And then there were four!

This smile makes up for his bad moments.

From our back yard!

Couldn't quite capture the full-fledged smile, but this came close.

WOW! "Wow" is the only word that really encompasses our lives for the past two months. Here at home, I have been trying to keep my head above water with two babies. Joshua is going to be two in January, but until he is potty trained and feeding himself (without me living in fear that there will be food all over the walls), he is still a baby. Joshua has started waking up increasingly early. Yesterday he woke at 4:30 a.m. for the day. The only way Josh and I were aware of his being awake was that he was getting frustrated at the T.V. for not turning on. Then, as new babies do, Genevra likes to play from about 11 to 1. Needless to say, I am bushed. Tired. Exhausted. Zombified. You get the picture.

BUT on the other hand, I can honestly say I have not been happier. Genevra has brightened our home in countless ways. She is very smiley and loves to coo and interact with Josh and I. We are thrilled Joshua wants to play with her...as long as it does not involve him dragging her out of her swing or force feeding her animal crackers. Genevra (or as Joshua calls her "Ivy" for Ivory) is my perfect baby. At nearly 13 lbs. (at only 8 weeks old) she is butterball round and nurses like the apocalypse is nearing.

When Josh started the architecture program at KU, he was warned by almost everyone he talked to that he would be living at school. We both assumed they were exagerating. They weren't. From roughly 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Josh is at school in classes and doing his personal homework. He comes hom from 5:30 to 8ish and does dinner/scripture study/bedtime routine with us and then goes back to school until the wee hours of the morning doing group projects. When I get a minute to myself (literally, A minute), I find myself missing this guy something awful. He is such a hard worker and is truly my hero. Both of us are working hard to keep a clear perspective and believe this refiners fire will be worth it.

Our evenings and weekends hold some good times though. A couple of weeks ago, one of my best buds, Pam, came to visit with her fiance over their fall break. We hunted for the perfect pumpkin at Schakes, toured Mass St, went on dates, stopped by multiple church history sites, and had a pretty good time. I loved to have her here to share in my new load.

We are a blessed little clan. I feel like my C-section is healing well, and there are few pictures that seem to lift my spirits quite like seeing the amazing fall colors Lawrence has to offer. In Southern Utah we had to drive into the mountains to find trees-- and then most of the trees were pine/juniper. But here, I only have to look out the window to see reds and oranges.

Pictures are of Josh and Joshua at the tri-ward trunk-or-treat. Joshua went as a monster who refused to wear the super cute head wrap thing, while Genevra was a fuzzy, pink bunny. Josh was a cowboy and I was...sleepy:)