October, The Rest of It

Oh October, we have seriously loved everything about you: the sunshine, the warm weather, the fall activities, and of course, time with family. November means snow,and dark skies, and the end to most outdoor activities.  So before that happens, let's just remember all of the rest of the fun of October.

We celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving with the Whitesides.We had a great time visiting and catching up with everyone - it had been too long since we had seen most of the family.  The kids all had a great time playing with cousins.  Gayle wore herself out making sure we all had a fabulous celebration - and we did.

The babies loved being outside with the cousins, especially Joshua

Erika came for dinner one night and left us with a box of popsicles,

Thanks sister, the babies loved the treat.  

Bath time is always better with bubbles.

Typical morning for Ruby.

Green slime at Sunday dinner.

Perfect time to pull out the new ghost pajamas.

Luke was so excited for Tim to dress up for Halloween so they could be partners.  As soon as the costume arrived, Tim had to try it on and take a few practice laps flying around the house.

They are building a new church about a block away from our house so we monitor the construction process every time we drive by.  Tim and the kids got lucky and were driving by right as they were getting ready to place the steeple.  Of course they had to get out and watch.  They loved it and still talk about it whenever we see that church.

We had a great time at the wedding reception for Ty Talbot - Michelle's son.  We didn't quite manage to get any photos of the married couple, or any or our relatives, but we did find time to get the camera out for a few shots.

Luke was invited to his first official birthday party.  A little girl in his preschool, Katelyn, was turning 5 and had a party at Nikelcade.  Luke had so much fun playing, and I loved watching him interact with his friends.

There was a BYU football the same day as the birthday party.  Luke and I met up with the rest of the family when we were done playing with his friends.  The game was fun, it was a blow out with BYU winning easily, but still a great time with all the kids.  After about the third quarter we were all pretty sun baked, and decided to head home and out of the sun.

We took at Sunday drive down to the lake and hung out down close to the water where you find all of the fishermen.  The kids had so much fun throwing rocks into the lake and riding their "motorcycles". There was a small incident when the ranger came to check if we paid our entrance fee - I didn't think you had to in the off season and we had no cash - but otherwise, it was a beautiful, bleak afternoon. 

Why yest, that is a tent set up in our basement

Dad of the year!

Tim and the big kids have found some great spots for breakfast.

Pumpkin Patch Kids

Over the past few years it seems  like every spare farm and field have turned into a pumpkin patch with assorted activities.  The combination of beautiful weather with room to roam has made this the perfect activity with the babies this year.

The kids loved having Taylor with us when we went to Jakers Pumpkin Patch.  He was happy to chase the kids around and I was thrilled to have him there to even out the odds.  The kids spent a lot of time picking out the perfect little pumpkins and then found a giant one that we brought home to Tim.    

McCoards Corn Maze is about a mile away from our house and I didn't know it existed until this year.  The kids and I went over early on a Friday afternoon.  They were not officially open till later, but they graciously encouraged us to stay and explore for as long as we wanted.  Having the place to ourselves made for a pretty perfect afternoon.

Not too bad considering Luke took this picture.

Luke was very intent on doing his farm work.

The duck races were amazing.

I told him to look scared, nailed it.

Oh fall, we will miss you when you are gone.

Friends in Low Places

We waited seventeen years to see him return to Salt Lake City.  

Garth Brooks definitely did not disappoint.

It has been a really long time since Tim and I have had a chance to have a date night.  Last week we were lucky enough to have babysitters for the evening and we took full advantage with a fantastic night together.  I was in charge of the plans and debated just sticking close to home with dinner and a movie, but spur of the moment decided to do something a little more exciting. Both my parents and Jessica agreed to tag team the kids, so we were able to head out early and went to one of our favorite places, Market Street Grill, for dinner.  The food was delicious, but it was really just so nice to enjoy a meal together without the need for a kids menu.  We laughed and talked and had a great time.  

The traffic had been very heavy on the way to dinner so we decided to avoid the hassle and take Trax downtown.  The added advantage was that we would be able to sit and enjoy the ride together without anyone being worried about driving, parking, etc.  I had a bit of a ditz moment while buying the tickets - I put in a $20 bill for $10 worth of tickets and was really ticked to get back all of my change in tokens.  I couldn't imagine where I would use the tokens and started stalking people who came up to the machine in search of someone to sell the tokens.  Tim finally asked to see my handful of tokens and nicely pointed out that they were not tokens, but gold dollars.  I started laughing so hard that the other people on the platform started looking around to figure out what was going on.  I eventually spent my "tokens" so sodas and treats and we continued to laugh about that for the rest of the night.  

We arrived at the arena on time (a big deal for me) and had plenty of time to get ourselves situated and ready for the concert.  Seventeen years ago when Garth Brooks came to Salt Lake my friends and I desperately wanted to go.  However, the night before the tickets even went on sale, the line was all the way around the Smiths and we were defeated pretty quickly.  Since then it has always been a "bucket list" item to see him play.  Since the day they announced this recent concert, I have been scheming of a way to go.  Tim wasn't quite as excited about the concert as I was, but he was happy to be there. Little did he know what was in store.

Pictures and commentary don't do it justice, but the concert really was the most fun ever.  From the minute it started, until Garth finished playing over two hours later, the music was fast and loud and I spent most of the time singing along to every song.  I was kind of amazed that I still knew all the words - I can remember anything important most days - but I can sing a good Garth Brooks song. The music brought back so many memories of my early college days and so many great friends.  But even better, I have now created a whole new set of memories and every time I hear Garth Brooks it will remind me of Tim and what turned out to be an incredible night together.