Halloween Party

The Friday before Halloween Cindy decided to have a grandkids party at the house. We started off with a family dinner. Everyone could make it but Cameron as he was still working till 8 in the evening. Maddie had decorated the house for the party and she had also prepared all the games and activities. She was a great party planner.






Connor and Payton got dressed in their costumes for this year. Connor is a monster and comes with growling sounds once the costume is on.

 Payton is a mermaid. Her costume is a little harder to adjust but is cute once all the bunching is done. Maddie first made some witches brooms filled with treats for the kids. Payton got into it pretty quick but Connor thought he first was churning butter with the stick and was happy with that.

 The next activity was the spider throw. Each kid was given spiders to throw at a web that was on the chair.




























After the spider throw we then had pumpkin bowling. There was excitement in the air as the pins went flying and there were some happy bowlers.

The final activity was making owls. Connor would rather eat the materials than see how it is made.



















The kids slept over at the house that night and then the next morning the girls got all dressed up to head to an activity at Gardner village.

Fall Break- aka U.E.A.

One of the things we have always looked forward to was the U.E.A break. From the time the kids were small we would go camping somewhere in southern Utah. Once they were gone we knew it would not always be possible for all the kids to be with us. This fall Maddie could go with us because her classes were on line. We figured it had been four years since she was able to join us. We left Thursday morning and once we had camp set up we went over to see our friends the Lovelands. They were not camping with us but staying at Annette's sisters second home in St. George. We swam in the pool and then went for a hike. We came to the edge of the cliffs that overlook Ivans. After the hike we went to a local Mexican restaurant. It was a small little place and was family run. The food was great.

















The next morning I got up early as the sun was just beginning to light up the sky. We went to Zion Park to do a day hike. This time we chose to hike up to Echo Canyon. The first mile is straight up the face of the canyon on steep switchbacks.

As we got up higher there were some leaves changing which made a good back drop for a picture.

After coming around the cliff face we entered into a canyon high above the valley floor. Way up here there were also deep slot canyons which was a great surprise.

There were pools of water from rain a few weeks ago in the channels. They reflected the cliffs above to create some great contrast to the shadows of the narrow canyon we were walking in.

We rested in this area and had lunch and then started to head back down.

After going through this canyon you turn to find you are on the cliff face again and start the long steep hike down.

There are some great views of the valley floor from this trail.

Once we got done with this hike we got to the car and then drove up to the tunnels that are on the road going east out of the park. That evening was the play Aladdin . It was very good with some amazing tricks.
  

 The next day we went to Snow Canyon for a hike in the morning. It was warmer this day but still a good hike to Hidden Juniper.Snow Canyon is interesting because spread among the sandstone is lava fields and the black and red make interesting combinations.

 

Finally it was time to head home and we got home in time to see a beautiful sunset. 

Its Fall

The end of September and beginning of October means fall leaf changes in the valley. We never had a chance this season to get up into the local canyons to look at the leaves but the colors at home were pretty brilliant to make up for our missing the canyons. The Rocky Mountain Maple in our front yard was really pretty this fall as well as the aspen.

The fall weather was so nice that one morning we had a biplane fly over the house. I have not seen one of these flying for years.

Fall also means our annual football games at BYU. When they played Oregon State the had a special black uniform. At that game Ty Detmer received an award for being named to the national football hall of fame. To bad he still isn't playing this season.