Fall Colors, Trains, Circus, and Pie

So, even though Mikey and I didn't go on our Friday Night Date, we did have a blast!

Friday night we went to Thanksgiving Point again-- a reoccurring event in our family. We played in the sand, raced boats, fed the fish, and chased each other in hedge mazes. The boys love it there and are the perfect age to enjoy it. We love living so close to it.

Saturday morning was a little rough. Do you even volunteer to do something without entirely understanding just how much time, effort, and energy it's going to take? I have a tendency to do that. I can say no and not let people walk all over me but I sometimes I get super ambitious or generous feeling and offer to do something, only to get half way through, and realize that I totally should have kept my mouth shut. Well, I offered to make this slide show in my ward and it wasn't until I got started that I realized just how much work it was going to be. SO, the day before I needed it Mike and I spent ALL morning working on the final touches. We finally finished it by NOON, left the lawn un-mowed, fed the kids and ourselves, got dressed and went on our way to a very fun and very full day.

First, we drove the Alpine Loop again-- like our 3rd time in the last two weeks. The leaves are stunning! It's a gorgeous, peaceful, and enjoyable drive... especially when both boys are sleeping. Which they didn't. But we like it when they do and next time we're bringing Melatonin with us to make sure they do.

Next, we drove to the Heber Creeper. Of course because we spent all morning on this miserable photo project, we missed it by 15 minutes. Probably better that way anyway because the boys had fun seeing the trains and I had a blast taking pictures of them.

Then, the night got fun when we drove through PaRK City and on to the Gateway in SLC. There we ate DELISh Thai food and rode on Trax, a public transit train. Boys' first time on a train and it was not disappointing. It's so fun living close to a city where everything is so new and exciting. Buses, tractors, trains. Life doesn't get any better than that for a 2 year old boy!

Finally, the Barnum and Bailey Circus! We would never have thought to bring the boys to this but my neighbor had free tickets that we just couldn't pass up. The expressions on their faces were as exciting as the entertainment. Talk about over stimulation. The first half hour both boys sat comatose in our laps and finding comfort in the handfuls of popcorn they shoved in their mouths. By the second half we pulled a Robin and moved down to better seats where they could actually see what was going on. They loved the animals, train, car, and the 7 motorcycles in the globe!

Everything is so much more fun and magical with kids. It was a fun contrast the "Disney on Ice" I asked Mike to take me to for my birthday the first year we were married. Yeah, being surrounded by girls in princess outfits was not entirely what I expected. The circus would probably have had a similar reaction from us if it weren't for these little guys' reactions to everything that was so new and exciting. My favorite was a group of high school guys I saw walking together in the concessions area. Either they had dates, they were each others' dates, or the circus was not quite what they had in mind when they bought their tickets...

And, now for today. My slide show was a hit and came our really nice. Will I ever volunteer to do that again? Um. Nope. Probably not.

And to finish the night off, we got together with some friends for our kids to play and entertain each other while we visited and ate yummy apple pie.

So, even though I backed over our stroller while re-parking my horrific vertical parking job, spent way too many hours in aperture, let the boys' rooms look like clothing war zones, deleted Plants and Zombies from the iPad because zombies were taking over my brain, am feeling date deprived, and am already up an hour longer than I was planning on... was it a good weekend?

Absolutely, and as always, was not nearly long enough!!!