Annual Leaf Pile

Fall leaves are always a favorite for Ethan. He's great at raking, especially if the end reward is jumping into a pile of leaves. This year Ava got into the action ... at least the fun part. She wasn't much into the raking part. Ethan raked the whole pile you see in the photos and even put half of it into the green bin before he asked for help. He can be a great helper when he wants!

Fun at the Farm

The Farm is always a fall favorite. Ethan was excited to have his cousin in town for a visit when we visited the Farm. This farm has all sorts of fun ... hay barns, giant corn box, farm animal petting zoo, corn maze, tractor rides, pumpkin patch and much more. Here are a few of our highlights.

Having fun in the corn pit.

Cousins on the tractor hay ride around the farm.

It's hard to tell from the photo, but as the kids pump the water they can race little yellow ducks down the gutter. 

 In one of the hay barns waiting to head down the slide. Ava held up the line her first time down. She was a bit afraid to go down. After she finally did she went over and over with no problem. 

Cousins waiting for the live duck races.

Ava throwing hay at the camera. 

Spring Day at the Temple

St Patrick’s Day fell on Sunday this year. Not that we’re big at celebrating this holiday, but we usually do a fun little leprechaun hunt with a treasure for the kids and eat green pancakes and milk cause this seems to be such a treat for Ethan and Ava. I tried to be organized and have everything ready the night before so we could do a bit of fun things in the morning but still make it to church on time. My preparations did not pay off however, as we all woke up late and dragged through the morning. I mainly dragged as I was getting over a cold and was just generally tired from the oh-so-lovely sleepless nights of late pregnancy. So, the slacker in me took over once we realized that we were going to be late for Stake conference and we decided to take things easy and head to the temple to enjoy the sunny spring day and have a family lesson there.

Ava enjoying the flowering trees with daddy

Daddy's little girl heading into the temple grounds

I promise we did not let Ava pick the flowers! This one was laying on the sidewalk so we let her carry it. She was so delighted. 

We did not realize that sun did not equal warm, and with the temple up on the ridge of the canyon it was very crisp and breezy to put it mildly (so please excuse our wind blown hair). Even though we all froze for most of the visit it was still such a peaceful morning walking the grounds of the temple, sharing our testimonies with our children and enjoying God’s beautiful creations. 

Ethan and Ava patiently watching the duck

Summer berries

Since our summers around here are so short yet so beautiful it's always a shame as we near the end ... with the exception of the ripening of the wild blackberries. For one reason or another I missed getting out last year to pick berries so I made an extra effort this year to make sure we not only picked berries, but that I also took the time to make a sweet treat. This is about the one time of year I might attempt a pie. I hate making pies simply because I hate making pie crust. But alas I pushed through and made a delicious blackberry pie. No better way to have it than fresh from the oven with ice cream on top ... unless of course you add home made whip cream too. You can never have too many creamy sweet dairy products!

Sweet Ol' Maddie

This morning while I was downstairs cleaning up from breakfast Ethan asked if I would take a picture of him and Maddie. Of course Ava wanted in on the action. And yes, she’s wearing last year’s Christmas pajamas in September. I purchased for her age which was obviously too big so they’ve had lots of wear and are finally fitting. I digress …  I asked Ethan why he wanted a picture with Maddie and he said so sweetly, “Because I love her.” Oh how I treasure such sweet moments …