in the moment

some days I am overwhelmed by all that I should do - or all that I could do - or want to do -

the laundry

cleaning

exercising

being a wife

being a mom

crafts/decorating/having a cute house

doing my church calling

being a good friend

building our food storage and savings accounts

reading good books

properly documenting all the fun things we are doing

cooking

maintaining relationships

the list goes on and on doesn't it?  

and really, most of the time, they are things I want to do, there usually just isn't enough time.

sometimes it is easy to get caught up in it all and it's easy to feel a bit defeated I guess.  It's sad we can all feel that way, when we're all doing so much and doing our best.  

I guess it's just beautiful fall days like these that remind me of what's really important, what matters and just really make me so grateful for my simple life.  it really is simple and although sometimes I feel less significant than I used to think I wanted to be, I am reminded that I matter to this little squirt and what more could I really ask for?

a beautiful day and a beautiful boy.

also, mostly unrelated, last night was kind of the first night Asher slept in our bed with us.  I went in to tuck him in and cover him with his blanket around 11, and for some reason it woke him up.  He popped right up in his crib, sleepy eyed and looking so confused.  His little voice said "mama?" (I had ran and hid behind his door as soon as he started waking up...haha, it was my first instinct.)  I poked back in and scooped him up out of his crib.  He snuggled in, and for some reason I took him to our bed.  He just looked so sweet, so perfect and cuddly.  Marcus was surprised but made room for him in our bed.  We snuggled our little guy and commented on how sweet he looked.  He quickly fell back to sleep, and I enjoyed laying there, holding him, thinking about how lucky I am to be his mom.  And about 15 minutes later I carefully carried him back to his bed so I could enjoy a good night's sleep.  :)

Beartrap Fork Trail

So this is a little late...but I want to document it just the same.  Three weeks ago Kate and I wanted to do a final hike for the season before it got too cold.  We wanted to do something long and somewhat difficult.  We were debating between Lake Blanch and Desolation Lake...but were worried about length and snow.  Instead we found some information on the Beartrap Fork Trail, and we decided on that.  I'm not sure why, as it was 2.5 miles and the information about it said it is essentially straight up the entire time.  It was not lying.  It was a killer workout with these babies on our backs but it was one of the most gorgeous places I have ever been.  The view from the top was absolutely incredible.

These babies were so good being in our backpacks for about 4-5 hours.  We had a fun picnic at the very top, and besides the wind, the weather was beautiful.

The fall colors were amazing and added so much to the beauty.  I'm glad we did this one in the fall.

The trailhead was up Big Cottonwood Canyon and was a little hard to find.  There were no trail markers and we basically were hoping we were hiking in the right direction on the right trail for about 2.5 hours.  Finally we saw a biker as we neared the top (the trail intersects with the Great Western Trail so there were lots of bikers coming on that) and he told us we were almost there!  Once on top, we could overlook Desolation Lake on one side, and The Canyons Resort on the other.  Overall this was an incredible hike and one I would recommend to anyone who was wanting a more strenuous hike with a beautiful reward.  

Pumpkin Patch

Ok be ready for cuteness overload.  Me and Asher picked up my mom and headed to Layton to meet Katie and Stella for some pumpkin fun.  Asher looked forward to this all week and we had a blast.  Asher and Stella were the cutest together.  Asher wandered around behind Stella, following her as she climbed over the mounds of pumpkins, and watching her as she pulled the little red wagon around.  They played together and searched and searched for the perfect pumpkin.

What a perfect fall day with Granny, Stella and Katie!

Wednesday Hikes

I am pretty lucky to have some amazing and adventurous friends.  We've loved hiking this summer/fall and I hate to see it end.  I couldn't go every Wednesday, but I wanted to document a few of the hikes I've done this year.  I looked forward to every hike and was so happy to be out in nature exploring with little Asher.  He is such a happy buddy and I loved hauling him around on my back.  He sure was a good sport about it and seemed to look forward to it as much as I did.

Donut Falls

(Shalane, Rilee, Nancy & me)

Bells Canyon

(Kate, Rilee & Me)

Cecret Lake

(Shalane, Kate & Me)

Ferguson Canyon

(Kate, Nancy & Me)

Tibblefork Lake

One Wednesday we were worried it was going to rain so we drove up Provo Canyon and down American Fork Canyon.  We stopped at Tibblefork Lake for a fun little picnic.

(Kate, Cara, Nancy & Me)

(these pictures are from Nancy)

Beartrap Fork

(Kate & Me)

This was the hardest hike we did for sure and also my very favorite.  I have a lot of pictures from this hike so I'm going to do a separate post.

The Living Room

(Kate, Rilee, Nancy & Me)

Thanks girls for the adventures!

Apple Picking

Yesterday April and I took our boys out to pick apples in a cute, small orchard in Sandy.  The apple trees were recently planted and really small, but it was perfect for us since that meant lots of apples low enough for little hands to reach.

I loved watching Asher run around the orchard, chasing Camden and Turner and stopping to pick some apples.  He's grab several in his arms and back up until they popped off the branch.  He seemed fascinated by all of these apples and just thrilled that he could pick as many as he wanted.

The kids munched away on their apples as we continued to pick.

 Just being in that orchard felt like the perfect fall activity.  The sun was shining and it was so nice to be outside. 

Asher ate lots of apples, and it was so cute to watch him enjoy the experience.  He is growing up and I am always surprised by how old he seems when we do things like this.  He talked about picking apples the whole way home and said he wanted to tell dad all about it.   

St George Getaway

Visiting the temple

a little bit of shopping

hiking and exploring the red rocks, sand dunes, lava tubes and petrified dunes at Snow Canyon

swimming {and playing around} in the icy pool

playing at the park

discovering delicious, hot doughnuts at Fractured Prune Doughnuts 

watching part of the marathon and being inspired by all those runners who were pushing through at mile 23

relaxing

listening to general conference.  

What a fun weekend.

Up to the Mountains

Friday afternoon Marcus got home a little bit early so that we could head out and do something fun.  We were debating between boating and backpacking.  We kept going back and forth because we worried it would be too cold to go backpacking or that we didn't have enough time.  Just before 3:00 we finally made our decision, and in a whirlwind we loaded up our backpacks with our gear, some ramen and instant oatmeal, and headed for Ruth Lake.

I'm pretty lucky that I get to carry such a cute little bundle while poor Marcus just had to carry our gear.

The lake was absolutely gorgeous as we got there, with the evening sun on the mountain behind it.  Such a beautiful place.

Asher loves hiking (being carried in the backpack while we hike) and later he was in heaven running around collecting rocks.  We hiked in, found a spot for our campsite, set up our tent and quickly made our ramen dinner.  It was just getting dark as we ate.  It was chilly when we hiked in, but by dark it was pretty dang cold.  We made a fire and bundled Asher up. 

Our delicious dinner by candlelight

I am a little embarrassed about this picture, but I was so glad we decided to bring the iPad.  When Asher woke up in the morning it was still so cold outside and really windy.  He was happy to stay inside the tent if he could watch a little Daniel Tiger.

Asher loved the tent and with the exception of not wanting to go to sleep, once he went to sleep he did great.  He slept all night and woke up at 8.  We ate our breakfast, enjoyed another fire and some hot chocolate, and then hiked out.  We had a frisbee game in Orem at noon that we had to get to, so it was definitely a quick camping trip.