I have been the worst at blogging recently (it happens every time I have a new baby). But this past week was definitely one to remember; so I am taking measures to remember it!

The kids were on fall break this whole past week and we did fun stuff basically every day!

Monday

The kids (Fay especially) have been dying to jump in piles of fallen leaves for the past month+. The leaves finally fell last weekend and Monday morning was the perfect time to jump in! As we were preparing to head out to the yard, I got a text inviting us for a playdate. I said we might have to do a different day since leaves were the priority; but the playdate came to us because, apparently, ours weren’t the only children dying to jump into fallen leaves!

That afternoon we watched the first half of Hocus Pocus! It was the first time the kids have been permitted to watch and I’m very pleased to report that none of them thought it was too scary. It was really amusing to me, though, that whenever the movie was focusing on the normal people, the kids would all cry out “Where are the witches?! When are the witches coming back?!” And true to form for our kids, they have been playing Sanderson Sisters the rest of the week.

Also on Monday, we had family party, in which Carter elected to do in-house trick-or-treating. So much Halloween fun!

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Tuesday

The morning was kind of basic. In the afternoon the kids and I finished watching Hocus Pocus. That evening, after we raked and disposed of many leaves, Mother and Daddy came over to see Perky Pumpkins! We also happened to have 4 other groups of neighbors stop by and see them while we were out in the yard. Everybody was quite impressed with everything Josh had created, as they should have been! And it was fun for me to remember again just how amazing a man I am sealed to. I just like him so much! If you haven’t seen/played Perky Pumpkins yet, you still have a week to come check it out!

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Wednesday

This was another chill day at home. But in the afternoon we went to the “fish park” and played. There is a stocked-with-fish pond and the playground has a fish on it. We walked around the pond some and the kids collected some leaves and other plants, which I told them they could keep until we went home. However, I did allow one leaf to accompany us home because the kids wanted to classify it! (How can you say no to classifying plant species?!) Based on our research, it appeared to be Cottonwood.

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Thursday

Today was extra exciting! We went with some friends to Gardner Village to see witches! It was pretty chilly, and Bianca lost it, so we didn’t get to stay as long as we had hoped (aka: until we found all the witches on the Scavenger Hunt); but we still had a lot of fun! Gardner Village witches are one of my favorite Halloween traditions! I’m so grateful they were still here despite the pandemic.

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Another thing I did on Thursday was make cinnamon rolls (with the AMAZING Cinnabon recipe I got from Megan)! I added some butter-toasted pecans to the top this time. They were a hit!

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Friday

Today was certainly the highlight of the week! Back on Wednesday, as we were walking around the park, Fay was explaining to me the difference between a “park” and an “adventure property.” She wanted to be at the latter. I told her that when I was a kid we used to go up to the “Beaver Pond” which was really out in nature and definitely a place for adventuring. She thought it sounded cool, and then I really wanted to go! So I called Mother on the way home and asked if she would take us. She said she would, but that it might have to be next year because she thought they would close the gate this weekend. I informed Mother that we were currently on Fall Break and had no plans for Friday, and she–being the coolest person ever–agreed to take us up over the mountain to roast hotdogs and marshmallows at the Beaver Pond just two days later!

So we went! Morgan came too, and I was so grateful he did! At the Beaver Pond the temperature was 31°. Fay, Carter, and Portia did decently well in the cold, especially with all their winter gear and the fire Morgan made. But Helen and Bianca absolutely LOST it! Mother and Morgan helped everybody have a little bit of adventure before they froze and made sure everybody got food, etc. And then they cleaned everything up while I sat in the car trying to soothe Bianca from her abject rage. Despite the cold and the baby drama, I loved our excursion up over the mountain! We were also very privileged to see lots and lots of beautiful autumn leaves, as well as some fun Halloween yard displays.

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Thank you so much Mother (and Morgan, too) for the wonderful adventure!

Friday night, we drove down to Lindon to participate in “Boston Cream Pie Day.” Grandma Zulla has been serving Boston Cream Pie to all the extended family every year on October 23 for decades! This year, due to COVID, only Josh’s siblings and their families came to the party in person; but Mom and Grandma delivered Boston Cream Pie kits to others who would have ordinarily been invited. It is a fun tradition!

Saturday

Saturday was Josh’s definition of success for a day: productive. Friday night, I told Josh that I had a list of things I wanted to accomplish on Saturday. By the end of Saturday, the list had grown significantly and we had checked off almost all the things! While Josh and I were being productive, the kids happily entertained themselves with newly rotated toys, and even helped out a little. 🙂 And Bianca slept like a champ! That was a huge part of our ability to get so much done.

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Sunday

We have loved our week of autumny magic! And this morning we woke up to snow! Just a skiff, but still we had to play in it! After church, the kids all went out and made a family of tiny snow-men and as big of snowballs as they could!

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Just for fun, I’ll add the family picture we took almost 2 weeks ago. We originally had grandiose plans for enlarging/printing it and displaying it throughout the season ,etc. But we basically laid all grandiose decorating ideas aside this month in favor of Josh’s epic haunt and new carpet. So, I don’t really feel like complaining. Maybe we’ll blow it up next year…

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