Pictures from the Big Computer

I was cleaning off the desktop of our big computer and there were a plethora of pictures that I have pulled out for some reason or other and have left there gathering dust. I'm sure that most of these things are in other places so I could have just deleted them without posting them here, but I thought it would be a fun glimpse into our life.

Our Red Ladder Design Logo:

David, Lydia, and I at her baptism. This is my favorite picture of her entire baptism day. I love it so much.

A picture of me in New York at the corner of the sewing district. You can't tell very well, but this is a giant needle going through an even more giant button. I have no idea why it's on our desktop, but... fun!

Oh, I found another New York photo! Aubrey, Bruce, Wendy, Lydia, David

Lydia and Henry when they were about 3-4. Hopefully someday I'll use this in their wedding video. (I'm joking.. of course... kind of...)

A few old pictures of the Peaden Family. Sue & Wendy, Bruce

Summer reading Challenge. Can you read these things? They are such a good idea! 

Read by flashlight. 

Read a book in a funny accent. 

Read a comic book

Read a book as a family

Read a book about your country

Read under a tree

Read a book about Friendship

Read a book about Space

Read in a blanket fort

Read a book to a pet

Read a book with a color in the title.

Read a book with chapters

Read at breakfast

Read a book about a city far away. 

Read a book of poems

Read a book about your favorite animal

Read a mystery

Read a funny book

Read to a sibling

Inspiration for our backyard

Homeschooling inspiration and/or other homeschool related things. 

Some wyoming pictures. Our family on the wagon when my Grandpa was the Rodeo Grand Marshall. A picture I took at branding in 2022. 

Our beautiful house! 

A picture of a darling baptism jumpsuit that I saw several years ago. I thought that maybe I would make one for Lydia. I didn't. But maybe I will make one for Lucy. So cute. 

My grandma and I in Hawaii plus HER DAD when he served his mission in Hawaii. 

The Renchers Family Media Plan 

Daily Prayer, Scripture Study, Weekly Family Home Evening. 

Turn off a device/TV/Phone/etc...

Tell your parents if you see pornography!

Have a Plan

Pray for help

Sing a song

Say "That's pornography" 

Turn it off

Picture the Savior

Tell a parent

Confide in your bishop

ask for help

Device checking

safe searching

Us at the Redwoods 2021

Cal and Sue on their wedding day

Shantel's October Post

This is a post of some of the random things that we did in October that I felt should be documented, but didn't really have a better post to go in. (And let's be honest - it's basically just the random pictures from my phone that haven't been blogged about yet.)

-Building towers and going on adventures (the weather has been beautifulllll!)

-Jenna came down to help me clean and organize our basement to surprise David for his birthday. I can't say enough how grateful I am for her help and for her friendship. I didn't make her work the whole time... as soon as the kids were asleep for the night we just hung out and relaxed and it was wonderful. But, one of the days when we were bringing up empty boxes to recycle we let Camille and Austin play with some styrofoam and they started playing "snow". It was everywhere. Everywhere. But, they were happy and we were working so we just let them play and figured that the damage was done and the cleanup was worth the time they spent playing with it. It probably was worth it, but man, it was a mess! 

-My shopping buddies. Seriously, these kids are wonderful at the store. The hardest thing is just fitting them in the cart AND all the things we need to buy, but as far as shopping with them goes - they're pretty great. I will add though, that I've started using the Walmart Grocery Pickup and even with how good my kids are at the store it has been amazing. I can not say enough good things. You order at your convenience at home (which takes basically the same amount of time as making the grocery list in the first place, you just make it on the computer), sometimes even taking days to compile a list adding things here and there, then you just drive up to the store - let someone else put your groceries into your car while your kids hang out in their carseats and you scroll through instagram - sign your name on their little ipad and then drive away. It's incredible I tell you. I don't know how parents ever grocery shopped without it. 

Actually, my in-laws used to grocery shop on their Friday-night Date-nights. They'd leave the kids at home and let them eat cold sugar-cereal for dinner and go to the grocery store together. (The kids took turns picking which box of cereal everyone got to eat for the night.) It is one of David's favorite childhood memories, and I think it's such a sweet story. I admire how they made grocery shopping and dating each other work for their family. But I am grateful for Walmart Grocery Pickup! 

-We went to a Pumpkin Patch/corn maze to pick out pumpkins. Not surprisingly, Caleb was a champ and was content to hang out in the stroller while we looked for the best pumpkins and then wandered around the cornmaze. Also, Austin loves bounce houses just as much as Lydia ever has - and it's so nice that they can go together, over and over and over.  

