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.