Pieces of October

 I'm in love with this pretty little girl (even though she gives me a run for my money :)

 She posed for me just before school pictures and it turned out to be such a vivid shot.

 Glorious fall bike rides are one of my favorite things ever.

This is a shot from a few miles up Butterfield Canyon. I've only ever ridden 5 miles up and by then I am too exhausted (it's basically a climb starting at my house to even get over there. The mouth of the canyon is 7 miles away and then heading up works me so hard! Next summer I will have to venture farther...)

 We trimmed our huge smoke bush and ended up with these enormous branches. The kids asked me to help them turn it into a teepee and so we did.

 Final product after flushing it all out.

 Cute Caresie in the teepee.

 General Conference Sunday up at the cabin

 Outdoor Halloween decorations that Bentley sweetly begged me to get and they are
all from the dollar store so not a big deal.

 Kindergarten alphabet parade. 

O is for Olivia and owl (and she wore those pj's because they had more owls on them).

 Leaf Man FHE. We have so much fun just gathering up supplies for this creative project —we just head outside and gather up all the goods right outside our door.

 Caroline's Anna and Olivia's self-portrait. Below Bentley made Elsa:

Joseph and I created some too

 

 Real Simple often has lovely reminders for living a good and happy life and sometimes I grab pictures of them so I will remember them well.

 Lunch date with Katherine and Heather —among my oldest and best of friends. Kath lives in Texas and was in town for a quick weekend. When I saw her I had no idea she was pregnant! She's due in just two months and yet hadn't said a word. She's having her 4th girl in not the most ideal month so I think she was kind of blue over it for a long while and didn't share the news. I did tell her my December baby came at the craziest time but that his birth and his gorgeous, fresh newness at Christmas time was very powerful and beautiful. It helped connect me to thoughts of the Savior and his beloved mother all season. And it still does. So maybe December babies are pretty awesome :)

 

Our cute neighbor Stacey turned 40 in October and her hubby arranged a huge "fancy date night" for us to celebrate her milestone birthday with her. We could only make it to dinner that night and not dancing after but it was so funny to be at Cheesecake Factory with like 30 of us all dressed up like we were headed to homecoming or something...except that we're all old parents! I always love date nights with my favorite boy and we had the best company. Stacey and her husband are fairly new in our neighborhood but when they first came to church after moving in Joseph recognized Sergio (her hubby) since he had served his mission with him. Smallest, small world in this church but I love how it brings us together.

October in my front yard. It's seriously too beautiful and makes me happy everyday.

 A solo date with my cute Bentley to get in some miles before his long 30-miler. I could definitely get used to hanging out with my mini cyclist on our bikes together! He asked me to tell him a story so for 15 miles I told him my favorite novel: Jane Eyre :)