Fall 2013

It's been a fun, busy fall! This is my favorite season . . . here are some snippets of what we've been up to.

I adore the deep, rich colors that nature explodes with in the fall.

Alex was incredibly proud of this pumpkin that he made at preschool.

Alex and Sarah at the pumpkin patch for a preschool field trip

I know this picture is dim and blurry, but I didn't want to disrupt the moment by opening the blinds or turning on lights. I stumbled out of bed one school morning and found these three already up and reading the scriptures--Katie with her special copy of the Book of Mormon and Abby helping Alex repeat words from the scripture story book. It was so cute!

Here's one way to enjoy General Conference  :)

I got to take a quick trip to Salt Lake to see Jennie off on her mission!

It was awesome to all be together! Jennie's request before she left was to have Mom and Dad and all her siblings attend the temple with her, so I'm glad it could happen! (Too bad we were missing four husbands.)

The "Original 8"-- and of course, we put ourselves in order of age, because what's the point of having a huge family if you can't do nerdy stuff like that in pictures, I ask you?

Mom and Dad with Jennie

The "Original 10" (age order scrambled--{gasp!})

Sending Jennie off to Spain!

I had the awesome opportunity to meet up with Nadiya Stasyuk, a dear friend from Ukraine. She just happened to be in Salt Lake at the same time I was on her first visit to the U.S. She is almost exactly my age and joined the Church in Mariupol 15 years ago, about a year before I arrived there as a missionary. We hit it off as great friends and have been able to keep in touch since then. It was so great to catch up with her and hear about everyone in Mariupol!


While I was off partying, Luke (a.k.a. "SuperDad") held down the fort at home and took the kids on a fun hike to one of our favorite places, the Withrow Nature Preserve.

Abby baked bread for Sunday dinner while I was gone.

An autumn park day

Alex -- the handsome October birthday dude!

{posing with his stack of presents!}

{and his fancy-shmancy cake}

5 years-old!

At the church trunk-or-treat (with Abby's friend Maya, a.k.a. the forest nymph)

Katie with her Girl Scout troop

Katie on a night hike with her Girl Scout friends . . . brrrr!

Abby and Sarah on a Sunday evening family hike . . . 

. . . and having a "breakfast snuggle"

Another breakfast snuggle . . . mornings can be a bit groggy around here! We all secretly wish we had a binky and a lovey to get us through them.

We're so excited that Luke has accepted a faculty position at Cincinnati Children's Hospital! After 15 years of education and training, he has definitely earned this amazing opportunity. It's so nice to have a plan for the next few years and to be able to "bloom where we're planted" for the time being.

Alex and I got to help with Abby's classroom Halloween party. She got really into the toilet paper mummy-wrapping activity!

We had a fantastic visit from Mom and Dad the day after Halloween! We loved being together!! Here we are at the Louisville Kentucky Temple.


Trick-or-treating was postponed for a day here because of storms, so Pops and Grannie got to join us for it! Here are the kids with our cute neighbors, Ashley, Alexis, and AJ.

Jack-o-lanterns in the day . . .

. . . and at night

Pops sat on our front steps in his awesome hat/wig and handed out candy while Grannie went around the neighborhood with us.

The Ohio River at sunset -- we had dinner at a mall in Newport, Kentucky, right on the banks of the river.

Pops, Katie, Alex, and Sarah with the Ohio River and downtown Cincinnati behind them

Park morning with Grannie and Sarah  :)

We're excited for Thanksgiving!

The 18-year-old, blue-and-white-checked Boyer couches have been given a new life!
(Yes, we did take those black tags off . . . )
{Photo bomb by Alex.}

"All in a day's work" . . . 18 bags of leaves!

Sarah and I made a little plan this week that's she's going to stay home with me forever and never grow up, so I'll always have a cute little buddy to hang out with during the day. Whew, I'm glad we got that settled!