September 2016

I've never loved camping. but we went with Brandon's family in September and the weather was gorgeous. No rain, no humidity, reasonable temps...if this was camping every time, I'd be in! We went to Monroe Lake and had a great few days with extended family.

Jackson loves playing with his cousins and aunts, so he was in heaven the whole weekend. 

Brandon started school in September and was such a diligent student. Unfortunately, he prefers to have the TV on when studying and I can't do two things at once, so most of our evenings ended up being him doing homework and me watching TV because it's impossible for me to look away.

I got called to our ward Young Women presidency and started to get to know the girls. We do lots of fun activities, including this one where the young women pampered the Activity Days girls with pedicures and manicures. It was so sweet to see them helping the younger girls!

Sometime during our courtship, Brandon told me he'd never been to a concert. WHAT?!?! My first concert was *NSYNC when I was 13 years-old, and my love of live music has led me to many live shows since then. I saw a Groupon one day for cheap Rascal Flatts tickets, so I surprised him and we enjoyed his first concert together! Neither of us are huge Rascal Flatts fans, so it was fun to go, experience it, and not feel conflicted about leaving a bit early to avoid the traffic.

This is a terrible picture, but its purpose is just to highlight the couple in front of us who stood this way the entire show - her standing in front of him, swaying and dancing, while he stood with his arms around her the whole time. I am obsessed with Brandon and I'm certainly not afraid of PDA, but this just didn't even seem comfortable. Not to mention, it was annoying for those of us sitting behind them.

Jackson and I made meatballs for the first time ever. He's a good helper in the kitchen!

Brandon went to the temple for the first time. Elders Boutoille and Tyler visited us every week for a couple of months, teaching Brandon the new convert lessons, so we were happy that they were able to come with us and perform the baptisms we did for Brandon's ancestors. Elder Tyler had actually already been transferred at that time, so both of their companions were also able to come with us. The Indianapolis temple is so special to me, so I was so happy to finally share that with Brandon!

On September 24th, Jackson turned 4! His mom put together an awesome dinosaur-themed party for him at her parents' house, complete with a dinosaur bones dig in the garden and dinosaur impersonators who danced with him! There were tons of people there - he is one well-loved little boy!

Brandon had drill that weekend but was able to make it home in time to catch the end of the party.

There's an ice cream place in Greenwood called Mrs. Curl. It's right on this little creek, and you can buy duck food to feed the ducks. One night, we got ice cream, fed the ducks, then played at the park across the street.