St George

We went down to St. George with some friends over fall break.  It was so lovely down there, I love St. George in the fall.  We brought our four wheelers down and rented some razors one day and took all the kids out to the sand dunes.  The kids loved it, even the toddlers.  We just strapped their car seats into the razors and they had a blast.  I was a little nervous on our drove out to the dunes, we were going up some crazy stuff but the razors did great and no one got hurt.  

Once we got to the Sand Dunes we took off and started playing.  It eventually seemed to turn to the dads taking the razors and the kids taking turns going with them.  They're the crazy fun ones, I don't quite trust myself on those (I probably shouldn't have been trusting the guys though either!)  I took a turn with Mark driving and Leila in the back with Ellie and her friend Izzy.  Leila was laughing hysterically.  She loved it.  When we went over one hill though we heard a loud thud and the razor was making a funny noise.  We stopped to check it out to find oil leaking everywhere.  The rental place sent a guy out to come look at it.  He was not very happy.  He said "what did you hit and how hard did you hit it?!"  Mark's response was "Nothing, I was driving with my two year old in the back."  We had been out there all day at this point so we headed back the easy, quick way with the guy leading us.  The whole way back Mark and I thought we were going to have to dish out thousands of dollars to fix this thing.  Luckily when we got back and they took a good look at it they realized a part had been rusting and cracked so it could've broken on anybody.  Phew!  The kids had so much fun though, something we've never done before.

We spent a day lounging by the pool.  I think Kenya was out there for 5 hours straight and didn't want to come in.  It was perfect pool weather.

That night we frosted Halloween cookies and Ashley put together a fun treasure hunt for all of us to do with the kids driving around finding all the clues.  They thought it was great.

One of the favorite spots for the kids, on the bunk beds watching shows.  

I didn't really get any pics of the adults, whoops!  We were there too though, staying up way too late and soaking in the sun.  A great weekend.

Holbrook Canyon and Snow Basin

I had a goal to go on more hikes this year.  I love hiking, even though you wouldn't know it because I don't do it very often, three kids make it a little tough I guess.  Although we didn't do all that I wanted we did make it up to Holbrook Canyon in Bountiful one Sunday afternoon.  We didn't make it up the trail very far, we weren't really planning a big hike but we did get to enjoy some of the beautiful colors along the way.  This canyon was named after Mark's great great great grandpa Judge Joseph Holbrook of Bountiful.  Mark has some serious Bountiful roots, it's kinda cool.  As we left the canyon the sun was getting ready to set, people were walking on the Boulevard by the temple, the mountains were on fire with color, it really made me a little nostalgic for my hometown.  Brings back a lot of memories, I love Bountiful in the fall.  

 We've had such beautiful fall weather, Leila loves her little bike, even though she can't pedal yet she loves to sit on it and glide down the driveway and try to pedal.  

A few weeks later we decided to drive up to Snow Basin for family night to see all the beautiful colors. This year seemed especially brilliant for the trees changing.  The mountains were so pretty.  We got out to a rough start because Charlie wanted to bring his itouch in the car and I wouldn't let him, I wanted him to look out the window and see the scenery and have some family time.  Well after much arguing with him we were off, only to quickly realize that he had snuck it in the car and was in the back seat playing it.  (did he really think I wouldn't notice?) So he got it taken away for a week, there was some more arguing and whining but he quickly got over it and we had a nice drive up to Snow Basin.  We were probably about a week too late in the season and an hour too late in the day but it was still pretty.  Once up there we walked around a little, snapped these pictures, had a fun time and then headed back to the car.  Then Mark says to Charlie "if you beat me back to the car you can have your itouch back."  So off they go.  10 seconds later Charlie is upset all over again because of course Mark beat him.  We start to get in the car when Kenya says she wants to race so out everyone gets to race one more time.  10 seconds later Kenya is whaling because she didn't win, Leila is crying, not sure why and Charlie gets in the car and says "this is the worst night of my life!"  

Not exactly the family night we had planned.

But we did get some pictures.  

 Kenya was excited to take these leaves home and use them for her show and teach at school.

Pumpkin Pickin'

     This year we planted a few pumpkin starters, the result was our own pumpkin patch!  We had over twenty pumpkins to pick from.  Although the pumpkin patch is a fun tradition it was nice to not have to fight the crowds, mosquitos, and pay the price of the pumpkins at the patch!  I even planted my favorite cinderella pumpkins that turned out great.  The kids all picked out "their" pumpkin and we took the rest up to the front yard to decorate with.