Autumn Hiking...

The colors of the canyons are absolutely breathtaking right now. We headed up AF canyon this week and took the Pine Hollow Trail up to Salamander Flats (abt 2 miles each way)....our new favorite hike (for this month anyway)! These pictures don't do it justice - there were many more beautiful pictures to take but the camera died after these two. I was so mad!! The last time we did this hike our camera was dead too... you would think I'd learn! Gabe is happy as a clam sucking down the water - we have to ask him for a turn when we are thirsty. Needless to say, that thing was empty by the time we finished! It was such a wonderful time being up the canyon and out amidst all the beauty of nature. I love it. I'm so blessed that Eric does too - we have so much fun together!

Leap Frog Solitaire

No walking for Gabe yet...but he has taken his scooting to a whole new level! He has so much energy that he actually leaps like a frog as he books it across the floor. It is so funny! Here is a clip of him doing his thing - he is scooting and leaping once in a while so watch carefully! (Don't tell Gabe but Eric thinks he looks like a paraplegic child learning to move around!) :) Of course I took this video on a day when he was wearing an old, ugly hand-me-down outfit...all his cute clothes are torn to ribbons from all this scooting. I'm not kidding!

I also wanted to write about the General Relief Society Broadcast last night. It was absolutely incredible... the Spirit was so strong. I felt truly inspired with each of the talks. Aren't we blessed to live in this day and age when the Gospel is on the earth and we have modern day prophets? I love hearing them speak because I know they are inspired from God and know exactly what we need to know to help us deal with the challenges specific to our lives at this time. The General RS Presidency is amazing...you can see how each of those women are close to Heavenly Father and are filled with such love and charity. Wow! I went with Mom and Melanie...and we were all so uplifted. What a fun evening! Spending time with Mom and my sisters are one of my very favorite things to do...we have so much fun together. Here are a few random pictures taken before we went last night...

Canning Peaches!

Mindy and Griff have 2 huge peach trees that are very prolific! Every year they have peaches coming out of their ears! After eating just about 100 peaches each, on cereal, in muffins, icecream, pie, whatever you can think of, we decided to can the rest. Last year Mel and I canned peaches but this year Melanie is out of town and Mindy wanted to can....yes, I could hardly believe my ears. For one thing, Mindy isn't a big fan of the kitchen and secondly she is very pregnant - I know canning would not be on my list of things to do when pregnant (but then neither would hunting and she is doing the elk hunt in a few weeks! What a woman!) We have been working all day, no joke, and the kitchen feels like a sauna by now. Once the last bottle of peaches came out of the water bath, Gabe and I high-tailed-it down to the blissful coolness of the basement! Mindy is on her way to a much deserved pedicure too! Even though we worked our buns off, I had so much fun hanging out with my little sister. I don't know how she can make canning fun, but it was! I swear I don't remember it being that much work at home when Mom used to be in charge. But then I realized, after calling her for one or two emergencies, that things could have been much less complicated too. Why didn't I call her before we started?! Oh well, it's done - at least I should say I'm done...there are still 2 boxes of peaches left for Mel to can!! I'm going to feel so proud of myself looking at those pretty bottles of peaches sitting in food storage this winter! :)

Our little helper!

The Facelift

...for my blog, that is! :) It's nothing more elaborate than a new background (anything more than that is quite beyond my capabilities)! I can't even see the whole thing since my monitor is kind of small. Hopefully you all enjoy it better now though!
My sister Melanie and my friend Lindsay both inspired me to change things up a little on my blog. In an attempt to do that, I want to start sharing some of my favorite things... so today I'm going to give you one of my favorite poems that goes along with a cherished memory:
Growing up we had a thick book of America's Favorite Poems that was read and reread constantly. I remember my Mom reading to me from it as a little girl and since then I've always appreciated poetry. One thing she had me and my siblings do was to memorize and recite poems...mostly for the family's enjoyment on FHE night! (For some reason, Mindy seems to remember a lot more poems than the rest of us...maybe she just has a stellar memory...or maybe Mom thought she needed a lot more "things to do" as a child!) Anyway, this poem is one that we all memorized and has stuck with me throughout the years. It's a simple little verse, yet it teaches such a profound lesson in kindness and forgiveness. It has helped me so many times throughout my life... I love it and look forward to teaching my own children these same principles. And if I can sprinkle in some appreciation for poetry, all the better! Thanks Mom for being such a wonderful example to me and being such a loving, creative mother.

Outwitted

He drew a circle that shut me out-

Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.

But Love and I had the wit to win:

We drew a circle that took him in!

Edwin Markham

Playin' hard

Here are some cute pictures of Gabe having fun these past few weeks. He is getting so darn cute...more and more every day! In the mornings he calls for me saying "Mama" really loud....and all throughout the day when he wants my attention. Maybe someday I won't appreciate hearing it at top volume 100x a day but for now...I just love it! There is a picture of Eric and Gabe at the top of the stairs and whenever we go up he points and says "Daddy!" He is also saying Ball, of course (in fact that may have even come before Mama and Daddy), and he calls his blankie BeeBee. Eric and I are just eating it up! It is so fun to hear him learning words and communicating. He understands SO much more than I realized too. The other day I was shocked when he followed three separate instructions from me in a row - none of which were that simple. Wow! I LOVE seeing him develop and grow... it feels like my love for him just about doubles every day too!

Playin' hard with best buds Cannon and Wesley!

Discovery Gardens with friend Landon

Rollerblading with Mom and Dad...what a life!

