terror+elation

although the october fun has come and gone, we still have been doing our best to enjoy november.

the other day nova and i went on a fall walk. i gave her the camera and i asked her to take pictures of things that she thought were beautiful. here are some of the pictures she took.





























i think this pole is one of my favorites, but she said it was "just lovely".














nova has also been quite the helper in the kitchen lately. here she is checking the low protein play dough with her 'mometer'



















and THIS is what she looks like going to do laundry. (can i say i particularly dislike this aspect of california living? i enjoy getting all of my laundry done in less than 2 hours--that i particularly LOVE. no complaints here. in one day, its all done! and then we have a folding party while watching castle. BUT....i don't like hauling it to the laundry room. i used to convince nova to help carry the soap and the detergent, but now, she needs to bring her baby----in the stroller. every. single. time. AND she insists on wearing princess shoes. so its not the fastest trek. and i hate giving my shiny quarters away. why must personal hygiene cost so much? boo. BUT, nova loves going over to do it and gets super excited when i tell her its laundry day. i am trying harder to share her enthusiasm......but i do miss my washer/dryer) ok, now we can move on.



















so, in addition to taking time to enjoy the fall foliage, keeping our tummy's full and keeping the stink down, nova has also been getting some serious time in on her bike. she is getting pretty stellar. and she is also getting stellar at crashing with minimal crying. is it bad that when she crashes she asks if it looked cool? because every time she crashes i try not to make a big deal out of it and say, "WOAH, that looked awesome!" thoughts?














we made a massive gratitude tree in our dining room that we have been adding leaves every night with things that we are grateful for. nova contributed the nice addition coming off the trunk.














and dan even carved our initials. ahhh....















dan treated the ladies in his life with some spa treatment. (he would also not admit that nova convinced him to let her paint his "tiny" toenail purple because it would give him "magic powers.") :) what a guy right?














nova met her team of doctors who will help manage her pku in california and i am so excited. they are so awesome and nova loved dr. enns, her genetic counselor, and nutritionist. they are going to be great. its a blessing to be so close to a hospital and is another tender mercy in how we have seen Heavenly Fathers hand in our lives. AND when they took 7 vials of blood she didn't even cry! (last time we were at primary childrens we had about 4 people holding her down to do her blood work. it was beyond horrible. but she did so awesome and i am so proud of her and she was pretty proud of herself too--which, when you get a rad bandage, why wouldn't you smile like this?



















and last but certainly not least: the most hilarious picture of nova ever. and also to show what nova picks for the activity for FHE. terror + elation=hysterical laughing from every single one of us.