-I feel like this October has been the perfect mix of outdoor adventures and stay-home-days. The kids just play so well together, I feel like they are at this perfect age. It doesn't matter what we are doing, they are just pretty happy to do it together. Not that they never fight, or bug each other, but it's definitely more common for them to play together. 

-As far as Shantel-things: This month I helped my friend with some dress alterations for her "Belle" (from Beauty and the Beast) Halloween Costume. I don't sew so much anymore, so it's fun when I get to bust out my skills and help a friend. Also, I've started swapping babysitting time about every other week so I can go to the temple and it has been such a wonderful thing. I'm feeling so grateful that my kids are old enough that I feel comfortable leaving them for three hours, and that I have a neighbor that is willing to swap Temple mornings with me. I can't always use those three hours on Friday morning for the temple, but I've been able to attend the temple so much more frequently and I'm grateful for it.

Other random pictures from the month: 1-Reading a book while David watches some sports is one of my favorite evening activities. (This is not indicative of how we spend our nights. Usually I'm forcing myself to work on Primary projects or RLD design projects and I'm usually wishing that I could just relax instead of working after the kids go to bed. But maybe that makes nights like this even more special.) 2-Watching my children sleep never fails to melt my heart. 3-David is such a wonderful father. He loves these kids so much and he is so patient and kind. Sometimes I just can't get Caleb to sleep, but David will go up and bounce/walk with him until he falls asleep and then will stand and hold in his pacifier to make sure he stays asleep after transferring him to his bed. I caught this shot of him on the baby monitor and it just filled me with gratitude for such a good parter to do this parenting thing with. 4- These boys just got matching jammies and it's the best! Austin loves to match Caleb, and will request that they wear their matching jammies all the time. I kind of love them. 

About these kids...

A few notes about these kids of ours at this stage of life right now:


Lydia Elise:

She lines all her stuffed animals up in her bed by sticking them between the bars and the wall so they surround her entire bed.
Got her first song stuck in her head (I hope they call me on a mission) and walked around for a whole day saying things like "I just can't stop thinking about that song!" It made me laugh to hear her playing in the other room and then have her randomly start singing "to teach and preach... as missionaries do" over and over. I felt like it was a small rite-of-passage into her older childhood years. Since then, she's gotten a few other songs stuck in her head. Last night she kept singing "We're going to the zoo-oo-ooo, how about you-oo-ooo?" So cute and funny.
She's SO excited for kindergarten. She keeps packing things up in her backpack and talking about all the things that she'll need to bring to school. I'm going to really miss that girl.

Austin Scott:

Is going through this really funny phase where everything he sees is his. For example, driving down the road: "Those are my mountains! Are we going to my park? Look, that's my truck." It drives Lydia crazy because she insists that those things aren't his, but we've explained that he's just exploring the world around him and that it's a developmental stage where he thinks everything belongs to him. However, he's taking this stage a bit further than most because he has convinced himself that he has an "old home". "My old home", to be precise. He talks about his old home all the time, as in "At my old home I have fruit snacks," and "We can go to my old home now."  I'm not quite sure where he got the idea that he has an old home (other than we went to Logan and showed our kids the apartment that we lived in when we were first married) because he's never lived anywhere other than the house that we are in now. It's been so funny to talk to him about it. A basic conversation goes something like this, "I have an old home! Oh really? Where is your old home at? It's far, far away. It's far, far away? Yes, it's by my mountains. I have fruit snacks at my old home. You do? That's so nice. Do you want to home to my old home? (said as he starts walking away down the street)." It started getting less cute and more stressful when he started to actually start leaving our house (with or without someone else) to go and look for his "old home". One Sunday I decided to humor him, hoping that he'd get it out of his system and we walked about a mile and a half, all the way past the frontrunner station and back, looking for his old home. All he'd say is "It's far, far away" while we were walking. As I finally had enough and was forcing the kids to walk back home he saw the Casey's house on the corner of Blanket Flower Way and he said, "There is my old home!" and proceeded to walk up to the steps and try to open the door. It's a funny thing for him to have latched on to right now.

Caleb Samuel:

Likes it when you pretend to eat his tummy. Thinks his pacifier is a chew toy. Is getting better at holding things. Is acting interested in food, so I think we are going to start him on solids soon! I just wrote a huge blog post about Caleb at 5 months, but the things I want to remember about him right now are: how happy he is when he wakes up from a nap, his big toothless grin, the way his eyes lock onto yours and brighten with a smile when he realizes that you are looking/talking to him. He's such a sweet baby and he just fits in perfectly with our family. I just adore him, and so does everyone else.