Austin and Julia: September and October 2019

After Labor Day, I forgot to post more updates on our life. It's been a low key fall for the most part but some fun memories I wanted to write down. We caught the last of the farmer's market at Juanita Beach in the middle of September. We got their huge nectarines and we were obsessed with them. Dallin held onto one the entire ride home and ate most of it.

We headed to Oregon for Kaeley's baptism and we're so glad we made the trip even if it was a short one. It was so fun to see cousins and they were so nice to let Austin and I go to the Temple on Saturday morning. We just enjoyed being with family. Dad had his stake conference that weekend so it was fun to see him do 'his thing' and of course it meant that I got to see old friends from when I grew up in the stake.

Austin got a new bike which has shaved off a few minutes time and has been more of a breeze for his commute. We can't get over how amazing his commute is, especially when he has days where he needs to take a bus into Seattle and he leaves and comes home almost an hour earlier and later than normal.

We have a chair situated by our kitchen window so Dallin can take a look outside for any garbage trucks, cars, birds, and dogs he sees. He has a very acute sense of hearing and so if anything remotely sounds like a truck he makes sure I know it and demands to go to the window to see. One time it ended up being ambulances across the way which was sad to see but it kept him occupied for a good 10 minutes. :)

He's been saying a few words lately and it's the cutest: rocks, rice, grass, truck, flax, no, yeah, squash, all done.

He's also been getting into everything more and more. He loves the dishwasher, the kitchen cupboards, and the toilet. He knows within 10 seconds if I'm not near him, he'll come looking. Privacy is a thing of the past these days with him.

We got to enjoy Conference at the beginning of October. Even though we missed pretty much all of the morning sessions because of a busy toddler but we still enjoyed it as much as we could. We had these amazing scones each morning because they were that good!

I borrowed a push walker toy from a friend because by mid October, he still wasn't walking even though he was confident with just holding on to the tip of one finger. It took him a while to get comfortable with the toy and once he did, he used it for a week, then learned to stand up in the room on his own from seat position, and then he took off with walking! He did it just 5 days before his 16 month birthday. It's fun for him to have this new found freedom and I love it too except when he wanders away in public.

One of the Fridays in October we headed to Bonney Lake to attend a reception for one of Austin's friends growing up, Ryan Call. The Calls have been such tight family friends with the Doutre's and it was fun to see them as well as see other people Austin grew up with. The bride is a psychology major
at BYU-Idaho so we got to talk professors and classes that we loved.

The next day we ventured to Stocker Farms for a family fun outing. This place was made for kids which was perfect. The weather was lovely and we got to play a bunch of fun games and ride in a wagon. We picked up Chipotle on our way home.

Near the end of October, we went to the rival high school football game: Inglemoor vs Bothell. We have YW that go to both schools; a set of siblings go to one of each! We wanted to go have a nostalgic evening plus support one of the YW who is one of the drum majors for the marching band. Unfortunately due to a lightening storm, the halftime performance was cut short and we had to wait it out till it wasn't pouring rain before we headed home. My advisor, Christine, came too which was fun!

It's always a good day when we get to attend the temple and we did that the next morning and then planned to make chili and our costumes for the trunk or treat activity that night. We went as a football team via punny style: quarterback, line man (he had 'line' written all over the tape on his shirt) and safety. Austin got free candy out of the trunk or treat because Dallin doesn't know the difference. He was so tired that anytime someone asked him if he wanted candy he would shake his head and say no. Let's pray that discipline continues! ;)

I've started a new hobby-artisan bread making! It's a steep learning curve and I did a ton of research beforehand but it's not until you dive into making that you realize all the things you want to fix or try differently. But no matter how it turns out on the outside or inside, it still tastes amazing. I haven't tried levian but that is the next hurdle. Once I try doing that, it will definitely feel like my baby because I will have to feed it everyday. :)