Darr Family Blog

Weekly Happenings: This past week was pretty fun (which kind of leads into the title of my post…it’s what I call the “party month” because all of our birthdays are in September). On Monday, Paul took the day off and we celebrated our anniversary by going to see the Alamo, eating lunch at a place called Taco Taco Cafe (a really good Mexican food place that was featured on “Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives”) and going to the zoo. We also went to the library because Joseph had completed his summer reading log (he had to have at least 16 books read to him this summer…we far exceeded that, but that’s okay) and we went to get his free book. We had one day where I watched a friend’s daughter while she had a doctor’s appointment, so Joseph got to have a play date, which he loved. We also had another day where we went to the park in the morning. Yesterday, we decided to make it an extra special Saturday (since Joseph’s birthday is this next week). We went to the zoo (which in and of itself is not out of the ordinary) and bought a fun pass (that was the extra special part) that got us into the butterfly house, a ride on the carousel, and a ticket to ride the train (as well as a free bag of popcorn…we didn’t get that yesterday, but we can get it whenever we want, so we’ll just get some another time that we’re there). Joseph loved going on the carousel. He chose an okapi to sit on (it also happens to be one of his favorite zoo animals) and was thrilled with the fact that it went up and down. He kept saying, “Get me up! Get me up!” It took me a minute to figure out that he was meaning to say “Giddy-up”. 🙂 He liked the concept of the butterfly house, and looking at the butterflies from a distance, but he did NOT like it when they fluttered right by his face (which happened a lot since there were quite a few butterflies in there). He’s been on the train quite a few times, so that wasn’t too much of a novelty, but he did still mention that getting to yell while going though the train tunnel (to make sure any critters that are in the tunnel vacate it before the train comes) was his favorite part of the ride. We also let him pick out a small toy (he ended up with a toy truck that came with a zookeeper and tiger) from the gift shop. After the zoo we went to In-N-Out for lunch (since Joseph loves cheeseburgers and he likes the grilled onions that you can get on burgers there). We headed home after that since Paul needed to work on a wood project. Joseph’s having a Legend of Zelda themed party on Saturday, so Paul decided that he’d make wooden shields for Joseph and the three little boys that will be there.

The Weekly Weather: It was SLIGHTLY cooler this past week than it has been in previous weeks. It’s still rather warm, though. I am looking forward to fall and hoping that it will get here soon! I know that in reality we still have a couple more months of warmer weather, but a girl can dream, eh?

What Paul’s Been Up To: He’s been keeping busy with work. Classes will start again for him soon (I need to remember to ask him when they are starting and which classes he’s taking). Since he’s done with the Pathway program, he will now be an official BYU-I student, just taking all of his classes online. He has also spent quite a bit of time making the shields for Joseph’s party. He did a write-up about his progress so far on his blog, which you can find here. He also has future plans to make Joseph a wooden sword because Joseph wants to be Link from Legend of Zelda for Halloween.

What Sarah’s Been Up To: I had most of my students who were taking the summer off come back this last week. I also had two new students start this past Friday. Between teaching piano, my church calling, and other just every-day normal stuff, I keep pretty busy.

What Joseph’s Been Up To: This is the first year that he’s really shown an interest in the approach of his birthday. He asks every morning if it is his birthday yet. I think that we may need to create a countdown chain or something. He was really excited that they called him up in Primary to sing to him. My friend who is a Primary teacher told me that he got a really excited look on his face and said, “It’s my birf-day!” I love looking at life through his eyes. 🙂 Oh, and we also switched out all of his clothes to the next size up. I can hardly believe that he’s going to be 4 on Thursday! 🙂

This Week in Pictures:

Weekly Happenings: This past week was another low-key week. We did not do too much out of the ordinary during the week. We did get to do some fun stuff over the weekend, though. On Friday, Paul came home with a bouquet of flowers for me (our anniversary is tomorrow) and then we dropped Joseph off at a friend’s house to play so that we could go out to dinner. It was a nice break. 🙂 As we went to pick him up after dinner, he was sad because they were about to play Go Fish…but her perked up when I said that we could teach him how to play Go Fish when we got home. 🙂 Yesterday we went back up to Austin to pick up a bike for Paul from someone who was advertising it on Craigslist. It’s almost identical to the one that he had on his mission and the first part of our marriage (it’s a year newer) before it got stolen off of the balcony of one of our apartments. We also stopped by Lowe’s to get some hooks to hang the bike from the garage ceiling (it hangs over the hood of the Honda) and the sports store to get Paul a new helmet. Oh, and Joseph got to go to a birthday party where all they did was play out in the water. He had so much fun!

