We debated going somewhere for Fall Break, but I got exhausted just thinking about prepping/ordering/packing the meal supplies, packing everyone up, and then settling in for rough nights because Alice doesn't sleep great outside her bed. At least with young kids, and maybe even just in general, I mostly prefer a day trip to an overnight getaway. It is so much less prep work and I get to sleep in my own bed at the end of the day.
^^Alice took me on a "walk in the mountains to get leaves in our backpack." This was a must on her fall break list. I wasn't prepared for her to hike me straight up to the top of the mountain in our backyard, and then spend two hours earning our "explorer badge," collecting bits of nature, finding birds in scrub oak brush, and then a private improv pop concert on top of the mountain--incredible concert location, by the way. It was the most fun two hours I didn't mean to spend.
That said, we are really going hard on our Fall Break staycation this year! It has been lots of fun. I've learned that Jared burns out on an outing right before the children burn out, so instead of being annoyed that he wants to leave the zoo/corn maze/other activity two hours in, I'm going to start taking it as a cue that we should pack it back to the car before Alice starts losing her marbles. Jared's outing burnout is a good barometer.
We started our break with a fun-filled casual day spent with cousins and friends. First, the park. Then, an afternoon at home with a cousin and neighbor friend. Then, an evening walking around Ashton Gardens looking at scarecrows with Jack's friend Daniel.
The next day we had our very first trip to a zoo as a family of 4. It was magic to see Alice's excitement. Our favorites were the gorillas, mountain goats, and sea lions. Jack loved the cougars. Alice's favorite animal is a zebra. We got to go with my brother Tim's family, and the kids had fun playing on the playgrounds together.
The next day we went to Cornbelly's for the first time and were blown away by all the offerings. When I was growing up it was just a corn maze, and a few other little attractions like the bouncy blob and corn pit. Now it is dripping with activities, including an impressive half-hour circus show and a trick-or-treat. We stayed for nearly 4 hours and didn't even do it all--didnt even make it to the hay ride! We debated if it would be worth the price of entry, but it proved itself, and we'll be back again next fall.
We also got some family pictures taken for the first time since Alice was a baby. I found a girl on instagram offering half-hour fall mini sessions for under $100. I scrambled to get some outfits together and we took them at Tibble Fork. It is wild what attitudes family pictures bring out in kids😅 They did really well when we were there (I totally bribed them), but on the drive up Jack started melting down in sobs because he was tired and didn't want to go (we did let him stay up late watching the byu game, which maybe wasn't the best call with early fam pics the next morning). Then Alice started crying in response to Jack crying. I was able to bribe them into better attitudes, but Jack definitely had salt streaks down his face from the tears during the pictures, and I didn't catch them to wipe them off until pictures were over. It's ok, it will be great for the memories😅
On our last day of fall break we visites Rowley's Red Barn in Santaquin. We get free entry once a year with our Get Out Pass, and while it doesn't have as many attractions as Cornbellys, overall fall vibes are better due to the remoteness, the tractor ride through the apple orchard to gain entry, and the incredible caramel apple cider ice cream slushie we get at the end. Now for some pictures:
Jack had his flag football tournament on Saturday. He was Christmas-level excited about it and even woke up extra early the morning of the tournament. His team this year has been really good and they went undefeated all season. Unfortunately, their best player was out of town, and just enough of his team showed up that they didn't need to forfeit but there weren't any substitutes either. The first game was really exciting. His team played excellently, even without many of their best players, and they ended up winning in overtime. Their next game was the semi-finals against one of the best teams, and they lost. Jack was devasted, but we had some good talks about practice (his team didn't really practice at all this season and just let their best players carry them), and about actionable goals vs dreams (he kept saying his goal was to win the tournament, but there wasn't really any action going into that). Even though he was sad they didn't win, Jack played a great game and it was fun to watch. On the way home I had a great idea for Jack to get some daily practice by strapping some flags around savvy, and then having Jack try to pull her flags while Jared and I toss her fetch ball back and forth to each other😂 This has actually been more effective and fun than expected so we may be keeping it up until next season to see if it really improves Jack's game. It's great exercise for Savvy too and just an all-around good time.
Other things this week....i'm kind of blanking honestly. Oh! Jared got sucked into prime day and wanted to finish all our Christmas shopping for the kids. I honestly wasn't ready for this, but knew Jared would buy all the gifts for them on prime day regardless, so I would need to figure out what I wanted for them if I was going to have input. We scrambled a good list together and I think succeeded in buying enough for the kids' Christmas. I'll end up being grateful when Black Friday rolls around and most of our shopping is done.
