last Sunday

We always take one trip up in the mountains to look at leaves.  Last year was the nebo loop, year before was the alpine loop... but they had closed off Squaw peak earlier in the summer to redo the roads and we wanted to see how they turned out.

There was a couple up there getting their wedding photos done, so we hurried took a few pictures and got out of their way before they started... but the photographer offered to take a couple of our family on my camera.  So we have a family picture unexpectedly.

Ada took pictures of Jer and I.

The repaving was only up to a certain point.  They did add dirt to the rest of the road so there weren't as many deep potholes, but the dirt hasn't been packed down yet and got kicked up really easily.  Our van is still coated it dirt/mud after more than a week and a rainstorm.

Sam got out of his walking boot.  One more week and he might be allowed to run and jump again.

Seth and Evelyn helped get ready for the Primary Program.  Virginia Johnson made sure it was fun and she adores working with the kids.

After that, my Uncle Marty and Aunt Diane finished their mission in Colorado and had an open house at my parents house.  It was fun to see them and some of my other cousins.

 

Margaret's pictures

 

Ada's fall concert

 

Scarecrow Festival

So, for Janelle's birthday we wanted to spend time with her doing something.  Anything.... just time.  She chose to go to the Scarecrow Festival at the Thanksgiving Point gardens. It was fun.  It was Janelle, her boyfriend Robert, my parents, us and Sharon came down for a couple hours which was so nice because she just got back from her trip and would imagine she was really tired.

This was my favorite scarecrow.  Very creative

We were saying that we were chicken nuggets and the kids said that they weren't nuggets... they were fries.

My mom had wanted to rent a golf cart, but they were all out... so my parents rented a couple of these to cruise on.  Since her back surgery, she just can't walk long distances without breaks and my dad fell off his bike and really bruised his ankle.  Our kids loved taking turns with them though.

We had some mixed signals

Monster under the bed.

Venus fly trap eating melon flies.

Grandpa with little Thea.

My personal scarecrows

Forrest Gump.  Sam wanted to steal his chocolates.

So did grandpa.

Evelyn tried to steal Grandpa's ride on the way.

This one was very well done too.

More Scarecrows.

Minions!

Thea is obsessed with Bluey

Sneaky sasquatch with Ada's non sneaky shoes.  Ada's tennis shoes actually squeak quite a lot. She says her sneakers are all out of sneak and now they're just 'ers'. 

This one was creative too.

These guys loved that they even made a snorlax.

This one was one of the best crafted ones that I saw.

My youngest three rolled down the hill a few times.  They kept rolling down and going sideways across the hill instead of down the hill.  It was pretty funny.  They kept running into each other.

I gave Ada my camera.  That means a super close up.

Treat time

Ada got a carmel apple.  She shared it with me.  It was really good.

We took a quick detour to the sculpture garden.  The chicks one is always my favorite, but there's a new one that was installed in the spring.  They had a First Vision one off in the trees a little bit.  It was beautiful and I loved the location and Spirit.

The kids were a little less reverent, but they had some good questions and it was a good time to address them.  They asked how you could tell which one was Heavenly Father and which was Jesus.  I pointed out the nail prints in the hands and showed how Heavenly Father was motioning towards Jesus Christ.

My girls at the secret garden.

It was Sam's first day out of his walking boot.  It was good exercise, but his feet were definitely tired.

I thought it was so funny that the duck walking over the top of the fish instead of swimming through them was my favorite koi fish moment.