Our Fantastic Fall

Autumn always brings to mind long walks through falling leaves and evenings spent by the fire, sipping hot cocoa. Peaceful days and cozy nights.

LOL! In my DREAMS!

Fall is such a busy time for us! As the temps starts falling we go into overdrive, trying to soak up as must sunshine as we can.

We always do our best hikes in the Fall.

Garden of the Gods

Colorado

And of course, I spend tons of time preserving our garden's harvest.

Lavendar Pear Jam

Huckleberry Vinaigrette

Apple Ginger Jelly

All in!

We have been working the yard,

 Tilling the garden

Raised flower garden

Building a raised herb garden

We also finally finished Perrin's closet insert. 

That's about it.

Bring on the Holidays!

"What I did this summer." by Jammie Gundersen

I witnessed the miracle of life.

Aurelia Sabine Hutchins was born 8 June 2011 at 11:41 am.

She was 7 pounds 10 ounces 19 and a half inches.

I witnessed the miracle of nature.

Yelowstone

Grand Tetons

Inspiration Point

I spent time with my first best friend.

My Mom and I hiking with my fam in the Tetons.

I held tight to my eternal best friend.

ROAD TRIP!

I helped build a bookcase.

Laura and Randy's floor.

And a boy.

Connor, receiving his 

Weblos Award, 20 Patch 

and Arrow of Light.

I said goodbye.

God be with you til we meet again.

Rose to new heights.

Hiking in Emigration Canyon.

And conquered a wild horse!

Little Wild Horse-Bell Canyon Hike.

As you can see it was a pretty full summer.

We spent more time away from home than at home. 

I'm glad to have all the memories. 

But I am also glad to be home.

4 Awesome Days!

If I took the time to tell you all the amazing things we did on our family vacation, you would still be reading by next spring. So I'll just share the highlights.

Hands down, the coolest thing that happened, 

was my Mom came on this vacation! 

She is such a blast to hang out with!

The first day we went river rafting. Shane, Perrin and my Mom all  sat on the edge of the boat and paddled like champs! Connor and I sat in the middle and cowered. We spent that evening hanging out in Jackson, WY.

The next day we spent in Yellowstone. One day, is in no way enough time to spend in Yellowstone. The park is HUGE! We focused on the Old Faith section and saw as many geothermal features as we could.

We spent our last day in the Grand Tetons. We hiked around Jenny Lake and up to Hidden Falls and to Inspiration Point.. The pictures don't do it justice. The Tetons are taller than you can imagine.

On the trail to Inspiration Point

Perrin: Basking at 7200 feet!

Connor: Taking in the view.

We are home again at last...at least for this week. This weekend we're camping with friends and next week we'll be at Shana's!

Summer Fun

Now that our boys are getting older, we’ve been able to trade up our “family fun” hikes for more adventurous outings. Don’t get me wrong, we still love the relaxed feeling of taking a hike that is more about goofing off and less about staying on schedule so we can make camp.

Like our walk along the Pioneer Trail up Emigration Canyon.

The wildflowers are so beautiful this year. 

And the weather has been nice and cool.

That's our truck wwwaaayyy down there.

And the view from the top was pretty great.

Earlier this summer Shane, Perrin and I got to go on the 

Little Wild Horse/Bell Canyon Loop in the San Rafael Swell; 

an 8 mile hike thru two slot canyons. 

(Connor was at Grandma Jeanette's with a terrible sunburn)

It was a little late in the season to make this hike. 

In retrospect we should have gone in early spring 

or even early winter, and not in June. 

It was one heck of a hot day!

Hiking a slot canyon can be claustrophobic. 

A lot of the path was very narrow!

Looking up

Half way!

We ended the day with fresh limes
at The Grub Box in Ferron.