Random October Pictures

So we are catching up with some of our pictures. This set includes some of the random pictures from the month of October.

Allie loves looking out the window. She is hanging out with Grandma Harris and Emma. Note: you can see Grandpa Harris taking the pictures of the event. Seems equally memorable to have a picture of Allie as it is to have a pictures of Grandpa Harris taking the picture.

Here is a portrait of Lowell and Kathleen. As you can see Emma sneaked in.

A fun picture of the kids with Grandma Harris.

Not sure what to say on this one. Looks like Andrew is going to take a dive into the leaves, but exactly where I am not sure. Is he jumping or is he falling out of the tree. He seems to be doing some kind of jedi force float.

This was Allie's typical nap time activity. She would pull at the blinds (basically ripping them apart) so she could watch all the kids play out in the yard. After taking the picture we had to re-arrange her room to keep her away from the window.

Allie excited to be part of the adventure.

Andrew

Nice picture of the kids with their cousins. Minus the random girl in the pink dress. She just kind of showed up for the picture.

You can tell how excited Andrew gets when it's time to take some pictures.

What's a river without throwing rocks into it.

This is about the closest we have ever come to getting all three kids looking at the camera at once.

Andrew is such a good kid.

This happens more than you know.

Okay, Allie loves the dog. She even learned to call the dog by making noises with her mouth. Of course her favorite thing to do is feed the dog which has been a big downside with the dog no longer here (a lot of cleanup on the floor).

This is just a favorite of mine, Emma picking some Autumn leaves.

Dawn of the Razor Scooter Era

Andrew's Birthday was drawing near when his Grandma and Grandpa wanted to get him one of those Razor scooters, and of course with a sibling so close in age, one had to be given to Emma as well. So we have now joined the ranks of the masses of neighborhood kids who roam around the streets on those little Razor scooters. It seems these Razor things are just a part of modern childhood. Our kids will grow up, and reminisce when they lost their first tooth, the first day of kindergarten, and when they got their first Razor scooter. It is ingrained as part of growing up these days, almost to the point where I think if we didn't get them for our kids, they would end up years later in therapy to discuss how they felt about never having one. Anyways, I ramble on too much, but I thought I would share. So in honor of this modern rite of passage into the quintessential childhood experience, here are a few pics.

We will start with the artsy fartsy photo of Andrew and his friend outside riding. I thought the angle of the sun helped give the photo a nice fall feel to it. I guess all the yellow leaves helped too.

And what good is a scooter if you can't do tricks. I believe this one is called a "mini" which is a bit simpler than the "mini squigly" which is accomplish by doing the "mini" and swerving back and forth.

Cool shot of Andrew working on his balance. (Of course I don't show the picture of him wiped out on the grass)

Basic pose of triumph. Were there some ritual or celebration to accompany the receiving of a Razor scooter, this would be the picture blown up sitting on a table in the center of the room.

Just a fun shot capturing the neighborhood.

And of course Emma, making her speed demon face.

This is like the triumph pose, but more along the lines of GQ. Should children get together to create a Razor weekly magazine, I am sure this would show up in one of the ads.

I was never able to get a triumph or a GQ pose out of Emma, instead I just got the "stop taking my picture Dad!" expression.

I think Emma got tired of the slow nature of the razor scooter and opted for the much faster bike. I can't remember if that was actually the sun shining on her hair, or if actual speed flames were bursting from her head. I think I had to jump out of the way on this one.

Another Trip around the Alpine Loop

Well I am a week behind, but wanted to post a couple of things covering the last week. So last Friday, Andrew did not have school so we took a trip around the loop to see the fall leaves. It was surprising to see how many leaves were already missing in some spots when not too long ago most the area was green.

Quick snapshot of Andrew. I like this one because of the size comparison between Andrew and the trees.

This was a cool little meadow that had a whole bunch of small trees. Purrrdy!

I took this picture in comparison to a picture I took the last time we went around the loop. It is a bit more yellow now.

I liked this one because of the contrast of yellow to green. That is one of the downsides to taking fall leaves pictures in Utah compared to Ohio, you have a million evergreen trees to avoid to get the cozy fall-time feeling.

A picture of Emma.

I liked the contrast between yellow and white.

Andrew just had to get his camera out as well.

Had a hard time getting Andrew to stop for one second to take a portrait, but this one turned out okay.

More yellow, kind of wish there were some red and orange trees.

Here we have a rare shot of me. I don't show up in many pictures because I am usually the one with the camera, and as you can see here, I still am the one with the camera, Rachel just happened to have here camera with her. And no, that ovalesque green shape is not Humpty Dumpty, it is indeed me. Nothing like having someone taking your picture to motivate you to do a little exercise.

More Andrew and his camera.

And a decent portrait of Emma.

And of course the loyal means of transpo. The Odyssey is always good to us.

So the trip turned out to be a real fun day. We drove up Provo Canyon, and came out American Fork Canyon. We had a light breakfast, and the drive went past lunch time so we were starving by the time we came out of the canyon. Luckily Thanksgiving Point came to our rescue with their delish cheeseburgers and tasty fries. I can only imagine the scene we made to the other patrons of Thanksgiving Point would be as if they were watching a commercial for Hungry Hungry Hippos. But it was nice way to cap off a fun fall day.

Trip around the Alpine Loop

We took a trip up through the Alpine Loop to see the status of the fall leaves. Some of the trees had changed colors, but there was still a lot of green.

Here you can see a patch of the yellow coming in.



I was able to shoot a couple of portrait pictures.

Of course Andrew is not so big on the portrait pictures, so I got a grumpy grumpster.

Then as fate would have it Andrew noticed some dismembered deer legs and taking a decent portrait immediately became non-existent.

What else would you do should you find dismembered deer legs...break out the camcorder.