Oh yes, it is in the air. I smell it. Snow. Winter usually arrives by Halloween here and I am not excited about it one bit. Our autumn so far has been rather hit and miss. More cold and rainy than I care for, but then there will be a spectacular day here and there. Beautiful autumn lures you into the cold clutches of winter with it's beautiful light, colorful leaves, crisp days, pumpkins, and apples. One day you are eating your pumpkin donuts and jumping in the crunchy leaves and the next you are captured in winter's icy grip and suffocation. Yeah, I am not a fan of winter...or Spring (too gloomy)...but I love summer and fall. So we are taking advantage of these last golden days.
This weekend was conference weekend and it was great. I love conference. It's had to grow on me. Not growing up in the church, I found it very hard to sit around all day, wallowing in pajamas and gluttony, while hearing from our church leaders. But I must say... I have now embraced it. Our kids, on the other hand, just love it!! Seriously. They plan out our special breakfasts for the morning sessions and our treats for the afternoon sessions. They print off their conference packets that keep them busy. The older kids take notes. Kameron is a collector of quotes and conference is just a quote hey day for him. They can all, even Bryn for the most part, understand and intelligently discuss the topic of each speaker. They are so smart!! But then these kids come to earth these days so much more advanced and mature than my generation. FYI...they also love church, family home evening, and even scripture study. It makes my life easier but I am always a little incredulous.
I did take a picture of all of us kicking it in our jammies around the TV but decided not to post it. You're welcome. In case you were wondering... we ate Tyler's gourmet oatmeal on Saturday morning and homemade Chex Mix for the afternoon session. On Sunday we ate our usual, and highly anticipated, homemade crepes. This year we ate them with fresh whipped cream and rhubarb compote. The rhubarb was from our garden this year. (On a side note... RHUBARB COMPOTE... where have you been all my life? The summer of 2013 has been the summer of rhubarb compote. It is fabulous and we have eaten it on everything you can possibly imagine. We also made quite a few batches of plum compote from the plums in our yard. Also, delish...but rhubarb is king!!) For the afternoon session we had a popcorn bar and it was a hit. Big bowls of fluffy, buttery popcorn with all kinds of mix-ins. The favorites were: mixing in Parmesan cheese (always a winner) for the savory and for the sweet...mixing in Skittles. Hands down...Skittles were the favorite...beating out M &Ms; and Candy Corn (my 2nd fav.) Anyway... I think we will do the ol' popcorn bar again.
On a spiritual side... Elder Holland, Elder Uchtdorf, and Elder M. Russell Ballard are rockstars in my eyes. Love them!!
After Saturday's session when all the guys went off and Reilly had to work ( Yes, she has a new job!! Still a server at an assisted living facility but this one is much more posh, will give her more hours, work with her schedule, and let her drive a golf cart. Sa-weet!) Anyway, the little girls and I were sick of being cooped up inside so we headed out and hit three different parks in our area. We've got to get out and enjoy the outdoors while we can. It was awesome!!
Stop Number 2 was a park that is just a big open space on top of a cliff, surrounded by a rock wall, with gorgeous views on every side. That's it. Nothing more. Wait, no...it was a medieval fortress where two lovely princesses were being held captive by an evil queen.
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| Looking for more fairies |
Then we googled the park and found out that it was actually an old Indian watch tower and they became two Indian princesses being held captive by a naughty Indian tribe!! :)
Then we were off to a "play park" as Bryn calls them...which is any park that has toys to play on. We stayed until dark and had a great time and wore those two girls out!!
On Sunday after conference the weather was so nice that we headed to another park as a family, did a little light hiking, and soaked in the sunshine and beautiful surroundings. We saw a real witch...no lie...digging for roots and mushrooms on our little hike. Interesting...
At the bottom of this trail is a "play park" with great swings. The little girls were loving it. Kameron ran into some buddies of his who happened to be there and an impromptu football game was had. It was one of those golden autumn evenings with such amazing light. Out of the recesses of my mind came lines from two different poems penned by two different beloved childhood friends.
The air is crisp it feels like fall the boys are all out side playing football. Dalla comes in and gives us a nod. Rex rides by on his new hot rod. These are the things that I miss...well everything except for Chris...
And...
Autumn time, it's growing colder, all the dead leaves fall. Another gladly wasted day for me, one would think but that's not all...the girl next door is moving away...it wasn't all that long ago that into our neighborhood she came...she was just a skinny goofy adolescent and things for me stayed just the same...
Time weaved and warped and over-lapped. The small sheltered, wooded park became another small sheltered park, my daughters swinging in the golden light became other giggling girls swinging against a back drop of green, their laughter became the laughter of other children now grown, my son and his friends playing football, became other boys with faces as familiar as my own.
See autumn...it's full of nostalgia, gorgeous light, the smell of burning leaves, memories, and poetry.
But just like "nothing gold can stay"...thanks Robert Frost and SE Hinton... ;)
Neither, sadly, can my garden. Oh yes. It is that time again. Boo. Time to winterize the garden. We harvested the last of it this weekend. This year was a stellar year for green beans, zucchini, rhubarb, and plums. Our tomatoes were pretty sad, as were our peas. All in all, this was more a year for flowers rather than vegetables at our house. My flowers have been out of sight this year!! Seriously gorgeous.
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| My little sous chef snapping the last of the green beans. Good-bye teriyaki green beans. We will miss you!! |
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| Brynnie prepping the bread to make bruschetta with the last of the tomatoes. Sob. |
Tyler continues to heal from his shoulder manipulation procedure. The recoup has been pretty brutal. Two weeks straight of seriously torturous physical therapy is needed. It takes 3 physical therapists to do the PT. One to actually manipulate the shoulder and two to hold Tyler down flat on the therapy table. But...we are now a week into it and the improvement is amazing... so are the bruises.
Tyler has now returned to work, is off the pain killers (which were amusing), and our marriage has remained in tact...barely. Florence Nightingale I am not. And...for the record he is an AWFUL patient!!
On another low note... summer was not kind. Some how I managed to GAIN weight!! So cruel...and with all my outdoor activities, fresh food, and fun. So not fair. I really blame my 40's. They are NOT your friend! I am supposed to be in my "Hot Mom" stage...no more baby making years, no more bloat inducing birth control, I can actually go to the gym at a time other than 5 am. Well, word to the wise, just as you get into that blessed stage...say good-bye to your metabolism...and watch your hormones plummet. Hello fatty...we meet again. Due to this fact, and the fact that I am not the only one, a group friends of mine have started up yet another round of our Fitness Challenge. Wish me luck.
And that's us...oh yeah... Bryn and I decorated for Halloween. It is all kinds of festive up in here.
