October was another thrilling month around here.  

We tried to enjoy the last of our warm weather.  


We did our last local hike before the snow came up Diamond Fork Canyon. 

Fang loved hiking and the kids were much better sports having Fang along.


  

We also got stuck in a traffic jam of cows.  It was very exciting and very gross seeing the cows up close, slobber and all.  


I got to go on my first Kindergarten field trip with Ruby.  

Crazy and fun, just what a kindergarten field trip should be.  

Macey had her first Orchestra concert. Because of scheduling conflicts, she is in the 9th grade orchestra instead of 7th grade orchestra.  So, with only a handful of hours of experience she was thrown into Symphonic Orchestra.  She has worked her butt off and it was so fun to see her first performance.  

We used our fire pit for the last time of the season.  

Paul and Miles went on a trip to Washington DC.

The Astros just happened to be playing in the World Series while they were there.  Paul couldn’t NOT buy tickets.  


They had a blast at the game and Miles’ favorite player (Alex Bregman) even hit a grand slam.  

Miles’ favorite parts were the natural history museum and the national zoo. :) 

While they were gone we got hit with an extreme cold front.  It was horrible and I still made everyone walk to school.

We did not make it to a pumpkin patch, like the rest of the state.  So, I counted our trip to the aquarium decked out in creep halloween decor, our festive trip of the month.  

After much screaming, anger, and tears, Miles finished his first big project of the year and I didn’t have to do it for him.  It was a huge feat.  

The most stressful part of the month though, was family pictures  

I tried something different this year…no planning or coordinating of outfits.  We just wore our coats.  It was awesome and saved me on lots of stress and decisions.  

We bought Gerald, our new tent trailer.


and took it south for Fall Break to Goblin Valley, parking it in the exact spot where we went for #momhike the month before.

While it was not as relaxing as my #momhike trip, it was fun to get out and let the kids explore Goblin Valley.  

Last time we took the kids to Goblin Valley it was 105 degrees out.  A nice 70 was much more suitable for adventuring.  

Goblin Valley is just one big play ground.  No hikes, just running around and climbing on things.  

And sweet caves to explore.  

The kids loved their first trip in Gerald and I loved not waking up in a tent.  

The 2nd day we explored Little Wild Horse.  

It started out with LOTS of whining from Ruby. 

Luckily, once we reached the slot canyon, it all subsided and the kids had endless energy running around in there.  

Constant bridge making and taking turns going under kept everyone entertained.  

They were even cooperative for photo ops.  

I see many trips with Gearald in the future, with hopefully less whining and more sleeping.  

Still weekly mom hiking.  And an impromptu evening visit to Sodalicious in PJ’s for an emergency #momhike pick me up.  

Some of my favorite calm moments captured: 

Of course Halloween happened and was crazy.  

class party prep

Carving pumpkins the night before Halloween

Stitches after pumpkin carving.  

Never a dull moment here. I was headed out the door to a Halloween High Fit Class with my friends, Ruby was running and jumping around the living room on her way up to bed and just smacked her chin on the top edge of the counter.  With my wound experience and being able to see the fat in her chin, I just decided to head to the ER.  handful of stitches later and zero tears, we were home by 10:00.  

 And I think we have now been in every ER room at the orem community hospital. :) 

I ended up making/putting together most of the kids costumes this year and it was fun to do Halloween costumes again, after a little break.  

**_pikachu, Mario Kart Yoshi, Lilo and Stitch 

_** First we trick or treated in our new neighborhood and then we headed to meet up with the Townhouse crowd to our normal trick or treating route.  _

_

Crazy, cold and fun night.