Falling a little more

 This was turning out to be a great fall in the valley.  The leaves on the trees and the trails were spectacular, and the weather was supurb.

Jacob has the best teacher for 3rd grade.  She is always comig up with fun educational activities for the kids.  They were learning about different part of the body and used pull and peel licorice to make brain replica's.  He loved it, and made his schools facebook page with this picture. 

Spencer went to a local pumpkin patch with his 6th grade class for a field trip.  He had to so much fun, that we went again with Jacob and his buddy's that weekend.

 Maren had an awards banquet for cross county and her coach's were very gracious in their praise of her hard work all season.  She deserved it, and came to really love running with the kids on her team. 

These pictures were of her last cross country meet in Aspen. 

This runner she kept pace with most of the time was also named Marin, except with an i.  Not very many share her name, so it is fun when she finds another. 

 Jacob's class had thier 3rd grade music concert.  They sang songs from movies, and were able to dress up from a character from their favorite movie.

 He has the best buddies!

We took a quick weekend trip to Deadhorse point with the Jacobson's, and loved hiking a biking with them.  It was beautiful, but quite chilly a lot of the time.  But I guess that is what you get when you camp at 8,000ft in late October!

Maren is really good at making everyone nervous...

Jacob learning from his sister...

Dave, Mardi, and I took a really fun ride on rodeo one evening.  it was beautiful, but we were definately doing our best to finish before dark.  It seems to be a theme with this trail, but it is so fun.  Probably one of the best built trails I have ever ridden, so very fun.

 We took the kids on a ride another day, and it was spectacular.  We love the trails up in this area for kids.  They are the best for beginner mountain bikers, and really help to teach confidence, and the fun factor is always there. 

Our last morning before pakcing up, we decided to wake up early to hike mesa arch in canyonlands.  It is a spectacular arch any time of day, but in the morning when the sun is rising, it leaves you speechless.  I was so glad we did this!  It was hard to get everyone up and going when it is cold and dark, but they will always remember that hike.  

But, there was a really big downer to our adventure.  So many potographers also had the same idea, and were all set up at the base of the arch to get their shots.  And they just stayed there...

But we still found a good place to enjoy watching the sun rise, while avoiding the crowd.

It was a great way to spend the early morning, and then get back to clean up camp, and head back home, including our kids favorite stop, 7-eleven for slurpees.

We got back in town in time to celebrate Halloween and have a fun time trick or treating.  This year, Spencer was a Samari (he made this costume out of cardboard, and spray paint), Maren was a Which, wich, Skai was a super hero dog, and....

Jacob was a Ronaldo, one of the many of his soccer hero's.

Maren took a drawing class this fall, and I love to watch her talent grow.  This is something she spends a lot of time doing, sketching.  I love to see how multi talented she is, and how she is willing to put in the time and effort to grow those talents. I admire that.