fall traditions.

i love fall.  the change of the season, making soup, muffins, yummy pumpkin-spiced treats, hot cocoa, sweaters, scarves and hats, decorating.  i love the crispness of the air, the brilliance of the changing leaves and landscape, the smoky smell of wood stoves wafting through the air.

i also love some of some of the traditions that we've established as a family.  

#1

since chris and i have been married, and during the times that we've lived in idaho we have always watched conference with his parents at their house.  it is wonderful gathering together in their family room and listening to inspired messages from our prophet, apostles and other leaders of the church.  i always feel so filled and driven to do better and make changes after hearing these messages.

this conference i wanted brady and olivia to be able to listen better to the talks, so i prepared sheets of paper with different key words for them to listen to each session.  every time they heard a key word they got to put a token in a jar and after each session they could use their tokens to buy things from the "conference good listener store."  

the kids earned stickers, Halloween socks, spider web decoration, puzzles, some craft kits, flash lights and candy corn.

this was a hit, and i loved how excited they were to fill their jars with tokens.  

i also printed out some bingo cards with the prophet in the center of each one (he was the "freebie" since he speaks during each session of conference) and then other random apostles.  when they saw one of the apostles they got to mark him with a peanut butter M&M (daddy got the leftovers because they are his favorite!)

#2

after the saturday morning session we have been going to a cute pumpkin patch in paul, a few miles from burley where chris' parents live.  the kids love picking out their own pumpkins!

                     

zach got to hitch a ride from grandpa who pushed 

him around in the wheelbarrow. 

                   

of course brady and livy had to join in on the fun!

we were in a hurry to get back for the next session, but grammie was nice enough to take a minute and snap a picture of us on the hay bales!!! this is as good as it gets with three squirmy kids who are hungry!

               2011

(VERY pregnant with Zach here!)

2010

#3

another "tradition" we started a few years ago was having our family pictures taken by one of my "besties" Charlotte.  She is an amazing photographer, especially because she can work with crazy small children, grumpy parents and take wall-worthy pictures in a total of 10 minutes!

i'm not going to post the family picture because we'll be sending them out with Christmas cards and i want an element of surprise, but here are a few others that were keepers.

                     

as a thank-you we took Char and the kids out for mexican (her hubs, jon couldn't make it).  here's the best pics we got with our four crazies....



we like garibaldi's because we can all eat chips, salsa and refried beans galore.  jane loved the beans and slurped them down faster than charlotte could keep her supplied! their food is really good too- i suggest the carne asada!!!

 proof that charlotte was there

i can never get a good picture of zach and jane together- but we have years to try!

the next day chris and i picked up our buds for a nature hike in the canyon.  char kept zach for me so he could take his nap.  i left chris in at the park with the kids for a bit while i visited  my friend, nichole who had a baby a month prior.  when i drove back down into the canyon i was met by chris and four eager kids to begin hiking!

the hike is a beautiful, easy one for kids with very rewarding views for minimal effort.  such a beautiful natural wonder that i miss now that we live in idaho falls.

                     
i had to edit this pic too- the shadows were too dark and completely eliminated sam.  he's in the pic now but looks like a ghost boy!

the kids were fascinated by this cave, and if it wasn't such a treacherous descent we would have tried to explore it a little

when we first moved back to idaho i couldn't believe that i gave up the ocean, lush forests, wildflowers and new england charm to move to "a desert wasteland."  over the past few years i have really come to truly love idaho.  i think of idaho as home just as much as maine now and see the different beauty that this climate and terrain has to offer.  everywhere you look you can find beauty.  it is different beauty than what i grew up with, but it is wonderful and always reminds me of our loving Heavenly Father who has clothed the land for us to enjoy.

although you can't see it in this picture, the entire face of this rock ledge is flowing with small waterfalls and red and green foliage.  it is spectacular standing in the canyon and looking around in all directions.  one of my favorite spots on earth.

these purple asters are my birth month flower.  i wish i could have better captured their dainty purple hue.

                   

                 

                


on the way out of the canyon we hiked down in behind the waterfall.  the kids loved the adventure of it and getting sprinkled with the spray from the falls.  

because i have a terrible camera, i had to play with this pic in editing just enough to make us out.  i kind of the effect it made with the spray in front of us and the sihlouette-ish look it lent to.

  sam and "my liv"

the kids enjoyed throwing pebbles off the side into the falls.

 two sweet girlies.

Perrine Bridge Festival - 9/11/2010

Every year my office sponsors the Perrine Bridge Festival in Twin Falls to help raise funds for the St. Luke's Health Foundation fund which helps families pay for services such as physical, occupational and speech therapy if they cannot afford it and/or do not have insurance.  Base jumpers from all over the world come as part of this event and have an entire day of base jumping off of the bridge into the canyon.  It is pretty awesome to watch!!!

I was very proud of Brady.  He ran in the kids fun run and had a blast!  This was his first run ever and I think we'll definately try and do more throughout the year! 

The clogging team that Brady was going to be part of (performed too!  He wasn't very interested in it so I was abit disappointed.  He only ended up going one time to clogging before we realized that it wasn't going to fit in with my schedule and it was all a little too overwhelming for Brady as he has just started school...maybe next year

Another Gorgeous Walk Along the Canyon...

The other day as the kids and I headed out for our morning walk I felt inspired to bring my camera along! I'm glad I did because none of the other girls showed up that morning so the kids and I had plenty of time to do whatever we wanted along the trail!

We don't usually make stops at the overlooks when we're walking because we try to keep a fast pace, so that morning we stopped and enjoyed the views. We're always amazed by the view and how incredible the canyon really is. I feel so lucky to live right next to such an amazing natural wonder!


This is the road that you take to go down into this side of the canyon. Right at that hairpin turn you can pull over and take the path to go down behind the waterfall. I'm hoping that we can do that and another little "hike" in the canyon soon.


Along the other side of our walk on the canyon there's a concrete barrier between the path and the canyon!!! Not for the faint of heart! It feels like you're right on the edge, but of course you're not!! The kids love to sit and look out at the canyon. Brady especially likes to see if there are any people down there golfing!


Moments for photography....


Brady modeled for me in his pajamas and all!!! He loved these sunflowers and picked this one just for me! I wore it in my hair on the way home!!!

There's a little creek (really canal runoff) that contributes to the waterfall. It's pretty alongside the path and sometimes we even see ducks swimming around!