Rugrats....

It's been fun to take the kids up American Fork Canyon to play.  Of course the kids are always drawn to the dirt hills, which is why they all look like homeless little rugrats.

Thanksgiving Point fun

We had a little play date with friends in our neighborhood and went to Thanksgiving Point. Since it's so close we got a season pass to Thanksgiving Point, which has been super fun. In July it was the bday bash at the dinosaur museum and they extra activities like dinosaur oregami and face painting. The kids had a blast and of course didn't want to leave! I need to do better at taking pictures of my friends. We had fun too! :)

Emery & Addy, two of Sienna's BFF's.

Such a curious little one...

This was our weak attempt at a group shot.

The kids in action...

Corn Belly Maze at Thanksgiving Point

I love being able to bundle up in a sweater (and hide the fat rolls), wear cute knee-high boots, sip hot cocoa, go to pumpkin patches, canyon drives, carving pumpkins, fresh fruits & veggies from the garden, the vibrant changing colors of the leaves, farmer's markets, the crisp fresh air, making caramel apples, yummy homemade pies (not made by me!), the list could go on and on...

Thanksgiving Point has a really fun fall festival going on right now, The Corn Belly Maze. They have tons of activities (including these awesome "jumping pillows"--I've never seen anything like them!). We met up with our good friends Amber & Tad Baltzer who were in town from California. It was so fun to spend time with them and their boys--wish we could hang out more often!

Sienna definitely has a good selection to choose from with just the Baltzer boys--I think she picked Micah. Little flirt. ;) It's perfect. He's just a couple weeks older than her!

The pumpkin canon was (of course) the boys favorite thing to do. Boys will be boys!

The train ride through the corn fields

Yes, Sienna is now off the bottle (pardon the phrase!) and 100% sippy cup. The whole weaning process wasn't too bad. I think I was more attached to it than she was.

Sienna didn't want to sit still for a family shot, so this is the best one we got!

They make a cute couple, don't you think!? :)

Sienna's favorite part was this little pumpkin maze. She was having the best time just crawling around, climbing over the pumpkins, trying to pull of the stem, biting them, etc... She was loving it, so giggly and smiley. I was totally wishing that I had Emily with me to take some professional shots with a nice camera! Next time!

Here's one of me and Amber (and Sienna and little Dane).

Dan, Holly, Amber & Tad on the ginormous Corn Belly rocker. It was huge!
(If Dan were here, he would have just said "That's what she said!")

So domestic!

So I had my first canning experience this year! I made yummy apple pie filling with my friend Emily, then Dan, myself, Cory & Chels made salsa. It was quite the adventure! I've wanted to learn how, so it was a good learning experience. Fortunately we had lots of fresh ingredients from Roger & Deanne's garden that we could put to good use. Both turned out super tasty! I'll have to post the recipes when I have some time.

Fun stuff!

My good friend Emily Vandyke is super talented. She designs fabulous jewelry (a good friend for me to have, since I'm a jewelry lover!). Emily came to our Relief Society retreat in Heber this past weekend and helped us/taught us how to make jewelry. I wish I had some pictures from the weekend, but I forgot my camera. Right now Emily is doing a really fun interchangeable earring set that is very simple, inexpensive and super cute! (Essentially 3 pairs of earrings in one, for the price of one!). This is just a sample, there are actually a bunch of different beads to choose from.

This is one of my favorites pairs (I love turquoise!)

So, if you're wanting a fun idea for an enrichment group, for a girl's night or if you're looking for a great Christmas or Birthday gift (or stocking stuffer's) just contact Emily and set something up. For all you young women leader's or mom's who have teenage daughter, she also is doing a really cute set of interchangeable earrings which are the young women values colors. You can also set up a time to go to her house (in American Fork) and pick out your own custom-made creation. Her blog is http://www.sassandsavvyjewelry.blogspot.com/. On her blog she also has a link to her etsy site, which has tons of cute stuff.

Also check out her photography blog at evandykephotography.blogspot.com. She did my bridal pictures, our engagements pictures, Sienna's newborn and a bunch of others. Here are some of my favorites...


Here's a couple more of my cute niece Ella.

Emily does an amazing job and her prices are really reasonable. Right now she is giving a free 8X10 with every photo shoot. Now is the perfect time to get those family pictures done in time for Christmas cards (I can't believe it that's time again!). I love that Emily gives printed proofs from the session and includes the cd of your edited images/negatives so you can print them whenever you want. I think it's rare to find photographers who do that.

Opa!!!

We went to the Greek Festival downtown with some friends. It was crazy! I had no idea that it would be that huge. We had a great time. We ate the most incredible food. I mean, I like Greek food, but this food was really amazing--well worth the wait. I wanted to go back the next day, just for the food. I had a I swear my mouth watered just thinking about it. Sienna was lovin' the music & dancing and was rockin' out (which tuckered her right out, as you can see below) Thanks, Bagozzi's, for a fun night!

Dessert was delicious! I wish I would've written down what these babies were called, but I'll do my best to describe it. It was some sort of a donutty, glaze-covered, cinnamin & sugar-coated dumpling. Um, and I'll be honest with you, I couldn't stop eating them.

It was kind of ridiculous.

Labor Day weekend with San Clemente friends

Our good friend's Tracie & Sal Syed (from San Clemente) came with their two little rugrats to visit over Labor Day weekend. We loved getting to meet their newest addition--Serianna (who, by the way, has the most amazing head of hair--unlike anything I've seen before!). Our friends Sara & James Mortensen also live in the area, so it was fun to get together with the old gang. Tracie wasn't feeling too great, so unfortunately they weren't able to do everything they hoped, but we still managed to pack in some fun.

WE...

...rocked it out with Guitar Hero...

BTW, Tracie looks awesome in this picture--awesome like a butt-rocker! Luke & Samson rockin' out. They were in Heaven!!!...went to the Dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point (just in case you were wondering what Sara and Tracie are doing, they are imitating dinosaurs, of course!) I love this picture of Bella screaming (for joy!) Dan & Sienna watching the fish...The most adorable pink camo squeeky shoes that I bought for Sienna (Sara sells them and gave them to me for cost, so I stocked up! Sooooo nice!)

...ate good food...(Cafe Rio, JCW's, pizza, homemade peach cobbler...)

...went to the Street Fair/Farmer's Market in Park City...I love this pic of Sal & Suri. This guy is in so much trouble--this baby girl is BEAUTIFUL!!!Dan's training Sienna young!