Fall is in the air

We took a drive after church today and fell in love with a new part of our beautiful state.  We stumbled across Lair of the Bear park near Evergreen (btw, LOVE Evergreen too!) and couldn't resist the call of dirt trails with gorgeous turning leaves.  And did I mention there was a beautiful stream?!  It would have been a crime to not stop.  (Even if we did have to go up another 400 yards and turn around on a scary part of the road with oncoming traffic and a small cliff on the side.  Pssshhhh.  Too much to ask for a perfect photo op?  I think not. Thankfully I've got an extremely accommodating hubster!)  So without further ado, I bring you, our fall :)

(lest you think I posed my son like this, he came to me and said MOM!  I have the perfect pose!)

KiKi was being a pouty pants, so I let her take this pic of Kai and Dad so she would perk up.  Not too shabby, and she LOVES taking pictures!

Kai took this picture and even though we are out of focus I love it.

She finally perked up for the last few minutes, phew!  I was needing a cute picture of my girl in this gorgeous setting.

These next two pictures were taken back to back within about 2 seconds.  And I think this is a completely accurate portrayal of her "dual" personality.

And I couldn't resist one last click before we got back in the car.

You know, I used to love the summer, but fall is quickly becoming my new favorite....tied of course with spring :)  We are headed back into the mountains next weekend in between conference sessions.  If I'm lucky I'll grab a few more pics!

A few things we've been up to

It's been rainy and "cold" all week, (plus we've had the house to ourselves all week!) so I've been baking up a storm.  Lemon Poppyseed cookies that were okay, but awesome for the quick factor!  I chopped up some chocolate for Brownie cookies with a salted caramel frosting....

That flopped and failed miserably.  But they look so divine (on pinterest) that I must try again.  So we'll see how that goes.  I'll try a sunny day with some extra magic and hopefully a miracle :)

Something that didn't flop was the Pumpkin Bread with a streusel topping.  Pretty delish!  You can make it in little mini loaf pans from Michaels and give them to the ladies you visit teach!  And they will love you!  Just don't forget the salt,( like some people I know. But seriously, if I forgot the salt and it's still delish, you know it's a good recipe!)

Can you tell I was in love with these little loaves?!  Because they were totally adorable.  And speaking of adorable, take a gander at my little helper :)

It's funny that I never notice the space between her teeth until I take a picture.  She's a cutie patootie.....when she's not Satan's Minion.

So to sum up.  We've been baking.  The end.

Soccer

So Kai is in his first season of soccer!  He hasn't been in organized sports before and it started out a bit rocky.  But he's getting the hang of it and is doing much better!  (It probably helped that mom and dad have started bribing him with a quarter each time he kicks the ball!)  We're so proud of the progress he's making, and most importantly, he's loving it!  Here's a few pictures I snapped yesterday during the game.  (He's in the blue shorts/orange shirt)


Defending his goal....ish

Now there is some hustle kiddo!

This is the part we have to work on...going after that ball and following through!  But he's getting there, and I'm loving the beginning of my "soccer mom" life :)

Can't wait to see him get better and better!  They took their team and individual pictures  yesterday, so when we get those I'll be sure to put them on the ol' bliggity blog.

Details

We went to Soda Lakes today for some fun in the sun beach action.  We've been wanting to go for a while now, and what better day, than the last day they will be open!  It was not quite the beaches of San Diego or an island in the Caribbean (those ranking among my faves) but it more than sufficed for today!  The kiddos loved it, we got some sun and headed for home 15 minutes away just before the storm clouds rolled in and just in time for a nap.

My favorite part of today were the little details.  The grains of sand on the feet, the messy hair, the horribly murky water, the kids engrossed in their first "beach" experience.  The joy was in the details.

the water was freezing!!

beautiful day, beautiful family

Tiny Town or Bust!

Last Friday we were able to steal my niece Kara away and take the kids up to Tiny Town while we waited for Papa and Oma to get into town.  It was so fun!  The girls especially loved it, but there was a fun train ride for the boys too :)  We met up with some friends up there, had a picnic and a great day!  The usual barrage of photos to follow!

So Tiny Town is this little place where different companies can sponsor these little houses.  They get decorated inside and it is just too cute.

Some have skylights to peek in the top, they all have all sorts of windows to see in.  Others are big enough for little ones to get inside and have some fun!

And of course the girls had to make wishes in the Wishing Well!!

One of my favorites of the buildings!  The Tiny Town Library of course.

This is inside a beauty salon.  Just so fun and cute for the kids to look at!

My very favorite one though was this green house.  It was built to be a replica of an actual green house, and I have never wanted to garden so bad as when I saw this!!  Totally adorable!

This was built to scale using the actual blue prints of the original restaurant...we're planning a double date here shortly with one of the friends that was there with us :)

If you look close, this was one of the houses the kids could get in, though a couple of the girlies were a little small for the windows!  It goes from left to right, Kennedi, Kai, Kara and Allie (friend)

We had such a fun time, the kids were able to play on a playground, have a picnic and ride a train around the entire park.  It was a great day, we loved it!  Thanks Tiny Town!