Beauty of Being Human: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year...FALL!

Seeing as I am 3 months behind, we will break the past three months into multiple posts so that we don't have one marathon length post with a gaggle of pictures, because there ARE a gaggle of pictures.

On August 21st, a total solar eclipse was visible from just 3 hours North of us, in Idaho Falls. Uncle Brad tried to convince us to come up to witness it with him, and would have, but Caleb had a sleep study that night and we didn't want to risk not being back in time for that seeing as it takes MONTHS to book those things. We were quickly kicking ourselves when Brad was sending texts about how he got teary eyed and it was one of the most amazing and spiritual things he had witnessed. Way to rub in, Bubs.

We made the most of our 90% totality here in Utah with our box viewfinder and watching the shadows of the trees and our hands change. Luke was not very amused, but then started talking about it nonstop for days.

While playing a friend's house one day, Luke went exploring in an old wood pile and came back with a nasty looking bite. We called his doctor and talked to our ER doctor friend, both of which told us to just give him some Benadryl and keep an eye out for certain symptoms. Turns out, Benadryl is quite effective on Luke in the drowsy department! Within 10 minutes of taking it, he was dead asleep on the living room floor, not even stirred by Caleb climbing all over him. When we work him up to eat dinner, he just sat and stared at his cup, completely mesmerized. It was sad, but also funny. His bite took about 2 weeks to finally clear up, but no major reactions! Still no idea what creature is the culprit.

Luke also started Preschool at the beginning of September. He absolutely LOVES it. In fact, he gets mad at me sometimes when I tell him it is not a preschool day. I think he officially hates Saturday due to this fact. He is going to an in home preschool we found called Cove Kids Preschool with his teachers Ms. Tiffany and Ms. Shannon. They are both such a perfect fit for Luke and just get him, which I pray all his teachers take the time to do. He can be a little tricky with his ever curious, engineering brain combined with his constant need to make people laugh, so the fact that they both just embrace that and have found ways to keep him on task is an answer to this mama's prayers! Here are his first day of Preschool pictures...I think they accurately sum up his personality.

Caleb has been enjoying the one on one time, but often will stop playing and look at me with his, "Where'd it go" look and then point at the door and say, "Bvooo," which is Caleb language for "Luke." When they are reunited, wrestling, giggling, squealing and tickling ensue full force. The brother bond is real with those two.

Our good family friends, the Watts, showered us with peaches galore from their peach trees throughout September. I mean, grocery bags (plural) FULL of them, all month long. Therefore, we made peach cobbler, peach sorbet, peach smoothies (A LOT of peach smoothies), and just enjoyed eating them all day every day. We may have developed some canker sores, but it was beyond worth it. So SO yummy. In fact, both boys still ask for more peaches. Sorry, kids, 11 more months until that goodness comes around again.

Caleb had a follow up sleep study to see how removing his adenoids and tonsils affected his sleep apnea and, unfourtunately, he is the 30% of the statistic that it doesn't change anything. We knew going in that for kids with Down Syndrome, the removal of adenoids and tonsils has a 30/30/30 rate; 30% improve, 30% get worse, and 30% stay the same. He just likes to keep us on our toes. However, his pulmonologist says he is completely safe, we just don't know how the obstructions at night affect his neurological development. Therefore, we are trying out the CPAP. We figured we would give it until the end of the year while he has hit his deductible, to see if he tolerates it, improvements, etc. and then decided if we want to go the route of all that needs done to not have to pay a ton out of pocket when that all resets with insurance in January. Not super exciting stuff, but it has been a big adventure figuring this all out! He is tolerating it most nights and actually thinks it is funny to put on his giraffe, thanks to big brother thinking it is hilarious to wear. Luke also is so proud of Caleb when he doesn't rip it off and constantly is tell him, "Wow, Caleb! You are being so brave wearing your mask!" See? They are so perfect for each other.

Sitting up like this while sleeping is a sign of sleep apnea. We find him like this probably 2-3 times a week. Freaks us out every time. Little exorcist baby.

Many selfies are taken at doctor appointments in an effort to keep the children from pulling every medical supply out of every drawer while we wait

A new ice cream place opened up in Salt Lake, close to where we used to live. They mainly employ individuals with disabilities. We went opening weekend and were greeted with smiling faces, samples the size of a single scoop and the most sincere service. The ice cream is pretty delicious, as well. If you're ever in Dallas or Salt Lake, be sure to check out Howdy's Homemade Ice Cream. You will not be sad you did!

Dallin took the boys up to McCammon one weekend to visit grandma and grandpa and have some daddy-son time since he has been gone a lot with his coding classes and work. While up there, grandpa let them help with his car that he bought while we lived with them as a project. I'm pretty sure Luke caused him to lose a few more hairs, but Luke, I'm positive, thought it was the greatest thing on earth. Caleb did not like being contained in the car when there was a whole garage to take apart.

In case you didn't know, we have dance parties pretty frequently in out household. If you don't dance, you are a party pooper and get dog piled by the boys. Our song of choice for quite some time was "Hand Clap" by Fitz and the Tantrums. Both boys LOVED, and I mean LOVED, this song. They would shake their booties like nobody's business and ask for it to be played over and over. Well, when Dallin found out that his company was hosting Fitz and the Tantrums in their radio studio they sponsor, he worked his magic and snagged us some tickets. As always, Clearlink took care of us and gave us up close seats with snacks galore and an opportunity to briefly meet the band. We all had a blast. The boys were in awe, even if took Luke a good week to make the connection that he saw the actual people who sing the song perform it right in front of his face. He kept saying, "Hey mom! They know this song, too!" Dude, they created this song.

