October

Wow, this month has gone by fast. We went camping last weekend in the mountains around Scofield. We have been on a few trips this year, but always with other families, this one was just us. It was nice to spend the time with the kids. We played a lot of games, colored, went on walks, read by the fire. Good weather and just a great weekend. On the way to the camp spot we had to cross rail road tracks. Paul helped the kids line up some coins but we decided not to wait and found a camp spot. They went back and all the coins had slid off the track so they laid down some more and on our way home we were surprised to find the majority of them - all flattened.

This was the sunset on the last night. We camped off of Skyline Drive on the Wasatch Plateau.

Our designer pumpkins. We had a pumpkin carving night with great food and friends at Blake and Hollys. I ended up carving mine and both boys. I think next year we screen which designs they get to choose from.... my hand is tired! From left to right are: Andrews, Pauls, Nathans, and mine.

Baby Blues

I seriously LOVE the comic strip Baby Blues (and Zits)... The one about the back pack is from last year. The "accident" was recent.

Remind you of anyone???

I took the kids on a four mile hike this weekend to Stewart Falls in Provo Canyon. I was hoping to see the fall colors and Mother Nature did disappoint. Kids had fun although I think it was a bit too far/too hard for them.

Scouting

We have a new (very excited) cub scout! His first meeting was this past Monday. He is already counting down the days until the next one. Funny how when Nathan was in first grade I thought he was getting so big and every time I look at Andrew I think he is so small ( is that how it is with oldest and youngest) ~ and he is small~ he's just standing on a rock in the picture.

starting school

The kids started school last week. They are both way excited. Andrew has a teacher who is new to the school. She moved here from California over the summer. I had my breakdown a week before school when I realized I needed to start making Andrew lunches as well. He's a big boy now. The first day of school I was fine. Nathan went into a flurry of giving him tips like to take the milk from the back because it was colder and that the blue is like mine (skim) and the yellow is like dads (vitamin D)....

Twin Falls

I wanted to go on a last mini vacation with the kids before school started. Somewhere kinda near, but not too close. I picked Twin Falls, no real reason why. But boy was it fun and we did a lot! We hit three National Parks (Haggerman, Oregon Trail, and City of Rocks), saw a fish hatchery, an alligator farm (who knew they had those in Idaho), went to two great restaurants, a historical museum, watched base jumpers off the Perrine Bridge, saw Shoshone falls, stood under a different un-named waterfall and at the spur of the moment while picnicking in the park, rented a kayak and paddled up the Snake River. The motel had cable- which we don't have at home and a fridge and microwave so we went swimming every night after dinner then had a popcorn party and watched cartoons on cable since we can't do that at home. They thought that was pretty cool, but thankfully all the outdoor stuff was their fav.

Snake River from the Perrine Bridge. We kayaked under it and up stream for a mile.

a view of the River and the bridge from the dock.

A 'cave' the kids found in City of Rocks - definitely need to go back there for three or four days and let them romp.

the Perseids

We headed to Payson again this last weekend for the Perseid meteor shower. It's up on a plateau and away from the city lights so the viewing is generally good. This year we saw a couple awesome - once in a lifetime meteors. It was a great weekend. Perfect weather- we hiked around the lake, had lots of friends join us and enjoyed Pauls famous smore's.