Even More Kitties

You read that right, we got more kitties (yes, plural) haha. However, for the first time, these ones weren't my idea. So a while back Larry mentioned he really wanted to get more cats and I just kept throwing the ol' "we don't need any more cats" comment back, but it didn't go past that. Then one day he mentioned he kept looking at kitties up for adoption and how much he really wanted a new one and I told him flat out, no! After a couple days I told him I felt bad because I shouldn't just say no. I've brought it SO many kitties into this home that he wasn't always on board with at first. I did stress that I didn't want or feel we needed any new animals.

So fast forward to yesterday, he had the day off and told me that instead of working out he was going to take the kids to a playground. I thought it was odd and questioned him a bit, but then realized they'd really like going to a playground and it gave me a quiet house so why not. So he took them after school and was gone for a long time, like 2-3 hours. I wondered why he was gone so long, but when they got back we had dinner and then got ready to go to the library (our books were due back). 

As we got in the car he confessed that the real reason he took the kids to the playground is because he had some kittens lined up to pick up and he wanted to surprise me by coming home with them, but it didn't work out like he had planned and the person "selling" them had to take them to the vet for the initial shots and said they'd let Larry know when that was all done, but then they never responded back. So he showed me the picture of them and I had to admit they were cute. He said there was a brother and sister pair left and he wanted both of them so that they would be together and acclimate to a new home better. So as we're driving to the library the person finally starts texting Larry saying the cats are ready to pick up. We quickly dropped off the books and instead of walking around to get new ones, we drove straight out to the house to pick them up.

The kids decided to name them Meow Meow (the dark one, a girl) and Cucumber (the white and gray fluffy one, a boy). I fought the names as much as I could, but after a day they kind of stuck and we weren't thinking of anything else (although at one point Pickle and Cucumber were on the table and I really liked that combo). They are super cute and sweet, pretty nervous still, but warming up. They definitely like Otto and Charlie, the kids and us humans they are iffy with still. The funny thing is Meow Meow looks just like Oscar and Cucumber looks just like Baby Girl (so opposite genders). It's nice to have them back in a way. Cucumber also has a little deformed back paw where he either only has 2 pads or like 3 of them combined into 1 so he has a small one and a big one, we can't quite tell. The vet they took them to said it was a birth defect but shouldn't negatively effect him.

So welcome Cucumber and Meow Meow to our home!

Hogle Zoo Trip

Funny thing, I was thinking over the last month that we never did our annual zoo trip. Not that we NEED to, but we usually do, and it's a fun thing to get out and do, so I was shocked we made it through the whole summer without doing it. I was thinking we should plan it sometime soon before it gets too cold, but maybe it'll be cool enough that the animals will be pretty active. Then my mom text me and Rachel and said she wanted to go this weekend and asked if anyone was interested. I jumped at that since I really did want to go.

Luckily, the weather was really nice when we got there, a little more on the warm side than I thought it would be, but still nice. We started with their new area and it was actually really cool and seemed to be more educational than I remember the zoo being when I was younger. 

Unfortunately, the elephants being gone felt really weird (I really hope they bring some back eventually), but the bears were being really cute so it made up for that. I really like that they have the playground areas too, so we let the kids play for a while there.

I will say I still miss the old hippo and penguin house that they had, but I still really like our zoo and I really like going and seeing how they are always improving. I'm glad we got this in this year!

Halloween Town

A while back I saw an "ad" saying our city was having a "Halloween Town" event and wanting to soak up as much fun for the holidays I decided we HAD to go and I'm so glad we did! The girls decided last minute to throw together costumes (we haven't gotten costumes yet, but they found some items in dress up to make it look like they were dressed up) and it worked out because they got to kind of "trick or treat" there, each vendor had some candy and the city booth gave out bags for them to collect treats in (which I think was their favorite). They even set up a mini petting zoo to pet some animals (which is always a part I like).

The event ran from 11-2, which I'd usually avoid because that's basically all of nap time, but Pierce is in a kind of in between phase where he doesn't always nap during down time, and if he does it isn't the full time, so I figured we could see if we could get away with it, and I'm SO glad we're in this phase of life where we can do our down time, but if something comes up and we miss it, it isn't the end of the world.

The real best part of this was that it was at our really cool city playground and, because the kids were doing good without a nap, we decided to stay and let the kids play for a little bit. Unfortunately, it was a REALLY sunny day and we ended up staying a little too long we definitely got some sun, but it was worth it. Everyone had a good time and I found some good businesses we might use in the next year or two, so win for all!

September Activities

-Now that Larry and Cara have learned how to do Pokémon card battles, they have become an almost daily occurrence in our home. Cara will even do battles with Gwen at night (she's given Gwen a bunch of her cards to play with). It's really funny to listen to them battle each night

-Kids workshops (we still really love doing these and I don't see stopping soon). This time the Lowe's one had pumpkins they could color WITH the builder kit!

-We did peak into Halloween season by hitting up Spirit and Zurchers to check out costumes. It was our first time at this Zurchers and while they didn't have A TON of costumes (enough to look through, but obviously Spirit has them beat), they had a lot more fun decor!

-My company had a fun work party on the 17th at Thanksgiving Point. They included free food (that was yummy..for us parents), lawn games, a custom soda bar (the kids favorite), and cookies as big as your face. Unfortunately, this just happened to be the first VERY cold (and windy) day we've had this month and I totally forgot jackets for any of us. Luckily, I found out we still had towels so I grabbed those for us and they helped a tiny bit. It was nice to see old co-workers and catch up, but it was so cold we ended up leaving early. Next time I'll remember jackets and to take pictures!

-Minnie is officially scared of her reflection so we have to cover all surfaces in our bathroom.

-Spent as much time outdoors as the weather (and sunsets) would allow. Lots of walks around our block and being silly

-Gwen advanced to Level 2 in Gymnastics (she was nervous at first, but she loves it now)

-Lucy got Student of the Month award for September!

-Tried out new Family Park in Lehi, it's SO amazing! Splash pad was even on for us!

-Silly kiddo pics:

Fall Hikes - Ghost Falls Trail

I decided we really needed to do another hike this year and it would be GREAT to do one that would show off our beautiful changing leaves in the mountains. I found quite a few online and decided on Ghost Falls Trail. 

Unfortunately, finding the actual start of the trail is VERY complicated. I found directions on the Utah Adventure Family blog so that helped, but we still got a little lost. 

While on the trail we saw lots of beautiful leaves, some wild turkeys, and a couple deer even! We never made it to where the falls WOULD be (no idea if it was there at this point or not), but it was still good to get out of the house one last time. Cara LOVES posing for pics so I got A LOT with her in them. Pierce hates pictures so I had to sneak his a bit. 

Wild Turkeys!

I wanted to get a treat this weekend (that's another reason I decided a hike would be good...let's earn the treat!) so we stopped at Twisted Sugar on the way home. I didn't realize it's a cookie place, I thought it had other things, but it was still really good (LOTS more choices than Crumbl). 

So now that September is almost over I can really switch into Halloween mode and focus on the holiday season coming up. I'm VERY happy that I was able to soak up much more Fall this year than I usually do (and we did a lot more hikes than I realized).