Jon and I had the weekend to ourselves so today we headed down to walk in Thanksgiving Point gardens.  On our way there we saw this prize giant squash tethered in the back of someone's truck.  They must be so proud of that behemoth!

We love walking around these gardens, and today was no exception, although very warm.

On our way home we stopped by a fruit stand and got some produce.  This year peaches from Brigham City were just not going to happen as I'm pretty tired.  So we grabbed a bunch from this stand and rounded them out with some grapes, a couple tomatoes, and pears!

I intend to use the peaches for a cobbler, which sounded absolutely irresistible there at the stand.  The grapes were Concord, which I've never tried the actual fruit.  They taste divine, but if I'm being honest, the seeds are a serious deterrent for me.

I had intended from the beginning to make some burp cloths for the baby, but had to wait until I knew if it was a boy or girl.  In that time I had kind of forgotten about it, but happened to be at the fabric store for something else today, and picked up some super cute fabrics to use!  Grey is super in right now, and it's reflected in many of the things we have registered for and these burp cloths!

Today I sat down and stapled all the rubber bands on the shower invitations in preparation for taking them out in the neighborhood.

Mimi, Mac, and I hopped in the car and took them around to all the houses where people I know live.  They sure ran around a lot!

Pumpkins!

I have a thing for pie pumpkins, and I couldn't resist getting several at Target.  They look super great with our orange mums blooming in the yard.

I also found several really cool white ones with great twisty stems.  Seriously, the stems make the pumpkin!  I can't believe it's fall already!

Sister Young changed the style of the invitations, and these will go out this next week.  I am actually really excited!

We decided to register with Amazon, because of the ward shower and one that Jon's work is planning on throwing for us.  I had kind of been under the mindset that we wouldn't need much, but it was actually pretty enlightening to look at all the suggestions and remember that I don't remember all the things we will need or want!  Amazon sends a little registry welcome box and we got ours today.  It's really just samples and little things they want you to buy more of, but still exciting!  

New Rooms

Mimi is installed!  Her bed and drawers are down in her room now, and her old room is a disaster!

While she works on organizing downstairs, I need to do a fair bit of work up here!  It's hard to believe a little baby will sleep here in just a couple months!

These will get mailed off tomorrow after all the lettering is done, but I think they turned out really well!

I have been gathering affirmations for Zada's birth, as I am going to try going unmedicated.  I asked Leiden if she would letter them for me so they were pretty, and she went the extra mile and watercolored the cards.  Then as I was going through them, I found this orange one that she came up with on her own and just lettered it.  I love that girl!

After all the fun this weekend, we were pretty tired!  We went over to see Jordan and Alicia's new house today, and I looked over from the kitchen to see this!

Park City Staycation Day 2

Jon was excited about today.  He loves trains, and today we got to ride one!  We took a ride on the Heber Creeper, which I haven't done in years and years.  I think we went on one of the shorter rides when the girls were very small.  Maybe even before Mimi.

We got up there, and everything had a hazy glow from all the fires around.  It was the oddest atmosphere.

Grandmere and Bapa got all the kids conductor hats, including Leiden, even after she was very honest with Grandmere about not wanting to wear one past a picture!

She was willing for this, and then she came and handed the hat to me!

I, too, was willing for a picture!

And so was my dad!

It was relaxing to be on the train and see the scenery go by.  There is a little acting on the train as you go, but largely it's just a leisurely trip through the hills and along the reservoir.

At one point I needed to use the restroom, so I went to the little one in the car, and the toilet is situated right by a window just like the passenger cars!  It was pretty unnerving to sit on the toilet and know where I was as we passed an intersection where cars were waiting for the train.  They certainly didn't know I was sitting on a toilet, so I just waved and smiled!

This evening we went to a buffet dinner at the Zermatt for dinner before heading home to rest once again!

Joni, Madison, Thomas, and my parents will stay up here one more night, then return home themselves.  It was really fun to meet up these last two days and participate in fun activities with family!

Park City Staycation Day 1

Months and months ago, like around Christmastime, my family talked about wanting to do a staycation and go stay in a hotel in Park City or the Zermatt or something.  We already knew we were going to Michigan, so we knew our finances would be going there, and we sleep better at home when the activities are only 40 minutes away, anyway.  So we declined the hotel stay, but wanted to participate in all the activities with my family.  Today we kept the girls out of school and Jon got out of work, and we met them up at Park City resort to do all the activities there!  We got the girls passes to do whatever, and we started out with the lift ride.  Jon and Mimi and Leiden were going on the Alpine Slide, but being pregnant I couldn't, and my mom and dad didn't think they could with various health issues, so we rode on our own lift chair and did the whole scenic ride.

It's fall, but today was quite warm, and the colors are either extremely muted this year, or we are past their peak up here in the mountains, but it was lovely to be up here!

We put on sunscreen and drank lots of water.

I tried to catch what little color I saw, but it was just very brown with hints of orange.

Jon snapped this one of us as they got off to go down the slide.  My parents and I continued on, and it was a LONG ride!  We had thought everyone might want to go on it, but it was longer than we anticipated.

Jon got these pics at the top of the slide.

Mac had gone up with Joni and Madison, but here they all were, ready to head down at breakneck speed!

They had a great time.  After we all got back down, it was time to head to the mountain coaster.  Again, I was exempt, but my parents wanted to head on this one!  I got everyone as they were strapping in and receiving instructions.

I couldn't get close enough to the end of the coaster to get good pictures, but every single one of them thought it was super fun!  I'll have to come back up here when I'm not expecting!

The girls' passes included panning for jewels and the bungee trampolines.

We headed back to swim at the Zermatt pool before dinner, and then we enjoyed dinner in the hotel room with everyone before we headed back home.

We will be back tomorrow for more family fun!

I am currently working on my first repeat calligraphy order!  She is throwing a French/Italian Christmas party and wanted the place cards to reflect that.  We went back and forth and finally landed on little bunting that hat tips each country's flag.  I think they look super cute!

Well, this was a huge surprise.  Charlotte is a large spider, and generally speaking, they are territorial, and usually not more than one can be found in a general area.  But today I found my second large black widow!  She was hanging out on the push broom on the back porch.  They really are beautiful creatures, if a bit creepy with their segmented spider legs!

We decided we didn't want to keep Charlotte in a jar, and that she needed food, so we let her go in the 'sand' box in the corner of the yard, and Jon got the new black widow over there also.  We figure they can duke it out!

I found many more spiders in my sweeping, some very large!  It's that time of year, and as long as they don't get in the house, I don't mind them!

I spotted this beautiful grasshopper on the weed tree by the fence on the side of the house.  There are just bugs everywhere this fall!