Am I mistaken?

It is fall right? Don't get me wrong, I have been enjoying the warm 'fall' we've been having. But it doesn't feel like autumn when it is 86 degrees outside. The heat wasn't going to stop us from doing some of our traditional fall activities. Last week we went to Hogle Zoo and had a picnic. Most of the animals were out and Tyler loved riding the train and carousel. Both kids were sound asleep the whole ride home!

We also took a drive up Ogden canyon on Sunday between conference sessions. It didn't seem like fall since we were all in shorts and sandals. The leaves were beautiful though! And on Monday we stopped by Gardner Village for a few hours. Tyler was fascinated by all their pumpkins and witches, especially the "Hula Hoop" witch. It was a wonderful way to spend the weekend.

I'm not mistaken when I say my kids are awesome. Tyler has been really interested in drawing and writing lately. He wants me to help him practice his letters. The other day he told me he wrote his name and drew a picture of our family. He wasn't kidding. He did a great job! And I think Hannah might be the cutest piano player I've ever seen.

S.M.A.R.T.

For the past few months I've felt a bit stagnant. Nothing was really wrong. I just felt like I wasn't working towards anything. I decided it was time to challenge myself. Don't get me wrong, having two kids is a definite challenge, but I wanted to challenge Erin, not "mommy Erin". If that makes sense. Although I recognize I need to improve as a mommy, so maybe I need to be setting some of those goals.

I had a Sunday school teacher back when I was a junior in high school teach our class about goals. There is a big difference between a wish/someday I'll do it, and a goal. First you have to write down your goals, or else they won't happen. So this is me writing down my goals. Second, your goals need to be SMART:
S-Specific
M-Measurable
A-Attainable
R-Realistic
T-Time bound

So without further ado, here are two of my goals. First, I made a goal to not spend money to eat out the entire month of September. For some of you that would be easy. For me, it meant I needed to plan out my meals and actually think about what to make for dinner. Sometimes it is just 'easier' to run to Taco Time to grab a quick dinner. I can say this goal was a SUCCESS. I made wonderful meals all month. Some were nicer than others, but we ate healthy, great tasting homemade dinners all month. And surprisingly, our grocery bill was the same. Who knew? I'm going to continue meal planning and see how long I can go without repeating anything.

My second SMART goal is to train for and run a half marathon. I am running the Salt Lake City half marathon on April 16, 2011. I know most people only train for three months, but I'm giving myself six. Why? My goal is not just to survive the half marathon, I want to conquer it. I've already started running the past three weeks and I'm realizing that there is not anything half about it. Running is hard. This morning I ran four miles and I was hurting. It was a good hurt.

So there you have it. Those are my goals.

Moving to the country...

...gonna eat a lot of peaches! I don't know if any of you remember that song by Presidents of the United States of America. I couldn't help but sing that song while at Peach Days, and when canning my half bushel of peaches, and while eating some delicious peach whip. If the country had these peaches, then I'd gladly move there!

This year marked a first for me. I canned peaches! I know, how domestic. I had an excellent mentor and 12 wonderful quarts of peaches to show for it. I will most definitely enjoy those peaches this winter when fresh produce is hard to come by.

For those of you who like a delicious and easy side dish for dinner, let me share this recipe with you. It has recently been named Erin's Fresh Peach Whip.
Ingredients:
1 lrg. package Cook & Serve vanilla pudding
1 lrg. package Peach jello
1 regular size container of cool whip
5-6 fresh peaches

Directions:
Mix 3 1/2 cups of water and vanilla pudding in a medium sauce pan over medium high heat. Once it comes to boil remove from heat and stir in peach jello until dissolved. Pour into a medium tupperware and refrigerate at least 6 hours. Once the jello/pudding mixture is firm, stir in the cool whip. Peel and dice the peaches and mix into the jello pudding mixture. ENJOY (trust me, you will enjoy it)!

And no post would be complete without a mention of my cutest girl. Hannah turned eleven months old today. I told her she needed to stop growing so fast, but I don't know that she will listen. Even with a cold and about to cut four teeth, she is my best girl.

Pure joy

Saturday was Brigham City's Peach Days. I've said before it has always been something I look forward to. When I was younger, I loved the parade, candy, carnival, dancing to the music and family time. When I was a teenager, I loved the good food, and checking out boys (sorry honey). And now that I'm a mom, I love Peach Days for a totally different reason. I get to see my boy shriek with excitement at the site of the carnival and Ferris Wheel . Tyler laughed, almost uncontrollably, while riding a little train. For that reason alone, I will always make the effort to attend at least one carnival a year. Thank you Tyler for helping see things through a child's eye again.

Another source of pure joy for me is Hannah. I guess you could say she has been testing my patience lately. She has discovered that she can yell and scream at the top of her lungs, and is determined to do that as often as possible. It makes my ears ring. I can't imagine that scream coming out of my sweet baby girl, but it does. I know it is a phase, Tyler went through it too, but his voice was never this high or shrill.

I sometimes think that babies can tell when you need them to "turn on the sweetness". Hannah did that for me when we put her on the grass the other night. She wouldn't let both feet touch at the same time. She would switch legs and make the silliest faces. I laughed so hard I was crying. She got used to the feel and then sat there, not wanting to crawl and make her hands touch the grass. Again, she made the cutest faces. Oh, how I love her!

I look forward

I am the kind of person that likes to have something to look forward to every few weeks. All summer long I have had family reunions, family visits, and vacations to look forward to. Now that summer is coming to a close, I sort of felt like life was going to be boring. WRONG! I realized I have so many wonderful things to look forward to this fall. So, in no particular order, here are some of the things I am excited about:

Tyler going to pre-school twice a week. He started this morning and while he was gone, I was able to do the dishes, go to the post office and the grocery store. I'm going to love it and he already loves it. It's a win-win for us!

Driving through the canyon to see the changing fall colors. It is so beautiful and peaceful. It has always been a tradition for our family.

Brigham City Peach Days. I've gone for as many years as I can remember and probably before that too! I love the booths, carnival, eating at Maddox and of course, fresh peaches.

Seeing all the things that Hannah will discover. Her little (or should I say big) personality is already developing each day. She thinks any running water means bath time and she wants to do everything herself and usually makes a mess doing it.

October's General Conference. Enough said!

Pumpkin patches and corn mazes. It isn't fall until you've walked around a pumpkin patch looking for the perfect carving pumpkin and found cute little decorative pumpkins. I'm smiling just thinking about it!

BYU football. Now, I'll admit, I couldn't tell you much about the team or their likelihood of winning, but I just love vegging on the couch and cheering.

There are many more things I could list, but I'll save that for another time. I love this time of year and everything it brings!