Looking Back at Christmas

We had a Great Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve with my family and had our pizza and watched the good old classic Christmas Movies. Then Matt and I went up to his Grandparent's house to spend the night. We had a great time talking with them and had some eggnog.

On Christmas morning we woke up early and headed to Matt's sister's house to watch our niece and nephews open their presents. It was so much fun. Then we hurried to my sister's house to open presents there. We had a great day!

Here are a few pictures, and some pictures from Christmas at Disneyland too (since I never put any of them up)

Elf Dance (again)

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Elf Dance

My sister-in-law Becky sent us one of these of her family, and it was sooo cute that I had to do one of me and Matt.

(I somehow deleted it and had to re-post - oh well)

OK, Now it feels like Christmas

I have been having a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit this year. We went on a trip to California, which should have sent me right into it, but then I got sick and that took the wind right out of me. So this weekend we made a point of doing things that would improve my Christmas mood.

Friday night we got tickets to see Santa vs. The Snowman at the planetarium in Salt Lake. Because of all the snow we were getting we decided to take the Frontrunner train down and not have to worry about driving in the snow. And since we were downtown, we went to see the Christmas lights at Temple Square. It was REALLY cold outside, but the train worked out great, the show was funny, and the lights were wonderful. Of course, I didn't remember to take my camera. It was snowing the entire time, so I don't know what kind of pictures I would have gotten anyway.

Saturday was the Haun Family Christmas Party. It was fun. I don't get to see my aunts, uncles, and cousins as much as I used to. Though, I must admit, instead of talking to most of them I ended up in the gym playing tag with the little kids. I wonder what that says about me? But we had a great time!

Saturday night Matt and I went to see the lights in Ogden. I love the little Christmas Houses they have set up every year. It really gets me in the spirit. I had to laugh because Dan's buddy Fish and his group were singing at the amphitheater. They are pretty good. It was nice to have the Christmas music as we walked around. Again, it was freezing, so we didn't linger too much. We did see the Grinch walking in, so that was fun.

Also on Saturday we made the mistake of going to WalMart to get some last minute stuff and the ingredients of cookies. It was crazy! I remembered why I do most of my Christmas shopping online now.

But we were able to get the stuff and make some yummy cookies to take to Matt's home teaching families and some neighbors. I wrapped most of our Christmas presents, and sadly realized there are still more to buy. We watched Christmas movies, and yes, now it feels like Christmas.

So Cal and So Sick!

We were so lucky last week that we were able to take a trip down to Southern California and visit Disneyland! This trip was planned by my sister, who took her husband and two kids (and my parent's) down on Sunday. Matt and I didn't have that much available vacation, so we flew down Wednesday night and played until Sunday. My cousin Kati came too, so we had a really fun group of people.

My parent's spent most of their time being Grandparent's and taking the kids around while we grown-up kids spent our time running around from ride to ride. The weather was nice, especially the first couple of days. We were able to watch the Christmas parade and the Christmas fireworks, and really just get into the Christmas mood. I can't think of a better place to get your Christmas Spirit on than at Disneyland!

Unfortunately, by Saturday I was feeling pretty sick, and on Sunday I was a mess. We went into the park for a while, because we had to check out of our hotel. I pretty much spent the morning sitting on a bench just trying to keep my stomach calm. I felt bad for Matt, so I took him on his favorite ride (Pirates of the Caribbean), but that was too much for me, and after that it was over. Instead of staying at the park and being miserable, we took the first shift to the airport and sat there with the bags and were miserable while my dad made a second shuttle trip to get everyone else. It was nice, because it saved us from having to tie our luggage to the top of the rental van. But it was sad to have to call in sick to Disneyland.

I was sick for the first few days this week also, so I have been a slacker in my posting, and really in everything. I have to jam all the rest of my Christmas fun into less than a week now. I am looking forward to the challenge!

Journey to Bethlehem

I love Christmas! I love doing all the Christmas thing, going to see lights, watching the movies, buying and wrapping presents, and I love going to the Journey to Bethlehem put on by the Baptist church in Layton. In the past I have always gone on a Sunday evening, and we always have a long wait. This year we decided to go on a Thursday and thus avoid the long waiting. We invited our neighbors Chris and Whitney to come with us, and my brother BJ came too.

My plan wasn't that great, in that a ton of other people decided to come on Thursday too. We were waiting for just over an hour to start our tour. We were lucky and were able to be inside and watch a movie while we waited. They were pretty good movies too. We saw most of "The Nativity" (the one that came out a few years ago) and then some of a Bible movie. (I had to laugh though because one of the actors in the Bible movie was Desmond from Lost. Hard to take that serious.)

They Journey to Bethlehem is a sort of an interactive play. You become part of a family that is traveling from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the census. Along the way we meet Roman soldiers, Magi, Shepherd and llamas! We even see an angel. Then we travel into Bethlehem where we find the stable and Mary Joseph and Baby Jesus.

It was a little cold outside, so we were happy to warm ourselves in the tent at the end and get some yummy hot chocolate.

We had a good time. I love doing the Journey to Bethlehem every year. It really gets me into the Christmas spirit.

Party for Daxton

Yesterday my sister's family went to court to finalize the adoption of their baby Daxton. She invited us to dinner with them to celebrate. My mom and dad and BJ were there too. I took a couple of pictures of my parents with their cute grandson.

After dinner we went back to Chrystie's house and relaxed for a while. Arden made up a fun game where she would hand out a pillow to each of us and then, at the count of three, we would all throw them at here. Then she would gather up the pillows, pass them out again and just wait for us to throw them. She is so cute, and we had fun playing with her.

