Autumn Wonderland

October 27, 2009. *SnOw* . Wow. It was a beautiful site with snow blanketing all the colors of our beautiful fall. It definitely begs the question: Are we ready for Winter? Someone in this house will answer with much enthusiasm to the affirmative. I think it's a blessing to live somewhere that we can enjoy the 4 seasons. These photos were taken on the road to our home. One looking up the the hill, the other looking down. Sometimes you just have to breathe it all in.

The wonder is that we can see these trees and not wonder more. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

So I didn't quite get the photo when she was at her peak ~ but this tree has to be the most spectacular tree in our neighborhood! It is gorgeous! Hasn't it been a glorious fall? I photographed a wedding day for a friend yesterday and it was one of those perfect days.

We live in such a sweet place. Walking through our neighborhood is delightful...

We have a busy little squirrel that lives in a tree at our house. He is stockpiling nuts for his winter stores. We caught him with a mouthful! We thought Liam would get a kick out of this very large nut he has. Double click to get a bigger view. He was in such a hurry, it was hard to get a good picture of him going about his business. Sheeesh - Do their squeekers EVER wear out??

Happy Fall Everyone!

Thinking about Halloween Costumes, yet?? I am!

Gourmandise

We had no idea this little gem of a place existed not too far from home!

Gourmandise.

Check it out if you are ever downtown in SLC and need a little treat or something to warm up your tummy. Excellent service and the pastries are as gorgeous as they get! Lindsey and I dined there for lunch yesterday and brought a few home for the folks at home to sample!

250 South 300 East - and parking available right there!

Gardeners Market

One of the highlights of the summer/fall season in Cache Valley is our sweet little Gardeners Market. We don't get to go every week, but it is always a treat when can make it. Live music - breads & baked goods - freshly made cheeses to sample - and the produce! We are down to only 2 weeks remaining. Last Saturday was very chilly - but warm with friendly exchanges and beautiful eye candy!!

I couldn't resist these mittens. The cute girl that makes them sold out last week. You should have seen the little itty bitty ones she had for babies. They were all spoken for or I would have snagged up a couple of them.

Tried a new variety of apples . . . Sweet 16's. Yummy.

HAD to take home some fresh beets. When you have a shady yard . . .

this farmers market is such a blessing to our tummies!

And we had to try some of these nifty lookin cucumbers!

Halloween cheer and craftiness abounds.

Talented artisans sell their wares. (Emily is the proud owner of this little set) This cute girl shared with me her secrets in making these clay imprinted necklaces. That was sweet.

(She also sold yummy muffins!)

This bitty beanie will be worn by our new little granddaughter

coming to earth in just 3 more months!

Hope you are all enjoying autumn. It's glorious.

Baby Love

After a week of being cooped up in the basement - we had to get Emily out of the house for a fresh look at life. We headed down to the Hogle Zoo to enjoy a wonderful afternoon of this beautiful fall weather and to meet the baby animals! We weren't able to get a photo of the 3 baby tigers - they were well hidden in the trees. We did see them bob around and hear their playful growls. The baby snow leopard was snuggled in with his mom but the little giraffe and elephant were very friendly. How adorable they were! We have a slideshow especially for Liam and wished he could have been with us!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

H1N1 - Day 3

Our Miss Emily has contracted the dreaded Swine Flu. Poor little thing. She has spent the past 72 hours flat down on the couch. We are all doing our best to stay germ-free. Dr. Mark said she would most likely be down for a good 5 days. She is accepting jokes to cheer her up. Benjamin Alexander started the fun with several. Her favorite one was:

what do u call a clairvoyant midget who's escaped from prison?

a small medium at large!! HEE HEE!

Above some lovely art she created last night.

Below she is ready to try to enjoy a strawberry banana milkshake.

Get well soon, Em! We love you!!

And everyone out there ~

WASH YOUR HANDS!

Denver

This past weekend, Mark & I enjoyed another little get-away. September has been the month to go for us! He had a Hospice Convention in Denver and I was lucky enough to get to tag along. Here is a very longish post about our 3 day immersion on a pretty fun little city!

