Halloween in a spoooky old village!

Little House with a Fairy

Ezra was telling me where to go.

Esther and Honey (the pony not Abby)

Ezra was not appreciating this hayride, and he really wanted Lizzi for some reason, that's why he's squirming.

Esther's cornhusk doll

Ezra the lostboy "gink" or skunk if you speak adult English

Run fatboy run! It's ok to say that because he's not really fat, see? He was running to catch up with his brother (in the black) who hopped on at the end.

My what a busy but lovely Halloween!! These are some pictures from today at the This is the Place Monument Park in SLC. Last year we took the kids to their "Little Haunts" that the park does two Saturdays in October. As you can clearly see we had a great time and I feel a family tradition coming into our midst. This year it was just me Abby, Lizzi and the kids, Brock graciously stayed home to make stew and fresh bread for us to enjoy after trick or treating (I will do another post on that, but probably not tonight). Anyway it was a fun day activity to do with the kids and we saw lots of great costumes (a blow up sumo wrestler among them).

Happy Halloween!!!

"A" week without T.V.

SO last week I decided I would bite the bullet and unplug the t.v. Just for a week. To see what would happen. It's something I've been wanting to do for awhile, always feeling guilty that our t.v. is constantly on and I know Esther is watching way more than the recommended 2 hour a day quota for kids her age. I was terrified, but it was surprisingly easier than I thought. Yes, I did have to spend more time trying to find different ways to entertain them, but suddenly all the things I do when they are normally occupied by the telly, (like clean an apt. that is forever not clean) didn't seem to matter that much. Which is how it should be, I like to think. Mostly we went on more walks and played with play-do and the like. The best part was that it forced me to pay attention to these precious critters. I can only imagine the loneliness I will feel when they are grown and no longer need me. Also in conjunction with this no tv week I decided to start the letter of the week thing where each week you concentrate on one letter, and do activities or notice things that start with that letter. Each week I am going to crochet a block patch and chain stitch that letter on it and by the end we'll have an alphabet blanky!! I might be more excited about that at this point than my kids are but we'll see how it turns out. So here are some pictures of things we noticed during a week with no tv. Don't worry we talked about real A words too. Oh and in case your wondering if we watch tv now, the answer is yes. But only one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening. It seems to be working out fine.

"A" little farmer boy.

"A" pretty fall pixie

"A" pretty view of my favorite Nose Mountain.

"A" stop at the beloved Creamery on 9th

My favorite, an "A"utumn rose.

"A" window that sees a tree.

"A" face that reminds me of my own.

"A" Bluebird

"A"n unexpected warning. Bet you thought BYU's campus was the safest place on earth? Well think again!

"A" strange duck that didn't look like the rest

"A" Gingerbread house (I was having trouble finding A things to take pictures of)

Ahhh.......Autumn.

It's that beautiful time of year again up here on BYU campus, our second Autumn here. I just can't get enough of nature when the air is crisp and the ground is crunchy. I've always loved the feeling I get when fall comes, getting ready for the holidays, wearing lots of sweaters and warm socks....the colors, the smells. We would do lots of things outdoors when I was growing up, and I know I didn't care much about autumn hikes and camping, I took it for granted. But I find the older I get that those walks and family adventures instilled in me a hidden wonder for each season and the changes they bring.