A Witch Scavenger Hunt...

Today we went to Gardner Village, which is a little shopping area that decorates for Halloween with witches.  We went on a Witch Scavenger Hunt while we were there.  We saw all types of witches and here are just a few:

Other witches were suspended in the air on bikes and brooms, some were floating on boats, others were dancing with friends, playing baseball, etc.  Once you find all the witches on the scavenger hunt, you turn in your paper at the Naborhood Bakery and for a quarter, you can get a chocolate chip cookie.  So after our hard work, we enjoyed a little snack.

I must admit that some of the stores they have at Gardner Village are incredible.  I found a fabric store that I could spend a whole afternoon in alone...Oh the possibilities that came to mind as I perused the aisles...They had some adorable little girl shops and baby shops as well...Good thing Andy was with us or I may have been tempted to do more than window shop!

This little kitty was super friendly and was following us around all afternoon.

One of the stores (which I will be returning to once the house is completed because it has lots of primitive country decorations) is located in an old mill.  This picture was taken outside of the mill.

They also have a hay maze, petting zoo, and pony rides available for the little ones.  Riley enjoyed running laps around the maze while Kendall spent most of her time picking out rocks on the ground to carry around.  Over the weekends, they have more "Witch" type events that we may have to venture back to check out...No wonder Riley loves Utah!

Construction: Day One

October 7, 2009 is the day construction started on our new home in Utah...Riley and I were looking for something to do yesterday after school and nap time so we decided to drive over to the lot to see what was going on...Low and behold there was a tractor digging our foundation!  Pure excitement from both of us poured out!  He was excited to see the tractor in action and I was thrilled to get one day closer to moving out of our tiny apt. and into our new place.

When we went over to check on the progress, we got lucky enough to meet our new neighbors who's house you can see in the background.  Sweet people.  They have 3 kids.  A 6 yr. old girl, 4 yr. old boy, and a 6 month old boy...She said there are TONS of kids to play with as well.  Can't wait!!!

Day Two:  Same as day one...must be a pretty big hole if they are still digging!

Uncle Kevin...

We are so blessed to live near Kevin again.  For those of you who don't know, Kevin and I grew up in the same hometown, went to the same high school and even had mutual friends, but didn't become friends until my freshman year in college.  We both attended West Chester University and happened to live in the same dorm...good old Ramsey Hall.  Kevin took care of me for the next 4 years...always made sure I had something to do on the weekends, drove me to where ever I needed a ride, made sure I never walked home alone, didn't hang out with the "wrong" boys, etc.  If I were less traditional, I would have asked Kevin to be my "Man of Honor" at my wedding, since that's really what he was to me (and still is).

Well, after college, we went our separate ways...doing our best pre-internet and pre-cell phones to keep in touch.  I got married right away & moved to Albany, NY and he eventually moved to Salt Lake City, Ut.  We'd try to see each other when we could, but it's never the same as living close by.  Well, as God would have it, we're living in the same town again and spending as much time together as possible.  My kids call him Uncle Kevin (and his wife is Aunt Cara).  Kendall adores him and knows she has him wrapped around her little finger.  She reaches for him and smiles with her dimples and he's hooked...It's incredibly sweet.  Riley on the other hand looks up to Kevin as a second father figure.  He loves spending time with Kevin.  Kev teaches Riley things about Utah and life in general, takes us hiking, meets for lunches, plays soccer and football with him, etc.  It warmed my heart (and you know it must have been good since it's been so bloody cold out here already! ) when yesterday Riley told Kevin that he likes that Kev's not so busy with work right now because he gets to spend a lot of extra time with him!

When I mentioned to Riley that we aren't going to be living in Utah forever and that in a few years we may have to move somewhere else, he got rather upset.  He loves living here and I know a good part of why he feels that way has to do with Kevin, Cara and their family.  We are so blessed to have them in our lives once again and I can't imagine how much more difficult this transition would have been without the Wiegands.

