September Little Things

I have a number of random photos collected over the past month (lots are instagram pics) so its time for a quick recap of the little things that have happened around here.  First up is a typical Sunday morning in our home getting ready for 9:00 a.m. church.  Because our building is shared by our family ward and the singles ward, we will always have church at 9:00 and won't switch times at the new year because the singles ward likes the afternoon slot apparently.  Paul's new calling is as 1st counselor in the Elders Quorum presidency, which means he often has Sunday afternoon and Tuesday evening meetings and/or visits but it is awfully nice having him home to help me get the girls ready on Sunday mornings after his last calling where I had to do that job myself most of the time.  I was called to be the Gospel Doctrine teacher (again! yay!).

 

My parents were in San Francisco with their gardening group in early September.  Each fall the group travels to a different part of the U.S. to learn about gardening there (I know there is more to it but that's basically the gist of what happens I think) and tour local gardens.  Their schedule was pretty packed but we snuck in one quick dinner with them in the city.  First I took the girls to see Paul in his office though because they hadn't been there and Clara wanted to see the "tower" where daddy worked.  He has a pretty sweet view.

 

We ate at the Boudin Bread Factory Restaurant for the first time.  Usually we just eat at the sandwich/soup counter below but we wanted to have a quieter area to sit down with the girls and my parents had already eaten there for lunch earlier in the day.  It was such a fun dinner and the girls did great.  Clara loved the calamari and the hot crab, artichoke, and spinach dip.  And the fish and chips were possibly the best I've ever had (and I'm not even a big fish and chips fan).

We finally got a little bit of rain around here.  Barely much of anything, but after months and months with nothing at all and the terrible drought we have been going through, it certainly was welcome.  When we woke up to a light drizzle, I let Clara go outside in her nightgown with her umbrella to enjoy it.

I'm growing out my bangs.  They are in that stage where they are driving me bonkers.  Also, I'm sort of getting desperate for a haircut (it's been about 7 months I think).  But that means finding a new hairstylist, which I hate doing.

Speaking of hairstyles, I finally figured out these rope twists on Clara's hair and I adore them. 

After a hiatus on major house projects, we are slowly getting back in the groove of things.  Paul demolished the shower walls in the master bathroom so that we could have the plumbers come in and take the double sink plumbing down to one sink plumbing and move the shower head up (the ceiling was built down and we wanted to raise them and increase the height of the shower head for a more enjoyable shower experience).  He also installed a new light and fan/vent in there, as well as new can lights in the living room, which took most of last weekend.  Hopefully he will be able to get to the lights in the family room next.  I've been working with tile guys this week getting bids on doing the tile work in the bathroom (one of the things that we have decided to sub out) so maybe, hopefully, the master bathroom will be done before Thanksgiving.

Clara and I made another paper dress in her favorite color. 

I was off doing some stuff and Paul was home with the girls on a Saturday.  Apparently Clara had a little spill and got a tiny scrape so Paul bandaged her up and told her to make a sad face so he could take a picture to send to me.  He said that she was laughing and smiling and this was the best fake sad face they could get and really her owie was hardly anything at all.

We have been watching these Chariot Cougar II bike trailer/jogging stroller/double strollers on Craigslist after a friend showed us theirs.  With Yosemite coming up we knew we needed something so we could do bike rides with the girls and I have missed being able to bike places this summer.  They are crazy expensive to buy new from REI, who makes them, but we lucked out and scored one in amazing condition for about 1/3 of the price when I saw one posted on Craigslist as part of a garage sale.  I had to drive to Berkeley to get it but it was totally worth it and we have loved going out on family bike rides again.  One Monday evening we rode with the girls to Yogurtland for Family Home Evening and they loved it.  The only problem is that it doesn't attach to my bike so it has to go on Paul's bike which doesn't have any gears (mine at least has 3 which makes a huge difference).  So when there is much of an incline and both girls are in the trailer, whoever is pulling them gets a pretty intense workout. 

Clara had her first visit to the dentist.  Zero cavities and she did awesome letting the dental hygienist clean her teeth.  I know she looks like she is not having fun here, but she actually didn't have a problem at all and was focused on watching "Frozen" which was on a tv directly in front of her.  This is more her concerned movie watching face.

We finally checked out the local Saturday morning farmers market in Pleasanton.  It is a nice one that is open year round so we will probably hit this one up fairly often. 

Clara was obsessing over the puppies and kitties at the farmers market that were looking for homes through a pet adoption agency.  For now though, there is no way that we are getting a family pet.

And that is what has been going on around here.