Happy Birthday, Brian!

This is almost a month late, but on September 25, Brian entered as late twenties as you can get without being thirty. So, I made cupcakes and took them to his work to share. We went out to lunch with Lara, Greg, and Baby Julia at Brian's favorite restaurant, Olive Garden, and since we were too full from lunch, we just went ahead and skipped dinner, eating ice cream at Cold Stone instead. 

  

Ethan was awesome to help with Rachel so we could enjoy our ice cream (he had eaten his before we even made it to the cashier. I took a long time deciding and so did Michael.)

After getting the kids to bed, we watched Iron Man 3. Not as exciting as my birthday, but hopefully it was a good one.

I'm so grateful for Brian. I thought I loved him when I was dating him. And I thought I couldn't be any more in love with him during our wedding ceremony when my heart was bursting with joy. But, each year bringing its own trials, struggles, and joys, my love for this wonderful man grows, and I'm grateful every day that he's in my life, at my side, and my co-captain of Team Saville. Thanks for being born Brian. You said that your birthday isn't that big of a deal, but it is a super big deal to me, because that's the day my favorite person was born--YOU!

Family!

In September, we got to enjoy more family! We're so lucky to have so many family member living so close to us, and we're lucky that we have family flying into town to visit parents (that live close to us!) 

 We got to have Chelsea and Thomas's kids here for a night while they went to the Military Ball. 

 And we got to be there when this little man was blessed. 

 And Michael, Rachel and I got to tag along to Gardner Village to see these witches when Lara and Greg came to town.

 And after checking out the witches, we got to have Family Home Evening with all of Brian's sisters and their families, as well as his parents, at Thanksgiving Point's Farm Country:

 I love how much her cousins love her. Seriously, when she gets older, those boys better be careful. Not only does she have a big brother, but four older BOY cousins that live close to look out for her!

 I love this one of Danny. It's like he's in a parade.

 Ella and Lara.

 On the wagon ride.

 And, we all went to the Circus! We got to be super close to the elephants before the show started. It was amazing!

The lighting is terrible, but this is Rachel's reaction to the circus. 

 Our whole crew.

 All of us were just a little jealous of Danny at the end of the show. This sums up how we all felt.

We love our awesome family!!

Look What Our Three-year Old* Can Do!

On September 21, we finally got around to fixing the tires on Michael's bike. The back tire wasn't pulled back far enough and so the chain fell off really easily. And, his tires were flat. And it had been that way for a long, long time. So, Brian and I replaced one of the tires and pulled the back tire tight, and then when we finished that, I realized that we forgot to put the training wheels back on. Well, I knew he could figure it out so we just said, "Hey, look Michael! We fixed your bike, and look, it's a two wheel bike now." Without missing a beat, he grinned, got on the bike and just started riding. We were slightly stunned, and oddly we were not surprised. We thought he would want us to hold his bike for him more, which he did after he crashed several minutes later. But, basically he taught himself. The video up top is Day 2 of riding a bike--and he basically taught himself. It is his proudest accomplishment so far, and he wants to ride his bike EVERYWHERE.

*Although he is currently 4, he was still 3 when he learned how to ride his bike with two wheels.

Some Firsts From Rachel

These last few months have been pretty exciting for Rachel. She is so much fun.

In the beginning of September, she started holding her own food pouch and feeding herself finger foods. She LOVES food! We noticed that she would get a little bit of a rash around her mouth with some foods, so we backed way off from some things and have been keeping it simple. It's hard sometimes though because she always wants to try everything we're eating!

Here's Rachel's first time in a swing from September 10. 

September 26

 September 30--She also figured out how to sit up all by herself on this day

October 1

 October 1

And apparently I haven't taken a video of her crawling after this. The official "Crawls" sticker got placed in her calendar on October 3. She is loving life as a crawler. Her approach to learning how to crawl was so fun to watch because it was so different to how Michael learned to crawl. I love seeing how much their personalities are so different.

Rachel stopped letting me put headbands in her hair a few months back. Anytime I put one in, she takes great pride in taking it off. She holds it above her head with a victory fist pump. But now, her hair is long enough that she can have the cute Pebbles Flintstone pony tail on the top of her head:

She's also recently discovered her tongue.

And, after lots of tears and pain, she cut her first tooth on October 6. Four days later, on October 10, her second tooth arrived, following a couple of days of her first fever. Our poor girl was so miserable! But now, she has two cute little baby teeth, and her toothless-smile days are over. I am both excited that she reached this milestone and incredibly sad. I can't believe how fast she is growing! We are completely and utterly in love with this sweet, sweet girl!