We love you Uncle Kevin and Aunt Cara!

Today's Project...

...was a camera strap cover.  I've been wanting to make one for awhile now and finally got myself motivated to drag out my sewing machine.  I had some scrap material and bought some fusible batting and created a wonderful padded cover for the strap of my DSLR camera.  When I hike with K in the back pack and I want to take pics, I have to play tourist and carry my camera around my neck.  The generic Canon strap that the camera comes with is rather uncomfortable so as I was searching ETSY one day, I came across these cute strap covers.  I then decided there's no point in spending $12 - $25 on something I can make for pennies.  I found a few blogs with directions to make it, and here's my finished product...I had to take the picture with my iphone since the cover is on my camera, so it's not the best quality photo, but it will do.

Wild Hair Day!

After being awake at 4 am with a teething toddler, I feel like I'm sleepwalking through the day.  But after Kendall awoke from her 3 1/2 hour mid day nap, she gave me something to laugh at...Check out her wild hair...Guess she had a good nap, huh?

Yes, those ARE curls back there...maybe she did inherit something from me...

My little "Wild" child...

Still looks a little sleepy...could I be lucky enough to get her to go to bed early tonight?

A Family Trip To Cornbellies!

Riley is in the middle of Fall Break which equates to 5 days off from school.  Short day on Wed, off Thurs, Fri, and Mon!  What a lucky kid.  So, we convinced Daddy to take the day off to spend with us today.  We had a very busy day.  At 8:30am we met with the construction supervisor about our new home.  Digging should happen in the early to middle of next week.  After that, we headed to the Acura dealer to pick up my new set of wheels.  By that time is was Sissy's nap time so after a nap and a hearty lunch, we headed south to Thanksgiving Point to go to "Cornbellies."  They have a fall/halloween area set up where you can get lost in a corn maze, go for hay rides, shoot pumpkins out of a canon, watch pig races, play in the corn, race cars, take a ride on a cow train, etc.  Both kids had a blast today and the best part was that Daddy was with us!  We will be going back a few times this month since Daddy bought us season passes!  This will be a great way to spend a beautiful fall afternoon once R gets home from school!  They have some scary things going on at night that I might try to get R to attend...He's such a scaredy cat though...                                        

Riley riding a dinosaur swing

The kiddos lost in the corn maze

K in the pumpkin patch

K and Mommy in the patch!

K and Daddy going down the very slippy slide!

Riley jumping on the "pillows"

Loading the canon with a pumpkin

They were able to hit the cow and then hit the roof on the white car

Sissy lost in the straw bale maze - check out the background...isn't it beautiful?

Riding the hay wagon - notice K sneaking some of R's popcorn!

He's so sweet to share with her!

The Girls Get New Wheels!

Andy was taking the kids and the dog for a walk one evening and arrived home with a broken stroller.  He snapped the handle clean off of the stroller.  This was right after the jogger and the bike trailer/jogger both ended up with flat tires which required new tubes.  So, needless to say, I had to go stroller shopping.  After much research, we settled on the Joovy Kooper.  It doesn't have a tray like I originallly wanted, but she's getting old enough that we can survive without.  The best part is Riley actually fits in it so she'll be rolling in this sweet ride for years to come!

After 13 years and 178,800+ miles, it was time to say goodbye to the 4Runner.  She was a fantastic car and served us well.  She was the first vehicle that I bought on my own...I got her while we lived in Albany, NY and she made the moves to PA, Fl, and now Ut.  I did get a little sad this morning when I emptied her out...

But that quickly changed when they gave me the keys to this beauty!  Isn't she pretty?  I'm so happy to have a new vehicle that doesn't announce itself everywhere we go - the 4Runner had a broken power steering fluid pump and no longer held fluid so it was obnoxiously loud whenever you would turn the wheel.  My MDX is loaded and ready to go for the next 13+ years!  I am so thankful to have such a wonderful new vehicle.  I kept telling Andy that I was fine if he just fixed my old one, but he was having no such thing.  He kept telling me it was time to let her go.  Riley wanted to ask the dealer what they were going to do with the 4Runner.  I told him it was most likely going to Toyota heaven...He laughed and said "Mom, cars don't go to heaven!"

