The Hills are on Fire!

GORGEOUS. We Las Vegans (of late) have a renewed appreciation for fall color.

Sundance was especially colorful.

Bridal Veil was in the shadows but was beautiful nonetheless...

We thought we'd take advantage of the gorgeous weather and venture up the canyon for a picnic.

Ella had her first Oreo. It was not her last. :)

JUMP!

A nice lady offered to take a family shot.

We explored the Heber Valley Railroad stop nearby. We have been talking a lot about trains and train tracks with Maddie (since there are some near our house) so she loved getting up close and personal!


Ella wanted to get down so bad! She is getting more independent. Too bad she didn't have shoes--oops.

I love daddy-daughter pictures. I think we made some good memories.

Applesauce

Go here to see what I did on Monday. Erin is hilarious (thanks for taking pictures!) and Joanna was so generous with her time and talents. I love my old roomies!

First Day of Autumn

When I went jogging this morning, I could see my breath. As the sun came up, I saw red splotches of color on the mountains.

When I came home, the house was a cool 67 degrees, so I had hot chocolate and toast for breakfast.

I told Mike it really felt like fall. He said, "Wasn't yesterday the first day of fall?" I checked my calendar... September 22: First day of Autumn.

We agreed that "autumn" sounded prettier than "fall." But whatever way you say it, it's here!

Maddie thought Ella might be cold so she put a blanket on her while we watched cartoons.

We all wore long sleeves. Isn't it fun to get out your clothes for a new season???


One of my favorite fall activities is going to Gardener Village to see the witches and all the Halloween decorations.

The shops are so cute and we had to go to the sweet shop and let Maddie pick one thing--M&M's of course!

The petting zoo was fun too. Ella got sooooo excited to touch the animals. (She even left with a little bit of lamb's wool! Sorry little lamb!) Once Maddie saw Ella do it she warmed up a bit.

My favorite was the sweet baby cow. Maddie loved the pygmy goat!


Another fun tidbit of late... Ella learned how to play peek-a-boo! She is getting so big and smart. She is finally crawling a little--it's a funny inchworm movement, but she's getting there!

All gone!

Wait for it...

Peek-a-boo!

Holding on to Summer

Whatever you do, don't try to take a popsicle from a baby.

This has been really popular on the mommy blogs and I thought I would give it a try. It was fun to play with our food and get some good food groups at the same time!

I love this sly little look...

Okay FALL, bring it on! I am excited to trade popsicles for a steamy mug of hot chocolate!

Fun with G&G

My parents came for a visit this weekend! We started at the Thanksgiving Point farmer's market, where we bought some peaches for a canning lesson with Mom.

Mike and Maddie were mesmerized by this cool water feature.

Canning is fun when you can share the load and chat it up! I think this is an important skill to know--there is something so satisfying about storing your own fresh food. I am doing a batch of my very own tomatoes tomorrow night!

The finished product! Mmmmm, they look so delicious. I am saving them for a winter day when I want something fresh.

Ella catches on quick. She cooked up a batch too.

Of course we had to get some shopping in! Dana found an Old Navy "beautification" re-opening sale, and we went bright and early to be one of the first 200 people to win a prize! We got dum-dums in line, won free graphic tees, got free popcorn, sodas, cotton candy, and balloon art, and some awesome deals!!! I stocked up on Maddie's fall wardrobe and saved as much as I spent!

Grandpa and Maddie spent some time on the swings being "married." Does anyone else remember this from the grade school playground?

G&G we love you! Come again another day!

Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins, Oh My!

Mike has a big family, that's for sure. Especially after going through all of these pictures, I realized how glad I am that we live here so my girls can grow up enjoying this awesome family they come from!

As many as we had together... missing some spouses and children.

There is something about these Andrews genes that keeps them all looking young! In fact, compare this most recent picture to the one below, taken 8 years ago. Is it just me or do they all look better?

We had three crazy days of family fun. Mike's oldest sister, Alison, flew out from Connecticut to visit their Grandma Johnson, who is sick. We scored and she stayed with us (really we have the only guest bed in the family :). Saturday we had a brunch with Grandma Andrews and then watched the Cougars victory at Seth & Brooke's house. GO COUGS!!!


Sunday we had Grandma and Alison over for Sunday dinner, and then spent the evening at Seth's again.

Rebecca let Maddie play with her camera. We were pretty impressed with her photography skills!






Monday we hosted a Labor Day bbq at our house. It was so much fun!

Maddie loves her cousins. Ryan was so cute to read her a book.

Two little monkeys jumping on the bed!

Aunt Rebecca was awesome and took the kids to the park.

A full house!

We love having a yard! We got out all the lawn games- badminton, bocce ball, and croquet. It was a great weekend!

Ice cream and Super Girl

I woke up to Maddie carrying an ice cream cone for each of us to eat in bed. At lunch she informed me that Super Girl lives in the Cheerios box.

Ella enjoyed watching badminton yesterday. We had an Andrews Family Weekend! (yes, caps to emphasize the three days of activities)

Maddie likes to lay these on her newest boyfriend. I think she thinks she's going to marry him... little does she know, he's taken.