Michael the Scholar

On September 2, Michael had his first day of Preschool:

Like last year, we're doing a co/op slash joy school with other moms and preschoolers in the neighborhood. Unlike last year, we're doing more than just an organized playgroup, and there are only six kids. We're meeting two times a week, and we have a set schedule and curriculum. So far, it has been great. All the moms and kids are awesome. The other moms are so creative and cute, and I love the fun things Michael  (and I) are learning. I never remember to take pictures when it is at our house, but at the end of September, they went on their first field trip to an apple orchard in Alpine. It was awesome. The folks at the orchard were amazing. They got to bag their own apples to take home,

 They got to go in the huge refrigerator and pick out their own apple,

 They got to see how apples are sorted, brushed, and bagged. We even got to sample some yummy apple juice. They were going to give them rides on the tractor, but it was rainy and windy and cold. So we just stayed inside and learned about apples.

 We had safety week the first week in October, and I helped at one of the lessons and was able to take some pictures:

I'm sure we'll have more fun pictures from preschool as the year goes on. Michael is loving having preschool and wearing a backpack. Sometimes, he even tells me that he needs to work on homework. I'm not sure what he thinks that means, but I love that he loves learning. 

About Devri Tab

Well, I just thought that I would let you know that I finished the questionnaire on my "About Devri" Page, so if you are interested, you can check out the finished thing. Hopefully, some of you find it interesting. If not, it is really for posterity, so...

Island Park Family Reunion

This year, for our annual Chadwick Family Shin-dig, we stayed in a cabin in Island Park, Idaho. We all had a blast--well, most of the time :) Most of us arrived on Friday, August 30. Michael and Wyatt lost no time in exploring around the cabin. Too bad all the wildflowers had mostly died and there was mostly dirt. Oh well, boys love dirt, right?

 Saturday was spent mostly chillin' around the cabin, while the boys continued to play in the dirt outside. 

 My dad made his grandsons these guns. They loved them!

 Every now and then, I had to stop to take some pictures,

 And some of us didn't like that. 

 Rachel will grab and play with anything she can get a hold of

 Including her grandpa's shoelaces. 

Since we had three doorways right next to each other, three jumpers, and three babies, we HAD to put them in the jumpers at the same time. And cameras HAD to come out. 

 I accidentally forgot to turn the flash on for this one, but I think it was a happy accident because it shows just how much each baby can jump. Aaron (3.5 months) is on the left, Henry (6.5 months) is in the middle, and Rachel (7 months) is on the right. Check out how high Henry jumps! That kid is the most toned baby I have ever met, and after spending the weekend with him, we all know why! 

 Here is the non-motion blurred one. 

 Rachel loves the jumper. 

Chelsea and her crew arrived Saturday night due toThomas's aunt's funeral held in Ogden earlier that day. 

The next morning, we went to church in Island Park. You would have thought it was Stake Conference. The chapel and cultural hall were completely filled with a sacrament table at the front and one at the back. There were at least three over-flow rooms with sacrament meeting being broadcast to them. And, next door to the church building, there was another very large A-frame Cabin hall filled to the brim with more people, another sacrament table, and I think the meeting was broadcast to them as well. The A-Frame cabin had a room the size of a regular chapel in it. Why so many people? All people on VACATION! Apparently, they had a full block meeting that met at 11, which I'm guessing was for the people that actually live up there year-round. There was a really awesome spirit in the meeting. It was amazing. 

After church, we had an AMAZING brunch, provided by all of us. Here's my mom and Chelsea cooking part of it.  

 Emily read to Michael and Sarah. 

 After brunch, Brian, David, and I made special cupcakes for later. 

 Sunday afternoon, we all headed to Big Springs, the place where the North Fork, or Henry's Fork, of the Snake River starts. 

 Big trout live under this bridge. We tried to entice them to come out by feeding them biscuits. They wouldn't take the bait. Someone else threw corn into the water, and then they came out. They were pretty big!

 When we came home, we had dinner and then took some family pictures. 

 Aren't we just a good looking crew?

 After pictures, we had an un-birthday party to celebrate everyone's birthdays. We had a pinata that Michael named Picco. All the grandkids got to take a swing at it. 

 Even the babies. And even Grandpa (good thing he missed*). 

Taryn decided Aaron would do better riding the pinata. 

After everyone got a turn, Ethan came and finished him off. 

 I love how you can see pieces of Picco flying everywhere! 

 And Grandpa made sure that Rachel got some candy too. 

 And then we had our special cupcakes 

 And later, ice cream. 

The next day, on our way home, we stopped at Mesa Falls. The Englands and Flynns headed out early, but the rest of us stopped to see this beautiful site. 

 Heather, Sarah, Matthew, Michael, and Brian

 Rachel and my Mom. It wasn't really cold, but it was a little rainy. 

  Michael asked if he could take some pictures. He could barely hold up my camera, but I lifted him up and he was able to take this awesome picture of Mesa Falls:

I didn't crop it or anything.

 Ethan

 Chelsea and Amber

 At the Snow Pole

We had a great time, and I'm really excited that we get to head back next year for the Saville Vacation!

*Okay, so he only pretended like he was going to hit it. He told me, "If I had tried to hit it, I would have." :)