So here I am, playing catch-up again (suprise, surprise) on a very neglected blog....
Seems like lots has been happening the last month or so; here's a condensed list of what we've been up to recently:

• Rusty's business is getting busier since they had their booth at the Puyallup Fair. He's hired 2 more guys now and is running his 2nd truck. Typical of this time of year. Good for business, bad for us seeing him anytime before dark.
• Plus, it's hunting season-- Rusty was stalking a bull elk for a while with his bow, but had no success getting the perfect shot! He's also been out for bear. He's thrilled about a trip next week to hunt in Idaho-- I swear he's been planning this trip for a year or more.
• We've decided to go deeper with our house remodeling, and move forward with that immediately (well as soon as I get us packed up). Our summer trip to Idaho may have had something to do with that. We've been in our fixer-upper house for over 5 years now and it's been a struggle chipping away at the projects one-by-one, as money, time and sanity permit. I know, something about starting your own business (and having your "house remodel" savings go to that), having 3 little kids, and keeping the space livable 'midst construction may be a few reasons for being so slow-- but it's still taking forever at the rate we've been going. So we've decided to bite the bullet and just move out for a few months (and stay with my parents) while we tear into everything. So, I've been trying to get the whole house packed up for that. And this is taking me forever, as I'm trying to go thru things and downsize at the same time.
• Rusty recently got put into the Elder's Quorum Presidency again and I got called to be the Primary Secretary in our ward. I'm excited for a change and to be with the kids and get to see Cole more in there, and Mason as he becomes a Sunbeam in January. Struggle for me was that the call came when I was in the middle of planning a Super Saturday for Relief Society. Talk about unexpected, but I guess callings usually are. So I had a few weeks of craziness as I was doing double duty-- super busy in two different callings. But now that Super Saturday is over, and my marshmallow shooter class has been taught, I am done in Relief Society. I still haven't been released from Enrichment Leader (or whatever they call it these days), but I'm assuming I won't have to do both jobs for too much longer-- fingers crossed! And we now have a Primary Sacrament Meeting Program we've been planning for later this month, so that's been fun to work on. And now that Hunter is 18 months, he can go to nursery!! What a great milestone! He is already known as the "crayon eater". Hey, all nurseries are bound to have one of those, right?



• I decided to wait on sending Cole to Kindergarten this year. Some of you may know-- he has an August birthday so he could've gone either way. He would've done fine had he gone, I'm sure. I just didn't feel a rush, and he didn't seem to care either. Here's what he drew on one of his first days as they talked about friends-- I think it's super cute. He's on the left of course with the 'cool glasses' (as he's calling them), and his friend Wesley is on the right:

• One by-product of having Cole in school is the one-on-one/one-on-two time that I get to spend with Mason and Hunter. I think they need this, especially Mason! And although Cole is a great big brother, it's neat to see the other two on their own and out of Cole's shadow (if that makes sense). Cole has preschool in the afternoon and I'm still trying to adjust our days and schedules (and a nap for Hunter) around that time. I've gotten deep into couponing the last 6 months or so, and so Mason and Hunter have become my sidekicks and have learned some of the stores quite well. We often go while Cole's in school. They can tell you where the toy aisles are in both Rite Aid and Walgreens. Very valuable information, for sure. Now you know how I bribe them!





• A friend from church recently had the cutest "little man" party for her 1 year old, and my boys just loved her bow ties and mustaches. They wore them for 2 days straight. Here they are showing off:



• We currently have a little cousin, Ryder visiting with us for about 10 days. My brother and his wife are in Germany and for some reason didn't want a 2 year old tagging along on their overseas adventure. C'mon, why not?? That would have been quite adventurous, I'm sure! Anyways, talk about boys in all directions at my house!! We have a husband, a 5 year old, a 3 year old, a 2 year old, and a 1 year old (who is probably worse than the other 3 combined, if truth be told), and 1 semi-sane mom. My mom so perceptively pointed out to me today that "really Nea, they could all be yours. Had you not had the gap between Mason and Hunter, you could've had another one in there." Hmm, food for thought. And fortunately not true! Well, even though life is crazy for us now (okay, when is it not?), we are still finding time to dress-up and "save the day" often.
  

Hope life is not so crazy in other parts of the world! Maybe it's just mine???