I think that's about it for this week! Our house is decorated for Halloween and I am pulling up Halloween shows and movies as needed. I wish I could get it together enough to host some neighbors before daylight savings hits us, but with this hurricane weather and wanting to figure out family pictures, that may have to wait. We are hosting our primary class this week if the weather holds up. I'm still feeling really grateful that we are not preparing for a move this fall. I need to hold onto gratitude for that. I'm loving having space for seasonal activities this year, even if there isn't enough space for ALL the activities and hosting, etc. It may take another few seasons but we'll get around to meeting more neighbors. Now for some pictures from our week:
^^The patio furniture that was formerly on our front porch is now living on our back patio, so we are in the market for some new front porch furniture (especially since we have an unobstructed valley view this year we'd like to enjoy, as it will definitely be blocked by new homes sometime next year). Before looking into all the Prime Day/end of summer clearance sales, I went to check out my favorite antique mall to see if they had anything great and cheap in their outdoor section. Nope. It was all mediocre and expensive so we ended up ordering a little porch set on Prime day after all.
^^Alice is still young enough that I'm really only catching about half of Jack's football games and spending the other half helping Alice stay entertained, but each season I am able to watch a little more, and that's a lot of fun.
^^We put up the carved wood mirror and brass candle sconces I thrifted years ago in our entryway. It is PERFECT for Halloween. Eventually I will need to replace the old wooden table with something ultra-modern and possibly acrylic to balance it all out. But I am LOVING this corner for spooky season.
We had our first backyard fall gathering over the weekend. It was a spontaneous evening with cousins, pizza, and s'mores. It's the backyard gathering I've dreamed of for years. I need to remember that October is the best time for backyard hosting--the sun starts setting sooner, the temperatures aren't as hot. It was really a perfect time to enjoy an evening together and watch the sun set. Here are some pictures from our week:
^^Sunday fall morning apple-cinnamon oatmeal on the patio. Dreams do come true
^^Jack had some much-needed wins this week. He started a short after-school martial arts club he is loving. He started a before-school chess club he is also loving. And he was awarded student of the month in his class! When he got home from school we took off for pizza and donuts to celebrate Jack.
^^In home design land, our entryway is coming together! That window has the best view in the house of my favorite mountain, so in the winter when it's too cold to be outside I like to eat breakfast looking out the window. I've always wanted a breakfast nook banquette and this was the unsuspecting best spot for it. I would've preferred a patterned banquette, but wasn't willing to pay the price for a custom banquette, and this one fit the dimensions for really cheap. I will eventually get a more modern table to balance out the heaviness of the gothic wood mirror i thrifted for $5 in Washington. I think I will do one or two simple gingham pillows. And the rug is too big for the space but it's the general feel I'm going for. It may take another year to get this corner finished, but for now it's functional and it makes me happy--especially that gothic mirror at Halloween time (I'll get it hung next week). Ten years down the road I picture the walls and staircase painted a moody color, but that's a future project.
^^My girl--Witch Al
^^Alice wanted to go ice skating for her birthday and we finally made it happen.
^^very flattering angles for everyone at our backyard pizza party. Next time I'll attempt a savory smores situation. We also got two baby spruce trees this week. We just needed one for our front yard, but Jared accidentally came home with the wrong kind so we just planted it in the backyard and then grabbed the right one for the front yard. The accidental tree was one of those Seuss-looking evergreens, which I've always wanted, so it was a happy accident. Yay trees!
We made it to another week! By the skin of our teeth. This week was filled with a brutal unresolved cold, pots flares/intense fatigue, UTI/cystitis flares, urgent care visit. Just kind of a bleh/survival fog over last week. Jack is having a hard time being nice to Alice ever since school started, which is tough. At least the kids both seem to be enjoying school. Jack's having a fun football season. We aren't moving this fall for the first time in 3 years! The weather is wonderful. There is a lot to be grateful for.
^^The kids wanted to decorate for Halloween this week. Alice loves the Halloween decor. She loves the costumes, the spooky, all of it. Jack doesn't care for Halloween at all, except the candy part. So I probably shouldn't have encouraged this prank Alice played on Jack snuggling a skeleton into his bed, but I couldn't help myself. He did not appreciate it. Alice really thought he would love it though, so the intentions were good.
In direct defiance of our exhaustion, we planted three trees in our backyard over the weekend! We're novice gardeners, but everything we add makes the backyard feel more layered and complete. Next year we'll probably add a few fruit trees too, and I'd love to do a pumpkin patch if we have the space. Now for some pictures:
^^getting out of the house to try and reduce after-school conflicts😌
^^alice wants to be an astronaut for Halloween. Jack's old costume is big on her but she'll probably change her mind by Halloween anyway.
Alice turned 4 this week! We adore this sweet, spunky, creative lil comedian. Still blogging on my phone so I'll save most of the Alice milestone updates for her journal, but it is so fun to watch her come into her own personality now that she can understand and communicate so well. She always asks me to sit outside the bathroom door when she needs to go potty, so we can trade jokes back and forth. It is fun and sweet and a little sad to see her jokes making more and more sense as the months pass. Humor is such an interesting cultural concept and I can see those connections being made in real time. Now she can guess the answer to my jokes sometimes (they are usually rooted in a simple word play). And sometimes she'll get me with a good one I've never heard before too (mostly her jokes still don't make sense and she's using me as her joke laboratory, but I love that).
