our beloved mountain autumn came and went with lots of beauty and fun in 2024.

we kicked off the fall festivity with a trip to cornbelly’s (the spanish fork one, which we much prefer to the bigger one in lehi!) for moses, gabriel and mom. we had such a great time doing all the fun activities and i especially loved being in the sunflower fields at sunset – so so beautiful!

gabriel and i got to go on a very special mommy date to see the g.o.a.t. simone biles! she and other gymnasts were doing a “gold over america” tour that came to salt lake and i was so lucky to bring gabey to it.

ian and i hiked the y together one tuesday morning…

… and the twins and i got to meet our friends catherine and lydia at the curiosity museum that afternoon!

i took care of my nephews simon and dean one morning and we went to the bean museum and the palentology museum at byu.

moses had a class movie pajama party and i made a massive bag of popcorn for him to bring, which was very exciting. ian and i went to a wedding reception for his cousin and loved that they had polaroids being taken for a guest book, just like we did at our wedding. wild that we are coming up on ten years married!

ian and moses went on a dad trip to bryce canyon. while they were gone, i took gabriel and the twins up to sundance to get lollipops and find some fall leaves. i felt overwhelmed with love for the place we live that evening. for the very first time i felt a distinct sense of belonging here in utah, and that felt so good.
(the picture of just eve is an illustration of being the only girl in a family of excitable boys – a few brother-inflicted injuries!)

my sister shawni was in town at the end of september and one night she and saydi and saren slept over and the next morning we hiked khyv peak, joined by julie. the scenery was stunning and the company even better. of course we took a lot of photos…

…and then it was fun to come home to both my and julie’s kids who had been hanging out with their beloved babysitter, saren’s daughter eliza! speaking of eliza – when she babysat the kids while i was teaching my class and ian and moses were on their trip she took them to the thrift store and helped them find and buy some perfect purchases.
i had a team meeting with the doula agency that i work with.
august accompanied me on an errand to do some amazon returns, and just had to take a picture with some awesome dump truck toys 🙂

also while ian and moses were out of town – i took the younger kids back up to sundance to ride the lift. as we were waiting in line for the shuttle to the lift, my brother and his family walked right up! perfect serendipity – we got to ride with them – and wait in a lot of lines with them. it turned out to be half awesome and half nightmare because it was so crowded! chaotic but so beautiful!

ian and moses got home that evening and ian and i headed out on a date to do e-bikes in the canyon, which was really fun! wish we would have had more time – it went by so quickly!

one sunday i took august on a little adventure to check out a spot a friend had told me about past big springs in south fork of provo canyon. it was stunning and i loved sharing the glorious beauty with my little boy.

later that day, we went to hope campground to collect leaves (for our thankful tree! – the kids get so into this and i love that!) and play. wow, my spirit sings when i am in the mountains in autumn. it was so beautiful.

i got childcare all covered the next day so i could leave early and hike to fifth water hot springs. i’ve wanted to do this every fall since we moved to utah and it just hasn’t materialized, so i was determined this year! it was an amazing hike and doing it on my own that monday morning was so so good for my soul. walking along the steamy river through tunnels of colorful leaves to the hot springs was just incredible! i soaked for a while in the different pools before heading back, collecting leaves on my way back to the car.

i took the kids one day after school to rowley’s red barn – we love that place! we picked out pumpkins, enjoyed apple cider donuts and apple cider slushies, then picked apples and rode behind the big tractor to the “back forty” to see the animals, ride the slides, shoot the apple cannon, play on the jump pads, and wander the pumpkin patch. exhausting and wonderful evening with my babies 🙂

you can’t convince me there is a better toy than marble tracks! august has been obsessed and i love making all kinds of different tracks with him. he gets so so excited about sending marbles down, and this time he had to use the stool to reach the top of our very tall track!

some snaps from a hike up at buffalo peak that i took while the twins were in preschool one morning:

august got an mri in early october. we are trying to rule out any and everything in understanding why he has had some pretty significant developmental delays. he was a total champ getting sedated for the mri – i was way more anxious than he was! but he came out all good, and results came back normal!

one morning while august was at preschool eve and i took a little road trip up guardsman pass to see the aspens. more than half were bare by then, but it was still gorgeous. we went to silver lake and walked all the way around the lake as it sparkled and reflected the golden-speckled mountains.

moses took group tennis lessons this fall and was constantly asking to practice in the garage!

i had to snap a photo of all my dearly beloveds on the trampoline together one warm evening:

another evening we had a fire up the canyon, which is always fun. the kids decided to make a disgusting potion in our bucket after enjoying some s’mores.

and here’s a few photos i took of evie one day because she was just looking so cute and feeling so much excitement about being almost four. gotta capture my three-year-old eve before she’s gone forever!

after all that autumnal glory and fall fun, big events started happening – our ten year wedding anniversary, the twins’ big number four birthday, a trip with all my siblings to celebrate my dad’s eightieth birthday, and then we went to bear lake for fall break … and then we were coming up on halloween!