Fall fun!

Lest you think that we've forgotten about fall at home, we have been checking off items on our Fall bucket list for the past couple of weeks. Growing up in the hot desert of AZ, I never knew Fall was a season, but since moving to Utah, it has become my absolute favorite season! I love all the fall activities and the anticipation of the ushering in of all the holidays. I love the crisp mornings and cool fall evenings. I love the pumpkins! I know that sounds funny, but I love decorating with pumpkins and gourds. I love transforming my front walk into a welcoming autumnal entryway. 

Each fall is a little different. We've had some warmer falls, but this year, it has been a cool, wet fall (so far). We had a little rain alter some of our plans, but overall, we just embraced the weather and had fun anyway. Nichole and Kate flew up and joined us for a few days of fun too. We started our fall fun prior to Jeff and my trip to New England with apple picking at the Red Barn on Saturday, September 18th. Krystle and her family joined us. I love seeing all the boys' excitement, even in the act of picking an apple. They just love being together and doing whatever we're doing. I'm going to miss those days when Jonas gets older and decides he's too cool to hang out with his parents. We picked a few apples then enjoyed some Red Barn ice cream before moving on to the next activity.

That evening, Spanish Fork held their annual Harvest Moon Festival. They have several booths designed just for kids. There is face painting, balloon animals, pumpkin decorating, and more. The boys, however, were only really interested in playing on the playground. They did take a moment to meet Spider-Man and grab a pumpkin to decorate later, but they spent the rest of the time just climbing on whatever they could. 

The next day (Sunday, September 19th), Jonas finally decided to decorate his pumpkin and everyone got to indulge in a yummy caramel apple bar. (You can't just pick apples without smothering them in caramel and candies!) I love having my kids come over for Sunday dinners. I realize for some it's out of necessity for a home-cooked meal, but others choose to come simply to be together. It was a windy Sunday so we pulled out the parachute for some fun as well. 

After that weekend, we put a pause of the fall festivities until after Jeff and I returned from our trip. Nichole and Kate came to town from Thursday, October 7, through Monday, October 11. At that point, our fall fun sped up a bit! I have to admit I was a little sad this year. Now that Jonas is in school all day, we had to wait until the afternoon or not have him participate in the activity. Right after Nichole and Kate flew in, we met up with Krystle and her youngest three for a hike up Provo Canyon. I enjoyed the hike, but I missed my little buddy. I fear that I'll only have a few more years before he no longer wants to participate in any of this stuff. I guess that's where grandkids come in, but still, change is hard. To be honest, I'm not sure Kate is going to be as excited to come up for our fall fun in the coming years. She enjoyed this year because her cousin from the Lowe side joined us for part of the weekend, but everyone is just growing up and "traditions" are changing. Still, we made the best of our weekend! The hike was really beautiful and it was fun to see Camden, Lincoln, and Addie find all the colorful leaves. 

That afternoon, Nichole, Kate, and I kidnapped Camden and Lincoln, and busted Jonas out of school early so we could do another round of apple picking. This time, we went to Riley's U-Pick in Genola. We found a few trees still left that had plenty of apples to pick. Although, I think this time around the boys enjoyed pulling the wagon more. Before leaving, Jonas got to pick a pumpkin to carve from the pumpkin patch. 

Krystle, Nolan, and Addie met up with us for dinner then we all went to see Jonas's football game. I always add a football game to my fall bucket list. The past couple of years, we've attended a high school game, but this game was way more fun! Jonas even got his first touchdown! I love watching his little mind work. He takes a moment to analyze where he thinks the ball is going before he moves. He pulled a couple of flags and completed a couple of passes too. Way to go Jonas!

The next day (Friday, October 8th), we had to modify our original plans because of rain, but we were able to find a dry hour to go visit our favorite witches at Gardner Village. I love doing our witch Scavenger hunt every year. They even changed things up a bit this year. The boys just had fun running around trying to get to the next witch first. The rest of the day, we just hung out at Krystle's house and let the kids play.

Saturday (October 9th), we weren't able to avoid the rain...so we embraced it. It was cold and a little stormy, but it didn't stop the kids from enjoying our morning at Jakers. The boys played in the corn pits, raced down the slide, visited the animals in the petting zoo, and more. We all enjoyed the hay ride and corn maze. 

After Jakers, Camden, Nolan, and Jordan left to attend the BYU football game, but the rest of us kept the party going. We ran over to the Payson City Cemetery for a spooky cemetery scavenger hunt...in the rain. I'm pretty sure all of our shoes were soaked, but it didn't stop us. 

We finally got a break from the rain on Sunday (October, 10th). Everyone came down to the house late afternoon for our own little fall festival and chili cook-off. We had white chicken chili, regular red bean and meat chili, and a vegan lentil chili. To be honest, they were all great! While I enjoyed the food, the kids loved the games! We had pumpkin bowling, witches hat ring toss, pin the nose of the jack-o-lantern, apple bobbing, donuts on a string, elephant toothpaste (a little science experiment that Krystle did last year and the kids wanted to repeat it) and a little Halloween scavenger hunt. Have I mentioned how much I love gathering my family together? Don, Sandy, Cooper, and Scott even joined us for dinner. It's just more fun when we all get together (and more work, but it's worth it!).

Nichole and Kate had to leave on Monday, October 11th, but not before one final fall activity - the Scarecrow Festival at Thanksgiving Point. Because our boys had Thursday and Friday off, I just took Nichole, Kate, and Addie (while Krystle went on a kindergarten field trip) then Krystle and I took the boys on Thursday, October 14th. They get more entries every year and the entries get more clever. My absolute favorite "scarecrow" this year was a Bernie Sanders (a US Senator) scarecrow depicting his outfit from the presidential inauguration in January. Let's just say it became a meme pretty quickly and everyone was having fun with it. I guess the fun just continues! Addie loved the Minnie Mouse one and the boys loved all the superheroes. But the favorite was a life sized Operation game scarecrow. It was really clever! The boys had a blast trying to extract the different object from the board without sounding the alarm. Whoever submitted that entry spent a lot of time on it. 

I tried to see if Jonas wanted to go to another fall festival during his break, but he opted to go to a playground on Friday, October 15th, to hang out with his cousins for Nolan's birthday. I'm glad he has his cousins to grow up with. I love seeing their friendships grow. I'm sure they will have fun for many more years to come. It's crazy to think that Nolan is 8! Again, why do they have to grow up? I'm not sure we'll make it to any more fall festivals this year. We have some busy weekends coming up. There are still a few more fall fun activities to participate in (e.g., pumpkin carving, trick-or-treating, etc.), but we've pretty much completed our fall bucket list...just in time for a fun-packed, super-busy, November ahead!