A VERY LONG WEEK - COLORFUL HIKING (09-28-08)

Everyone should take a little bit of time to go hiking to see the

COLORS

which are amazing!

This is what makes this time of the year the very best!


And that is what we did!

We found lots of scrub oak, some maple, a few catcuses

and little acorns on our walk.

A VERY LONG WEEK - PUMPKINS (09-28-08)

Did a bit of pumpkin-picking in the Roundy Garden.

A VERY LONG WEEK - IAN'S 5TH (09-30-08)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU.

YOU SMELL LIKE A MONKEY

AND YOU LOOK LIKE ONE TOO.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISTER IAN.

I wasn't too organized to throw a party together

on his acutal birthday,

but I was able to regroup and throw one later in the week.

Ian chose Noodles and Co. as the place he wanted to go

and have his birthday dinner.

Yum! Yum!

A VERY LONG WEEK - BABY & BDAYS (10-01-08)

I now have a new birthday buddy to share my special day with for the years to come. The newest member to the extended family came at 12.09am. Welcome, Beckham! I was able to run up to the hospital an hour or so after he popped out. I don't have any pics with me right now, but should get some soon.

Congratulations to my brother, sis-in-law and nieces.

My birthday came and went quietly, which I was grateful for. Though my birthdays are my most favoritist holiday of the year, I wasn't too thrilled for this particular one to come about for many reasons, but I won't bore you by them.

Thank you to those who called, texted, emailed, mailed or dropped by to wish me a happy 34th.

A VERY LONG WEEK - MUCH TO CELEBRATE (10-03-08)

B and I celebrated, again, our wedding anniversary, more appropriately by taking off to SLC.

(Thanks, Peahead for watching the gang).

And by the way, we'll keep the details of this get-away to ourselves.

We hurried back to have Ian's bday at the park with cousins and friends.

The kids "monkeyed" around playing soccer, sliding down the slides, and swinging.

Then it was time for Krispy Kreme donuts and we sang "Happy Birthday" to our boy and opened lots of presents.

Thanks to everyone who came!

A VERY LONG WEEK - WEATHER CHANGES (10-04-08)

A storm rolled through, pushing the lovely 80-degree weather out and replacing it with the first snowfall of the season

(but only on the mountain tops; the valley stayed wet),

which meant not much activity outside,

so curling up to read a book or two

and watching "Iron Man" kept the week rolling along.

A VERY LONG WEEK COMES TO AN END - ROCK BAND 2 (10-05-08)

Finally, a little Rock Band 2 NEVER hurt anyone

to close out a GREAT week!

MONET TO PICASSO

A few Saturdays ago, Liv and I decided to be spontaneous and we hoped in the car and headed to the U of U Fine Arts Museum to see the "Monet to Picasso" exhibit that was being shown there. Only a handful of museums were chosen to host this show.

It took about 45 minutes of standing in line before we were able to get into the actual exhibit, but once we did we were transported! We saw amazing paintings that took us from Realism - Impressionism - Post Impressionism - Modernism - Surrealism. It was a real treat to see how the styles of paintings transformed in color, shape and subject matter.

One painting in particular caught both of our eyes at the same time. It was by French painter, Odilion Redon. It was a simple Impressionist painting of a vase of flowers, but the colors were so yummy, warm and inviting (see the pic above). I loved the warmth of the oranges with a touch of sea foam drops in the background. We both concluded that is was our favorite from the exhibit.

The best thing about this outing was sharing it with someone and more importantly, my daughter. I really hope these outings that I expose her to will help inspire and influence her as she develops as an artist.

OLYMPIC THEME SONG

SCHOOL'S IN SESSION

I suppose I've officially passed a certain milestone as a mom now that all the kids are in school. I sort of feel like a kid in a candy shoppe, not knowing what to do with the kid-free time I now have available. I guess I could clean; maybe I could go shopping; have lunch with friends; read a book; take up a new hobby; exercise.....the world is mine! However, I find that I look forward to 3.00pm when they all come walking through the front door.