Autumn in Indiana

It's been a busy season. A couple weeks ago Matthew's professor came to him and said she wants him graduated and gone by next year. We were expecting another two years here, so this news kicked a few things into hyper-drive, like arranging his preliminary defense and hitting up the fall career fairs. We've spend A LOT of time working on his resume and applying for summer internships. There's still a lot to do, but we feel pretty good about our rate and progress.

Since things on the school/career front have changed, we've had to re-evaluate our home improvement goals. Considering we no longer have as much time as we anticipated, our former plan of action is a bit unrealistic. I think some projects will get scaled back, and some are likely to be axed all together. The boys room is still the first priority, but it might not get as meticulously finished as we had originally planned. There are also some Christmas/birthday presents we were also hoping to make, though time is starting to get tight on that as well. I can't believe how fast this season is flying by!

Hyrum has had a couple first's recently. Last Sunday he participated in his first Primary Program. The Sunbeams were all supposed to sing the Wise Man and the Foolish Man, so we practiced it every day for weeks, but then at the final rehearsal not enough of them sang out so the whole primary ended up doing the number. Hyrum was neither overly enthusiastic nor was he ill-behaved, so I have no particular praise or censure. He appeared reasonably pleased with himself though, and seemed to enjoy the independence of being part of a "big kid" activity, so I say it was a generally successful experience.

His other "first" was a little less exciting. Hyrum had his first visit to the dentist. He was pretty uneasy about the whole thing, but the hygienists were all super nice and he did fine once he was back in the chair. It took next to no time, everything looked great, and we were gone before Abraham had a chance to get antsy. Both boys were primarily interested in getting back to a section of little rocks and pebbles near where we parked. As a reward for Hyrum's bravery, I let them play with the stones for a few minutes before leaving.

The boys all got haircuts this weekend, and while we didn't make it outside for a Fall photo shoot, we did manage to take a decent picture of the four of us. Check out the "contact us" page for an updated family photo.