big girl

See that underwear peeking out? Yep, my girl is potty trained and I am a happy mom. About a month or so ago she just decided it was time. So she potty trained herself. Seriously. She just started wearing underwear and never looked back. The thing is, you can't tell this girl what to do. It's got to be her idea.

Good Books

I love when I read a good book and it gets me in reading mode. And then I read another good book and as soon as I finish it I can't wait to find my next good read. I've been in a serious reading kick lately thanks to some good books. If you are looking for a good book, here are a few recommendations.
First is Percy Jackson and the Olympians. It's a series of five books. They are similar to Harry Potter (but not quite that good!). They are quick, fun, easy reads. My 10 year old nephew was reading them at the same time as me and he loved them. I thought the first one was a little predictable, but they got better. I think book 5 was my favorite.

I think I might be the last person on earth to read the Hunger Games. I heard about it from so many people. And like everyone else, I loved it! It can be a little disturbing, but it's one of those books that just grabs you and you can't put it down. I also read the second book, Catching Fire, but I didn't like it as much as the first.

And finally, another book that was recommended to me by a lot of people, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. This was another quick read that I just loved. It touches some on World War 2, which always interests me, but in a very fun, lighthearted way. This book made me want to write. Letters, journal, whatever, just write. It's all written in letters. It made me sad that the days of writing letters have passed.

Happy Reading!

Love for Autumn

One of my favorite things about living in SLC is the fact that we have four distinct seasons. The fact that each season doesn't last too long makes me appreciate them more. Although spring and fall always go way too fast. So before the snow comes here are some of the best things about fall:

1. Utah Football. Far and away the best thing about this time of year.
2. College football in general. Definitely my favorite sport to watch.
3. Autumn leaves. We took a Sunday afternoon drive a month or so ago and the colors were ridiculous. I posted a few pics from that day below.
4. Going to the park when it's not so blasted hot.
5. The zoo. Some of our all-time best zoo days are in the fall. It's not as hot, it's not crowded, and the animals seem more lively.
6. Sports. This time of year is great for sports. Besides football, basketball is getting started, baseball is actually interesting (this is the only time of year I watch it), even MLS soccer is still going on.
7. Halloween. I've never been a huge fan of Halloween, but it made my list because my kids are so dang excited. Halloween is way more fun now that I have kids.
8. Apples from Grandpa's tree, and Grandma's homemade applesauce.
9. Kids fall rec soccer. It's classic.
10. Did I already mention Utah Football?

The Big Apple

Blair was going to New York for work a couple weeks ago, so I decided to tag along. And of course that means Weston got to tag along as well. I hadn't been to NYC since I was in junior high, so it pretty much felt like going for the first time. I loved it! There is so much to see and do. Nate and Dani came up from DC for a few days. It was awesome to hang out with them.

A few random thoughts and observations:
1. There are a lot of people in Manhattan.
2. There are a lot of buildings in Manhattan. Seriously, it blows me away how much is packed on to that island.
3. New York has very good pizza and very good cheesecake.
4. Visiting Ground Zero was very sobering. The memorial museum moved me to tears. It was interesting to go there with Nate and hear about his experiences in NYC on 9/11.
5. A lot of movies have been filmed in NYC. Now I want to go watch all of them.
6. I ate way too much (see #3 above).
7. Central Park is huge. I mean, I knew it was big, but being there was different. It is amazing how you can be on the noisy, busy, crowded streets of New York and then you walk into the park and you are in this beautiful, green, peaceful place. Awesome.
8. We walked a lot, which is a good thing considering how much we ate.

Weston update

I realized I haven't posted many pictures of Weston. He's growing up so fast. So here's Blair and Weston hanging out in Central Park last week.

Oregon

Fro, Weston and I headed up to Oregon last weekend to see the Utes play and have a little fun. Although the Utes were less-then-impressive, we still had a great time. We spent some time exploring the Columbia River Gorge - saw some awesome waterfalls and beautiful scenery. I can't believe how green it is up there! Weston was a trooper. He must be a true Ute because he was good the entire game despite the noise (that stadium was so loud!) and getting rained on most of the game.

create

This inspires me.