Apples and Pumpkins

I have begun the (actually pretty daunting!) task of addressing the wedding envelopes!  The watercolor ink they chose is beautiful, and it looks really great.  The envelopes are really nice, but they have a fibrous texture, and I'm trying to get used to needed pressure to have there be ink on the upstrokes, but not have the point of the nib catch.  There have been some frustrating moments, and I've already messed up two envelopes!  I think I'm overthinking it.  Onward!

This evening we took the girls to a pumpkin patch/farm...actually the same one I went to with Mimi's fieldtrip last fall.  The girls loved all the pumpkins and sitting on the tractor was a must!

It was a beautiful fall evening.

Then we stopped at the store and got a bazillion apples and a few pears so we could make cider with Jonathan's juicer!  The girls were very excited to help.  We washed the apples, I sliced, then Jonathan helped each girl take a turn carefully feeding the apples into the juicer.

And of course snuck a few slices to eat fresh!

The juicer was amazing, getting EVERYTHING out of those apples except tasteless pulp.

The resulting cider was delicious.  We had probably 7-8 different apple varieties in it, and it was wonderful warm and cold.  A super fun fall night!

Our front yard bush is beginning to turn and it's amazing!  A super beautiful bush each year.

I recruited Mac for meal prep tonight.  Salads are on the docket, and I'm excited!  She was excited to help in the kitchen, especially with a sharp knife.  She did great slicing tomatoes for our salads.

Uncle Mike is getting married in early November, to a woman we all love.  They found out I do calligraphy for hire, and they were very interested in having me address their invitations, which was very flattering.  I showed them some samples, and they decided to go for it!  I've received the guest list, and am beginning prep work for this awesome job!

More work on my mom's signs, but now with a pink brush marker!  They come in all sorts of colors...literally every color, and I sure picked a pretty pink.

I also finally figured out what to use as my smaller thumbnail picture on Etsy, so the shop is officially outfitted!  These are my business cards, all hand lettered, so each is a bit different.  I liked this idea so people could actually FEEL the writing.  The raised ink on them is really cool, and if I'm selling hand lettering, let them see real examples of my hand lettering!

PT Conferences

My mom had me do another little calligraphy project.  Although this one was actually brush lettering, which I've wanted to try for some time, now.  They are labels for something she's doing at church, and they turned out way better than I expected!  I'm enjoying this new world of beautiful letters and handwriting!

This evening was parent teacher conferences for Leiden at the middle school...yikes!  Everyone was in the auditorium, and it took us a couple hours to see all the teachers.  They all had nothing but good to say, and she's doing great in her classes so far!

It's still hard to believe I've got a middle schooler!

School

We had parent teacher conferences this afternoon, and Thomas was still with us.  I snapped this picture and somehow just love it.  He is such a curious little guy with no fear!  Charged down the hallway ahead of us with zero compunction.  Made me laugh and I'm glad I whipped out the camera.  He'll be in one of these soon enough!

More Capitol Reef

Today we hiked to an arch that was really cool.  There are some incredible formations.  Made more incredible when you think about how they are carved out of rock with just water.

We spent a fair amount of time wandering around the arch, finding different view points, and looking at what other cool things we could find.

Late in the afternoon, we packed up and headed home, refreshed from our weekend outdoors.

I have really appreciated how much I've gotten out since meeting Jonathan.  I had never done any appreciable hiking, and not very much camping prior to this year.  It has been a great experience to spend more time in the creations we have been given to enjoy.

Capitol Reef National Park

We took the opportunity of the weekend to go on a little camping trip with Jonathan's sister and her husband.  We headed to Capitol Reef, which I've never been to.  It was absolutely beautiful.  Cool weather, gorgeous formations and hikes.  We stayed in camp grounds in tents, which were FREEZING at night.  We definitely didn't plan ahead on that score!  We should have brought more clothes to layer, and blankets to be used WITH sleeping bags.  Our campground had orchards on it, where you could go and pick your own apples and pears.  The whole area was settled decades ago at its height as a fruit tree area.  So there are orchards everywhere, in varying states of proliferation.

Jonathan picked these beauties for me.  I think my favorite is the pear, with its blush.

We kind of took it easy...Tara's friends came along, and they have two little kids who couldn't keep up on big hikes, but we still were able to wander around and go on a couple really cool hikes.

This part of the country is incredible.

