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Well, the first snow is always magical – but I think the kids caught a glimpse of what makes Utah's snow "the greatest snow on earth."

Everyone was thrilled to wake up to the snow, and we had to rush a bit to unpack the box of snowpants and mittens so that everyone was ready to enjoy it.  Zach and Emma had to head off to school but the rest of us spent the entire morning outside… because the snow was wet and packable, and it wasn't too cold to have fun!  (Seemed like snows like that were rare in MN!)  

Carter couldn't get over the fact that there was snow all over the neighborhood… "Look Mom!  That roof got snow on it!  And that one too!  And that one!!!"    Of course it melted in a couple of days (also not such a MN thing) and they are already looking forward to the next storm.  

Since Nate spent the weekend in Rochester for a conference, I thought we'd visit another (closer and more manageable) place we used to live – so the kids and I took a road trip to Logan.  

We visited the Logan temple:  

Including the spot where Nate asked me to marry him… crazy to see all those kiddos there… and so fun to think about where we were and where we've come since then.  

Had to take a trip to Adams park/Adams school (Named after Nate's great-great grandfather John Q. Adams), and have a picnic in the beautiful leaves – I LOVE Logan on a warm fall day!!

And I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of our primary reasons for the visit – to spend time with Great-Grandma Adams and our dear friends the Mortensens and their sweet new baby boy.  The time passed too quickly as usual – guess we'll have to plan a trip back soon! 

I would have to say that our family definitely gets their money's worth out of any baseball clothes we have ever bought… mainly due to Zach's orchestrating all kinds of uniform-requiring activities.  (This is just a regular Friday afternoon…)

We have absolutely loved Gage!  We have had such wonderful teachers, the kids have made such wonderful friends, we couldn't have lived without Miss Jane at the front desk and her endless patience, and we just have such happy memories here.  The littles and I snuck in for one last lunch with Zach (since his birthday was a on a weekend and we didn't go in this year for it) and got a quick picture with one of his best buddies (the other is his twin brother!)  We will miss being Gators!  

I remember loving this as a kid!  Can't believe it's "heater" time of the year already.

As bad as Wal-mart usually is, it is worse with a cart that inexplicably shocks you the entire time you shop, a container of broken eggs, and 4 hungry kids – one of whom hates the cart and is more than ready for a nap. 

Even though the milk and bread SEEMED like a necessity – maybe next time we'll just make do without. 

Apparently, Meg is serving pets for dinner tonight.  (In addition to the cats on plates, there is a toy dog "rising" under the towel in her bowl…)  She is very matter of fact about it all.  Hilarious.

Meanwhile, Carter and I are making sugar cookie dough.  Do you think he likes the dough as much as I do?  (My kids always ask for "a smidgen" – but this time, since he was the only one home, I let him go to town.)

And for good measure, here is a pic of them headed to pick up the kids today – found Carter with his arm around her (nicely) – what mom can resist that??

   
Well, this was a memorable hike.  We had some friends who had taken their family letterboxing at one of our favorite hiking sites and thought that might be a fun new twist to a hiking adventure.  After following the directions carefully (except for the one that suggested wearing long pants since you might have to hike through underbrush) we came to the part where you hike X number of yards off the path to the base of a tree… so, off the kids went to get the box.  You can see them starting to itch already in the picture of them hiking over there – by the time they got to the tree they were covered in something (we never figured out quite what – it was awful for about 30 minutes then the irritation gradually faded away).  Nate waded in (also in shorts and also getting a heavy dose of poison something or other) and carried everyone out (after getting the letterbox stamp, of course – couldn't forgo that after all that work!)   Next time we'll wear pants.