The Weekly Weather: It’s been hot, but not nearly as hot as it was the week before. There was one random day where it only got into the mid-80s (and even then, that wasn’t until much later in the day). It also rained on and off through that same day. It was a nice reminder that fall will eventually get here. 🙂

What Paul’s Been Up To: He’s been busy with work and upkeep of the house/yards. He was really excited (and justifiably so) to find his new-to-him bike. He plans on taking it out to Government Canyon (the state park/”natural area” that’s about a mile or two from our house) to ride it on some of the trails that they have out there.

What Sarah’s Been Up To: I’m gearing up for my students all coming back from summer vacation (about half of them took the summer off) since school starts tomorrow. I’ll also have two new students that will be starting this week. As for what’s going on with choir, I met up with my music chair to start planning music for the next few months as well as for Christmas. It’s getting closer and closer to being my favorite time the year. 🙂

What Joseph’s Been Up To: He’s taken to insisting that we leave his door open so that more light will come into his room when he’s trying to go to sleep each night. Since our bedrooms are all off of the loft, we still end up walking by his room (and he can see Paul sitting at his desk), which makes it tricky for him if he’s trying to sneak out of bed to get a toy or something. 😉 If he does notice us watching him try to sneak, he’ll get this big smile on his face and then he waves to us. It’s almost as if he is hoping that we’ll be too mesmerized by his cuteness for him to get in trouble. 😉 He’s also really excited about his swiftly-approaching birthday party. He’s having a video game-themed party (with a heave dose of Legend of Zelda since that’s his favorite) and three of his closest friends will be there.

This Week in Pictures:

Weekly Happenings: During the week, we didn’t do too much out of the ordinary. It was nice to kind of just hang around the house relaxing. Yesterday we drove up to Austin for a fun day trip. We ate lunch at a place called The Noble Pig, which was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. The food was pretty good! We also walked around the state capitol building. It was really neat to get to walk around and see all the different rooms, as well as walk all the way to the top floor so that we could look up into the dome. I loved all the ornate wood work, windows, and metal work. There were little details everywhere, from Texas Stars on all the door knobs to even intricate carvings on the part of the doors where they latch. Overall it was a great day.

The Weekly Weather: While it has still been hot, we’ve had a few breaks in that it rained several times this past week. Wednesday we had three different storms come through, it sprinkled a bit on Thursday, and then yesterday, when the precipitation percentage was relatively low (only a 9% chance), it poured for a good part of the morning. To quote Paul, “I think we were the 9%.” Thankfully the temperatures are supposed to be slightly cooler this week at least and I believe there’s another chance for rain (we could use it…we’re already back under water restrictions). I’m hoping for no more 100*+ weather, but we’ll see. :/

What Paul’s Been Up To: Work, for the most part. 🙂 He did find someone in Austin that has a mountain bike for sale that is very similar to the one that he had on his mission (and that had gotten stolen off the balcony of our apartment in Colton). It’s a year newer, but looks almost the same. We had hoped to meet up with the person yesterday while we were up in Austin, but weren’t able to, so we’ll try for another time in the near future.

What Sarah’s Been Up To: I’ve been kind of just plugging along. I got to go to a Relief Society activity this past week where we brought in our favorite book to share, had ice cream sundaes, and mainly sat around and chatted. It was a really fun activity. 🙂

What Joseph’s Been Up To: He’s been reminding me that he can be a little parrot at times. The other day we were at Hobby Lobby and I picked up a large wooden letter in order to get a better look at it. It was heavier than I expected, so I said, “Holy cow, that’s heavy!” So of course, Joseph had to mimic me. He did so, all the way down to repeating what I had said, word for word. Good thing I make a point to keep my language clean. 🙂 One cute thing that he said earlier this past week happened when he discovered I had surprised him with grapes as part of his lunch (he LOVES grapes). He said, “You gave me…grapes?! That was so nice of you!” I guess that he’s heard me say that in conjunction with when he tells me that someone did something nice (“Oh, so-and-so gave you that? That was so nice of them!”). He also was telling us this afternoon at lunch that if you make good decisions, you can be happy. I wonder if that’s what they talked about in Primary today. 🙂 Finally, I think he’s been letting his imagination get the better of him sometimes. We’ve talked about monsters and he agrees that they are imaginary, but when we’re trying to get him to go to sleep, he will say that he’s scared of the imaginary monsters. :/ I try to be patient with him, though, because I can remember being scared when I was young, not necessarily of the dark, but what I couldn’t see because of the darkness (who knew what was lurking in the corners of my room?!). So, he’s taken to asking us to leave his door open (at least partially) and he usually flips his light back on as soon as we’re out of the room. He eventually falls asleep (sometimes it is evident that he’s played with his toys a bit first) and we turn out the light and close the door. This, too, shall pass, right? 😉

This Week in Pictures: