Jake at 6 months

This little guy is half a year old already! Time flies when you're having fun. We sure love him.

Now you see him, now you don't.

Jake is at such a fun stage right now. He wants to touch everything (and put it in his mouth) and explore new things. For the longest time he would try to squeal and nothing would come out, but now he's got it figured out and he squawks and giggles with the best of them.

A few days ago I went out to the garden to pick carrots for dinner and couldn't hold my wiggly worm anymore, so I put him in the grass. He didn't mind the texture at all and studied it with great concentration.

Baby had his first ride in the swing last week. Big brother was so excited about sharing it with little brother!

Ella often chants Bubba chubba to Jake... very fitting I would say. Everyone that sees him comments on his chubby cheeks. I love to munch on them!

Jake never stays where we put him anymore. He rolls everywhere and ends up against walls, under things, and across rooms. A few days ago he discovered the door stopper in the hallway, and then their air intake on the other side. He was a little one man band with his noisy discoveries!

He is also learning to sit up! He still likes to fold over his legs, but he'll teeter on top for a minute and grin. It makes him look so big!

This puts his size in perspective... Maddie still tries to hold him, but he's almost 20 pounds and wiggly, so it doesn't last long! So different from when she used to snuggle him on her shoulder while she read a book (here).

Love and Leaves

I love my family, and I love leaves. Combine the two and I am a happy girl.

We hadn't been up the canyons yet this year, so we took a little Sunday morning drive before church. There is still a lot of color but I'm afraid we missed the brilliant reds by a few weeks.

We stopped at Tibble Fork to look around. It was chilly but so serene and beautiful!
 

The kids enjoyed throwing rocks in the water and Mike showed them how to skip rocks across the glassy surface.

On the way home we stopped on a neighborhood street lined with Autumn Blaze maples to collect some leaves. Our hope in the mountains had been to collect enough for a craft, but we had to come back down the mountain to find them!
 

Wow the colors were gorgeous! We were tempted to buy a bunch of maples and line our own street too.

Later that night we made our craft, mod podging leaves onto mason jars to make lanterns. I guess it has been too long since I did a craft with them, cuz they thought it was the coolest thing ever!

This week has been so beautiful... quintessential fall weather. We make sure we soak up some rays every day.
 

Most of the leaves from our maple have fallen, so we attempted to rake them and jump in them. Pretty puny, but worth a bit of fun!

My little leaf fairies are so cute!

Jake explored his first leaf by putting it in his mouth. I think he would put a frog in his mouth if we gave it to him!

Just look at that picture... doesn't the caption just need to be love and leaves?

We Stand... at Arches

Back in September I was able to take a really special trip with a group of my young women. The leader I work with, Kim, arranged for us to go down to her stomping grounds in La Sal, Utah near Moab.

The theme of the youth programs of the Church this year is "Stand Ye in Holy Places and Be Not Moved." We have focused a lot on temples and family history work, but also on making anywhere you stand into a holy place. We are gearing up for our stake cultural event titled "We Stand: A Youth Celebration of Standing in Holy Places," and have been taking and sending in pictures of the young women standing in holy places. This trip was a wonderful tangible reminder to me that these beautiful young women want to be in holy places, and are so good at making their ground holy. They are amazing!!

We stayed overnight at Kim's parent's house and got up the next morning to do baptisms in the Monticello Temple.

I have been on youth trips to the temple, but this was the first time I was able to participate in baptisms with my girls. It was a sweet experience to be with them, dressed in white, and spend time in that peaceful place.

Temple grounds are so beautiful. After working on the Atlanta temple grounds I have a special place in my heart for them. No matter where they are (I have been to temples in Utah, Idaho, Colorado, California, Hawaii, and Georgia) they always feel the same. The spirit is strong and the grounds are well-kept and peaceful. It is obvious to me when I enter that I am in a holy place.

After our temple trip we headed up to Arches National Park. Lucky for us, we unknowingly beat the government shutdown by a week and were able to get in! We spent the afternoon hiking and exploring. 

Only half of our Mia Maids could come, but we loved spending time with them and getting to know them better. Pictured with me are Camille, Serena, Saydee, and Emma.

I am in awe of Mother Nature... it's amazing to see these arches in person! The red rock is so narrow in some places and so beautiful set against the bright blue sky. 

Of course we had to hike to the famous Delicate Arch, the one on Utah license plates! It was a hot 3 mile hike and we got literally sandblasted (we later found sand in every pore of our bodies!) but it was worth it to round the bend and see this:

You don't realize it, but the arch is actually standing in a large basin/bowl like area and you have to hike down in to get to it.

Once you get up there, it's a big drop off on all sides!

I absolutely love Kim and am so grateful to work with her. I have to admit, this was a refreshing trip for me to get away from home, have no worries, and spend time with fun people! (While I was away, Mike fed Jake 9 bottles and took care of all the kids for two full days, including getting Maddie to gymnastics and piano lessons. Super Dad!)

The last arch we visited was deemed the favorite. It is through some cool rock canyons and back in a shady, sandy little cove.  

When Kim told me she had climbed the arch when she was younger, I couldn't leave without accepting the challenge! The girls followed suit and we got some cool pictures.

I am so privileged to Stand in Holy Places with these amazing young women!

Fall is Fun!

We are still getting outside as much as we can! The weather has been fickle, but we take full advantage of the sunny days.

Last week I took the three little ones to a park for a picnic. They love the "Rainbow Park" (see slide in the background). I love it too because there is never anybody else there and we have full reign!

Ella's preschool class went on a field trip to the fire station and then a local farm. Ella surprised me and bravely help out some food to the goat.

The favorite was the bunnies. They are just so cute!

Ella got to pick a preschool pumpkin from the patch to decorate at home.

Tyler was in heaven (seriously) when I told him he could ride the train. He talked about it all day long!

Little Jake was a trooper and just viewed it all quietly in his little man sweater. Oooo he's so yummy.

The fall photo opportunities are amazing! Just put a pile of pumpkins together and it looks good. Tyler of course wanted to pick them up and throw them (boys really are wired differently!).

During fall break we tried to take our cousins back to the same farm, but after a full day of rain the day before it was too muddy. Our back-up plan was to try Cornbelly's, but when we saw the pricing we opted to just take pictures at the entrance. (Cheap, I know, but when you're planning on a $2 trip to the farm, $30 to fight the crowds just wasn't in the cards!)

It still looks like we had fun right? Actually, we ended up having a great time going back home and picking the rest of our own pumpkins, and sending some home with my nephews. The cousins just wanted to play together anyway, and you don't need money for that!

To really feel like fall we need to jump in some leaves. Maddie tried hard to get our handful in a pile yesterday, but it was just too windy. We might have to borrow a park or something to get our fix!