Balloon Glow

We love the annual balloon glow in our little city. Every year we wake up before sunrise and head 30 miles south. We follow a long line of cars down into the canyon. It's dark, it's freezing, but it's beautiful.





We loved this spider pig :)







This is one of our favorite traditions!

Take a look at last year's beautiful photos.

A NINE Year Old in the House

He's been counting down the days. Every single year-no fail he starts the countdown sometime in the summer.

I think every year he tends to get up earlier and earlier too ;)

We love to celebrate him. He loves to feel special, so we try and make sure he knows he is. He brings such joy to our lives. He is so very helpful and is turning into quite a young man. He has worked extremely hard this year and is trying so many new things. I can really tell he is growing up.









I love:

his smile
the way he treats his friends
the way he asks adults how they are doing
how I can hear him in the mornings doing his chores without me asking
the way he is truly enjoying school this year
seeing his art work (he loves to draw, paint, and got to art class)
watching him play soccer
to see him make his brothers laugh
to hear his laugh
when he tells me all about the book he is reading
how excited he still gets over all the things us adults forget to be excited about
that he brings such light in our home

We love you Tibby. Happy Birthday!

Leaf Jumping

Last weekend Dan cleaned up the yard. The boys begged him to save a pile of leaves for them to jump in. They would line up, and Dan would throw them in. So much fun!





This guy was more interested in having a cup of cocoa.



I love this boy. He is the biggest help and has such a wonderful heart.



Doing their own little thing. I sure love having them around!

Pirates of the Canyon 2012

We hopped out of bed at 5:00 AM this morning to enjoy the annual hot air balloon launch. It was an absolutely gorgeous morning!

I can't get over how stunning it was. Such a beautiful blessing. Have a wonderful Sunday!

Simple Beauty

I've been spending many mornings admiring the beauty of fall. The simplicity of this season is so comforting, and it's beauty is breath taking.

 I love how the trees seem to glow.

 And the bits of red that remind me that winter will be here soon.

Even inside we have a sense of calm play. Gearing up for days spent inside staying cozy and warm.

Our kitchen is the the heart of our home, and it doesn't lack the small touches of fall that make this room an even more pleasant one.

I hope you are taking moments to stop and enjoy the changing seasons. 

Nature Walk and Craft

We aren't the best at nature studies, but I have been trying to get out intentionally for exploration at least once a week.

We noticed the difference in the blooms on the liriopi.

 We had to bring a football along of course...?

 Admired reflections.

 And the beauty of the sun in the trees!

We collected sticks and leaves and made a frame and a little deer friend. Can't wait to see all those trees turn colors of the leaves we found!

Sprucing Up the House

We have a lot to of shelves in our house and I've been ignoring some of them. They were cluttered with stuff I didn't know what to do with so I just left it. Well, we've been here 5 months now and I was really sick of feeling like we just moved in while looking at those shelves. Oh, and quite sick of coming up with excuses like, I didn't have anything to organize or decorate them...come now?!

These shelves are above our fridge. You can see I had some candles and coffee filters etc up there. You know, just whatever.



I wanted it to look pretty, with pops of fall colors, so this is what I came up with. And the coffee and filters are in the basket on the left.

Then, in the back room we have this little computer area that I barely have a picture of because it just wasn't nice, but you can see the chords etc on the shelf above. Pretty much what it all looked like.



Chords in baskets, books and papers in the crate, and printables I had printed for free online a few months ago, but never used. I think it looks much better and feels better too! I also framed a painting of the sun that Brighton did a few weeks ago. Brightens up the spot a bit!

We Are That Family