a few mins and then burned out. We made jack-o-lantern pizzas for dinner, and M and I handed out candy to the few trick-or-treaters who came by. The Merrills went out together and came back with loads of candy. People were really generous because not many kiddos were out trick-or-treating. 

Handing out candy at the walk-n-treat

He was happy swinging until some people got too close

The USA Team's Basketball star with his coaches

Go team!

Jay was a little nervous about getting USA painted on his face by Aunt Katey.

And then, happy. 

My Jack-o-Lantern got a little crispy and covered the mouth and nose...

Jay enjoying the Merrill's tractor.

M was having loads of fun here, literally holding loads of fun.

Carving!

Lighting the pumpkins

Close up at my three eyed monster.

Sunday morning Katey loaded us up with leftover pizza, candy, apples, and our jars of applesauce. Jay's schedule was adjusted due to Daylight Savings and we were rerouted so many times on our way home that his scheduled continued to be weird for a few days. We enjoyed church here and our evening at home before starting a busy week. M taught a fun lesson on Family History and had me create a picture on Family Search about my family heritage.

As usual, I'll finish my post with the Jay milestones. Jay now has two teeth! He's as happy as ever and getting more and more curious every day. One day he wanted to get to my computer so badly, that he crawled over to the couch and pulled himself to standing! It was the first time he'd done that on his own. He enjoys bear crawling and regular crawling. And, his favorite thing to exploit is cords, cords of any kind. We can't really baby proof anymore and M has a full time job keeping him out of the cords in our house. He started to develop the pincer grasp, and is doing really great at feeding himself with his hands. Jay also learned to climb up the stairs, so now M and him do it multiple times a day and we're still working through the skills of going down. 

Jay loved his first-ever glowstick!

He does this pose all the time when he wants to see what's going on behind him.

Happy stair climber!

Jay's first trip to Costco, woohoo!

The bear crawl

Jay and M, so tickled to deliver me water at work

Jay also loves this window ceil, he thinks it's the best.

10 month pictures were a struggle

We had to try different poses to get something 

And, sometimes you have to use the phone as a distraction.

Jay also learned to stand up in the pack n' play - oh boy!

And, he's discovered cabinets. 

He also got his first goose egg, and still happy!

It's hard to escape small places.

Cords, awesome!

Whenever Jay wants to snuggle, I'm in!

We just store this on top of the fridge now, it was getting taken off at least 10 times a day.

We love our Jay and feel so blessed to have him as part of our family! It's hard to believe it's been 10 months, sometimes it feels like he just got here and other times it's hard to remember what life was like before he joined us.