"Slow Down, You Move Too Fast..."

I don't want to brag or anything, but I've been great at taking pictures lately. So yeah, there's a few pictures in this post. Maybe a few too many. It also seems that lately I've been doing a decent job of letting the dishes sit in the sink longer and the laundry go unfolded so that I can play. I'm not so good at that sometimes, but I've really been enjoying being a fun mom, until the mess drives me crazy and I let the TV babysit the kids.

The other day we got ready to run errands and when we went outside to get in the car, it just seemed wrong to not be outside. The air was crisp, the leaves were falling, it was picture perfect. It surprised me that I had to teach the kids how to play in the leaves! We threw them around, jumped in piles, and made leaf angels.

Rich's brother Jacob left on his mission this past Wednesday so we went to say good bye after he was set apart. Miles and Gwen are getting really familiar with their cousin Ethan, which I'm grateful for. I also think it's hilarious that Gwen looks like she's twice as big as Miles and half as big as Jeffrey in this picture.

We met Ethan and Makenna in SLC at Liberty Park one day. We tried to get into the cheap day at The Tracy Aviary, but we were too late. The kids could have cared less, the park was super cool. Have I mentioned before that Richie comes home around 330 every day? It's amazing.

It was a good thing we played in the leaves when we could cause a few days later it was snowing! This is my first Northern Utah Winter, and I'm curious to see how it pans out and how it compares to an Eastern Idaho Winter. On Friday it snowed. I wasn't feeling ambitious enough to venture outside or run errands, so we stayed at home all day Friday. Tell you what, it was fun...and exhausting. After our normal morning routine we made cookies, read books, brought back the trusty "stuck inside slide", turned the slide into a fort and ate cookies in the fort.

Richie has the idea of being a "fun dad" down. When he got home that day, he took Miles outside to play in the snow while Gwen was still sleeping. Before I sent him outside with dad, we just sat on the couch and watched the snow fall. He said, "I so love the snow. It's Christmas time!" Yup, this kid knows all about snow. Thanks Idaho.

Today, Gwen got in on the snow action today and helped Miles and dad build a snow fort, while mommy cleaned the bathrooms. Check! We had Gwen so bundled up, all that stuck out were those kissable cheeks!

So that's our life lately. We're "feelin' groovy". And when I say groovy, I really mean, we seem to wake up every morning wondering how we got so blessed.