Rock climbing

Rock climbing is one thing Eric and I have both never done...until last week. Even though we were on a beginner climb, it was a little scary scaling a cliff using your fingertips and toenails to grip the face!! That's what it really felt like too! I'm beginning to understand the whole obsession some people have with climbing now...it is exhilarating!

Actually, the rock climbing wasn't for us - it was a Young Womens activity. Cami (our very own in-house rock climbing expert) with her husband Scott, agreed to take us all up the canyon, tie us to a rope one by one, and point up a cliff saying "go"! :) It was so fun! My own sweet hubby Eric, came to "assist" as needed (or in other words get in on the fun). It was a blast to have my man there...everything is more fun with Eric in attendance! Only 2 young women came but we had a wonderful time. Our YW presidency is so FUN...I'm looking forward to lots of good times ahead!

Grandma Richardson's

Gabe loves visiting his Grandma and Grandpa's... he is one spoiled little boy over there! As the only grandchild on that side, Gabe is lavished with lots of love and attention and he loves every minute! Honestly, he has every family member wrapped around his little finger! :) We often go over for Sunday dinner with Eric's whole family - it's so fun to see everyone and hang out. Cheryl always makes a delicious dinner. Last week it was Caitlynn's birthday so we all got together for a party. We put Gabe to bed there and got to stay late playing games. It was so fun! Here are some cute pictures of him having fun at their house this summer...for some reason they are all of Cheryl and Gabe! I need to get some more recent pictures of everyone else with him because they are all so sweet to play with him. The Richardson's have a whole pack of dogs, much to Gabe's delight! There is Cheryl and Don's Max, Jesse's bulldogs Tiberius and Jane, Crystal and Bryan's Layla and our very own Denali! Gabe sure is getting comfortable with all kinds of "scary" looking canines...all of which absolutely adore him. (This first pic is of Gabe interrupting Tiberius' nap...he got up and they just stared at each other face to face for about 30 seconds- it was so funny. I tried to get a picture of it but I just missed it! Another is of Gabe patting Jane right on the face...luckily she is the one dog that most adores Gabe!)



















Here are the color-coordinated dogs... Tiberius, Max and Nali. Ironically the other dogs match too but they aren't in the picture. We are such a stylin' family! :) (sorry about the demon eyes on Max - I couldn't figure out how to fix them!)

Time out=fun. go figure.

The fact that Gabe isn't walking, makes him seem younger than he really is sometimes... so the little stinker gets away with a lot! Anyone that is around him for more than 2 minutes knows that his favorite thing to do is throw balls...or any handy object for that matter! It's all well and good until it comes to meal time. My kitchen looks like a war zone three times a day! After wiping green beans off the wall and strawberry bites from the drapes one too many times, I decided This has got to stop - it's driving me bonkers!! It's not like Eric and I haven't tried to stop the Gabe Food Catapult, it's just that none of our tactics have made one bit of difference. Since saying "no Gabe" didn't work (duh), we've tried taking his tray away and leaving him in his chair but it obviously doesn't bother him much since upon returning his food to him he always proceeds to take a few polite bites then dump the rest on the floor while he is chewing! Even worse, when he doesn't like something, he chews it for awhile - making it nice and juicy - then spits it into his hand and chucks it. Aaaaaah! So that is when we decided to implement the big Time Out. My friend told me the stairs worked great for her daughter so I tried that first...Gabe thought it was really cool to sit on the stairs - loved every minute! Then I tried the couch... soon he was bouncing around having a wonderful time! Finally I decided to try the good old fashioned chair-in-the-corner. Well... Gabe thought it was wildly exciting and wouldn't let me get him down for at least 10 minutes! At this point I can't help but laugh about our thwarted attempts to teach him some table manners. Maybe he is too young.... more likely he is just stubborn and since he is a solitary kind of guy, time out doesn't bother him one bit. I'm fresh out of ideas since my idea of "punishments" are a riot of laughs for my little Gabe!! What am I going to do?!!! :)

The Secret Garden

This is my favorite place in the Thanksgiving Point Gardens. Gabe and I always spend awhile just hanging out here, playing by the fountain and just soaking up the beauty and peace of the garden. I love it when we are alone because then we can just talk and relax (ok, I talk to Gabe - he doesn't say much back yet!)

Here is another gorgeous spot...

Lily Lake

What a fun Labor Day weekend! On Saturday we went up to the Uintas with Mom and Dad, Matt, Amy and Wesley. The guys got up at some horrendously early hour to arrive in time for dawn fishing at Lily Lake (ya right, I was tucked cozily in bed)...the rest of us got there at a reasonable time in the morning. Our fishing expedition was quite exciting...Matt and Dad caught 19 and 13 each!! (They took home a string of the five fattest trout and had a fish fry that night-yum!) Unfortunately Denali wanted to be a part of the fun so she found a pile of decaying fish and decided to roll around in it like a lunatic. You can imagine what she smelled like... it was enough to knock you out! After fishing, we headed up behind Mirror Lake to hike along the river - we had been on the trail with the horses before and it's beautiful. We stopped for lunch at our favorite place overlooking a waterfall in the stream. Last time there were fish in the little pools but no luck this trip. Eric, bless his heart, soaked and scrubbed Nali in the stream until she only smelled like fish instead of rotting fish! It's a good thing too or she would have been running along side the car the whole way home! It was so fun to hang out in the mountains all day with family. It was gorgeous weather and a beautiful hike... a perfect day! On the hike in, Gabe was only happy if I was singing to him. Wow, did I get a great workout singing while hiking! :) On the way back, Gabe finally fell asleep upright in the backpack...he was bobbing along with Eric's steps. It was so cute! Wesley fell asleep as well on the hike back - those little boys were tired!