So Long Summer

 We spent the rest of September trying to squeeze some sun out of the last bit of summer, although Mother Nature screwed that up with all the rain we got.  We went to Manila Creek pond one last time and frequented several parks. 

Hopefully the weather will stay good enough for another month that we can still spend a few hours a week at the playground. Elise has been very entertaining at the park lately. She pretends other kids are dragons and runs away from them yelling about emergencies. The other day she also came crawling up to me and told me she was a camel. When I was looking the other direction she ran her tongue along the side of my face. That's a sneaky camel right there. The park closest to our new house has a little rock climbing wall and "twisty balance beam" that Sadie loves to show off her skills on.

Blue is the new green

An hour after we closed on our new house Daniel got a call offering him a position back at BYU with the women's basketball team. He started 2 days after we moved. He will miss UVU but this is a good step forward for his career. Out with the green and in with the blue!

I wanted a cute picture of the girls supporting their dad's new team, but when Sadie went to put her arm around Elise, Elise was not having it. 

So the best picture I got was this. This... is...cute?

Jimmanastics

I gave Sadie the choice between gymnastics and dance. She chose gymnastics. I think she forgot that lots of the stuff is really hard to do.

She has already changed her mind. I said no. 

A Proper Lickin'

Elise and Sadie recently enjoyed some leftover brownie batter. I've taught them well.

I may or may not be guilty of leaving a little extra batter in the bowl so I could scrape it out. I also may or may not be guilty of making brownies just to eat the batter (didn't eat any of the baked brownies). 

Mo' Playing, Mo' Fighting

In middle school Biggie taught me mo' money=mo' problems and now my girls are teaching me mo' playing=mo'fighting. But I do love to see them play. 

#6

On Friday the 13th Adelaide Jean Gessell came into the world to bring the number of John grandchildren up to 6. We've all been anxious about her arrival for weeks, but obviously, none as anxious as Alicia. She experienced lots of painful contractions and several false alarms for the last 4 weeks of her pregnancy. It was rough, but in the end they got an adorable, chubby, 9-pounder out of  it. From all accounts Alicia destroyed labor. Some of her feats are unheard of. 

 Sadie is very excited to have another girl cousin, although she thinks Adelaide's name is funny for some reason. She giggles every time she hears it. Sadie prayed the other night that Adelaide will grow up to be a kid. I think she just wants her to be big enough to be bossed around. Elise is oblivious. 

As usual, I am left wondering when I'll get to meet her. One of these times I will actually live by a sibling so I can dote on their newborn. 

And Daniel just happens to be travelling to Boston for work next week so he gets to meet her. So unfair. 

Welcome Adelaide! We love you!

This Happened

So, this news story is about one of my best friends, Margaret, and her husband Clark. They are some of the best people I know and I still cannot believe this happened to them. In real life. You can read more about how I feel about this family in this blog post (from 5 years ago!?!).

Margaret pointed out that the news story is sensationalized a bit (he didn't break every bone in his body- maybe more like only 15 bones :) ), but I feel like the story didn't emphasize enough the intensity of the time they were alone and the incredible rescue by the Air Force. The news station also chose to leave out all of the religious aspects, like the priesthood blessing given to Clark by their friend directly before he finally responded to Margaret, and all the praying everyone did and continues to do for them. 

I posted this to A)invite you to join in the prayers and good thoughts for them and B)document one of the craziest and most miraculous things that has ever happened to people I love. More prayers can only help. Clark is still intubated and slightly sedated. Margaret keeps hoping he'll be extubated but his lungs haven't recovered enough yet.