St. George

After doing the TOU 1/2 several months ago we decided to sign up for another race to help us stay motivated to keep running.  (It worked for Luke but not so much for me.)  We looked around online and registered for the Butch Cassidy 10K just outside of Zions National Park.  Yep, Zions is kind of far to go for a 10K but we were looking for a good excuse to get out of town too and since a few of our favorite people are down south going to school that is where decided to go.  We had a great weekend!!  Luke and I had a date night while the kids went and played with Abbey and Callie, we did a little shopping, ran our race, went up to the red rocks, played away at an arcade, took the kids to the temple grounds, visited with Callie and Sam, and just had a great weekend. 

 

The race was in Springdale which is just outside of Zions and I must say it was absolutely beautiful running there. 

Me, Luke, and Abbey just before the race.

 We tried to go on a hike with the kids but soon gave up.  And why did we give up....this little boy is obsessed with rocks and wanted to pick up EVERY rock he saw along the way and when he couldn't pick up anymore rocks he would just plop down next to them and refuse to leave them.  It was actually quite entertaining. 

 

Here he is sitting with his rocks.  Refusing any help and not wanting to leave them.  He just make me laugh. 

 

Claire loved climbing on the rocks.

 

It was so beautiful and the weather was perfect.

 

My favorite part of the trip was when we came here.

The Saint George temple is so amazing and the kids loved the visitor center. 

 

Claire was so worried about Crue falling down the stairs and refused to let go of his hand.  She is such a good sis.   

Leaves are falling all around...

 

'Leaves are falling all around,

on the rooftops, on the ground...' 

Lately everytime we happen to be playing in the backyard this song just pops into my head and I end up singing it over and over again. I don't even know where I have heard the song before.  Is it a primary song?  I don't know.  But some how the lyrics and melody got stuck in my head and as long as it is fall outside I think they are just going to be staying there.  For weeks and weeks Claire has been anticipating leaves all over the ground, raking them up, jumping in them, and who knows what else.  So lets just say it was a very happy day around our house when the leaves finally fell.  Her and Crue and all the cousins spent hours outside.  At one point Luke was putting the leaves on the trampoline for them and they thought that was the coolest thing ever.     

 

 

 

It's not just outside that we have leaves (or in Crue's diaper)...we have them inside too but these ones this mama really likes.  We put together a Thankful Tree for Family Home Evening.  Each evening until Thanksgiving we all write on a leaf something we are grateful for and then place it on our tree.  It has been so fun hearing the things that Claire is grateful for and coming up with things for Crue.  Can't wait to see how full our tree gets before Thanksgiving. 

Let the fun begin

Here are the last of our Halloween pictures.  What can I say...we had a blast this year!!  Each year Claire gets more excited about it and Crue was even getting into it this year.

 

Even though we grew pumpkins in our garden we still decided to head out to the pumpkin patch in town to get a few more.  Picking out pumpkins and then going out for icecream has evolved into a tradition for Family Home Evening.

 

Then this last week for FHE we carved our pumpkins. 

(lol...ignore Claire's out of control hair.  It was teacher work day so she didn't have school and she told me that morning she didn't want her hair done at all.  All she wanted to do was play with her cousin Sydney all day long and that is exactly what they did.)

 

 

Claire had her Halloween parade and party at school.  She was so excited for it.  She got to pick who her partner was so of course she picked her best friend, Alabama. 

 

Earlier in the month the kids decorated a pumpkin for Miss Janet's Pumpkin Patch and then on Halloween they brought them home. 

 

 

Claire and Alabama

 

After the parade all the kids sang us some Halloween songs that they had been learning.

 

 

Our awesome neighbors brought us a pumpkin pizza for dinner.  We seriously have the best neighbors ever.

 

Then we all got ready and headed out.  We have never had more than 10 kids stop by on Halloween so now we don't even bother making sure one of us is home to give out candy.  I must say it is really kind of nice. 

 

Claire loved her pink and purple owl costume and insisted on wearing it all day and I must admit that Crue was the cutest little Mr. T ever.

 

 

 

I seriously can't get enough of this cute face.  And his hair just makes me laugh every time I see it.  We grew his hair out for two months just for Halloween and in the morning it will be cut short again. 

 

Crue had the whole Halloween thing perfected in no time.  He would walk right up to the doors with Claire and instantly start pounding on it, grab candy when they offered it to them, say thank you, grab a little more if they weren't paying attention, say thank you again, and then go back and sit in his seat and wait to be pushed to the next house.  At one point he had a sucker in his mouth, another unwrapped sucker in his hand, and he was trying to hold onto his bucket while unwrapping another piece of candy.  And if you even came close to touching his bucket he would YELL at you until you backed away. 

 

Our little fam on Halloween.