Pumpkin Patch

Saturday was a little rainy but we had promised the kids a visit to a pumpkin patch so we braved the mud and each of the kids picked their pumpkin! Carving will commence this Friday.

Layton Park

Friday afternoon, we drove to Layton to meet up with Brit Barker to have family photos taken. The park was beautiful with autumn colors and a lot of natural elements to keep the kids busy. Maddie found her nemesis in a black swan that would not leave her alone. Charlie dog didn't know what to make of the feeding frenzy going on with the ducks and birds! It was a great park - I can't wait to see how the photos turn out! Maddie met her match! She resorted to jumping on the table and yelling to get the swan away from her.

Harrison found the antics of his sisters and the fowl to be quite amusing!

Me and Charlie dog, relaxing on a rock and taking in the spectacle.

Our sweet Livi Bug

The girl has yet to see a tree that she doesn't want to climb.

Maddie refused to surf the tree like Tarzan. She ruins all my fun!

Witchapalooza at Gardner Village

We made our annual visit to Gardner Village to see the witches this afternoon. The kids picked a treat from the candy store and we browsed through the different shops. Harrison was darling, posing without complaint and always ready with his camera smile.

Maddie keeps reminding me that she isn't very far from driving age ... although seeing this student driver gave her pause. Harrison has always loved Witchy Poo in the outhouse!

Monday Night Dinner and Football

It was dinner and Monday Night Football (for the grown-up guys) at the Nelson house last night. Ed and Ryan hid away in the basement media room and the older kids hid away in the bonus room upstairs while Tami and I visited and hung out with little Munchie boy. It was a perfectly relaxing evening.

Autumn

Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all. ~Stanley Horowitz

I love October. Today was a reminder of all that I love about this time of year. We spent the weekend at Snowbird and took in the amazing leaf show that Mother Nature offers. Harrison said the leaves were the most beautiful he'd ever seen. (Autumn leaf photos in this post were taken by friend Eric LeMonnier) Ed and I went stargazing with Harrison late last night, hiking in to the dark, admiring the Milky Way and seeing the moons of Jupiter. We returned home late this afternoon and I made a big pot of homemade chicken noodle soup. Olivia and Harrison helped to make brown sugar muffins to go with the soup and the house smelled so good! Charlie dog kept standing in front of the oven, looking up and sniffing as the chicken stock simmered and the muffins baked. It was sensory overload for the poor little guy.

I am looking forward to the coming week. I am taking 5 straight days off from work. I'm sure the week will fly by because my list of things to do far exceeds the amount of time I will have! Priority one - getting the flower beds prepared for the winter weather that is coming our way. I'm hoping the days will be a mix of things that I need to do and things that I want to do. However the week turns out, today was a fabulous reminder of why I love to be home.

Best Date Night Ever!

With the car business being slow and our expendable income virtually non-existent, we haven't been splurging much lately so I was quite surprised when Ed told our friends Danielle and Eric that we'd go to the Ben Harper/Pearl Jam concert with them. We gave up date nights for the month to have the one night out and it was SO WORTH IT! We went to dinner at Tsunami and then to the concert. I was honestly a little disappointed in Ben Harper ... he played a very short set (5 songs?!) that left me feeling more irritated than happy to have seen him. He sounded great and was fairly talkative between songs - I just wish he would have been a little more generous with the set list. Oh well.

After a break that included waiting in a massive line for the restroom and fighting through an impassable crowd to get back to our portal (horrible event center layout ... the lines for the beer cart, ATM machine and concession stand encircled the massive line for the restroom) - Pearl Jam took the stage and proceeded to put on one of the most amazing live shows I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. Seriously ... they gave the Rolling Stones show a serious challenge for the best live show I've seen. It was a totally different experience from the first time I saw them play in a small, hot, smoke filled club in Seattle a million years ago. I have to say, Eddie Vedder has only gotten better with age. They played for more than 2 hours and then came out for a double encore. My favorite moment? If I have to choose one ... a fan was introduced and invited on stage so he could propose marriage to his girlfriend. Then they were serenaded by Eddie Vedder, alone on a stool with an acoustic guitar, as he sang "Just Breathe" - my favorite song from their new release. A beautiful song that I have found myself listening to multiple times a day all week. (See song 1 on my playlist below)

The only thing I would have changed about Monday night - I wish I could have been standing front and center rather than watching from our seats! This photo is from the Salt Lake show.

Bug Boy

The bug infestation that we've seen over the past few weeks has been a huge source of entertainment for Harrison. Thanks to his fresh supply of bug containers from Grandma Karen, he has had a great time catching different bugs to study and scare his sisters with before setting the bugs free.