On a gorgeous fall afternoon...

Fall in Utah is GLORIOUS!  The weather's PERFECT- all the trees in the mountains and valley are burning with hues of red, yellow and orange not even Crayola can recreate and put in a box- and apples are in season- YAY!!!

One of our favorite places to visit during the Fall is Sabin Orchards in Salem. The orchards have been around for a LONG time--- like since the mid 1800's... I only know this because the Sabin family who settled and planted the orchards were ancestors of mine.  It's quite a drive from my house which is situated in the north end of the valley down to Salem, which is the south end of the valley, but I'm happy to help support a family company.  This year we bought a bushel of Honeycrisp apples, along with some peaches- YUM! Guess who had fresh peach cobbler on their ice cream? Um, yeah, that would be us!

Following our stop off at the orchards, I took the boys to Salem Pond.  It was THE.PERFECT.FALL.DAY to visit.  The trees there are GINORMOUS!!!  They've probably been around for 100 years, if not longer. I actually found myself wondering if some of them were alive at the time my ancestors were alive and lived there. I imagine so.

We LOVE Salem Pond because there are always ducks there to feed.  It just so happens we forgot to bring bread to feed the ducks so my boys fed them our Baked Lays Chedder Cheese Chips.  I never would have imagined that ducks like cheese but apparently they do- cheese and chips... Good to know.  Next time I have money to blow we'll buy them another bag!

It's no secret that I LOVE ducks!!!  Don't get me wrong, I'm not the kind of duck freak who would have duck figurines and duck wallpaper with hearts decorating my home--- no.  I would never let my fancy get that out of control but I did once buy a baby duck while I was on my L.D.S. mission in Portugal.  My companion, Sister Heidi Livingstone and I named him Petey O. Pato (Pato means duck in Portuguese).... he was 

THE.CUTEST.LITTLE.YELLOW.DUCKLING.YOU.HAVE.EVER.SEEN.... 

Unfortunately, I didn't own him for very long. My duck ownership didn't even last a day!  You see, ducks are cute, but who knew, they POOP A LOT!!!  And it's not like bunny poop- nope it's gross, disgusting, wet poop.  EWW!  And baby ducklings are LOUD!  You may think I'm exaggerating but NO- this is the honest truth.  They're louder than puppies who are lonely at night.  We lived in an apartment in Portugal- not a farm, so I had to find Petey a different home.  The following day, we found a convent (for nuns... God bless those nuns.) with a little duck pond in it that was willing to adopt Petey.  I was deeply RELIEVED!

One of my fondest memories I have from my earlier years with Spencer is when we were either still engaged or maybe we were just newlyweds, I can't remember exactly, it really doesn't matter... Spencer knew how I LOVED ducks so one dark evening, he grabbed a couple of loaves of bread from the store, picked me up and drove me to an empty parking lot of an apartment complex in South Provo; he forced me out of the car, over towards some grass and before I knew it, I was surrounded by HUNDREDS (no joke) HUNDREDS of ducks and geese!!!  I cried--- because I was in duck heaven and because it was a thoughtful surprise!!!  We fed them the loaves of bread we brought, then Spencer cranked up the volume on his cd player in his car and we danced in the moonlight in the parking lot surrounded by all the ducks.  The evening was MAGICAL!!!

 

 The boys soaked their toesies in the pond and watched for fish swimming near by.

I fretted about Cohen falling in 

cuz I didn't want to be the one to have to jump in after him to save him.

The pond water is REALLY murky and the fish in the pond are HUGE!

No worries, 

I wasn't concerned about Ian or Noah falling in;

those two could swim on their own.

Noah found this fuzzy caterpillar below.

(there's a little wood chip there too cuz the little critter was clinging onto it).

Oh before I forget, this is just a funny story I thought I ought to share.  One morning, not too long ago, I was standing outside on the corner watching Noah, who was two driveways down the street from me waiting for the school bus to arrive.  There were a lot of other kids already at the bus stop.  It had rained earlier on this particular morning so earthworms were still out on the sidewalk waiting for things to dry up.  I saw Noah pick up a worm and all the other kids, especially the girls, squirmed. "Good grief", I thought to myself.  The kid is ALWAYS poking around at insects.  Recently I've been finding rollie pollie bugs (a.k.a. potato bugs) tucked away in his pockets- dead AND alive!  I need to make a mental note to start checking all of his pockets too BEFORE I do the laundry... I've washed quite a few. R.i.P. those poor poor potato bugs.... anyhow, he had the worm in his hand- then... I heard one of the older kids say "EAT IT!".  OH NO!!!  I calmed myself by thinking "Surely, he's not cRaZy enough to eat it"... but guess what?!  Before I finished my thought- I heard the crowd all say in harmony, "EWW!"  Wait, WHAT?!  What just happened?!!!  I wanted to call him over to ask him but before I could, the bus pulled up and he was gone!  Later that afternoon a little neighbor girl came over... she shared the news I was suspecting all morning long- Noah ATE the worm!  He ate the worm!!! It was only a couple days before that, that he was bragging and telling everyone that he eats ants... I believed him about the ants--- ants aren't too bad--- I mean they're miniscule but worms?!  Eww.  I made sure to ask him to brush his teeth twice that night before he gave me a kiss goodnight.  Oh, and this is kinda a funny side note: While Noah was bragging about eating ants, Ian- being competitive by nature- confessed to eating bees.  BEES!!!  ROFL!  I'm not so sure he was telling the truth there or at least I hope it wasn't the truth. Could you imagine IF it was true?!!!

On our way home that afternoon, we stopped off in The Riverwoods in Provo at Blickenstaff's Toy Shop (click here to view it) to grab a drink at  and have a look'y around the store.  I heart that place and my taste buds LOVE LOVE LOVE this soda pop! It's peach!

I'm not really a fan of soda- I like Crush or Welches Strawberry or Grape soda, but this Nehi Peach Soda Pop is The.Best.Stuff.On.Planet.Earth!!!

Oh, and as for all of those apples we purchased--- the majority were eaten by the boys - some we cut up and dipped in sweetened and condensed milkr-YUM- and the rest I made g.f. apple fritters with during the Sunday morning session of General Conference.
The first batch turned out overly cooked- no prob though- our boys still gobbled them up- the rest were just perfect and tasted divine!