Is it really November?  Am I really that much of a slacker?  Yeah, well...

Probably Mindy's favorite part of the past few months has been hiking with Derek and Benjamin, and usually with Andrea, Ryker, and Blake.  Such adventures have mostly been weekly.  We have explored some fun trails, seen waterfalls, lakes, picked up rocks, bugs, and come home dirty, hungry, and happy.  Benjamin finally got to a point he didn't feel like he had to hold Mommy's hand the whole way anymore.  So, just this year, he went from being carried in the backpack thingy to hiking by himself.  Crazy how fast children grow and progress!  Derek has always enjoyed running ahead and has occasionally hid behind some sorry-looking shrub to then scare the rest of us as we caught up.  Funny kid!

End of July Mindy took Benjamin and Derek to Boise to see sisters.  The boys had way too much fun playing with cousins (Lindsey and Jared's children) and Mindy realized just where her intensity comes from- yes, that would be her sisters.  Whoa!  All in all it was fun and good to be with family.  Poor Tyler got to stay home and work.  Someone has to pay for Mindy's expensive and high-maintenance lifestyle.

Tyler has made some big decisions lately.  He is now registered for classes at SLCC to take pre-requisites for Physical Therapy School.  Said classes start in January and our hope is that we will be starting graduate school in 2 or 3 years.  Time will only tell what wild adventures await us as we pursue these big changes for our family.  We are mostly excited and know it's the best direction for us.

August  brought more purpose to the piano in our home.  Mindy started teaching piano lessons.  She has a whopping grand total of 2 students!  She has found a part of herself that's been dormant too  long that would refuse suppression again, if it were ever an option. 

The end of August took Derek away to kindergarten.  Hang on a second.  Derek is in kindergarten?!  When did that happen?  Big, deep breath.  He has been in 7th heaven ever since.  The real adjusting was to be had by Mom and some by Dad.  Mommy misses her quiet, happy, afternoon companion and has slowly gotten used to the silence during Ben's nap.  Thankfully Derek's teacher, Mrs. Benware, is excellent, organized, loves Derek, and he is soaring.  It's fun to help him learn to read, sound out words, and learn basic math.  In his frequent jabberings (when he's not sucking his thumb), he'll combine words that rhyme.  Some of them aren't real words (at least not in English), but hey, he's matching the sounds correctly.

Mid-September Mindy discovered that the 3rd child in our family is on its way.  Bacon, Cheetos, anything saturated in butter, and salty everything were the only things palatable for quite some time.  Anything with real nutritional value usually had to be forced down, except for salsa, but then it has to be combine with chips, so...  3 cheers for incubating a human!  It was cruel irony that she felt especially yucky on a 3 day, 2 night mini-vacation she and Tyler took to celebrate their birthdays beginning of October.  Ugh!  But, the happy couple still had a marvelous time and enjoyed the getaway.  Thanks to our parents!!

Tyler enjoyed fall flag football with the stake on Thursday nights and seriously, it probably didn't last long enough.  Oh well.  The boys LOVED going with  him to play with  2 other little boys close to their ages.  They undoubtedly came home looking like it had rained dirt and dust.  We love the shower and washing machine at our house!

All hale to the new dishwasher in our kitchen!  It was 100% worth the $150 part to get it up and running.  Thanks to Amy and  Justin for parting with it for our lowly cause, and thanks to Dad Canova for helping Tyler finish getting it functional.  Not having to wash sippie cups and bottles, and bottle nipples by hand with this next little munchkin will feel like Heaven. Having it is divine now too!

Benjamin is still my cuddler, face-maker, thespian, and tank.  He's slowly broadening his food horizons and boy are Mommy and Daddy thrilled!  His redemption in it all: he loves the vegetable juice Mommy sometimes makes, eats berries and grape tomatoes like candy, and devours smoothies (great place to hide some serious nutrient-dense food).  We recently have been attempting potty training.  Can we say lots of laundry, Shout, carpet spot cleaner, and mental reminders that everyone eventually learns how to use the toilet?!  Roller coaster ride indeed!

Well, that's the Readers Digest version of our life the past few months.  Perhaps I'll remember to update this lovely little blog more consistently, but with pregnancy brain, I'm not making any promises.  Now, on to change a poopy diaper!