Two days in the life

This was my yard, just before halloween.

As excited as we are for snow, it's still fall time. Plus we really hadn't had a good day of playing in the leaves! I suppose that's the natural result of having zero trees in your yard. Enter Tess's brand new yard. 

Tada! Wide open lawn complete with fallen crunchy leafy bliss. We went north for a few days to enjoy some family time and get a few errands done.

 Tess and Chuck recently purchased this home, and are vigorously remodeling the inside. Once that is finished, this will basically be the perfect place to live. The exterior is kid heaven!

The neighbors to the west have an apple tree, and the neighbors to the east have all sorts of critters. When the west neighbors get a good pile of sub-perfect apples, they bring them to Lainey and Calvin to deliver to the east neighbor animals. It's workin out pretty good!

 This she-goat was the sweetest thing. I don't think I've ever said that about a goat before, but I've said it now.

 Look at these ponies! They're the funniest creatures ever. Ever.

 Then we walked/toddled/push-biked our way back to Tess's house. Look at this street. Cute, right? So cute.
Oh, and I got a new car. It's that white Sequoia in Tess's driveway (inner squeal of delight!). The van was good to us, and we loved our van years. But I can already tell you, I'm gonna LOVE the family SUV years! We looked for months, but Sequoia's were out of our price range. Then this one popped up for $3000 less than any other one online, because it needed the timing belt changed. We'll take it! Caleb took a few days and did the timing belt himself. Once again, Caleb's mechanic skills have saved the day.
Feeling extremely blessed around here.

Back at the ranch, Tess took Claire to check for eggs.

They found one!
Tess doesn't currently have an oven/stove in her kitchen, so the eggs are starting to pile up. Oh the trials:)

Then, because we're crazy, we took the whole brood to Costco. Partly because we needed food, and partly because it's fun to have a vehicle that we all fit in again.

One cart for food, one cart for kids. I wish I had a video of us making our way through the store. By the looks we were getting from everyone around us, we were entertaining. And we were entertained! These cousins are nuts.

Also, Tess took this photo, then I ran over to where she was standing and she ran over to the kids, and I took another photo. Then she photoshopped herself in. So many points for her.

Then the husbands arrived, terribly exhausted after a long grueling day of fly fishing, and after much hugging and kiss blowing, the two families parted ways.

Guess what we found when we got home to Heber?

Apparently this is what happens to a freezer when it gets left open for two days.