Alice just says the darnedest things. Sometimes I notice she'll take a specific phrase from a TV show, but other times it truly seems like she's made up her own lexicon. Today she wanted to put up some Halloween decorations, and she was delighted when I added a big fake spider high up on the wall. She gleefully exclaimed, "Mom, our house is going to look so haunted!" And then later when she was admiring the pumpkins taped to the wall outside her room she said, "It looks haunterific up here!" From the time she first started talking my mom noted that I should keep a microphone on her all the time to capture all the funny things she says. This is still true, and I need to be better about writing all the Aliceisms down--it's just that so many of the things that come out of her mouth are excellent one-liners, that i sometimes don't even register them.
Alice can be incredibly firey (and quite competitive, but I strongly believe this is due to having Jack as her example), but is at her core incredibly considerate and sweet. When I'm sick or otherwise not feeling well, she somehow knows just what I need even when I don't know--sometimes that's drawing the curtains or fluffing an extra pillow behind me. Sometimes it's making me a get-well "soup" out of milk, pepper, and diced carrots. I never quite know what I'm going to get but it's always delightful. Alice still loves making her own creations in the kitchen. These are usually terrifying, so I've been meaning to set aside a drawer or bin at her level filled with ingredients i'm ok with her using together. Homegirl LOVES a spice cabinet.
A few things Alice has mentioned wanting to be when she grows up: astronaut, ballerina, singer, doctor, princess, teacher. Can't wait to see which direction she goes. She's doing great at preschool lately and has recently really taken to the letter sounds and is sounding some words out. I wouldn't be surprised if this next year she starts doing some beginner reading.
She recently transitioned from her crib (I know, I know, I'm just a chicken) to a big girl bed. She is doing pretty well! She does come to our room at some point most nights, but one of us will walk her back to her room and she goes back to sleep without a fuss. This is a big upgrade from Jack's transition out of his crib so I'll take it. We added white Christmas lights to her room and hung a pink tent canopy above her bed. It is the coziest place to be.
I could go on about Alice forever, but it's getting late so I'll get to the pictures:
^^Signature sheepdog bangs. She's getting a trim next week--i asked if she wanted to grow her bngs out but she passionately declined.
^^on her birthday she chose her own birthday outfit for school--a sparkly black dress, hello Kitty Halloween socks, and black loafers. 10/10 birthday outfit.
^^She asked to go ice skating for her birthday, but the public skate hours didn't line up with our schedule on her birthday so we ended up having Alice go on a date with Grandma and Grandpa, and then we had chik-fil-a and opened/played with presents at home. We'll go skating next week. She had a blast with the presents anyway.
Not many jack pictures this week, but he's thriving as well (except for attitude after school, but what are you gonna do). His flag football team is undefeated this season, which is a first for him and fun to watch. He loves to be involved and has requested to be signed up for battle of the books, chess club, reflections, and martial arts...all within this last week. That one's going to keep us busy!
I'm annoyed. I wrote a long post detailing our adventures in Sundance for a medical conference Jared went to. But the phone blogging is temperamental and after an hour of typing it out and adding pictures, it got deleted. I need my computer fixed!
Ok to make short(er) of it, we had a fun weekend in Sundance. Also exhausting and painful, but it's a trip with kids so what do you expect? We had the best apple crumble with fresh whipped cream I've ever tasted. We took a scenic ski lift ride up the mountain and nobody tried to climb out! We visited the Sundance swimming pool which was just stunning in the mountain setting.
Also I took a solo hike to Stewart Falls where I ended up slipping at the very end and banging my lower leg on a rock so badly that I couldn't bear weight. As I crawled to the nearby stream to try and clean it up and figure out how I was going to get back, the biggest moose I've ever seen appeared right across the stream from me. You've never seen an injured hiker hobble away so quickly! That was painful on the leg, but on the bright side, when I scrambled around the corner, there was the waterfall. So at least I got to see that. I knew I needed to figure out a way to get back to our cabin before dusk/more moose arrived, so I grabbed a nearby long stick and made it into a walking stick/crutch. Without it I couldn't have hiked back on my own. As I started hopping back down the trail, I frantic little boy came sobbing out of the woods toward me and told me he was lost and couldn't find his family. I knew I wasn't the right person to be able to help him so I found two women who could take him from there and call trail patrol. It was the weirdest hike I've ever been on. The leg was really painful for two days (probably did some muscle damage), but I'm grateful it feels fine now. Ok, pictures!
^^After I helped the lost little boy find some hikers who could help him find his family. Wondering what was going to happen next on this weird hike (a snake appearing on the trail in front of me is what happened next)
^^We checked out the new Sundance Lodge on our way out and it was very cool. Moody Ralph Lauren mountain hotel vibes.
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