Fall in the Mountains

In mid-September we were seeing beautiful colors in the mountains, though the trees down in the valley were still very green.  We decided to drive up to Squaw Peak one Sunday after Church and get a closer look, plus collect a few leaves to bring home for projects.  Check it out.

Yes, this was our living room within about 12 seconds of getting home.
The kids must have been trying to re-create the "throwing leaves" picture.

A couple of weeks later we wanted another dose of beautiful fall colors, so we took a drive along the Alpine Loop.  We just took a few pictures from the windows of the car, and only stopped when Eliza needed to take care of some business in the forest.

The fall colors here are beautiful!  We will definitely miss nature's rainbow if we end up moving back to an area that doesn't have much of a fall.  I'm glad we took some time to enjoy it this year!

Two Dates in One Day

One beautiful weekend in September an outdoor mall near our house had an event called "Chalk the Block." Artists could buy a parking space to draw on and the proceeds were donated to charity.  The name "Chalk the Block" is a bit misleading because, as I learned while talking to the artists, they don't use chalk.  They use chalk pastels.  Big difference.

Did you get a good look at Eliza's right foot?

I brought Eliza to Chalk the Block late in the morning while Ben had Cat and Jack at Cat's soccer game.  The goal was to be able to do something fun, then get her home for a nap before everyone else came home from the game.  It was wonderful to just have one-on-one time with Eliza.  It doesn't happen very often.

The artists were still working on their artwork during the day, so we were able to talk to some of them and see works in progress, which was cool.

After we made the rounds, we saw a water table.  Eliza probably enjoyed this more than viewing the artwork, haha.

Then I let her help me choose one snack/treat from one of the street food vendors, and she chose to get something from the Italian Soda & Fresh Lemonade guy.  We ended up getting a Creamosa, which is basically an Italian Soda with cream mixed in.  Ohhhhh it was good.  I seriously considered going back to the mall later in the afternoon just for another one, but didn't do it.

That night Cat and I had a date planned.  We were going to use her coupon for free dinner at Applebees, then go to the Museum of Art at BYU.  She really wanted to invite her friend Makayla to come along, so she and her mother joined us at the last minute.

After dinner we drove to BYU to go to the art museum, only to find out that it closes early in the evenings on Saturdays.  But they still looked cute walking up to the museum together.

We decided to take the girls to Chalk the Block, and it was particularly cool for me to go back and see the previously unfinished artworks now finished.  I love that there was such an awesome variety!

Fantastical

Inspirational

Classical:
Rendition of Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring"

Disney/DreamWorks-Inspired

This one was our favorite though!

And here are a few before & afters, from my trip with Eliza and then later in the evening with Cat.

What a cool event!  Cat and Makayla loved it, and it was neat to see really impressive art in such a familiar setting.  It was also cool that the event was so popular - by the time we were there in the evening, people were walking through the parking lot more or less in single-file fashion, there were so many viewers.