Happy Fall!

This Fall season continues to keep us very busy. I feel like I don't ever have time to blog, so I just "check-in" every once in a while. Dakota's finger is healing nicely. I never had to change her bandages, because Daddy had Troy look at it and he told us to keep everything off of it, including the splint, in order to allow the wound to "dry up". Dakota was worried about it the first couple days and her finger was obviously more sore without support around it. But it didn't take long for her to forget about it. She was very proud to show off her black and blue finger and nail to anyone who would listen.

A few weeks ago, we went to the pumpkin patch (Jaker's - off of the road coming into Springville) the day after Dakota broke her finger. Other than having to watch Dakota like hawks, to assure she didn't fall on her finger again, we had a great time. Aunt Holly, Aunt Heidi, and Steve met us there. We like hand-picking our pumpkins and cutting them off the vines. The girls always manage to pick huge ones that they can't carry themselves, which leave the adults making several awkward trips to the car. The girls like to play in the small (very small) maze and stacks made out of hay bales. Lots of the straw made it home with us (coming out of shoes, hats, shirts, pants cuffs, and pockets).

This little trip to Jaker's has become a tradition for our family for a fun October Family Home Evening. Last year, we carved our pumpkins. This year, we did something a little different. "Picasso Pumpkins" (the term we coined for this particular style of pumpkin decorating) is never as messy as carving pumpkins and the pumpkins last longer. But most of all, this activity provides us many chuckles...and then some. We were laughing so hard as our creations came to life. The results are always a surprise, and sometimes startling. But what else can you expect when "Vogue" magazine provides all the facial features. These Picasso Pumpkins have been gracing our porch now for several weeks, welcoming our guests. We always get comments on them.

Below is a slideshow of the pics I took from our adventure. Aunt Heidi has other pics on her camera, including some of Darin and I with the girls, but I'll have to get those from her later. Until then...Happy Fall.