November

I got a little crafty on the back deck.  Thanks to Hope for the inspiration.  I am in love with my new bar made out of two pallets and a 100 year old piece of barn wood.

November brought snow. Yeah!

So, why not go for a hike!

I shouldn't post pictures of my son's bum, but in a few years I REALLY can't do this, and I couldn't resist.  He was getting himself dressed after swimming and this just shows you what his favorite pieces of clothing are. Ha!

Ruby and Owen love helping in the kitchen.  Here they are cutting potatoes that we will then stir fry.  Thanks for the help, guys!

And, oh yeah, Owen was in ski boots the whole time...for the whole month of November!

I mean, why take your gloves or goggles off to paint?

Here they are walking to a play date...you guessed it...in their ski boots.

A hike on dirt? Ski boots.

Trip to the park? Ski boots.

Oh, finally a little more snow to make all that ski boot wearing a little more appropriate.

Ruby's favorite item of clothing can also be her hat. :)

Summit Park kids- desperate for winter to begin!  Sledding on dirt.

Snow angels in very little snow packed down already- almost dirt.

The first snow man of the season at a play date after we were blessed with a little more snow.

Ahh yes, Thanksgiving.  My favorite part of November.  Started with a neighborhood sled run and then off to Pam and Justin's for dinner.

Owen decided he liked Simon's door better than the one intended for him.

Thumbs up for delicious dinner!  Nice work Wilshines!

Fun to see Carl, Kelly, Nana, and Papa too. 

Feather headdresses made at school.

More sledding.  Pam had an epic wipe out on this run.  I need to post the video.  Uhh- she just had back surgery not that long ago.  All is well that ends well.

First day on the slopes.

Ruby and one of her favorite ski buddies, Greta.  She make the most amazing turns following this girl.  I told Greta I would pay her to ski with us all the time.  Seriously. 

So glad we all have passes at the same place this year!! Sure to be lots more fun!

Halloween

Happy Halloween! I have said this before, Halloween used to barely be on my radar, but now...We talk about it about 9 months of the year.  Okay, who am I kidding, we still talk about ghosts, zombies, and scary stuff all year long!  They love it!  

Ruby and Owen got invited to their first "drop off" party.  It was a Halloween party at a friend of their's from school up the street, Emerson. They were besides themselves with excitement that I was going to leave, and so was mom. :)

 Ruby put together her own costume all by herself.  I helped her a little with her wand, but not much.  I made Owen's skeleton costume.  He picked it and then we looked online for ideas about how to make it happen.  It turned out pretty fun - even glows and can be reused for skiing as the black 

outfit was a thermal pair we found at the store.  Nice.

We went on the Heber Creeper for their Halloween event.  Ruby and Owen went through the "haunted car" about 10 times, working up to a run through by themselves.  We saw dancers perform Thriller, and even a "shoot out" performance.  It was good fun, plus, I got this photo.  We have a lot of three year old angst that really thrives in the Halloween atmosphere.  I just hope they are getting it all out before adolescence hits.

Owen has been making "experiments" with witches brews all month.  He LOVES mixing.  This picture does not even begin to capture the disaster that he creates in his bathroom, which did end in a clogged sink...but it never drained well anyway, so whatever.  The good news....

I don't mind a mess, as long as he cleans up.  All I have to say is, "Owen, can you make it good as new again?" and he jumps in, gloves and all, and cleans the counters, sink and stool.  He really does a good job, too.  Amazing.

Our pumpkins

Ruby wanted to carve her own, so the stabs were her attempt at that.  Mom helped connect the dots where she wanted them to. :)

Mom volunteered at their Halloween party at school.  I think they had read a book about volunteering or something because the LOVED that I was "volunteering" and got to help with their games and parade.  

Trick-or-treating on Main St in Park City.  So many people, so much fun.

We went with Kirbys and met up with the gang below.  However, once our group met the group of people behind us, we all lost each other and did our best to keep track of the kids.

After Main St we got to go to a Halloween Party at Chuck, Rebecca, and Griffins, complete with a dance party in a room with black lights and lots of highlighters for drawing on the walls (and masks).  They were about to paint.  What a great idea!

Fall

I feel like I should title this entry, "Ruby".  Somehow she just ends up in more pictures...or at least pictures where she is looking and perhaps even smiling.  Owen moves a lot, does not like to be told what to do (like smile, or get in the picture) and so, he is with us on all of these outings, but feels underrepresented in this entry.  Anyway, below Ruby got a hold of the Powderwhore stickers we brought home from a date night out to see their latest movie.  She is a goof.

We still go to the zoo often.  However, this fall was the first time we attended the bird show.  It was a highlight.

Tomatoes from Aunt Erika's garden.  I tried to give her a slice, and she reached over and grabbed the rest of the tomato and ate it like an apple.  They are delish.  We will miss getting more of these.

I feel the entire summer passed us by, and we did not make it to a park once!  Well, this fall we have made up for that, visiting our local parks at least a few times a week.  Ruby just likes to roll in style.  I am taking notes.

We have a membership to the Natural History Museum and have been using that a lot lately.  They had a special exhibit centered around "The Horse", including special weekend events including this one.  We all got cowboy mustaches painted. 

Fun kids area at the museum where they can dress up, play in the creek, check out tons of huge bugs, lizards, and frogs up close, and looks at some slides in a kid friendly microscope.  This has been well worth the investment.

Ruby practicing her rodeo skills.

And, a chance to try out saddles.  :)

Ruby started drawing people soon after school started.  Ruby and Owen switched to PEEK program for "school"  this fall.  It is bigger, more like school, and was a good switch for Ru and OT.  They taught Ruby how to draw people after studying herself in the mirror, I swear Owen sounded a word out to me at the pool the other day, and they tell me things about migrating birds and personal space.  I love it.

Owen LOVES to help me cut things in the kitchen.  I trust him with a knife, and so far, that has worked out for us.  He cuts onions, potatoes, apples, and whatever else I can come up with.  He is amazing with his fine motor skills- scissors, zippers, legos, etc.

One 50 mile race was not enough for this guy.  And, if you know you can do it once, why not again! Team DuRoss started the warm season routing dad on in one of these big races and ended the warmth doing the same. He improved his time and made it look easy!  Seriously.

Owen and our seldom seen dog, Kess, hangin in the Fall rays.

I have quite a few funny pictures from this evening, capturing all the adventures, laughter, and community shared.  However, this one just captures it for me for some reason.  The Second Annual Progressive Village Party was a success and reminds me again how grateful I am for this little slice of  heaven we landed in. 

We did some face painting as the kid activity at our house for the party.  Ruby and Owen really were into it and painted their own faces for days afterward.

Owen and his science experiments continue.  This is a frozen witches brew.  We made some observations about how it "grew" in the freezer. :)

Meet Pedro.  The newest toy in Team DuRoss' collection.  We picked it up only about 15 miles from where Chris and Erika are living so we all trekked out, got a quick visit in, and spent our first two nights in Pedro.  Think this is going to be fun.

Dinner at the Chalet!

Inside Pedro.

Hug bomb goodbye.