Once there was this month called October...

and things happened in that month. And I took pictures. And I posted them on Facebook. And was too lazy to blog about them. But I SHOULD blog, at least a little bit, because it's the only way it will ever get recorded...
Actually, I guess I should start at the end of September.We had a long-awaited birthday, and our Joshua Reilly turned 6! He was SO excited, and hasn't hit the age where it's sad to have to go to school on your birthday. I was even a semi-cool mom and surprised him by bringing cupcakes in. Kindergartners are -impressed- when you do that. Not as much Reilly as a few other kids, one of which hugged my legs and said "Thank you for bringing cupcakes!" Fairly entertaining. Great-Grandma Cohn even made it by to wish him Happy Birthday that afternoon. :) We did a few presents and some simple (leftover) cupcakes that night, because Jeremy wasn't quite back from Virginia and we were going to celebrate on Sunday. Grandma and Chloe came down to celebrate, and then we met Grandpa at Taylor Freeze for some birthday ice cream. :)

The next night we went up to the Salsa Fest and partied with Jeremy's family. We missed him, but the kids had a good time, and I had some carne asada tacos that were pretty awesome! It was a little bit of an adventure in that crowd, but I'm glad we went.

Jeremy flew back (for the last time!) from Virginia on Sunday, and we were so happy to have him home! It had been a slightly long 2 months of living in separate states. I know I've said this before, but I really don't see any reason that we should have to ever do that again!!

6 years ago!

Reilly got lots of toys, including some transformers and action figures, and a monster-making kit (his favorite game is Monster Pets on the iPad right now). He also got an Avengers shirt and an Angry Birds shirt, both of which were hits.

It has been so great to have Jeremy back, at least part of each week. He has been spending several days a week over in Mesa/Gilbert trying to get things figured out and going for his practice. There are so many details and things to do. It's been a bit overwhelming (okay, a lot) at times, and it seems discouraging some days. I think we're supposed to be here, now, doing this though, and I believe it will all work out! It's just hard getting to that point. He's also looking for some part-time/seasonal jobs right now to keep us afloat in the meantime. We are so blessed to have a place to live (thanks to my parents) and a car for him to drive (thanks to his) while we figure this transitional period out. It seems like we've spent most of our life together in a "transition," but hopefully it will settle down. Sooner, rather than later? Please? :) The kids have loved having him here to do stuff with, though, and I am glad to not have to miss him so much!

Daddy decided our car needed some attention almost as soon as he got
home. It's dusty out here, and there's seldom rain to wash things off!

There have been a few fun food projects around here, including canning a bunch of different items, making muffins and bread with Grandma, and making cake trains for Justin's birthday with Aunt Emily. All of the kids love to help, but Jaina, especially gets pretty excited about it!

We had Justin and Kayden spend about 24 hours with us while their parents took a short, much-deserved anniversary trip. So for that time period I had 5 kids (almost) under 5. Talk about exhausting! I was pretty happy that we don't have to do that on a daily basis!

All 5 kids eating breakfast!

We have had some sister missionaries in our ward lately, (instead of elders) and since my dad is the ward mission leader, we have seen a lot of them. These particular sisters (both from Texas) are pretty awesome. We took this picture the other morning (they came here after their work out for some waffles) because one of the sisters was getting transferred, and we were really going to miss her!

We have had a lot of fall/Halloween festivities towards the end of this month. Jaina's pre-school got to go to a makeshift "pumpkin patch," where they also got to see a bunch of animals, play some games, go on a hay ride, and ride a horse. I got to go, too, and we had a lot of fun!

 We also carved pumpkins kind of early with Jeremy (which means they were all moldy and gross by the time Halloween hit in this warm climate). The kids are still too young to be very involved in that (though Reilly did model the face he wanted, and Jaina asked for a "princess" pumpkin face) but it's about establishing traditions, right? We also made a big gluten-free pumpkin-face rice krispy treat, but it was randomly ugly enough that I didn't feel the need to take a picture...

Jeremy had a NUCCA conference at the very end of the month (in Newport Beach), and just a couple days before, decided that Katy and I should ride along too. Reilly and Jaina had school, and Katy is harder to take care of, so we didn't want to inflict her on our parents for the 5 days... Jeremy dropped Katy and I off at my friend Naomi's house, about 20-30 minutes from his conference, and for the next 3 and a half days we just hung out. She has a little 2 1/2 year old as well, and they played quite well together, when they weren't wanting the same toy(s)! We took the girls to the Children's Museum there in town, but they were just as happy at home playing with Makenna's many toys. ;-) It was so nice to just hang out and be with Naomi (and with Karen, who we had to drive 45 minutes to see a couple times, since she and her 7-week-old little guy are still getting used to life together!) and only have one child for a few days. I have missed my friends so much, and it has been almost 3 years since we've spent any length of time together. And that was Karen's wedding - weddings are always a little crazy!

Saturday I went over to the conference and we hung out with Jeremy there for a few hours. That was fun - I've never been to any part of one of his conferences! After that, we took the girls home and put them down for a nap, and Naomi's husband offered to watch them so we could go down and see Karen for a few hours. About the time we got there, Naomi noticed she had a text from Mike. Apparently my (almost-completely-potty-trained little girl had NOT gone to sleep, but had instead pooped in her pull-up and then pulled it out and started squishing it on stuff. So Mike was amazing and cleaned her and the bed up, and put her back down. The first picture below is of Naomi's laughing-until-she-cried face after hearing this story from Mike.

Thankfully that was the only mishap of the trip, and everything else went well. (Other than Naomi seeming like she was going into labor most of the night before I left - she had her new baby girl less than 48 hours after I left!) I had such a great time, and I just loved my trip so much. It was exactly what I needed right now!

Naomi, Wesley (Karen's baby), and Me at Karen's house.

We got back a few days before Halloween, but though it's in October, I think it's time to end this huge post. I'll post about Halloween sometime soon, hopefully!