Gardner Village of Course

This place is just too cute during the holidays and it's close and free —what's not to love about Gardner Village?

We popped over for a little family night one evening after Joseph was home from work and then the kids and I went back with Horsley cousins one morning later in the month.

 We love our family selfies!

 Back again with cousins. This day was the perfect fall morning—crispy, cold air but tons of sunshine and blue sky. I love being outside on those days!

 Maddie and Connor were off track so I let my kids skip school in the morning for our outing and then I dropped all 3 elementary kids off when it was time for Livs' afternoon kindergarten to start. Sometimes we play hookie and we all love it!

UEA in Park City

 We kept close to home for the kids' school break and headed up to the cabin with my parents and the Horsleys—made for such a fun weekend playing in Park City!

 Morning hike up in the mountains. Fall was mostly done up there but still pretty where it lingered.

 Headed to the Alpine Slides in PC. Too bad half of the valley had the same idea as us so we stood in line for about an hour before we could actually got on the lift to head up! At least we had tons of cousins around so the kids did pretty well entertaining each other. It was so sunny and warm up there for mid-October. We saw tons of ladies in the cutest boots and leather jackets, sweaters and layers, and they were all shedding them like crazy :) Too hot for those cute fall clothes!

 Luke's version of waiting in line meant roaming all over and playing in the leaves and dirt. 

Typical Luke that's for sure!

My adorable slide buddy! Just like last year he loved the ride and was happy and excited the whole way down. He even liked going fast! Love that silly boy so much.

Rainy Saturday

After our glorious day Friday we woke up to low gray clouds and a perpetual drizzle Saturday. I thought it would help us sleep in long and hard but after a solid 10 hours of sleep we were fully awake at 8:00 am and ready to head out. Even though it was wet we wanted to hike somewhere — so we drove over to Jenny Lake where we could stay out of the clouds and still enjoy lovely views of that pretty water.

 No views of the huge mountain peaks but still beautiful and serene

 

 And the trails were so perfectly fallish — I loved them.

 

After hiking a few miles we drove up to the Jackson Lake lodge and then out of the park and into Jackson to shop around for the kids a bit. I got the girls some moccasins that I'm saving for Christmas. They look just like a pair I had growing up and they are so cute with lots of fringe!

 Found pretty fall trees in the city square too.

  Back at the hotel we hot-tubbed again and loved the change in the view that the cooler weather brought.

Easy hairdo for another night out. I wanted to see how the braid looked from the top and when I saw the picture I laughed about my distinct sunburn and sunglasses line on my cheek from the day before. 4+ hours on a bike make for a lot of sunshine on the face!

I can't remember where we got dinner Saturday night —somewhere in the city center at a Mexican restaurant that was fine but not great...obviously didn't stand out to us but we certainly loved the free time without our children. Every meal that doesn't involve wrestling small kiddos is a huge win! We missed those rascally darlings though. They make everything crazy busy and also a lot of fun.

 Back at the lodge (strangers have a hard time getting non-blurry iPhone pics :)

We loved this place and would stay there again in heartbeat. The manager even hand wrote us a card wishing us a happy anniversary — well-played...

Sunday morning we enjoyed our free (and huge) breakfast before making the long drive back home to our littles. The Salt River Pass was stunning in its fall glory and made us eager for more autumn beauty at home.

Joseph made the best playlist for our trip (aptly named Love15) and we listened to it every time we were in the car. Now those songs will always remind me of this fun trip and truly, how much I really love being with my husband. We spent the first 4 1/2 years of our marriage as just us, enjoying all our free time together and dating non-stop. Anytime we escape the rigors of parenthood it reminds us of those carefree days and how much we like each other. I always say this but we really lucked out finding each other as we are a really great match. And he still makes me laugh all the time so we're good!

53 Miles in Teton National Park

Joseph and I had a milestone anniversary this year, celebrating 15 years (!), and we wanted to get away for an adventure together. Normally I would have been dying to run off to Hawaii or the Caribbean but we'd already done a tropical escape earlier in the year and with limited time to run away from our kiddos we chose to stay closer to home and head up to the Tetons in Wyoming for a long weekend. And it was such an amazing trip! I am already a huge fan of our National Parks and I feel like I grew up heading to the Tetons at least every other summer and I am still in love with that place.

We drove up late in the day Thursday and stayed at the Teton Mountain Lodge right on the hillside in Teton Village and about 2 minutes from the park. On Friday morning we woke up to find a beautiful fall day ahead of us. We ate breakfast at our hotel, packed lunches and snacks for the afternoon, geared up for a long day of cycling, and drove into the park and over to Wilson where we planned to start biking our loop around the park. The first 13 or 14 miles have a lovely, separately paved bike trail all the way up to Jenny Lake. From there we he had to ride on the road but being a random Friday in September there weren't many tourists zipping around.

