October - Pumpkin Patch

Previous years we have picked out our pumpkin at the Safeway "pumpkin Patch". This year, we did the real deal! We haven't been to a real pumpkin patch since moving to Camas, so we weren't sure which one would be the best one. We chose one out in Fern Prairie and hoped for the best. It turned out great! Minus the fact that we didn't actually buy a pumpkin :) 

photo fun - I love Briggen's expression in this one

corn maze - can you tell Briggen loved it??

out in the pumpkin patch

pretty horse pasture nearby

fuzzy caterpillars

very pretty pumpkin patch with pumpkins in the trees 

on the way out we saw this scale for weighing pumpkins and put Briggen on it. 

"I weigh that much?!?"

and a nap after all the pumpkin craziness :)

October - Portland Zoo

Now that we have a little one, we are looking for ways to get out of the house and explore "fun kid places". I bought a membership to Oregon zoo this year, which was actually a pretty good deal! I only needed a membership for myself because each membership comes with a free guest (Brodie). And Briggen is under 2, so he gets in free as well! 

Every other Wednesday I have work off. Wednesday is a half day for students at school, so rather than splitting a half day in half, my co-teacher and I decided to switch off Wednesdays. Which is more than perfect because Brodie doesn't have work on Wednesdays either. So we spent a sunny Wednesday morning at the zoo! 

staring contest with the gorilla

his all-time favorite spot to sit

waving hello

in the bird menagerie

checking out the black bears

It was a fun, not crowded day at the zoo!

 

October - Beach Weekend

The first weekend in October was General Conference! I love fall General Conference. It's such a wonderful weekend to take a break from the busyness of school and to spend time relaxing and filling our spiritual canteens. This year we decided to head to the beach and invited some friends along with us (although they never made it into any of the pictures haha). 

morning nap

down at the beach in between sessions

the dogs LOVE the beach

walking on the boardwalk at sunset 

Briggen loved to cuddle up to Brodie 

 

 and then snuggling with me in his pouch while I cleaned up the beach house

It was a quick, but fun getaway. See you again soon, Little Gem!

September

We are back into the swing of things! September is always an exciting but difficult month. This time around, the start of the year was a little bit easier now that I am only half-time. I am job sharing with another teacher and only work the morning portion of the day! I work from 7:00 - 10:45am and she works 10:45 to 2:30pm. We share a classroom and the same homeroom group of 4th grade students. However, with the way our school is set up, 4th and 5th grade students rotate to different math, science, and language arts teachers. Even though I have a 4th grade homeroom, I actually teach 5th grade reading and writing (just like I have the last 4 years at Fox). It worked out perfectly! 

I am home by 11, which means Brodie is in charge of Briggen in the morning. Brodie changes, feeds, and gets him ready for the day. The chiropractic office doesn't open until 10am, which means we only need a sitter for an hour. However, if it's a slower morning, Brodie will take Briggen with him to work. Briggen is the office mascot who wanders up and down the hall :) 

To help with the "return to work blues", we celebrated with some Hawaiian chocolates as we booked our flights to Hawaii! This trip has been in the works for a long time, but now it's final. We will be going to Hawaii for 10 days at the end of January with the entire Fish Fam. Can't wait!

Enjoying the warm fall weather with some walks. I love when Briggen holds my hand when he's in the front pack.

We went back up to Seattle for another weekend - this time, not only to see my parents, but to hear President Nelson speak! The devotional was at Safeco field and even Durant and Amy joined us. It was an AMAZING devotional with President Eyring and Sister Nelson speaking as well. One of my favorite talks was Sister Nelson's. She gave some very unique insight about what her life is like being married to the prophet.

I love this candid shot of Brodie and Briggen. 

Near the near the end of the month we went on a date night to Parade of Homes. It was totally worth the entry fee! We toured ten different million dollar homes near Camas Meadows.

Cosmo's first vet visit for a wellness check-up

And to finish off the month, we surprised Grandma Heppler for her birthday! 

Briggen: 7 months

Briggen is a busy, little guy! Which makes taking his picture increasingly more difficult (as you can see above haha). I can't believe we are over the half year mark. Before I know it, he'll be a year old! That's crazy to even think about. Here is Briggen at 7 months . . . 

Now: sitting up & tummy crawling

Eating: has 2 bottom teeth, eats practically anything! 

Sleep: sleeps for 13 hours at night (unless he is teething. eek!) 

Loves: babies, library story time, playing with dad 

Now that he's sitting, play time and grocery shopping are much easier!

 

 

 

And this last one is my favorite! I found Briggen sitting in his room with all his toys around and just as happy as could be :) He loves to hold up each one and say "Ooohhhhh".