293- Sunrise Over Mt Olympus

I took my Stuey to the airport this morning. Shortly after left the airport I was rewarded with this beautiful sunrise over Mt Olympus up in the Salt Lake Valley.

292- Fall in American Fork Canyon

Fall is, hands-down, my favorite season. It wasn't always that way but it is now.  As I child I love the summer the most... of course I live in a very temperate climate AND there was no school

 But now I love:

• the crisp nights 
• the faint smell of wood smoke or leaves burning
• the smell of apples, freshly picked
• the temperate days
• less lawn mowing (bwahahaha)
• but mostly I love the beautiful mellow colors that make up fall...

AMERICAN FORK CANYON

BTW- My BABIES turned 25 today! Happy Birthday Camille and Stuart

291- Staghorn Colors

This morning I was out bright and early to mow my lawn. I notice the sun peeking through the beautiful colors and just had to share it here.

290- Silly Tree Sunset

This silly tree lives out on Canyon Road. I'm not sure what its problem is but, as you can see, it only has leaves at the tips of its branches.

What better way to see it than in silhouette against a blazing sunset. What a beautiful world.

289- Embracing Aspen

The minute I saw these embracing aspen I said, *They're hugging!* I love to see this in nature.

288- Dragonfly

The days are getting shorter and nights are getting colder; we all start to move a little slower... including this very cooperative little fellow. I was within inches of him, lying on my stomach on the cement with him. After I was finished I got up turned around and when I'd turned back he'd flown away.

287- Happy Birthday Roxie

How can it be 4 years since our little Roxie was born? She missed being born on Friday the 13th by just minutes. She is one of the happiest little girls I know. She sings with gusto and literally jumps with joy over the things that make her happy.

Happy Birthday Precious Girl! Grammie loves you...

286- You Are So Twisted!

I'm feeling a lot like this corkscrewed aspen tree... it has been one of those very busy week where I feel like I am running a *day late and a dollar short*! Mostly I'm just tired and worn out from my *twisted* life.

That makes it sounds worse than it really is, but this is what I've done since Monday.

1. Found a not dead mouse in the sticky trap first thing in the morning... now what??
2. Edited and tweaked the photos of Desi's family (this took most of the day)
3. Realize that the way NOT to store the apples I picked on Saturday is in sealed plastic 3 gallon BYU buckets to keep the mice out of them (see #7 below)
4. At 9 pm on Monday know that if I don't do something with the quickly spoiling apples (the sealed bucket speed up the yuck factor from birdy pecked, wind fall and blemished apples) and make 14 quarts of apple pie filling. Ha... can't use the peeler/corer/slicer on blemished fruit... hand peeled and cut out bad spots but could slice them on the aforementioned machine.  Finished about 12:30... then couldn't sleep
5. Took my De-Lor-EE-us on our annual Alpine Loop drive (hence the cool aspen)
6. Came home and put up another 14 quarts of apple pie filling.
7. Realize that the swine-rodents, who've been giving dancing lessons to Gordon each night after I go to bed, have gotten into my oatmeal in the dungeon.  (They skitter back and forth across the family room avoiding all traps)
8. Transfer oatmeal from the cardboard boxes to my beloved BYU buckets... they are rodent proof!
9. Work a full shift at the Temple
10. Come home to find out that the ill-tempered-rodents put on a full out 3 hour show for Gordon last night while he was watching the miners being rescued in Chile.
11. See that the above mentioned rodents have been helping themselves to many other tasty treats in the dungeon!  
12. Used up the last of my 30+ BYU buckets rodent proofing anything that look remotely appealing that they could gnaw through. (Yeah... who invited them in anyway?)
13. Vacuum out the dungeon (ick... mousey-poopy! Hope I don't get hantavirus)
14.  Need to get more bucket at the Creamery tomorrow.
15. Set more traps in all likely paths
16. Whew... it's time for bed.

285- Picturesque Pear

I picked my apples and some of the pears on Saturday. Oh My! do they ever smell and taste wonderful.

I just loved the shape of this little girl pear... isn't she pretty?

284- Family-by-Choice

Can anyone have too much family? In my opinion- NO! I am so blessed by these wonderful people who love me, and treat me like a beloved family member. Blake and Emmalie have several sets of grandparents, including Grammie and Grampy.

Desi wanted to have a fall photo shoot so we headed up Maple Canyon in search of fall colors. These are a couple of my favorite...

Baby Blake...



and Emmalie Camille...