A Few Fall Tidbits

Nathan went to great efforts this year to throw me a surprise 40th birthday party.  He even convinced his parents to come out for the weekend.  It was a great evening visiting with friends and family along with my favorite chocolate cake.

The next day we drove up to Chiloquin for the free Halloween train.

It was surprisingly fun.

We also had beautiful fall weather.

The kids all got to pick out a pumpkin.

The following week, I only managed to get pictures of Halloween costumes for Danielle and Connor.  She was a ballerina, and he was a secret service agent.  Nicole was Hermione, and she looked just like her, so I was disappointed that I didn't get a shot of that.

The following weekend, we spent our 4-day weekend with Nick and Karla in California!  We had a great time with them and enjoyed spending time together!

Connor took me camera from this point on, and he had such a good eye for photos, that I think I should hire him for my blog!

I'm glad we still managed to make some good memories despite the crazy semester!

Cousins

One of my favorite things about our new home is how close we are to family.  We love the fact that we have people coming to visit us, and that we can visit them in a weekend!  Nick and his kids came out for an impromptu visit over General Conference weekend, and we had such a wonderful time.  My only regret was that Karla couldn't come with them, and it was much too quick.

The nice thing is that we were able to go down and visit them just a month later.  I am looking forward to many visits like this.

Another thing that I love about our new home is the view.  The summer was beautiful with the luxurious greens, the fall color was breathtaking, and tonight the snowcapped city is stunning.  I will try to snap some pictures in the morning.  We also have ready-made sledding hills right outside our door. 

I walked the kids over to their lego robotics meeting tonight, and I just pulled Danielle on the sled behind me.  She thought it was a blast, and I found it to be a decent workout.

I took my last final of the semester today and got a 97%.  I didn't realize just how stressful this semester has been until I felt that load lifted.  I felt light as a feather all night.  When I finished my test, I tore through the house screaming and celebrating that I was done.  The kids were pretty sure that I had lost my mind.  Tonight we sang around the Christmas tree before bedtime, and I laughed and joked more than I have for many moons. 

Only two semesters to go, and none will be as weighty as this one was.