.fall.

I say it every year, but this really is my absolute favorite time of year.  Not being pregnant this year, has really opened up a whole new world of possibilities.  Not that one can't do festive things when you're pregnant, it just makes it that much harder especially with two young ones in tow.  We took the kids up to the canyon to go for a small fall hike to see the leaves.  We did the easy Temple Quarry hike so that Meg and Finn could both walk it.  They loved picking up the leaves and climbing all over the giant granite boulders.

After our short walk, I wanted to take in more of the canyon so we decided to head up to the tram at snowbird.  For future reference they do Octoberfest from the end of September until November so it was packed.  We parked a mile away and walked through the hordes of people with steins of alcoholic beverages to make our way up to the tram.  The tram ride was awesome...Finn loved it all and was especially thrilled to find dump trucks and a crane at the top of Peruvian Gulch (they are constructing a new ski shop at the top).

When we returned to the base, Finn was in thrilled and happy.  That all went down hill however, as soon as Finn took notice of all the people with their drinks.  I can't recall the exact conversation but it went something to the extent of:
Finn saying he was thirsty
me saying that I had water in the car
Finn demanding apple juice (because that's what beer looks like to a three year old)
me telling him that those drinks weren't juice
Finn asking what those drinks were
me telling him that those were beers
Finn demanding a beer
me saying no we have water in the car and that we don't drink beer...blah blah blah blah (I'm sure that's all he heard anyways)
Finn's demands for beer began escalating into a full on tantrum where he is kicking and screaming about wanting a beer.
Even though Finn was screaming for beer, and refusing to walk another step until he got one, Roy and I had a good laugh.  Eventually we made it to the car and Finn promptly fell asleep and forgot the whole matter.  All's well that ends well!

We made sure to get out and pick up pumpkins early this year.  We had to find a new patch to pick at since we moved.  We found a cute little one in South Jordan that had GIANT pumpkins.  Finn was so stoked to pick just the right pumpkin, and Meg was just happy to ride in the wagon and get a free cookie and cider.

Daddy and Finn with the selected winner

Waiting for the hay ride

the Mr. and I

hay ride time

It was a perfect fall evening with sweaters, warm filtered sun light, and my family...just magical.

.half.

Miss Eisley,

You are officially a half a year old...that's just plain crazy to me.  Being born a whole month early, I kind of still look at you as a 5 month old.  You're small, not as steady at sitting, and you just mastered your roll from stomach to back, but the fact of the matter is you are still 6 months old.  Grandma Tiede is 100% certain you are the sweetest most perfect baby she's ever seen. That might be because she's around your crazy brother and sister all day as well, but really you are a sweet little piece of heaven.

A couple of weeks ago you started waking up around 5:30 for your morning feeding.  That has been a bit hard on me, but just these past few days you started sleeping back in until 7.  I'm completely ok with that if you want to keep it up.

You've really taken to eating solid foods.  At first you would suck on the spoon like a bottle to swallow the food, but have taken off since then.  It's been fun watching you discover the new world of flavor!

In the past two weeks as well you dethroned as the youngest grandchild/niece.  You have two brand new girl cousins which we couldn't be more thrilled about.  It makes me happy for you to have cousins that will be close in age.

Besides eating solids and rolling over, the big thing that happened this month was your trip up to Primary Children's Hospital.  When you were born you had a few signs that you possibly could Cystic Fibrosis.  They did the Newborn screening, and that came back fine, but the only way they can really eliminate the suspicion is by doing a chloride sweat test at 6 months.  So they wrapped you up like a baked potato and let you sweat it out for a half an hour.

You barely made a peep the entire time we were up there, and were so patient with the nurses as they splinted your arms and wrapped you.  We haven't heard back on the test results, but I figure no news is good news.

Eisley, you continue to bring joy beyond measure to our family.  I hope you know and feel all the love that is had for you!