The most perfect wedding of all time

I mentioned in my last post that my sister in law got married at the end of September. She found the most amazing guy, and we are so happy for both of them! Their love story/ how they ended up together is the cutest, but I won't go into all of that here.

We were so excited to be part of their special day. They could not have picked a better location or day (weather wise). They found the prettiest cabin that sits on the top of a mountain just inside the white mountain national forest. The view from the top is mountains as far as you can see. We got there on Friday and stayed until Sunday (the wedding was on Saturday). In that time I saw a few of the most breathtaking sunrises and sunsets that I have ever seen.

Since Dan, Logan, and I were all a part of the wedding party, I don't have any pictures from their ceremony. Thankfully, she also had the best photographer that captured it all so well! You can check out her page and pictures from the wedding here. Definitely consider her if you are doing an event in NH!

I just wanted to share some of the pictures that I did manage to capture from the weekend. I didn't do a great job of capturing all that I wanted to, but I am thankful to have these little reminders. I am so thankful for our beautiful sister and the friendship that we have had over the years. We are so blessed to have both her, and our new brother in law in our lives/ the boys' lives.

I loved this candid shot of Christina and Logan. 

Logan was the ring bearer and took the job very seriously.

 The boys were not really up for family pictures after having the photographer take all of the official ones so we got some really silly faces in the ones on my camera. :)

The two youngest cousins... We had such a great time meeting little Alistair for the first time!

I have the cutest in laws ever!!

And a few randoms from before/ after the wedding...

Apple Picking

The end of September/ beginning of October was packed full of fun for us. We celebrated eight years of marriage. We were in my sister in law's wedding, which was at the most breath taking cabin in the mountains (more on that soon)! Dan also took the week after the wedding off to have some time away (and around home) as a family. Though most of the week was rainy we had a wonderful day at the fair, took the boys to the movies, and went out to breakfast as a family.

We are starting to get back into our regular routine this week. This morning we had a really great meeting with a large homeschool co-op that Logan is going to start with next week. It was around 75° this afternoon so we decided it was the perfect day to go apple picking before Logan's soccer practice tonight. We had a great time together, and the weather couldn't have been more perfect for it!

Eight Years.

Eight years...

of falling asleep and waking up next to you.

of "I love you mosts" and big squeezy hugs.

of learning to forgive, and put someone else first.

of growing and changing both individually, and together.

of making goals, navigating parenthood, and starting a business.

of praying through the hard, and the very best of times.

of knowing someone has your back day in and day out.

Eight years of continuing to choose each other.

If I could do it all again... I'd still choose you.

And I thank God that you choose me too.

Happy eight years to my favorite guy!

Our First Day Of School/ New School Room Set Up

Logan had his first day of first grade on Monday. His curriculum wasn't quite in yet so we started a study on Native Americans (his request). We have been having so much fun with this Unit Study that I would probably build all of his subjects into unit studies if I had more time to lesson plan, and we were planning to homeschool all of the way up.

Here is a little glimpse into our first day of school this year.

He asked to fill out his own first day of school sign... spelling and all. ;) I had no idea that he had being a bounty hunter in mind for a career. He said he would like to be both a bounty hunter, and a fireman. He just isn't sure which he wants to do first yet. Of course, Eli wanted to join in for pictures and thinks he is in big kid school this year too.

They worked on art projects while I read the Bible story for the day and a book about Native Americans.

Then Logan filled out his first day of school questions. This year he had to do it all by himself!

After a little more reading and work, we headed over to my grandparents farm. My grandmother is going to be doing lessons with him about different aspects of farming on Tuesdays. She also sent us home with a bunch of eggs, fresh veggies from the garden, and some farm raised meat. I am so thankful for my sweet grandparents and their generosity/ desire to be a part of the boys' lives.

We ended the day with Logan's soccer practice!

As far as Eliott goes, I do my best to keep him busy...

 But a lot of times this is a more realistic scene.

Here is a short video walking through our new set up and touching on how I keep the littlest two busy while we homeschool in case that sort of thing interests you...

In the interest of keeping things real, I have learned over the past couple years of preschool and kindergarten that if I don't start and end the school day with a clean and organized school area it makes it extremely hard for me to concentrate or get anything accomplished. So that area takes priority when it comes to cleaning and organizing.The rest of our house is a complete disaster right now. We have three+ loads of laundry sitting on the couch waiting to be folded, and a sink full of dishes. Starting a new school year is a big adjustment to our schedules, and sometimes we just can't fit everything into our days. Things are never perfect. As we transition some things will just have to wait until the weekend. Thankfully, Dan and I agree on the priority being the kids and their educations. He does house chores just as much as he is able to as well, however a big time crunch of a job (for him) happened to align with the first week of school. We both know that these busy seasons are sort of just survival mode. We will get through them, and fall into a rhythm again eventually.