As we approached the road after finishing the bike trail at Jenny Lake I wasn't paying close attention to Joseph riding beside me and I was unsure of a car behind us as we merged into the left turn lane and I suddenly got way too close to my hubby, my front tire hit his back tire, and I lost balance and fell over. I was scraped up from the road and knew my bike had moved on without me but I was really sad to find out my handlebars had gotten caught in his back wheel as I fell over and somehow, my bike was fine but the pressure of my bars in his wheel had totally damaged the seat stays on the back of his frame. They were both totally cracked and not in good shape. I felt so awful! Such a dumb crash and then to wreck a perfectly good (and very expensive) carbon frame. It kind of ruined the morning and I felt sick to my stomach. I thought for sure we would have to just head back to the car and ditch the rest of our riding plans but Joseph was very calm about it and said he'd just keep riding since the bike seemed to still handle fine. On we plugged. I fell in behind him and had my pity party for several miles. Luckily I had a huge bandage in my bike pack for my scraped up shin which helped a ton against the wind on it (but it only lasted an hour as my sweaty leg made it totally unsticky after a while...)

The valet at our hotel had suggested we head up to Signal Mountain Summit along our way since it was a good climb and offered pretty views of the park. Joseph was super excited about it so I rallied and up we went. It was gorgeous climbing through the forest and suddenly seeing grand views of Jackson Lake as we wound our way up higher and higher. After 3 miles of climbing it started to get pretty steep so I sent Joseph ahead — I'm a slower biker for sure. It was rough going the 2 more miles to the top but it was so pretty up there! Amazing views of the staggering peaks and so much of the park.

Then we rode back down the mountain and continued on around the park for another 35 miles past rivers, yellow aspens, towering pines trees and a herd of white tail antelope. It was a warm and sunny 65 degrees and Joseph was eager to jump in a lake or stream to cool off. He was all for stripping down to nothing and jumping in and I was not (too many layers to try and pull on over a wet body — does not work well on this girl body!) But I was definitely up for a cool dip in my biking clothes (triathlons teach us that they dry pretty fast right?) We found a lovely, clear pool off to the side of a small river and jumped (Joseph)/carefully waded (me) into the cold, cold water. It actually felt really good on my tired biking muscles and even the road rash on my leg.

 

 

 

As we rode I could tell I was getting more and more tired but I couldn't help but feel so much awe and joy to be out in the perfect fall sunshine with my favorite person doing something we both love — and in that spectacular, natural wonderland.

 

We finally made it back to Wilson after 50+ miles, helped ourselves to Diet Mountain Dew and vanilla soft serve, and drove back to our hotel for a quiet, deserted dip in the rooftop hot tub.

In the evening (finally showered and fresh!) we had dinner down the street at Calico out on the patio and then came back to our hotel to half-heartedly watch a movie (we were worn out and ready for bed before 10 pm :)

15 Years Together

 Just because my kiddos might read these words one day, I love this boy with all my heart. And yes, he's definitely become a man over the years, seriously we've grown up so much, but this boy right here in this picture—he is still the best thing that ever happened to me. I'm so glad he trusted his heart and followed his happiness above all else. Somehow that path led him to me and I cannot imagine who I would be or how lonely I might be without him.

One huge lesson we learned in dating others and in being in love with others before we met is that each of us needs a partner, a soul mate, a lover who makes us feel good. Who fills our lives with laughter and hope, who loves without holding back, and who makes things easy, even makes life easy because they are simply who they are. Joseph and I were lucky enough to discover that we found those things in each other and were so attracted to that joy and light we brought out in each other. The boy I had loved before Joseph was a good man with a huge heart but he and I had so much drama. I know I was younger then and definitely less mature, but I still ended up in tears all the time and we couldn't handle things well together. We fought a lot and I just figured that's what love was—dealing with crap and working through it and wading through rough water over and over again. But then I met my Joseph and I was floored with how easy it was. He was and still is just a very calm person who grounds my heart and lightens my soul. I could tell he did that from the very first date we went on! And I wanted to feel that way all the time (and so I wanted to be around him all the time!)

In the end we have had a fantastic ride. Of course in 15 years we have dealt with hard things and are certainly not free from fighting or bickering or outside drama that can dig at our own relationship, but we are still deeply in love and both committed to finding happiness together. And for that I am eternally grateful.