Last Hurrah of Warm(er) Weather

A couple of weekends ago we decided to go for a drive up Millcreek Canyon to check out the Fall Colors. When we got to the top of the canyon we got out to stretch our legs and the kids wanted to hit the trail. We went for a little bit but since we had not planned on hiking we were not ready (a in canvas summer shoes, Me in cute leather flats, no warm jackets).

This past weekend was supposedly the last warm weekend of the year (if the weatherman can be believed?!?!?). The weather was that perfect fall "cool" with the sun brightly shining. We headed back up Millcreek, this time totally ready and decided to hike the "Mountain Aire" trail. It was perfect, not too steep. Little a was such a trooper, she hiked the whole trail with us, never letting anyone carry her at all.

It was the perfect way to enjoy the last remnants of warm fall weather. A and a loved it and can't wait to go hiking again!
 

 

Gallery Stroll and Big A...the Great!!!

 

Listening to "His" song

Jeff is painting again (Yea!) and he has been picked up by a really great gallery, The Slusser Gallery in Salt Lake. The gallery had a big opening for their Halloween show this last week. Jeff has 5 pieces in the show so we all attended the opening. A and a were great, pretty well behaved and super cute.

The Gallery typically has a band playing for their openings. A really fun folk band "Millie and the Moths" played this time. The kids LOVED it and spent a lot of time dancing in the middle of the gallery. The lead singer said she wanted to play something special for Big A since he was so enthusiastic. She said "So... are you a cowboy?" He shook his head no. "Are you a... Hipster?" he shook his head no and answered "I'm Alexander!" The singer laughed and said "Perfect! I have a song just for you!!!" and she played a song called "Alexander the GREAT" (you can hear it here). Big a, who had been a total ham before that, got all shy and stood listening to the song, really paying attention. It was perfect and though he wouldn't admit it, he LOVED it.

 

Annual Trip to Gardner Village

It's Fall in Utah and that means it's Witchy-Poo time at Gardner Village.

We always so enjoy all the fun festivities and

I can't help but take some fun pics of my little Monsters.

Easy Peasy DIY Photo Magnets

I Love the idea of Photo Magnets. Having your favorite pics on the fridge without having them swoop out from behind a magnet. I however do not like the idea of paying $5+ for a 2" x 4" magnet from the photo places. I often get emails for "free" magnets that turn out still being over $4 for shipping and handling... No Way!

I decided to try my hand at creating some and found out that you can EASILY (seriously it IS easy!!!) make these yourself for...(drum roll)...free!

To start off you need to collect any advertising magnets you come across. One place you can easily find a few is attached to your phonebook. When my office got new phonebooks this fall I asked if anyone minded if I filched all the magnets, no one minded, SCORE! 20+ magnets. Now that you are thinking about them you will find that they are all over the place. I have found them at restaurants, the vets office, our cable company office. All over. SO when you happen upon some, grab a few for later use. You can buy sheets of magnet at the craft store but its is really pricey and really with all the freebies out there you don't need to.

Now that you have your magnets all you need is some glossy pictures, adhesive (double sided tape, sticker maker, tape runner etc) and scissors.


First Gather your photos and advertizing magnets

Next cut your magnet and photos to the same size.
 (I like to do different shapes, Here I did 2" round ones with a large punch I have.)

Next apply adhesive to your photos.
(I used the Xyron creat-a-sticker, but you could use double sided tape,
  a tape runner, or even a strong glue stick)

Next Carefully line up your photo to the pre-cut magnet and stick them together

Ta Da! Truely Free Photo Magnets!!

I like to make little bundles for the grandparents for holidays.
Fast easy presents that they love and can actually can use.

 

It's Official... Big A is 5!!!

With the big Disney trip it feels like we have been celebrating the Big A's Birthday for the past month now. However it is now official, He is a 5 year old. He had his 5 year old check-up and is Off-The-Charts tall. I think we might have a future Utah Jazz Player on our hands. He is getting so grown-up looking. We had his 5 year old pictures taken at FotoFly. They did an amazing job...as always!

We celebrated with a little family party. Lots of presents and good food. The theme was "Disney" - Cars and Mickey especially...keeping with the Disneyland theme.

I always hope he has fun and enjoys the things we do for him. Right before he went to bed on his Birthday he said "Mommy, My Birthday was AWESOME!" I think we succeeded this time.



It was a very "Ninja" Birthday!
One of his Favorite Presents!



Spooky Halloween FREE printable!

Where has the summer gone?!?! I was reminding Mom the other day that "Sons of Anarchy" was coming back. SHe said "O really? I didn't think it was coming back until September." Um Mom..... It IS the middle of September!! I know how she feel though, I am not quite in the "Fall" vibe yet.

 

That being said I AM getting all geared up for Halloween. All the stores are getting their decorations in and pinterest is absolutely FLOODED with Halloween pins. It is getting me really excited!

 

While I was looking around Pinterest I saw these AWESOME "You have just been poisoned" etched glasses from etsy...( They are avaliable HERE).

 

 I loved the idea but not the thought of spending that kind of money on a new set of glasses OR trying to find a place to store them after halloween. I came up with a simple and easy way to achieve sort of the same effect (Not nearly as awesome as the etched ones though). I created a template to print off and then I am just going to "glue" them to the bottom of some clear glasses with NON-Permenent tape runner. (You could also use double sided tape!) I created a free printable PDF so you too can "poison" some of your Halloween friends ;)

 

The original...My inspiration!

Here is my printable sheet for you!
http://freepdfhosting.com/bb0cd39a6b.pdf

 

Pumpkin Harvest

This year we had some crazy weather. The summer was Crazy HOT, ABOVE normal temps constantly. Now "Fall" has hit and it's really COLD, BELOW normal temps. Plus to make matters worse we had no transition, one day we were MELTING, the next FREEZING! Crazy!

Anyway because of these extremes home gardens have not flourished like they normally would. We planted three pumpkin plants (one White, one Orange, one Mini) this year. Last year we had one and got 3 HUGE pumpkins off of it. This year we got a small white a medium orange and 5 mini... That's it. To top it all off the vines were dying so we had to have an early harvest. Here's hoping they will last until Halloween!