moses and gabriel got to go on a trip with their daddy for six days! ian really wanted to see the foliage in new england, but it felt like too much to bring the whole family on a long plane ride and then a long road trip. since i’ve experienced autumn in the northeast before and the babies didn’t really care to miss ;), it was an adventure for daddy and his two big boys. while they were having a blast leaf peeping, the babies and i luckily had plenty of autumn beauty to enjoy ourselves in utah, and my sister shawni came to town that same week for some sisters’ hiking!

the morning after ian and the boys left (which was also the morning after august and eve’s first birthday!), i took the babies on a little hike in rock canyon. it was quite the workout trying to get the double stroller up the bumpy path! totally worth it on a crisp, quiet morning in the mountains.

in the first few days without my boys around, i also tried to get some furniture for our house…

and we all enjoyed the leftover birthday balloons that brightened up our new kitchen! it was around this time that i started to notice august going cross-eyed with one eye. this is what prompted us to get him in with an ophthalmologist and that’s what helped us realize he needs glasses, and his glasses have helped him so much in his delayed physical development. doesn’t he look so cute, even half-way-cross-eyed?!

i happened to find a photo book with pictures from when i was baby. so fun to compare how i looked back then to how my babies look now!

another little hike with the babies – luckily this one was on a paved path 🙂

evie finally fit into a darling dress that one of my best friends in london gave her, and i found the liberty london bow i’d bought for her and hid in a moving box (with the intention of delighting myself upon finding it haha).

after church on sunday i took the babies up hobble creek canyon, and, as you can see, tried really hard to get a cute photo of them in their “sis” and “bro” shirts, haha.

meanwhile, on the other side of the country … ian, mo and gabe were having a blast adventuring together. i loved going through all these photos with ian when we were all reunited. (gotta love all the fall colours and beauty, and also the pyjamas worn all day and/or same clothes worn multiple days in a row, haha!)

ian swore these photos do zero justice to the intense colourful beauty they found. they logged a lot of hours in the rental car, and also stayed at a hotel that included pumpkins to carve for little ones – how awesome is that?!

the highlight of the trip was acadia national park in maine. i can’t wait to go back there with ian some day! ian always prompts the kids to first smile for a photo, and then to cheer for a photo! 🙂

after all that beauty, i love that moses chose to wear his batman costume on the plane ride home, and had a nice few minutes admiring himself and all his superhero moves in the airport bathroom mirror 🙂

back in provo, all three of my sisters slept over at my bare-bones, just-moved-in-house. that was so so so fun for me!! first thing in the morning we met our sister-in-law julie and hit the trail to hike to the top of squaw peak. a lot of the most blazing colours had become more muted and a lot of the leaves had fallen off the trees and been blanketed with a bit of snow, but the remaining vibrance as well as the encroaching dreariness were both just stunning to us. we hiked and talked and thoroughly enjoyed all the beauty.

i particularly loved seeing mount timapanogos, my favourite mountain on earth, from up high.

it was exhilarating as we approached the summit and then could see the rugged mountain range on one side and down into the valley (past julie’s house and my house and over the lake) on the other side.

i felt so lucky and grateful that i got to live in this little city, provo, with my sister-in-law julie and her family, even if it was just for a few months (they moved in nyc in november). it’s a place neither of us would ever have expected to live, not to mention at the same time as each other! after finding both of our houses and taking in all the views, we headed back down, past all that beauty again, talking about everything like only sisters can.

a huge storm rolled in right as we were getting back to our cars at the trailhead!

my leaf collection from the hike, gathered for our family thankful tree:

that night my parents joined us at eli and julie’s house for thai food and talking. my nephew max and his wife abby, who live in provo, came over for a bit too.

so so great and so much fun to hang out together like this. these are the kinds of gatherings that i missed so much when i lived so far away.

so grateful to have time with my sisters while ian and moses and gabriel were gone, and so glad every member of our family got to appreciate so much autumn beauty that week in october 2021!