We checked into the Hyatt Regency right next to the Convention Center, where Mark's conference was being held. Nice place. We had a little mix-up with his luggage, but things were soon sorted out. For some great comedy, be sure to visit Denver whilst they host a National Beer Festival. Pretty entertaining on the streets at night.

Denver get Kudos for wonderful art to be found everywhere you look!

They have done a beautiful job with their fair city.

Just for Reed - it's another wonderful souvenir for his collection from his Fav Auntie!!

Spent a gorgeous fall day exploring a little bit. I headed for Pearl Street (South Denver) to hunt down a couple of shops I had read about on a blog. What a great little area. I loved The Green Monkey Baby, Jewelers Gallery (all local artists), 5 Green Boxes (My favorite), Bell Studio & Gallery (They even had a beautiful hooked rug in the gallery!), Paper Talk and Polkadot. It was just one of those perfect days to savor. And lunch was the cherry on top!! Gaia's bistro. There is sooo much good food in this world and I love to sample it ALL! I had a scrumptious Roasted Tomato & Fresh Mozzarella/Pesto Toasted Sandwich with the most divine Carrot Coconut Ginger Soup. It is my mission to re-create that soup! I may even make a phone call and ask for the recipe. I don't usually choose or enjoy dining by myself, but this time it really was an easy thing to do :)

We are Foodies....and it is the joke at our house that I am always taking photos of yummy food. I don't know why I like to do that. I just do. It makes me happy. I guess it could be kind of like a photography diet - take more photos, eat less food. Only it doesn't always work quite like that.

Great suggestion from Janell! "VESTA" What a nice place. We had reservations after the game on Friday night. (Don't share a footlong hot dog before coming here to dine - there will never be enough room for all the morsels you will want!) This is probably some of the best food we have EVER had. It's a dipping grill so you choose your entree and it comes with 3 suggested dipping sauces. You may swap them out for any of the dozens offered. I had the Smoked Chicken and Mark had Scallops. The service was top-notch and the atmosphere was perfect.

What a lucky find! Thanks, Janell!

The photos aren't too hot, but a nice reminder for us. They served crusty bread with a head of roasted garlic. mmmmm. Please try it out if you are ever in the area. We say it's worth the splurge. We shared a salad with the best roasted onion dressing. Sadly there was no room for dessert that night. Darn hotdog!

The Denver Art Museum is a work of art in itself. wOw. Talk about every possible angle. Check out this link to see some very cool photos of this gorgeous building. A true work of art... & filled with so many treasures - it makes your head spin.

The collections they had in this place were really remarkable. We were overwhelmed trying to take it all in. The 6th floor with all the European Art was closed for remodeling. Thank heavens! I can't imagine try to absorb all of that as well!

We only had about 3 hours to spend here. Guess we'll just have to make another trip back. The best part was we happened to be there on a "FREE" day!

*Mad Greens* for a delicious, light lunch. Why can't EVERY city have one of these??

I was thrilled to find pieces from civilizations that I studied last year in my World History class. The pieces right below are from the Tang Dynasty (619-900 BC) and the wooden horse from the Han Dynasty (206-220 AD)

I just love this guy. It's all in the way you hold your toes.

He is worth a double click!

People have been around for a very long time. What a treat to see the talent and interesting ways they have interpreted each other over the centuries. We loved the happy expressions on so many of the creations. Life must have been very hard for so many, but they still found ways to experience joy.

Ok, Liam - Look at these foxes!! They were all over the place. This exhibit was fascinating! Can you spot Papa? Can you spot a red fox? (Double click for a bigger view)

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

Is there anything more American or more fun than watching a game in a beautiful stadium

with a lively crowd, fresh roasted peanuts, a foot-long hot dogs, friends and the ball players!!?

We were treated to a game at the Coors Stadium - such a beautiful place. We were about 20 rows up behind 3rd base. Great seats! We were thinking about our cute nephews who would have loved this game...as well as our favorite neighbor, Iva Lou. What a blast!!

• Yorvit Torrealba hit a walk-off sacrifice fly scoring Troy Tulowitzki in the bottom of the ninth. It was the first game-ending sacrifice fly by a Colorado player since 2007.

Thank you Denver for a great weekend visit! We'd love to go again.