We went on a hike today that was a narrows hike.  I was expecting narrows like slot canyons, but they weren't THAT narrow.  Still dangerous during rain, though.  Big, tall sides and little paths through them.

In the orchard there were two bucks, just hanging out among the trees, minding their own business.  One was very much older, with fighting scars, and a larger rack.  The younger was smaller and just developing his.  Pretty cool to see them up so close.

Today the last little bit was finished...the return addresses!  These were lettered very small, and also turned out really nice.  All I have to do still is erase my pencil guide lines, and they will be ready to hand over to mom.

Halloween Invites

Mom's Halloween invitations are almost done, and they look pretty great.  I HOPE they don't have any trouble at the post office, because it would be a shame for the recipients to not get them!  Most importantly, Mom was pleased and I got some practice in with the new style of lettering.  Win all around!

Lunch Dates

I meet Jonathan often for lunch, and recently I've been taking Thomas up with me on Mondays.  Jonathan doesn't mind his company, and Thomas is literally SMITTEN with Jonathan.  He spends the whole time saying, 'Jon?' and making sure Jonathan is looking at him and not going anywhere!  It's actually super cute and really funny.  We head up to This is the Place and eat on the picnic tables.  I brought his seat for him to sit on the grass in, but it was only marginally successful!  It's hard to eat lunch when you want to run and explore!

Overalls

The girls were back in time for Sunday dinner at Grandmere's house, where Leiden swept up her hair again.  She's getting pretty good at it!

Last week when we went shopping, the girls found some overalls they liked but H&M didn't have their size.  Mom ordered some online, and the girls were thrilled to receive them today!  Of course there was a fashion show!

Today we celebrated Joni's birthday with a Nothing Bundt cake!  They are so delicious, and it was fun to spend time with family.

Sister Lakes

The girls were with Brad today, so Jonathan and I decided to tackle another hike.  Not a peak, this time, but something to get us out into nature, hopefully see some leaves turning, and some exercise!

The leaves may be turning, and they are beautiful, but it was still darn hot!  The shady parts of the trail were welcome!

We truly live in a beautiful place, with access to mountains so close.

The lake at the top was beautiful, and if you wind your way around it, there are two other smaller lakes, hence Sister Lakes.  We enjoyed wandering around up there before the inevitable hike back down the mountain!

The colors were beautiful and it was so wonderful to be out among them.

Silver Linings

Mimi was SO cute today.  We were in the car, and she was looking at the clouds up in the sky.  Kind of foreboding, was what I thought.  But her comment was, 'Look at the pretty clouds.  They have pretty bright white edges!'  I was surprised and grateful for her outlook, although she had no idea she was looking at a possible positive aspect of a dark cloud.  There can be light found everywhere.

Especially in this little one's face.

In other silver linings, the leaves are turning on the mountains!  These are the hills at the entrance to Emigration Canyon.  And of course the phone camera cannot capture what my eyes can see.  They were vibrant and vivid!

Ventures

Violin lessons for Leiden are getting more and more fraught.  She really just flat out doesn't like it.  She has been begging for months to be able to quit, and I've been very reluctant.  I don't want her thinking she can just quit when it gets hard or she gets bored.  I feel like that's not a good life lesson to teach her, but it's getting ridiculous.  She balks at practicing, and recently has started balking at her lessons, acting very sullen and quietly bratty with her teacher.  Her bad attitude stretches to the other girls, too, who have to traipse along with us.  Mimi wasn't happy about the intrusion today, and sulked the whole time.

Leiden wasn't happy, either.

It might be time to let it go, and find something she LIKES better.  She has talents, we just need to find the matching passion.

Speaking of talents, I have decided to open up my Etsy shop again.  I chose to keep the old shop and just rename it, so as to keep my old reviews, etc., as well as be able to show an established presence on the site.  The new shop is called Downstroke, which took a considerable amount of time and effort to decide on.  I had some other ideas, but the names were already taken on Etsy.  I have no idea whether this will turn out to be lucrative at all, or whether it will just be a side venture, but I'm excited about the possibilities.  I've spent a lot of time getting it ready, and taking photographs for the listings.  Jonathan has been extremely supportive in this endeavor, helping me brainstorm and muddle through branding issues.  But here's a screenshot of my shop's page!  It went live today!

And my banner...everything hand lettered by me.

Tonight it rained really hard...hard enough for me to go out and record the lovely noise the rain was making.