Happy Fall!

First, the good news... we have seasons! Look at these amazing colors.
I have been practicing with the different settings on my camera. I definitely know a lot more about photography than I did four weeks ago, but it made me want to take another class and get a better lens. You hear that Santa?
Now for the bad news... we have seasons. I told myself that I wouldn't complain about the cold when I got to Utah because I was so sick of the humid Florida summers, but I have since changed my mind. Holy flippin' heck! It is so cold!!! I woke up this morning and it was 30 degrees outside. Our thin Florida blood is not adjusting very well. I am wearing the only sweater I can find, am wrapped up in a blanket and I still have this uncomfortable feeling of never completely being able to warm up. It's the same feeling I had when I arrived in southern Argentina in the dead of winter, made worse coming from summer here. Our heater had to be turned off at night so we woke up to a frozen, tiled apartment at 6:30 every morning. I honestly never thought I would thaw out. I did though, in Florida.

I went out last night and bought everyone a coat. It had to be done. And I'm realizing that this is only the beginning. We all need new clothes for winter. Alex had one pair of pants (which isn't actually that much of a problem because he wears the same thing every day whether he has a drawer full or not). I seem to recall a box of winter clothes that we used for our visits to Utah, but it is safely tucked away somewhere in the storage unit. As well as one of my brown shoes that were going to be my winter shoes. Yeah, I have just one. These flip flops aren't cutting it anymore. Ugh, I am no good at buying clothes. Will someone be my personal shopper?

I can't wait to get into our new house. I am so grateful to have this basement apartment to live in and for the cheap rent, but we just don't feel quite settled here either. It will be so nice to have a garage so we don't freeze on the way to the car. Looking forward to that. You would think that if you were able to live 5 months without all the things in the storage unit, that probably means you don't actually need all that stuff. That may be true with some of it, but if I had a nickel for every time I said, "Oh, it's in the storage unit", I'd have at least enough money to pay for all the teeth my daughter keeps losing. (Lousy tooth fairy... apparently she's having trouble finding our new location.)

Anyway, last week was beautiful. It was warm for fall but there was also a crispness in the air. Just perfect. We went up the canyon to take pictures of the leaves. I didn't want to go in the morning because I hadn't done laundry in a while and couldn't find anything for the kids to wear (don't look too closely at Connor's attire--I pulled it from the dirty clothes). But my brother's family wanted us to take their pictures, so we went. We found this beautiful spot. Aren't the leaves amazing?My brother's family's pictures turned out great. They are like models. Ours? It is impossible to get one of everyone looking good. They sort of reflected our day and life a little. Erin threw up just minutes before from being car sick, which is why she is wearing the gray bands (only we put them on too late), Alex was mad about something, like not getting a pancake right then, Marissa was just being a stinker in most of the pictures and not smiling, and Connor was just plain tired.

I love Connor in this one. Okay, so I photoshopped Marissa's face in the first family picture because I wanted one where everyone looked good (ha--don't look too close).This is what Marissa really looked like. Stone faced.This one makes me laugh. Mad Alex, squirmy Connor, Marissa completing the circuit (thumb in mouth, finger on belly button). So typical!Cute Erin. And feeling much better here.The best one of Alex.Marissa being silly but refusing to smile......and here, smiling but refusing to look at meThis is what Connor looked like up the canyon. Tired child.My solution, photoshop a picture we took later that day into the fall background.This is the original. We decided to go through the drive through and eat at our new house. Looking back, it was a dumb idea. There was white dust all over the place and no place to sit. Go figure.Oh, I forgot to mention... Jared and I are actually models too.