A Tornado Rips Through An Apt. In Utah!

I was sitting at the computer down loading the pictures from our adventure from earlier today when my darling daughter walks over to me and hands me a tissue.  I didn't think much of it at first, but then decided to check out where she got the tissue.  I walked the 5 feet to the family room and this is what I found:

I wonder who could have created such a mess!  Tissues, wipes, magazines, toys...all over the place!

Caught in the act!

Yes, those are Riley's feet on the sofa.  He was watching a movie on tv and didn't notice what she was doing.  Typical male, right?

But Mom, I thought you wanted a tissue for your allergies!

Another Grand Aventure...

Today may have been one of our last beautiful days for awhile so we decided to take advantage of it and go for another hike.  There is a waterfall that Kevin told us about on the way up to Solitude/Brighton.  We decided to head there today.  We started up the marked trail and after about 40 min. Riley decided it was time to turn around and go back...smart decision after we got back and looked at the map!  Yikes!  We'd have been gone a long time...It went up the mountain to the top!  We weren't interested in hiking up to Mt. Olympus today...just wanted to hike around the water and play.  Once we got back down, we crossed over the stream and found the waterfall.  Riley had a blast crossing over the water via rocks.  Kendall has decided she likes riding in the back pack despite the screams when I put her in...they don't last for long.  Once we start moving, she's excited to go.

Getting started

This was the beginning of the trail...It's steeper than it looks.

Thank goodness the trail leveled out after awhile...

Mt. Olympus

Big Cottonwood Canyon...if you look closely, you can see the different colored leaves on the mountainside.

This is the reason I don't have many shots of K on our hikes...This was the best I could do with my DSLR and her on my back!

Riley loves to climb rocks.

Finally!  We found the waterfall!

Here's my money climbing once again!

We found an old mine on the way to the waterfall.  It's an open mine and the sign says to stay out due to poor air quality, but notice someone broke open the gate!

Riley ended up falling in the water.

He was soaked all the way through including his shoes!  He had to drive home in his skivvies!  But it was all worth it and he'd do it again!

Why I Love Fall

So our new favorite activity after school is to go on an adventure.  Riley, Kendall and I have been into hiking lately.  I just got a new pack pack carrier for the this very purpose.  We've been getting our money out of it so far.  The leaves are starting to change colors and it's so beautiful just getting to the trails!  We've hiked in Big Cottonwood Canyon at Brighton's Silver Lake, at The Canyons in Park City as well as on the trails of the foothills in our town.  I am so fortunate that Riley loves to go hiking as much as I do.  With Andy traveling so much these days, it gives us something to look forward to every afternoon.  Andy hasn't done any hiking with us as of yet...maybe we can change that this weekend.  Yesterday and today's temps are in the high 80's but we're in for a rude awakening tomorrow...high of 52, chance of rain in the valley and snow on the mountains to 5,000 feet...that's almost to the valley floor...Kendall might get to see her first snow fall!

Here are some pictures of our beautiful landscape.

This is from the foothills in Draper.

Taking a necessary water break.  Hiking in Draper means same warm temps, not cool mountain air!

The aspens are starting to turn yellow now and are just beautiful.

This is a picture of Riley inside a bobsled at The Canyons Resort near Park City.

More beautiful aspens.

My new hiking partner off to look for moose!  No such luck!

Along the meadows on the trail.

Riley loves to climb on to boulders and then jump off!

This trail looks so inviting...We've got to take a closer look.

My hiking buddy.

Silver Lake at Brighton in Big Cottonwood Canyon

Looking up from the forest floor.