Uncle Brad got a job out at Dugway and we got to have him as a roommate for a few weeks while he waited for housing on base. It was such a blessing having him stay with us seeing as Dallin had started his night classes and both the boys and I were a little tired of each other by evening, right when Brad would walk in the door. Caleb said his name before mine, but, whatever. I've always known he was cooler than me.

Luke finished up his soccer season with a little less enthusiasm than he had the first game. Majority of his games consisted of him laying on his back, pulling apart grass or hiding in the soccer net or running the opposite direction of everyone else, but, hey, not everyone is a team sport kind of athlete. I'm thinking rock climbing or track might be more up his ally. The last game was FREEZING, while all the other games were roasting hot. Maybe that had something to do with his apathetic sportsmanship. He keeps telling us he wants to play again, to which we say, "Maybe when you're six."

See his neon socks? Legs crossed, on his back, cloud gazing...

Can you spy Luke? Not even on the field...

But, oh how we love him

I won tickets to the Utah State Fair and rodeo on an Instagram giveaway, so we took the boys and Sarah Watts with us, because she has watched the boys numerous times for free and loves her some cowboys. Luke was mildly amused by the bull riding and mutton busting (He claims he wants to do it next year), and Caleb loved watching the horses. Sarah was just in heaven the entire time.

With the beginning of Fall showing it's gorgeous face, and such warm weather, still, the boys and I took advantage of it and went on a ton of hikes. For our first hike of the season, we ventured up to Adams Canyon, which greeted us with an awesome waterfall and lots of sand to play in. We then explored North Canyon Trail, and, of course, had to go on our favorite hike, Duel Creek Trail. Luke constantly asks to go on "The hike that I got stung in the eye by the wasp." Even with such a tragic introduction to the trail, we have been on it more than any other because of how much we enjoy it. We went on City Creek Trail down in Salt Lake with Evans, where we found two praying mantice and Luke and Parker discovered they were mountain goat. We also convinced our cute neighbor to go to the teepees up Mueller Canyon with us, only to find out the ranger had torn them all down! It was quite disappointing, but we still had fun and found Dallin a Gandalf staff for his costume.

I love this meme because it so perfectly sums up how I feel on so many of our hikes when we pass these hardcore hikers who give me looks like they are either mega impressed at my 4-year-old bounding up the hill in his Wall-e glasses and cowboy boots or that I'm completely crazy for bringing such young children on such a arduous hike. Either way, it cracks me up.

We planned on going on more hikes, but the boys got croup, then the stomach bug, than another cold....it turned into a pretty miserable month of sickness, but at least we got in the hikes we did! The following pictures are what the rest of our month mostly looked like:

Staying cool next to his frozen water bottles since we have no AC in our current place

Prepared for germs at the grocery store

We did manage to squeeze in a quick trip with Brad down to Colorado to spread my papa's ashes at the campgrounds they ran for years and years every summer in Grand Lake. Brad was a very brave soul to road trip down with us, and such a great support! We got in early Friday morning, hung out with grandma Bev, grandma Dunning and Katy and her little guy Patrick, while sneaking in a few naps here and there. We then drove up to Grand Lake on Saturday morning to meet up with my dad, Terri, Lexi, her beau Isaac and Kristi. It was forecasted to snow Saturday afternoon, so we hurried up the trail to the lookout point that had a spectacular view and was my papa's favorite place to go when at the campgrounds. My grandma's ashes are also spread here so it was a sweet moment to be there. The whole trip was just really neat, getting to see where my parents spent their summers as teenagers and be in a place that we had always heard so much about, but had never been. Tears were shed, laughter was shared and we just had a wonderful day celebrating a wonderful man who, even from heaven, is bringing us together to smile and make memories. Despite the blizzard on the way home, Caleb staying awake majority of the drive down and then getting his finger chomped down on by Gumdrop like a carrot (thank you daddio for knowing how to open a horse's clenched jaw), the trip was just wonderful.

Park time with Katy and Patrick!

Excitedly looking at rock formations while waiting for the rest of the crew at a park 'n wait

They made it!

Luke and Isaac were instant buddies

Worn out from his sleepless nights on the trip

Always. We keep telling him he doesn't have to drop drawer completely, but he likes the breeze on his booty, I guess.

Love this big-little sis of mine

Dad joke at it's finest

Keeping Caleb occupied on the road trip....

Keeping Luke occupied...

Luke became the grasshopper whisperer to the many many hoppers we had in our parking area. Seriously. SO. MANY. GRASSHOPPERS. He would catch them and have 3 or 4 just on him. Totally gross, but he thought it was amazing and would tell them stories and encourage them to hop and yeah...

And that brings us to October. A few random pictures from our daily lives to close up this post. I just want to say that being a mom is hard, but these boys teach me so much every day. I also am so grateful that I have the best partner in crime by my side, helping me navigate parenthood and share this wonderful life with. I also want to say that we are part of a pretty great extended family. We each have our faults, but we love deeply and that is what counts. Happy fall, ya'll!