Spotting Spawning Salmon

For the past couple of years, we've made the five mile round-trip trek at Causey Reservoir to see the annual Kokanee salmon run. This year, we weren't feeling up to such a journey, knowing that the kids aren't quite ready for a hike of that length (which means we'd be carrying them out and they're not as light as they used to be!).  Luckily, there's a place you can drive right up to see the action, no major hikes required!  That place is Porcupine Reservoir in Cache Valley.  And because any trip to Cache Valley isn't complete without some sort of gathering of Elwoods, we made it into an impromptu party on September 29th with Nate, Rachelle, Evelyn, Bradley (and Cabela), and Kylie and Michael joining us for the adventure.  We had a great time walking along the stream, admiring the bright red fish, and marveling at the life cycle of such creatures.  We then found a somewhat sheltered-from-the-wind picnic spot and enjoyed dinner together before parting ways.  What a fun way to spend an afternoon!

Someone was pooped - she fell asleep on the
drive to the reservoir.

What a sight!  Red in the water and in the trees!

The Little Bear River, which fills Porcupine.

Giant beaver dams we climbed over to get
further upstream to see more fish.

Now isn't that a nice setting for a picnic?!

Side note: Cal had requested to wear her dress that is the same
as Ev's in this picture "because Evy has one, and I bet we'll be
twins!".  We talked her out of it just to save a wardrobe change,
and what do you know, she was wearing the beloved dress!
(I couldn't keep them straight all afternoon, since Cal is often
dressed in a similar outfit!)

Pumpkin Fun with Grandma Blanchard

Grandma Blanchard invited us to have some pumpkin fun with her one Wednesday after school (when Gregg was out of town - that was a nice way to break up the week without him!).  We headed to West Haven right after I picked up Callie from her early out day.  Our first order of business was to visit the pumpkin patch - Grandma had scoped out the local spots and took us to a cute little farm called Mac's Pumpkin Patch in West Weber.  Everything was organized so neatly by size/type/price, and there was even a tractor to sit on and a hay slide to play on.  We picked out pumpkins for each Blanchard grandchild to decorate Grandpa and Grandma's porch with, plus a couple more for us to take home.

Then, it was back to grandma's house for pumpkin sugar cookie making!  Grandma had the dough ready and the kids had a fun time cutting out pumpkin shapes.

While the cookies baked, the pumpkins were decorated.  Grandma asked Callie to write everyone's names on a pumpkin and Cal took that duty to heart.  She even went further to decorate them with smiley faces and hearts and other colorful decor.

After all the pumpkins were placed on the porch with care, it was time for frosting and decorating the cookies!  Cal and Sam were in heaven with all those candy corns and chocolate chips!  We came home with oodles of cookies to eat and share!

Cookies are done and he's still snitching!  ;)

They fed us dinner and the kids played with all the toys and read all the books and then we headed back home to bed.  What a fun day to get us into the fun of fall!

Leaf Peeping at Monte Cristo

We remembered a few Septembers ago (three, to be exact) taking a little outing to the mountains to view the golden aspens at Monte Cristo Campground.  Wanting to recreate that delightful day, we packed a picnic lunch and the kids' bikes in the back of the subaru one Sunday in September (the 16th) (after church and naps, of course) and headed for the hills.  The scene was delightful - many aspens at their absolute prime, with plenty more still in the green shades, just ready to turn any time.  We loved strolling through the deserted campground, and the kids had a ball riding their bikes on those pretty smooth roads with no worry of cars.  I'm convinced leftover soccer ball birthday cake tastes 100% better when eaten outdoors in the fall.

Caution taping.

Had to stop to take a picture.

She was cruisin' and lovin' it!

Sam on the stump ("recreating" our first outing
when he was only 11 days old!)

We've had a lot of practice with the family selfie thing since
that first excursion.

I loved the ombre effect going on with these
aspens on the side of the road as we drove back
home - from red to orange to yellow to green.

Hey there, big fella - hanging out on the side of the road as we
drove home.

We loved our campground crusin' so much, we repeated the adventure the next week.  While the 23rd was a bit cooler and cloudier, and we didn't spend nearly as much time outside because of said weather, the drive was still lovely, and it was fun to notice the difference in the scenery with a week of time in between.

Lots of leaves down already on this loop!

I see this as a tradition we could keep up each fall (hopefully without the three-year gap in between).