Leaves Are Falling All Around

Actually, due to an early sudden plunge in temperature, the leaves down in the valley didn't change and fall very gracefully this year.  The mountains and canyons, however, more than fully made up for that.  Thanks to a phenomenally wet Spring, the maples and scrub oak in the Wasatch Mountain Range were specTACular.  I actually had a chance to go mountain biking once this Fall, and I got so sidetracked picking the super vivid red, orange, and yellow leaves on the trail, that I didn't even make it halfway up to where I intended to be.  I rode down the lower trail with my CamelBak and shirt stuffed full of some of the most gorgeous autumn leaves I have ever seen.  I then displayed them at home on our stereo in a bowl with a few scattered around for variety.  It looked quite nice.  And--ooh! what a dork, it didn't even occur to me to take a picture of it until just now, and I only finally threw them away a couple days ago!  Shucks!

Anyway, back to things I DID take pictures of.  :)

Inspired by a clever friend of mine, I helped Carson make this Fall Activity tree with hands for leaves.  (There are some of those pretty leaves I gathered!)  The activities included things like: Go to BYU Dinosaur Museum, Make Apple Pie, Walk in the Great Valley, Go For a Family Bike Ride, Make a Jack-o-Lantern.  You know, Fall-y stuff.  I drew little pictures on each "leaf" so Carson could tell what each one was about, and whenever we completed an activity, he got to take a "leaf" off the tree and stick it under on the "ground."  It helped keep me motivated to get out and about as the weather grew colder, and gave me a list of things to choose from so I wasn't starting from mental scratch every day.  I think by the time we left for Thanksgiving, we had dome everything except "Go Camping with Dad."  And to be fair, it was already a little too cold for that...