This and that...Fall 2013

These days, my phone keeps record of our comings and goings.  I post a few pictures here and there for friends and family on Facebook and Instagram.  My kids, tech savvy as they are, fill up my camera roll with pictures and videos of their own (some even make their own "phones" complete with apps),

 while my "real" camera sits on a shelf, somewhat obsolete and in need of repair.

According to that iPhone camera roll, I am due for an update.  Halloween was weeks ago, not to mention a trip to Zion over fall break.  Winter is sneaking its fingers into our weeks, though I can't believe how many incredible days we've had this fall, even as recent as this week.  My kids leave for school bundled up in the morning, only to have their coats stuffed into their backpacks for the walk home in the afternoon.  Still, there hovers the sense that cold days are coming, or at least the season that we usually associate with cold weather.

So, before winter overtakes us, here are a few things that go along with Fall:

Football, for one.  TEC attends most Utah home games, and usually takes either me or one of the kids to them, when there's an extra ticket available.  We were lucky to land four extra tickets to the Standford game, though, and take our three big kids.  It was an exciting win and fun time with our little Ute fans.  We joined the post-game excitement down on the field to take a few pictures.

Fall Break.  We usually stay home over UEA, or maybe spend a few days up at the cabin, but back in the spring TEC and I had a getaway to St. George and Zion National Park and decided we should plan a trip to come back with my family.  It took some convincing my parents and some others that we could actually have fun as a family on a trip that involved some camping and cooking outdoors, but it turned out so great.  Even a government shutdown didn't keep us from enjoying that beautiful part of our state in some fabulous weather.

It made me wish we had more opportunities to slow down as a family enjoy time together like that.  I learned that we can be different and yet come together on a trip like that and make it work.  I learned that there are times when lots of planning and packing and preparedness is good, and times when it is wiser to simplify and just enjoy being where you are (among other things I learn by watching my sister Tracey).  I also learned that, while there is value in making the best of a less-than-desirable situation, it's also okay sometimes to walk away, take a new road, and make the situation what you want it to be.  Because, as my Dad says, "life's too short."

Soccer is also part of the fall.  It begins in the fall, and then, without any tears, it comes to an end in the fall, at least until we start it all up again in the spring.  We had three game schedules to shuffle around this fall.  I won't complain, though, because we had pretty good weather all season.  Even our last game at the beginning of November fell on a fantastic, short-sleeve day.

Halloween usually gets its own post.  But I'll just lump it in here as well.  The kids were nice to their mom this year and picked costumes right from the Halloween bins.  

My only job was to make a new candycorn hat that would fit RVC, since the costume was actually made to fit CAC as a two-year-old.  The rest of the costume was just more of a shirt than a full-body costume, and still looked cute.  On actual Halloween, I made my mediocre-as-usual attempts at pictures during the school parade in the morning.  

These were a little better (CAC and kindergarten/neighbor friend Hayden):

Then, after learning that TEC was going to need to stay late to handle a disaster at work, I put on my positive-attitude-mom costume and continued on with our evening of dinner and trick-or-treating, reassuring the kids that it would all still be fun.

Luckily, dad broke away long enough from work to meet us along the route for a while, and the evening did turn out just fine.

Because we can't just do one sport at a time, we'll just go ahead and make basketball part of the fall as well.  Here we are at the first Utah basketball game of the season, where we saw a 128 to 44 victory for the Utes.

This year, new baby Cundick cousins came along with fall.  We are excited to watch these sweet little girls grow up and become part of the crazy cousin crew.  We were able to meet little MBC this past week.

I was also able to catch this rare moment of peaceful sibling play one day not too long ago.  Can't say this always comes along with the season, but it was still nice to see.

We're looking forward to time up at the cabin this weekend and then Thanksgiving next week.  Family gathering-a-plenty is on its way.