October 2022

 October started with a successful watermelon harvest.  The weather was about to turn cooler, especially the nights.  The weather forecast was threatening freezing temperatures, so we thought we had better pull one of the watermelons before the whole harvest was frozen over.  

We invited Papa and Nana and Quincey over for dessert and of course, delicious watermelon.  Raleigh cut the very first one off the vine.  Ryker could not have been more proud.  It was beautiful in color and it was heavy and when we knocked on it, it was very hollow sounding, which through all of his melon research, was the determining factor of the perfect fruit.

He cut it open

And it was gorgeous

Perfect

Delicious.

It was crisp and cool and sweet and we could not have enjoyed it more

And there was never a boy more proud of his accomplishments than this one.

Well done Walt.

You believed and achieved

This corner of our family room has always been dull and a waste of space.

Raleigh found this swinging chair on slick deals several months ago

and he was going to hang it up in the backyard.  But, he got a great idea to hang

it up in our tragic upstairs corner and turned it into our new favorite place to be.

There is no better place to go and relax your cares away.

Raleigh and I made a quick trip up North to attend the missionary farewell of one of our friends.

It was the most fun trip.

We did some very serious shopping at several different malls trying to find sweaters and jeans for the girls.

We made a stop at Hobby Lobby and bought a few Christmas Decorations.

We ate lunch at our favorite JCWs for a delicious hamburger.

We met Brian and Tierra Zullo for dinner at Zupas and that was SO fun.

We watched the exciting Utah vs USC game.

We went to the farewell and straight to brunch at the Sundloff's beautiful home.

Raleigh was able to see several of his friends.

It was a quick trip, but it was so successful and helped in healing

Peyton had a choir concert.

Raleigh and KK and I attended.

She was so funny to watch

Raleigh made a rather lengthy list at the beginning of the month of

home improvement projects.

He presented the list to me at our Saturday breakfast in no particular order.

He said that we would just tackle the projects one by one, slowly.

Some would be very difficult and costly.

Others would be quick and easy to accomplish.

We decided that each Saturday, we would choose one project.

One Saturday, we chose to paint the dining room door black. 

This project has been on my list since we moved in.

I was so happy to choose this one

YAY!!!  It looks 1000% better now

This took 4 hours

And minimal cash and minimal supplies

One Saturday, we transformed Raleigh's office.

He was less than satisfied with the backdrop of his office on his zoom calls.

He originally chose to go with a sports theme in his office with a 9-box

of 11X13 black and white photos of famous sporting events.

The problem was finding the photos in the right size and orientation AND

affording them.  They are outrageously priced.  He purchased 2 and he was done!

He started to explore another theme.

He finally landed on a dark grey wall with a modern geometrical pattern/design.

He knew the steps we would need to take and we spent the morning of our saturday date

gathering supplies.

Paint, molding, blue tape and painters paper

I do not know how the two of us math genius' pulled this off...

but we did!

He filled in all of the cracks and nail holes

Suited up and painted the wall in the time it took me to go through the Chick fil A drive-thru

And WHAL-AH!!

A gorgeous Zoom Backdrop

We added lights, and eventually we will hide the cords behind the wall...

He could not look more classy, talking to his work friends

We went to the anual Ward Trunk or Treat the Saturday before Halloween

It was a gigantic success, with at least 300 kids in attendance. 

We know this because we brought 300 pieces of cheap Halloween candy to hand out and our bag was empty when we left.

I wanted a bum picture

Tigger and Eeyore were full of All Hallows Eve Spirit

It felt like it was 2:00 in the morning when we got home, but it was actually only 7:30, so Raleigh and I watched Where the Crawdads Sing and I bawled my eyes out for a solid 2 hours.  Dang it.

 

The Candy Passer Outers were festive in orange. 

And as soon as the children left, we jumped in the truck and drove over to

Papa and Nana's house for Tortillini Soup and homemade bread.

We had such a fun night.

I don't know for sure what Ryker was, but he sure looked cool.

Kylee, Kaleigh and Peyton (Pooh got sick and couldn't trick or treat with them)

I love that Ryker got a 2 week supply of dinner foods instead of candy

Ramen?  So Random

We had a costume party at work.

Only 7 people participated.

The winner took $100 home, dang it. 

Me and Rach...

Work for me could not be better.  I love my new job.  It is so different.  I am not in operations anymore.  Which is kind of weird for me.  I have been in operations for so long.  I am no longer apart of the daily chaos of the day to day madness.  I just get to be a support to those who are.  Up in the front office is the housekeeping manager, the inventory manager and the inspection coordinator.  And I feel more comfortable up in their world because that is what I have known for so long.  I understand their talk and their day to day processes.  Mine still feel foreign to me.  So sometimes I go up there and just talk to them about their day, so I can feel like I know what I am doing.  But then, I am so glad that I get to leave and go back to my not as stressful office.  

 We all work really hard, but we also have so much fun.  There is a healthy mix of men and women.  I have an assistant named Rachel.  I am beyond blessed to have her.  She is amazing and so smart and organized.  We crack up all day long.  Our office (Rach and mine) is known as the fun place to come visit and people do all day long.  We have a chair in the corner and people will just come in and sit in the chair and talk to us.  Sometimes about work.  My whole personality has changed.  I am not stressed out when I come home anymore and I feel happy and helpful and very positive about the future.  I have been able to make super positive and valuable suggestions that the team has been very receptive to.  I have created several projects for myself to work toward streamlining processes.  It makes me feel so fabulous when I have huge projects to work on.  It feels good to be a contributer.  

My platelet and white blood cell levels are finally in the normal range after messing with my medications to find the perfect dosage.  My body feels better than it has felt in years.  I have more energy and more spunk.  I think that is contributing greatly to my mood change.  I think my veritgo will be more regulated now that my blood/oxygen levels are where they are supposed to be.  That feels so great.  

Aunt Tiffanie and Leslie and Uncle Bob came to visit us one Sunday.  We haven't seen Bob and Leslie since Peyton was 6 months old.  It was fun to see them.

We had a great month of accomplishing tasks.  The kids are doing really well and are so happy at school.  

Kami and Brent moved to Yuma this month.  Kami got a new job.  They have a cute new home.  I hope they will be really happy there.  I hate that they are even further away.  

Cooler weather has finally arrived.  I am so happy wearing my boots and warm sweaters.  It will be so fun to start drinking hot chocolate and sit by the fire and decorate for Christmas and listen to good music.  I am so ready.