Happy Halloween!

We had a week of Halloween celebrations this year. It started off with Trunk or Treating at the church the weekend prior to Halloween. Jonas quickly figured out the candy thing to the point of starting to steal it from other kids buckets. Then there was a costume parade and class party at school for Whitney. We then finished it off with trick or treating the day we moved into our new house. When the first trick or treaters knocked I wasn't ready since I hadn't tracked down the box with the candy in it yet. Luckily they were our neighbors so they just came back by later on. It was fun to meet some of our neighbors that way on our first day here. We had soup in pumpkin bread bowls and witches brew (homemade rootbeer) for dinner.

Fall color drives

A few days this fall I would take the kids for a drive up the canyons to look at all the pretty fall colors. I love the bright yellow aspen trees mixed in amongst the dark green pine trees. Here is some of what we saw:

First snow

This is the sight we woke up to this morning. Now I don't mind the snow as I love to ski but there is just something wrong about it snowing before Halloween!

3 Little Monkeys

We don't normally let the kids jump on the couch but they were having so much fun on this rainy day that I couldn't help capture it.

First tooth lost

Whitney was so excited to lose her first tooth. She came home from school today and told me it was really loose. I checked it and it was just barely hanging on so I asked if she wanted me to pull it out and surprisingly she said "Yes!". I wiggled it a bit and then with one quick pull it popped right out.

Butterfly in the apple tree

Sometimes you just need a beautiful butterfly to help you pick apples.



We made some yummy cinnamon applesauce from the apples on this tree in our yard.

Girls climbing adventure

There were a few ladies in our ward that expressed interest in going climbing so I set up a day to take them climbing up the nearby canyon. We went to Dogwood crag and set up two routes on some 5.4-5.6 terrain. Most of them had little to no experience climbing but all had a blast. It was a gorgeous autumn day with the canyon stream and beautiful fall leaves serving as a backdrop to our adventure. Below are Mindi and Sarah pulling over the top of the route. We didn't get a picture of Kristen climbing but she took some great pictures for us. Looking to more adventures in the spring!

Purple Fairies

Whitney played in the fall city soccer league this year. They have enough girls that play that they have a girls league and the teams are formed based on the school you go to and the grade you're in. She loved every practice and game getting to play with her friends. Maren also loved going to practices because there were a few friends her age there with their siblings so they would run and play during that time.

They got to pick their own team name so they chose the Purple Fairies. They had a little cheer that went, "Purple fairies, purple fairies, purple fairies, FLY!" Playing soccer with this team really helped her transition to her new school since soccer started the week before school so she knew a handful of the girls in her grade. She's really becoming a good little soccer player and scored a few goals this year. We're hoping to continue playing with the same team in the seasons to come!