NOVEMBER 2021

November took us to New Jersey to visit the Jensen clan.

Although we found OUR street in their neighborhood!

We try to get out and walk a lot when we visit.  There were so many leaves to crunch and the fall colors were just stunning!

We had our little birder buddies helping us any time we would go out.  They love to have their own binoculars to look at things.

They are actually really good little helpers to spot things!

Jenna enjoys being able to run while we are with the kiddos too.

The kids had a couple days off school so we went out and about.  First we headed towards Pennsylvania with one stop at the beach there.

We went on a sort of a WATERFALL TOUR trying to find 3 different waterfalls.

The first one was Dingman Falls, really beautiful but icy and slippery near the falls!

The second was Raymondskill Falls, no photo here, but then a longer hike to this more remote falls, Hackers Falls.  This was our favorite.  We spent a long time there just playing.

Another day we went out to the Manasquan Water Management Area with a nice conservation center and trails.  Jenna and Ty ran and we took the kids.

They spent the most time throwing things in the water so it was fun for them.

There were some really pretty Mute Swans and a lot of other water birds.

We got to go to one of Carter's Basketball games and it was fun to see him in his element.  

He is a really skilled ball handler and shooter.  So glad we got to be there.

We arranged to meet Clair at Valley Forge in PA.

Jenna and Cassidy joined us for the day and we first went to walk around the HUGE park area for a while.

We did a little auto-tour to learn more about the area and  stopped here at this arch to check it out.

Cute picture of Cassidy here.

We found a "bucket-list" bird we had hoped to see sometime here in the east.

We heard it first and identified it using an audio app.  Then we headed into a woods looking for it.  Jenna was the one to spot it.  It is a big woodpecker and reminds me of a Pterodactyl.

Super cool bird!!

We really enjoyed the area and want to go back to explore it more!

We grabbed some Panera food and had a picnic lunch with Clair and Rachel.  We had a really great visit with them!

When we got back, it was right into school routine.

We made a really cool GEODESIC DOME with newspaper tubes.

We enjoy our walks out in our part of Utah Lake area.  We sometimes see this Great-horned Owl and this was a nice photo of him.

We also love the views we get of the lake and mountains, mostly at sunset.

And the glow on the east mountains is really awesome as well.

One of our FHE activities this month was to paint FAMILY TREES.  We borrowed Carolyn's cute tree as an example and this is the one I came up with.

Only I turned my family all into birds!

Speaking of family trees...it was great having more of LeAnn and Mike's family get sealed to this great family!

Lucas and Timothy were sealed to them in the Mt Timpanogos Temple.  

Victoria is grateful that they are sealed to her family as well.  Great to be with all the family that could make it.

Cute 4 generation photo!

And a Daddy-Daughter picture!

OK...we have the tradition of trying different hot cocoas each Sunday night from October to December.

Here is Coconut.

Apple Pie (with the homemade Apple syrup I made to use as a flavoring)

And Red Velvet with a cream cheese whip cream...Mmmmm!

Every week it is something different and tasty!

I should have a photo of our family Thanksgiving...hmmm...

It was on Friday and was DELICIOUS!!  Each family member helped and made really yummy parts of the meal!

In preschool we celebrated the heritage of our Native American ancestors and the great help they were to the Pilgrims.  See my cute little Native Americans.

Scott and I are still birding when we can get out before it gets too dark.

This is a Wood Duck found near the Provo River close to Utah Lake.

And even a basic Ring-billed Gull looks amazing in a fun posed photo!

It was a great month of family and nature.

 

OCTOBER 2021

OCTOBER was a month of family activities.

We started the month with hosting Jimmy and Charlotte and Alex for a few days.

I had just taken my preschool to Jaker's Pumpkin Patch so I knew where I wanted to take them!

The corn pits are just so much fun...and such a mess!

We found hard corn all over the house for days afterwards.  Ha!

We wanted to choose some of our own pumpkins to take home so we went out into the pumpkin fields.

We loved having them visit and look forward to having ALL of them another time!

The next weekend, we picked up some travelers from Duvall, WA!

The place they wanted to stop on the way home was...IN n OUT where Braden was able to meet us as well.

The kids always want to go to the Rec Center so I took them there before my AquaZumba class and we played a while.

Can you imagine us NOT taking the kids out birding?  Well, it was a "BIG DAY" where birders all over the world were supposed to go out and find as many species as they could in one day.

Well, we found 9 Red-Tailed Hawks first thing!

3 were together in one tree.

   

Then we went over to the State Park and looked some more.

Austin and the kids flew over to go to the BYU-Boise State Football game with us.  It was fun to be in Cougar Stadium together!

