Fall Fun

I know I've mentioned it before, but I absolutely LOVE the fall.  There is so much to do outside, with perfect weather.  Here are a few things that happened in our family this fall:

We took our traditional drive up the Alpine Loop.  We went way too early in the season, and the leaves weren't nearly to their prime.  Our boys were pretty mad at us for taking them away from friends (and electronics) on a Saturday.  But the complaining stopped shortly up the canyon, when we made our first stop.
We started out just throwing rocks into the river.  They were all having a great time...then the boys realized the bigger rocks were splashing up on everyone.  So the rock throwing turned into a splashing water fight.  That evolved into "Parcour river jumping" for the boys.  They were all smiles until we herded them back into the car to move on.

We always have to stop at Cascade Springs to walk around.  Even with all the complaints, I think it ended up being a fun day for all.

We usually go to Thanksgiving Point's corn maze.  We like it because they have so many other activities.  It's just a fun "fall festival."  This year the boys told us they hate how Thanksgiving point's maze doesn't have a separate beginning and end.  You just go in, get lost, and find your way back.  They wanted something different to do this year.  On our way back from a cross country race, we passed a family farm in Lehi with a corn maze.  We ended up going back to it the next day.  It had lots of fun activities, a smaller corn maze (with a beginning and end), and was less than half the price.  It was nice to just try something different.

My tough boys on the kiddie train ride.

 

Halloween this year was different.  It was Nathan's first year not dressing up and going trick or treating.  I told him he could invite some friends over for a movie, but he ended up just staying home and handing out candy.  His friends were going trick or treating just on our street, so he threw on his football fairy costume from last year, and got a street worth of candy.

This year we had a baby....

A "nice witch" that HAD to have orange hair....

and Herobrine from minecraft.

 

We were going to take Anika and Calla around together.  I was kind of worried about Calla slowing Anika down, but at the last minute, Josh and Jena showed up with their kids.  So Anika went around with her friends and Jon, and Calla got to join her cousins that are more her age and speed.  Tanner was off with his friends, running from door to door and covering as much area as they could.  Tanner ended up being slowed down by his huge head, and came back to drop it off and go on without it.

Calla and Tyson (thanks, Becky, for the pictures!)

Fall wouldn't be complete without playing in the leaves.  We have no shortage of leaves in our yard.  The favorite activity is always piling the leaves on the trampoline, running down the hill, and diving head first into the pile.  Jumping off the slide into the pile is also a favorite.
We have so many leaves--more and more each year as the trees grow--that we don't know what do with them all.  We have a neighbor the next street over that wanted some for gardening.  She took six huge packed down garbage cans full for us.  That was six weeks worth of yard waste garbage!  We pack our recycle can full every week, and we still have about 20 big black bags stuffed full to somehow get rid of.  Lots of fun for the kids, but LOTS of work.

So now that the yard is cleaned up, and Young Women's Evening in Excellence is over, we have Jon's birthday football party (BYU/Notre Dame) to look forward to, and Thanksgiving a week away.  I love this time of year!