simple is beautiful

It seems that it is the simplest of things that bring us the most joy.  The boys and I are happiest when we are outside together.  There is a trail in south Boulder (about 10 minutes away) that is mostly flat, and beautiful.  We love to go out there and play!  The boys ride their bikes and I run with them.  We usually go out about 1.5 miles, then we stop at a beautiful stream and throw rocks and "fish" with sticks and mess around.  It is a perfect activity.  Sunshine, fresh air, space and quiet, exercise, and of course uninterrupted time together.  It sounds particularly nice on this cold snowy day!

 

Here are some phone pictures from a couple of times out there.

 

My mom has joined us a few times, too.

It always makes me want to give away most of our toys and move to a house with some land... 

More Fall

Pumpkin carving.  We ended up with quite a few pumpkins, but lost a few to the cold when I neglected to bring them in.  The boys had fun, although neither particularly liked the "guts."

 

We had lots of fun in the leaves.  Usually the wind blows them away or the snow makes them soggy before we have much of a chance to play in them at our house, but we were able to a few days this year.

We haven't had much snow yet this year, but they have loved playing in it.  Last spring Austin was pretty limited in how long he would play out in the cold, but this fall he stayed out as long as Zach (until I made them come in and warm up!).

 

Oz digging, of course!

 And Zach eating the snow and making snowballs.

 

Halloween

We had such a fun Halloween!  We had lots of chances to wear the costumes:  the ward party, a music class party, a school class party, and trick-or-treating.

Austin was a tiger ("rawr!") and Zach chose to be a knight in shining armor.  They were darling!

Hilarious.

Check out this look! 

This year we went trick-or-treating with a big group of friends.  We only anticipated going for a little bit, but ended up being out for about 2 hours!!  The boys were having fun and when we would offer to turn around, they wanted to keep going.  So we did.  They loved to trick-or-treat with their friends.  The boys generally ran ahead of the crowd and it seemed like Zach went twice as far, going back and forth.

 

 

On Halloween Zach's class had a party, and I got to go help.  He was so excited about it.

 

Sitting with his friend Liam.

Playing a fun game with his teacher Mrs. Yang.

 

It was so fun to see him at in the classroom more.