We had to get a "Cougar Tail" to eat!

We enjoyed learning about the game together...I got to explain things to the kids in my limited knowledge.  Ha!

We hoped it would not rain...but, it did.

We spent part of the game covered in plastic!

Al and Mitch were both out this weekend as well so we had met at Lor's the night before for dinner and met again after the game.

That night, Bree and Elliot were able to come down to join us for dinner and GAMES!  We introduced Austin and Brooklyn and Evan and Breanna and Elliot to the game WINGSPAN that we love.

They are now hooked as well.

A few days later, we were on our way to Seattle and on to Duvall to meet up with Austin and family.

We got some time with Clara while the kids were in school...we read lots of Elephant and Piggy books.

She was getting used to me here but warmed up quickly!

And the kids were SO EXCITED when we met them at the bus stop!

Austin surprised us with an overnight 40th Anniversary trip to Salish Lodge near Snoqualmie Falls.

It was stunningly beautiful this time of year!

This included dinner at the lodge restaurant which was so much fun!

They had rose petals on our table and wished us a Happy 40th Anniversary when we arrived.  They gave us sparkling cider and a little anniversary cake.  The food was delicious and it was a very special evening!

The next morning we got up and walked all around the trails near the lodge and falls.  We started here at the top in the misty morning light.

 

And we ended way down by the bottom of the river where we saw a couple of Peregrine Falcons, one of whom was eating another bird.

This was a new bird for us so that part was cool.

We did see some old favorites as well like this Spotted Towhee.  I love their red eyes.

Then, we met up with Austin and Laura and Clara for a lovely brunch at the restaurant before checking out.

Our breakfasts were HUGE!  And delicious!  We had plenty to share.

One of the traditions at the restaurant is called HONEY FROM HEAVEN.  They drizzle their home-produced honey onto biscuits for you.  It was really fun.

We loved having Austin, Clara and Laura join us for a special brunch!

And Clara loved blowing out the candle on the second little Anniversary cake they brought out for us!

Afterwards we went out and looked at the falls again and got a few photos.

We really miss not being close to grandkids to enjoy their activities.

So, we were so happy that Evan had a flag football game while we were there.

It was great seeing him get to try some new positions like quarterback and center.

Such a handsome guy!!

Family together after the game!

And some family during the game!

Clara and Grandma

Mackenzie

Brooklyn and her friend Mackay

Clara

Family Pictures at the city park.

We worked on some projects while we were there.  We put up some new shelving in the garage and touched up some cracks in drywall etc. in the house.                                                            Lots of walks outside on the mostly cloudy days we were there.

And some fun finds in birding like this Steller's Jay trying to eat an acorn

Or this new bird for us, a Red-breasted Sapsucker.

Really beautiful!

We had a beautiful trip to Duvall and quality time with each child while we were there!

Mackenzie had to stay home from school a couple days with a cold so we played a game called "Creationary" where you create things using Legos after rolling a dice and choosing a category.  The other players have to guess what you were supposed to create.

Here Mackenzie made a CAMERA...amazing!  We got it!

This is my OWL.  

And Scott's Sidecar Motorcycle.

Some of these were really hard!  Like, the Great Wall of China?  Really?

Great trip, great family!

A few days after we got back, we hosted Josh James for a few days when he came over to spend some time with Grandpa James.

We loved having him in our home.

He happened to come the night of our second FAMILY HOT COCOA NIGHT!

It was Kit Kat tonight and was a good one.  He approved.

Here is how festive it looked before we drank it all up!

And yes, we dragged Josh out birding/walking with us on Skipper Bay trail Monday afternoon.  It was windy and then rainy and we went off trail quite a bit.  He was very patient with us and just happy to be along.  

Nicest person ever!

We look forward to having him back this summer.

He spent a lot of time up with Dad and Carolyn and it meant a lot to them that he would come.

We finished the month with a Ward Lip Sync in which Scott and I both pretty much made fools of ourselves in great style!

Pictures maybe later?

Ladies did "Splish Splash" and Gents did "Take Me To Glory in a Glad Bag" in true goofy Scott Taylor style.

One of our YSA youth brought a friend who happened to be one of our deaf friends from the MTC branch we served in.  She ended up being companions with the girl in our Ward.  Small world.  It made our night to see her again.

Risa is deaf, spoke only Japanese sign and was trying to learn English sign when we met her so it was a really hard time for her and it was amazing to see how much she has learned and grown in the past few years! 

And, to end the month, some really pretty sunsets.

We love the views near our home and are so grateful for the incredible place we get to live!