Round Here

With all of the beautiful weather, we have spent a lot of time outdoors. Spring has a wonderful appeal and signifies many wonderful warm days ahead, but I have to say that Fall is my favorite season of all. I love all things Fall and feel more compelled to do things and partake in Fall activities.





The boys are happy and healthy. They love the cooler temperatures and it has been a little harder getting them to come inside recently. The shedding is slowing pace somewhat. I still spend 5 minutes every evening either picking up hairballs or swiffering. As they say, this too shall pass... until Spring!



My hydrangea is still going strong. This bloom looked different than the rest and I just had to take a photo before I don't see any blooms until Spring.



The first color of the season, yay!



We spent our Sunday afternoon at Busch Gardens for round two! We got to ride all of the rides again and enjoyed some of the Halloween/Fall shows. The best ride by far is The Griffon. Once we rode that, none of the other rides compared, but because all of the rides had lines less than 2 minutes, we rode them all just for the fun of it. We made the mistake of riding the water rafting ride that wasn't supposed to get us wet, but drenched us and we walked around in wet clothes the last part of the evening. Ick! We kind of outdid ourselves on this trip and don't really see ourselves returning until next year.  I did enjoy the scrumptious pumpkin fudge/carmel/walnut covered apple pictured above... yum!!

Welcome Fall

photo taken fall 2008

Breath of Fresh Air

This weekend was a fresh air, windows wide open kind of weekend! My favorite kind of weekend! On Saturday, we played with the boys, cleaned house, and partied the night away like college kids with a single + dating crowd. On Sunday, we relaxed like old people!



























We hope everyone else enjoyed the fresh air!

Mason's Mug

You may remember this photo taken a year ago!



and today... approximately 80 lbs heavier!

Work + Life

I am a little behind on blogging recently... I guess life has gotten in the way!

I just had a chance to sit down and go through the photos of the boys from the weekend and it really makes me wish that everyday was the weekend! Look at the beautiful skies and clouds and how much fun they have in the great outdoors. We only get to enjoy that 2 days out of the week. The other 5 days Matt and I are stuck behind computers at work being overstimulated and the boys are stuck in the house with no stimulation. It makes me sad, but there really is no alternative at this point in our lives!

I am a big fan of the 4-day work week that the state of Utah mandated for state employees. In addition to reducing energy costs and reducing emissions by reducing communting hours, it improved the quality of life for 82% of their employees. [article] It would be amazing to work 4 days and have a 3-day weekend, and no... the 10 hour days wouldn't bother me at all! 

Especially If I could enjoy this on my Friday's off!












Speaking of days off, my boss told me I need to take a vacation becuase I actually have 4+ weeks of vacation saved up and on my paystub, the hours above 4 weeks are in the excess vacation category, which no one with the company has ever seen before.  The only time I have had off since Christmas, other than major holidays, is the week I went to North Carolina in May.

I am really looking forward to my 2 days off in October to travel to the Outer Banks for our friends wedding, and seeing the beach for the first time in three years. Crazy!
 

Saturday Adventure

We spent our saturday here...



We met my mother-in-law, Donna, in Richmond and treked a few another hour down the road to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA. It was the best time to go just after Labor Day and now that all the kiddos are in school. There was no congestion and there were no lines for the rides, AT ALL! We waited max 5 minutues for any ride we went on. The weather was a perfect mid 70's to low 80's and minimal humidity. We couldn't have picked a better day to go!!


This park is so much more than just a theme park.  In addition to meeting Jack Hanna and getting his autograph, and eating smoked barbeque ribs and funnel cakes, we...



Saw beautiful blooming flowers and a thriving butterfly habitat.



Enjoyed the peacefulness of a coy pond and flowing waterfall.



Saw this beautiful 56-year-old parrott.



Watched the Grey Wolf show and this alpha-female howled for us.  It was so cool!



Watched her brother, the alpha-male, did his own thing by going under the logs rather than jumping over!




Enjoyed the smaller and larger details of the park in each region.  This bridge leads into Ireland!




Watched in awe of the Clydsdale horses and their huge hooves!



Enjoyed the nostalgia of the older era beer delivery cart!





Wondered if we were really in a theme park with huge roller coasters or if we were on a moutain trail way back in the woods.



Enjoyed the rides, of course!  I sat out the log ride because I didn't want to get wet, but Donna and Matt obviously had a blast!  Matt and I rode most of the larger rides before he got full from the funnel cake and wedidn't get to go on the Lockness Monster or the Griffon (yes, the 2 largest roller coasters in the park).  Luckily, we have passes to go until the first of November, so maybe we will get to go back to finish our adventure! 



Donna bought me this beautiful pearl bracelet at the Oyster gift shop!





We ended the day with the caricature artist!  We call this piece "Our Beach Vacation", which we have both missed out on for the past two summers!

We had a wonderful Saturday and are looking forward to venturing back soon!