This year was another rainy, wet, dark Halloween. Luckily, the rain did let up for a few hours so the kids could go trick or treating. With Elayna gone to college and Kyla joining her high school friends at a party, we only had four trick or treaters this year.
Benny dressed up as Darth Vader.
Lorelei was the Little Mermaid.
Evan dressed up as a nerd. He put this whole costume together by himself!
Avery was a dalmation dog.
Sweet brothers. So happy these two have each other!
We took the four youngest kids to visit the local pumpkin patch on a very warm fall day that felt like summer. (Kyla was at a friend's party.) It was so humid and we were sweating. I saw this meme on Facebook and laughed out loud because it's so true!! This is exactly what fall is like in the south about 90% of the time!
September and October are busy months for birthdays in our family. My baby Benny is now 5 years old!! Can't believe my last child goes to kindergarten next year. I'm soaking up the time I have with my sweet boy at home before he leaves me.
Kyla turned 15 in September. She had a cross country meet on her birthday and earned her first medal! She's on the varsity team as a freshman. Her team just won 1st place at the district meet and they are headed to regionals!
Our sweet Lorelei turned 6 at the beginning of October. Dan, Benny, and I went to lunch with her at school on her birthday. She loved her birthday hat her teacher gave her.
now we have a little break from birthdays until January :)
On our way home from Utah, we stopped at Arches National Park, one of our favorite places. Last time we were there was back in 2008. I was 6 months pregnant with Evan and we had three little girls. This time it was just Benny. The older kids missed out on this trip since they were in school. (So grateful for my parents taking care of them all week while we were gone!) We only had a couple of hours to spend at the park, so we mainly stayed in the Windows section. We hiked to the North and South Windows, Turret Arch, and Double Arch.
Benny loved all the stacked rocks that marked some of the trails.
Balanced Rock
Way off in the distance, you can see Delicate Arch. One of these years I would love to do the long hike that takes you right up to it!
Elayna turned 18 at the end of August! A few days later, we drove out to BYU and helped her get set up in her dorm room. She is staying in the exact same dorms I did 22 years ago (she's on the 1st floor and I was on the 3rd). After setting up her dorm room, we went with her to get her student ID and then headed to the bookstore and walked around campus. That evening we ate dinner with her at the Canon Center (parents ate free!). It has changed so much since I was there! So much nicer!
After we said goodbyes, Dan, Benny, and I headed up to the BYU Creamery for our favorite ice-cream (Bishop's Bash) and then hiked up Rock Canyon to watch the sun set. We spent a lot of time there when we were dating. So much fun to be back in our old stomping grounds! Sadly, I didn't take many photos because it was such a busy day and I was really enjoying being in the moment.
Always a treat to take photos of my cousin's family. The last time I saw baby Ellee was when we did her newborn photos. She has grown so much and is just the cutest baby with the prettiest big blue eyes. We took these on a very hot day in June and her kids did so well!
