Autumn has arrived!

Yesterday we went to the cabin hoping some leaves would be changing and were overjoyed to find the forest bathed in gold. It wasn't as beautiful as some years in the past, but my gosh, stunning nonetheless.

E and I have been loving our bikes as of late. After our bikes were stollen last week out of our garage (sob!) we were "forced" to upgrade and buy new.

These two play the entire day at the cabin. They like to play in the meadow, take short walks, scramble on rocks and play in the caves I played in as a kid.

Lots and lots of silly faces when I asked for a picture.

The rock field is their favorite. Lots of places to hide and climb.

As the sun dipped lower into the sky the forest turned even more gold.

Lots of silly smiles while daddy danced and sang "Shake Sanora" behind me.

Winter is on its way, but I can't complain when I get this to enjoy beforehand.

Little girl date

One Saturday shortly after James started kindergarten Juliet and I wanted to get out. We were going a little stir crazy and James and E were perfectly content to stay home all day. I told her I'd love to go on a date with her, and where would she like to go. She thought for a minute and said "somewhere old fashioned?" We decided on Gardner Village.

I decided to pull a dress out of her closest that she had yet to wear, and she was so excited. "Oh, I will look so beautiful!"

Shopping with her is such a treat. I actually don't love shopping, but she said "wow look at this!" or "this is so cute!" to practically everything we saw. Every store owner just smiled at her, how could you not?

 The doll shop and the candy shop are always must stops.

Pink doors make for the best back drops.

Colette comes to visit!

After years of friendship (almost ten!) and lots of visits to see her and her partner in New York, and lots of invites to Utah, Colette decided that this summer she'd take me up on the offer and came to visit last week.

We met online, through an American Girl message board in 2006 and because quick friends. We took Inky (her doll) to Southern Utah, Grand Canyon, up the canyon and so much more. She took my doll Violet to Ukraine. Yea, she definitely wins.

Having house guests is seriously so fun. We played all day and ate delicious meals. We went to all my favorite spots and showed off all the best things about Salt Lake City.

I took tons of iPhone pics, but not a single photo from my big camera. But Colette had her camera with her most of the time, and when the week was finally over, and it was time to say goodbye (sob!), she promised to send me all the photos.

So all these are hers. If you want to see a few more, visit her doll Inky's blog. It is darling and very worth the visit.

Top of the tram was definitely in order.

For the first time in ages I wasn't the one behind the camera, which meant I'm actually in some of the photos! Thank you Colette for these. I adore them.

Best family photo ever. LOVE.

Red Butte Garden was a must as well.

We also went to the cabin, on hikes, to the best Mexican restaurants that Salt Lake has, shopping, to the farmer's market, and the list goes on and on. We had the best time.

Plus, she snapped my new favorite pic of E and I.

Thank you for coming Colette, please come back soon. Anytime!

Here, here and here are a few times we met in New York. Next time I see Colette and Jen it will likely be in New York, we need to get back there so much.