This is October

I know it's been a while.  I probably won't try to make up for lost time.  But I did want to post these pictures here for my family to see. 

This is October.  We took some pictures of ourselves one day. 

Owen and Mom

Miles and Adam - this photo pretty well sums up much of their relationship.  Adam loves his baby brother and Miles sometimes needs his space.

 Four of us

My sisters were in town for a week.  I was a slacker and let them take most of the pictures.  This is one of the few that I took.  Dallin and Iris planned a "Snack-Off" one day.  They each made a snack and a drink then had all of the kids and Bethany and I taste their food and vote on whose we liked the best.  Bethany and I helped prepare the food, but all the little kids helped with that part too.  Iris won by a narrow margin.

We spent the last week of October break in Flagstaff.  We had a great hotel, the Little America, that we loved.  It sits on a 500 acre forest property and has a playground and walking trails.  It was perfect for a relaxing getaway.  This was actually a vacation where even Mark and I felt like we got to relax. 

At the hotel...

Miles and Dad

Adam and Dallin

At the playground

Miles and Mom

We spent a lot of time just hanging out outdoors in various parts in and around Flagstaff. 

Eating a nutella sandwich next to Lake Mary.

We took a drive to see the end of the fall colors.

What a beautiful view!

The boys collected sticks everywhere we went and were always sad to leave their sticks behind.  It felt almost like moving.  I told them they would meet new sticks in the next place we went.

We walked around downtown Flagstaff and got some treats from not one, but two candy shops.  I don't think Owen had ever seen a payphone before.

We spent one day at the Grand Canyon.  One thing I learned about it is that it's not called THE Grand Canyon.  Nobody cares though, because it's weird to say Grand Canyon without THE.

This is our best family shot all together.  Owen cracks me up.  It's almost like he posed this way on purpose for all posterity to have a good chuckle for years to come. 

Miles and Mark

Look at those cute kids!  We even hiked down into the canyon for a ways.  I was a bit paranoid, but made Owen hold my hand and we told the boys they had to stay near the wall of the canyon.  We got to see some ravens circling over our heads and doing the most beautiful dances together in the sky.



Dallin has lost several teeth lately, maybe you can tell.

The kids loved staying in a hotel room.  Every night Owen would turn on the music from the clock radio in the room and start a dance party.  The boys would jump on the beds and dance to the music or wrestle with Mark.  The first night when we got in the boys were dancing and jumping around and making Miles laugh and Adam asked Mark, "Dad, is this the greatest day of your life?"  That is the best thing I've heard for a really long time.

The last day we took the walking trail behind the hotel.  This is all the hotel's property, the trail goes for about a mile and a half.

Next we went to Buffalo Park for some more outdoor fun with sticks.

Man on a Buffalo.  (If you don't know the reference, check YouTube and thank me later.)

I told Mark on the way home that our trip to Flagstaff was money well spent.  It goes to show that you don't have to have an expensive vacation to make memories and have some good time together.