Fall Decor

I have been having a great time decorating for Fall and Halloween. I love everything about this time of year: the cooler weather, the yummy foods and the beautiful colors.

I've used my Cricut a lot lately cutting out cute silhouettes and lettering.

I found some napkins with patterns that I loved and made them into new pillows for the couch (the flowered pillow I found at Kohl's). Great new look for only a few dollars!

Look at those beautiful apples that came right from our two trees out back. After three summers of babying our fruit trees we've finally been rewarded with apples, pears, peaches and nectarines. Lots of yummy desserts to be made!

Football Fever

If it's starting to feel like Fall then you know that football has taken over our lives. Dallin and Brady are both playing again this year so if you include BYU we pretty much watch football all day on Saturdays. Let's not even talk about the Cougars right now :(

Brady made his first touchdown in his first game of the season. We were so excited as he ran the length of the field without getting his flag pulled (I think he was pretty surprised!) Thanks to Celeste for pictures (since I forgot my camera)

 Dallin's team is having another great year. They were undefeated going into Saturday's game, against another undefeated team. After a loooong afternoon ending with the ambulance having to take one player off the field (from the other team...I don't think it was too serious) the game ended tied 6-6. The coaches told the boys the low score was thanks to the offensive line, of which Dallin is right guard.


Ready...

Set...

Go!

And if it's done correctly the opponent ends up on the ground (which usually happens since D is usually bigger than the kids he's against.)

It's fun to see how aggressive Dallin gets since he's really such a sweet kid off the field. After this nail-biter of a  game we were thrilled to see Dallin awarded the blocking award for the week.

Is there anything cuter than this boy in his compression shirt and white pants?

Lake Powell

 

We had a great time at Lake Powell this past weekend. Almost my entire family was there (we missed you Amber, Cody, Debbie and Jordan!) My parents have been doing the houseboat thing every summer with friends for the past 15 years. This is the first time we were able to go. Let me just say...I get it. I finally understand why everyone loves it so much. It was so relaxing and fun to be in such a beautiful place with all of your favorite people.

I was completely shocked when Brady wanted to jump off the houseboat. He's been going through a scaredy cat stage lately, so I couldn't believe it when he climbed right up and jumped...not a moment's hesitation. Definitely braver than his mom!

 Cool shot of Nathan (Melissa's oldest) jumping.

Dallin enjoying the big raft.

Dad on the boat in our little cove. It was his birthday (he wouldn't want me to reveal how old) on Saturday so we had a little party with cake and a present from all the kids (new ipad!) He is definitely in his element at Lake Powell.

Cliff jumping for the brave ones like Trevor

Melissa and Lindsay (oldest sis, youngest sis)

 Ashlee and Chelsea goofing around

All the girls (second from the left is Dana, a family friend, and last on the right is Kaitlin, Trevor's cute girlfriend)

 We were definitely in a silly mood that day. This picture was followed by a sweet synchronized swimming routine for all the men to enjoy. My sisters are some of the funniest people I know. Boy I love being with them.

 Gorgeous sunsets every night

 Lots of cousin time (here watching a movie on Grandma's bed)

Mallory got up on just her second try skiing!

Kenzie was a big hit with the little ones

 Lots of time spent digging on the beach

Cute Mal with mysterious spots on her skin

 Singing "Baby Shark" in the hot tub with Hayden and Skylar

 We all enjoyed cheering on the Cougars as they (barely) won their first game of the season. Good thing the boat had satellite or Mark might have had to stay home.

As an added bonus I got to see one of my best friends from Phoenix, Larissa, since they were on the lake that weekend too. Thanks for braving the crazy weather that afternoon  to come and see us, Mike and Ris!

 
Lastly, here's a shot of the funniest moment of the weekend. On our Sunday tour we came upon a huge group of college students docked in one of the canyons. They had this huge inflatable "blob" and as we were watching they launched this rather, um, large girl into the air. Quite the sight to see!

All in all, it was a fabulous weekend with lots of memories to treasure.While having 26 people on one boat was at times crazy and crowded I loved every minute of it and can't wait to go again.

Sew Crafty!

I spent an afternoon last week teaching Kenzie how to sew. She wanted some pillows for her new bedspread so we tried this cute ruffle pillow we had seen online. It was really quite easy to make and Kenzie did a great job. I really didn't help at all, just supervised. Turned out pretty cute!

 

Here's Kenzie's new color scheme, grey and lime green. We found the duvet cover at Ikea a few months back. She painted the grey on the walls herself. She's quite the DIYer!

Cabin Trip

Last weekend we celebrated the end of summer by heading to the mountains with my cousin Paul and his family. His parents have a cabin that's less than two hours away. We had such a great time relaxing and enjoying the great outdoors, plus Paul and Lesli are just a ton of fun to be with. A highlight was playing in the river/ hot springs nearby (this is right where we went for Girls Camp so we were familiar with the area).

 Dallin saving Lesli and Tanner from floating too far down the river

 Cute Avery

 Tanner looking manly

 Poor Mallory scraped her legs up pretty good

 Mark and Paul..BFFs and pretty much inseparable this summer. These two love being together and get along so well.

 Cute pic taken by Kenz

Saturday night Mark and Paul were determined to go back to the river and catch a salmon they had trapped earlier that day (the salmon were running at the time...so fun to watch!) Sure enough, they came back victorious with a pretty big fish they caught with their bare hands (Bear Grylls would be so proud!) They sliced it opened and found all the eggs the poor salmon was heading upstream to lay. (This is about half of the eggs.) Most of the group tried eating the eggs. Caviar! Apparently they tasted like eggs (I, of course, did not partake.)

All in all it was a great weekend. It's been so fun hanging out with these guys now that they live so close. We're hoping to go back to the cabin in the winter to play in the snow!