This 'n That

Rainy rainy pre-Halloween. We probably should have sent them out tonight (on the actual day of Halloween) since it is sunny and pretty today. You may have noticed that Austin's ubiquitous Yankees hat of the last few years has been replaced with a San Francisco Giants hat this year (he picked a VERY good year to be converted to the black and orange). He dressed up as a Giants relief pitcher this year ("fear the beard") - unless you're watching post season baseball, it probably won't make sense, but it made Austin happy. Caitlin was a Gothic Angel. The black feather wings were quite fun - too bad Mom wouldn't let her wear them trick-or-treating in the rain.This year's pumpkin row. NO Denver Broncos pumpkin this year. If you're watching football, I'm sure you understand why.

We made the annual trip to the pumpkin patch - it gets faster and faster every year to pick out the pumpkins. I think we made it in and out in 20 minutes this year...

...and that included the photo-ops. School's back in - Austin's in 9th grade... Caitlin's in 5th grade.

Catie is back to her cheering - it's been really fun this year because we have 5 girls in her little squad (she is "head cheerleader") and the team is undefeated.

This would be an unsanctioned pyramid (they've gotten better at it since I took this picture).We took an afternoon drive up to Silver Lake a few weeks ago to commune with nature. The kids scaled the rock wall many, many times (Austin had us timing him).

It is quite a beautiful place! Freckle face girl.

Caitlin & I (and Grandma Jessie too) went to see "The Lion King" - Caitlin loved it, but she still thought "Wicked" was better. We're getting a little more culture this week when we get to go see "So You Think You Can Dance." Please please please say Mark is dancing! We'll keep you posted.Can you tell I've been learning to use my new computer program on all the temple pictures I've taken? This one is the Oquirrh Mountain temple. The original is below.

Uh oh...

I may never get off this darn computer now. My new little program might be addictive. Case in point: When I was getting our bags out of the car at Lisa's house last weekend, I looked west and thought, "gee, that's pretty" so I pulled my camera out of my pocket (I'm not fat - it's the camera in my pocket) and snapped the photo below. Here's the same photo after 1 inning of fiddling (that is how we tell time in our house during October).

I think this might be fun!

Cousin-palooza

One of the best things about Caitlin not being on the year-round school schedule is that she and Austin have the same days off school. We wandered down south for their fall recess for a little cousin playtime!

Mattie & Austin worked on capturing lizards and creating a lizard "chateau."

The Scrabble game was so heated that Jaedon had to take his shirt off.

My neck got a workout watching the kids whiz by on their swivel carts. We wandered even further south to Vegas to see more cousins.

It was fun to see Trev-boy play baseball. He pitched a great game!We actually did a couple of "Vegas-y" things while in Vegas. We went down to the Strip to check out the scenery at the Bellagio. Quite impressive!Yeah - I was thinking of decorating my front yard like this for fall. I will always remember the fountains at the Bellagio since it isn't often my head gets used as a tri-pod by the rude tourists behind us.The Volcano at the Mirage.Wait - is that an extra cousin? No, that is TJ's girlfriend joining the motley crew.

Denver Part Uno

Well, it's football season again. That means our annual September trip to Denver. We packed quite a bit into our weekend jaunt starting with a tour of Invesco Field. This activity wasn't on my scheduling spreadsheet (you laugh, but I did have one), but it was 2 hours well spent.Our tour guide Steve was not only full of fun trivial info (always a good thing for me), but also a pretty good photographer.

Awww - doesn't Brian look happy? I can't remember the last time (if ever) that Brian has said, "take my picture, take my picture"! But that is what he said. This was one of the 9 "keg rooms" at the stadium.

After our tour, we were off to the 1st game of the trip - the Rockies vs. the Giants. Can you guess who we were rooting for (not pictured - me & Brian in orange and black).

It was a gorgeous night for baseball (followed by an awesome fireworks show). I have requested the infield pattern below for our front yard.We were watching the pitching lineups for a couple of weeks, so we were totally stoked to get to see Tim Lincecum (aka Big Time Timmy Jim) pitch. He had a perfect game going into the 6th inning, but he allowed a run. Fortunately, it was the only one and the Giants won 2-1.The next morning, we were up at the crack of dawn to head to the mountains to commune with nature. We took a 2 hour horse ride into the mountains. Austin was torn on his wardrobe due to all his teams that were playing that day (U of U and SF Giants).

Catie was a natural on her horse - even when the guide's horse fell on a steep section and rolled into hers.

The very definition of "city slicker."

The views were pretty awesome!

Denver Part Deux

After our mountainous excursion, we had to hurry back for our 2nd game of the trip. The Rockies vs. the Giants (again). It was the total opposite of the first game - lots of runs and the Giants lost in extra innings, but still totally fun.

After only about 5 guys on base the night before, we had guys on base all night. Then it was time for the 3rd game of the trip - Denver Broncos vs. the Indianapolis Colts.

Caitlin & Austin interacted with the locals.

Since there wasn't much to take pictures of during the game, here is a little something from before the game. This would be Mr. Tim Tebow finishing his pre-game warm up. I realize his jersey is the 3rd highest seller in the entire NFL, but I find that odd when he looks this good without his jersey.This look from Caitlin says, "is it time for Dippin' Dots?" Silly question, it's always time for Dippin' Dots. The Broncos may have lost (which was their own darn fault), but it was a beautiful day for football.