fall break in utah: provo

one of the main reasons we went up to utah was to see the changing leaves. granted, the leaves weren't as brilliant as i had hoped, but then if i really wanted to see vibrant colors, i should have gone out east where the trees really know how to put on a show.

one of my favorite parts of the trip was driving up provo canyon with the provo clan of carlsruhs (and elmers too). the weather was perfect and we couldn't have had a better time.


the view from provo canyon


after dinner we played in a park-like area for awhile. ellie tried to unsuccessfully bury herself in dry mulch.


wes, on the other hand, threw the mulch around. pretty advanced stuff, i say, to not eat the mulch at his age.


ellie and wes sat there for over a half hour perfectly content. perhaps we should introduce mulch piles in sacrament meeting to keep ellie quietly entertained for a space of time. heavens knows she could use all the help she can get (and so can we).


otho climbing a rock wall in the playground. i would call him cute, but he wouldn't like that, but i do think he is, so instead i will say, 'isn't otho handsome? i sure think he is!'


abe's rock wall was significantly shorter than otho's, but he sat and smiled for me just the same. and abe is just as adorable as his brother. i sure have good looking boys (and girls too for that matter).


we went on a walk in the park, and i really like this picture of my little sister whitney. she is the funniest person i know, people, and she is always making me laugh.


and here whitney is with sarah. i must say that sarah is the most easy-going person. she has a way with kids (especially otho when he was younger and would hex people and wouldn't go to any girls, well he would go to sarah because she had a 'whatever' attitude that he seemed to like).


amber with her husband scott. i must say they sure handled our whirlwind of a family very nicely (nicer than their neighbors below them who banged on the ceiling a few too many times, even when my kids were barely walking around...my kids are loud but not that loud).


this is my attempt at getting my kids to pose for a picture. they look like baby birds in the nest waiting for their mother to feed them worms. granted, i did feed them worms, gummy worms, on the drive up to utah.


and a huge reason why we made the trip in the first place: LEAVES.


as the sun set the kids piled up a bunch of leaves and then jumped in the leaves and had a grand ol' time despite how small the pile actually was. regardless, they had a wonderful time.


i am glad i don't have leaves like that in my backyard. not only would i have to rake them up every day, but they would get in the kids clothes and hair and would drive me bonkers to get out every night.


before we left provo canyon that night, we drove up to squaw peak (where ken proposed to me exactly 7 years and 4 months prior). we watched the sun set over utah lake and froze our little tushies off.


that night amber made a caramel apple bar and we had loads of fun making our own caramel apples.


sarah, whit (a partial of riley) and me making the caramel apples.


they were so yummy abe had to eat his hand (since it was laced with chocolate).


and otho enjoyed eating his caramel apple, although it was hard to get his teeth around the idea of it all.

thanks to amber, et al, for hosting our clan of kids. we sure had a fun fun fun time in provo visiting, and hope to see you guys sooner than later.