Halloween 2014

Our pumpkins all lit up on the front porch Halloween Night

Bonnie made an adorable little Witch!

Khora our own beautiful Alice in Wonderland

Afton . . the Super Spy

Jacob did his own make-up this year!

We have entered into that place where Halloween is less of a family event. .. at least the night of.  Both boys were off with their friends all night.  I didn't even get a picture of Isaac at all, but he was in his typical sports get up. As usual Dennis took the kids out and I manned the door at home and made chili and baking powder cheese biscuits.  The chili was hotter this year, (I actually followed the recipe) but the girls loved it!  

So goodbye October. . .you have been very nice to us this year!

Down in the Pumpkin Patch

This is my favorite family Halloween activity! Had a fun afternoon out at the pumpkin patch on Wednesday. We went right after the kids got out of school. There was no crowd whatsoever! Perks to early out days and Dennis working in Santaquin. The Red Barn has added a few new features this year. Apple launch on Fridays and tractor bikes, so fun!! Then the usual giant slide and apple crate maze. . . . and you can't beat free pumpkins. . . sometimes it works out not going out there until 2 days before Halloween, they just want to get rid of them at that point! You take a risk, but hey it worked out this year.

I also love their apple cider doughnuts and fresh apple cider! We carved pumpkins on Thursday night. They looked pretty good all lit up Halloween night,.

Goblin Valley 2014

The boys finished up their fall term this week and had Friday off so. . . . we thought it would be a good time to go on a little October trip to Goblin Valley.  We camped over night in the campground just outside of the valley of the goblins.  

We camped just below this "Goblin Castle".

Hiking into the park from our campsite. It was a little over a mile.

While there we found the scout troop from our old 5th ward who were camping there as well.  We had a really fun game of capture the flag with them. 

The Elephant

The weather was absolutely perfect and we enjoyed an amazing sunset as we walked back to camp!! 

Amazing colors!

This is my favorite formation. The Gardians of the Valley.

That night the stars were so bright it was amazing! One day I'll be able to take pictures of the stars without it looking like a big black thing with a few fuzzy spots. 

We had a little visitor in the middle of the night that found Buddy's food and made a nice meal out of it. Jacob's guess is that it was a kit fox. There is a little canyon next to our site that we could hike in. The kids found the bag from Buddy's food up there. 

We went back into the valley and played hide and seek Saturday. The kids wanted Buddy to sniff them out.  He was a bit clueless, I must say, but everyone had so much fun!  We stayed until lunch then headed back towards home. 

Isaac carried Bonnie all the way back from the far end of the valley.

Jacob hid in this little pocket on the top of a goblin.  When he was laying down I couldn't even see him.

We stopped for a while in Capital Reef on the way home. Dennis took the kids on a hike through Cohab Canyon which was only about 1.5 miles. Dennis got some wonderful photos! Jacob and I took the car and met them on the other side of it. 

A little mermaid on a rock.

We watched the local deer herd that live in the camp ground with all the orchards there. Kind of fun to see them up close. 

There were a couple guys this big there.

The canyon was so beautiful with all the fall colors. These are some panoramas that Dennis took.  Beautiful time to be there!  It was a great trip!!  

Bonnie said it was the "best trip ever!" She asked me if we could go again today. Her favorite part was camping at Goblin Valley.

Khora's favorite part was playing capture the flag.

Afton's favorite was exploring the canyon around our campground with her dad.

It's funny that the trips that are just kind of thrown together seem to be the best!

Blood Moon

Have you noticed how many lunar eclipses we have had this year.  I think it's a record number.  Today was a complete lunar eclipse.  The second one of four within a two year period here in the United States called the tetrad. The next one showing some time in April 2015 and the last in September 2015.

"Lunar eclipses occur when the full moon passes through Earth's shadow. Instead of blotting out the moon entirely, the moon turns a rusty color because of the way light from the sun seeps through the planet's shadow."

I woke up this morning around 4am and got my camera out.  It took me a while to get the settings right and one day I'll be able to have some amazingly crisp clear images, but for now I'll enjoy what I have. It was gorgeous!  It was a fall themed moon! The boys wanted to see it as well so I woke them up and they looked for a minute then went back to bed.  I should have set the telescope up last night before I went to bed.  I couldn't find the moon in it at all. They would have been even more impressed.

UPDATE: After I posted this photo on Facebook a neighbor gave me a call and told me I had also captured a unique photo of the planet Uranus. (The blue star to the left of the moon.) Because of it's distance it is hard to see with the naked eye. What can I say, sometimes you just get lucky!

Sunday Drive

We drove up Santaquin Canyon to check out the leaves on a lovely Sunday drive. The brilliant red and orange were missing but the yellows of the quakies were fabulous set up against the evergreens and the blue sky! The sky was an incredible blue!  Gorgeous!  I love the changing seasons.  I love the crisp cool air.  I love the warm days and cool nights.  Hot cocoa and pumpkin muffins!  Love Fall!!

Have I ever mentioned how much I love quakies?  I love the sound the leaves make in the wind.  

Check out that beautiful sky!!

And I love conference weekend!

All week our family tried to adhere to a media fast in preparation to this weekend. In some way each of us sacrificed some form of media to prepare ourselves.  It was a nice week, less bickering, more quality time together.  I really enjoyed watching each session.

What a blessing it is to have apostles and prophets on the earth! We are so blessed to have the guidance we need in this world (the contrast we felt this week). I know this is Christ's church, that He leads it through His servants the prophets.  It was a unique session in that some speakers spoke in their native language.  For some reason I appreciated hearing the talks in English even more.  I appreciated that when we listened on the radio that I could recognize the voices of the members of the quorum of the 12 and the first presidency.  The thought came to me that when you have it translated you miss the familiarity of their voices. I never appreciated that before.