It is Finally Here!

Well, I did it! I hosted my first Thanksgiving dinner. It went fairly well - meaning that I didn't freak out too much and we didn't have to go to McDonald's for dinner. It was just a small party. Matt's Mom and his friend Edgar came over. We had some good food and a great time talking and just having fun. Bev made some amazing rolls and a great home-made pumpkin pie. It was wonderful. After dinner we headed over to my parent's house and had the second helping of pie (I love Thanksgiving!) We just missed my sister and her family, but it was still great to see my parents.

Here is a picture of our dinner all set up.This is Matt, Edgar, and Bev. I caught them getting ready to leave, that is why Matt has his shoes in his hand. I forgot to take any other pictures during the night.
We also put up our Christmas tree this weekend. Matt dug the tree out of storage on Friday while I was at work and made sure all the spiders were out of it before we decorated. Then on Saturday we added all the ornaments. It was fun. Here are a couple pictures of our tree. (you will notice there are no presents under it - we haven't had time to go shopping yet).

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I am sitting on the couch watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade (actually the commercials, there are SO many commercials) and I wanted to wish you all a happy Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving. I love the comfort of the day - the family and the food and the football. It is great to surround yourself with people you love and just remember all the things for which you are Thankful.

This year we are attempting to do Thanksgiving at our little duplex. Luckily it is for a small crowd, just Matt's mom and his friend Edgar. We will see how it goes. If we end up at McDonalds or the Chuck-a-Rama I wouldn't be surprised.

Hope you all have a great day!

Who Knew Shopping Could Be So Much Fun

I went shopping with my little sister Val yesterday. She was looking for a nice dress to take on her cruise with her next month (I won't even begin to expound on how jealous I am of that). She had looked down in Salt Lake but couldn't find anything she liked, and time was running out. We were determined to find something.

So we hit a couple of stores, and at first had no luck at all. We didn't even get to the point of trying things on. Just looking and walking away.

Our last stop was to JC Penney. We found a couple dresses with try-on potential and she went to the dressing rooms. I was going to just walk around and wait for her, but then I saw it! They have the whole little area - a waiting room next to the fitting rooms. There were comfy chairs, and even better, a TV. At first all that was on the TV was truck commercials, and I wondered if it just showed commercials. Boy was I excited when the commercials ended and I got to watch me some Monday Night Football while she tried on her dresses.

Unfortunately Val was too fast in finding a cute dress and we were out of there before the first point was scored, but I figure - hey - if you don't have cable and want to watch some Monday Night Football, head to the JC Penney and enjoy the game!

See- you can't blame me.

I don't know how many of you have looked up Biorhythms, but this is my chart for this week. Pink is emotional, blue is physical, and brown is intellectual. I guess you can't expect much from me this week. But I guess it explains why I can't gt over my cold!

Either Early or Late

I went home for lunch and saw these flowers blooming in my front yard.

This flower either is WAY early or WAY late. But it did make me smile.

Gratitude ... goes beyond the "mine" and "thine" and claims the truth that all of life is a pure gift. In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline. The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy.

--Henri J. M. Nouwen

This quote is again a good one for me. I know that I am often a rather negative person, so this is something I need to work on.

"Some complain that roses have thorns - others rejoice that thorns have roses!"

--Unknown

You Get What You Pay For

We had a tragedy at the Clark house yesterday. I got home from work and Matt asked me to cut his hair. Now, I have been cutting his hair since we got married, because he thinks I do a better job than he does, and because he does not want to pay to for a haircut when he can get one for free. So I pulled out the clippers and attached the length attachment and was going at it when - Uh Oh - the attachment fell off the clippers and I shaved an amazing bald spot on the side of his head!
So now this is how he gets to go out into public

No, it isn't that bad, but he does look like he enlisted in the army now. He went to substitute at the Juvy today, and they made fun of him. Soon it will grow back and we will put this behind us. I just hope that happens soon.

Quote for 11/18

I needed this one today, because I REALLY didn't want to come to work. (I have a cold)

"Thank God every day when you get up that you have something to do that day which must be done whether you like it or not. Being forced to work and forced to do your best will breed in you temperance and self-control, diligence and strength of will, cheerfulness and content, and a hundred virtues which the idle will never know."

-- Basil Carpenter

Christmas Joy

A week ago I watched as my neighbors put up their outside Christmas decorations. I was filled with anticipation for the not-to-distant day when the neighborhoods will be lit up with bright lights to celebrate Christmas. Then I was a little bummed because I am not really putting any up. See, we are still renting and I don’t think I should be climbing on the roof hooking up lights. I did however, have a hankering to do some Christmas decorating. So I called up my dad to see when he was going to hang the plethora of lights that illuminate our home during the Holiday season.

To my shock and dismay I found out that he was planning on saving a little money this season by NOT putting up lights in all the trees. I knew that this could not happen! There was family honor at stake and I wasn’t going to let my parent’s have the house without the Christmas lights! So I went down there on Saturday (I left Matt home with a cold) and we climbed into the attic and got the lights down. I conceded that we didn’t need lights in EVERY tree, but we did need them in at least one, and we chose the pine tree in the front yard.

The sunlight was quickly disappearing and so we climbed through the boxes and grabbed out the lights for the tree. Unfortunately – also in Haun tradition – half the Christmas lights didn’t work. We didn’t get them going in time to put them up. But I did get to participate in the wonderful tradition of light testing. We even made it all the way to the end of the row and had to start over. Oh – the Joy of Christmas!

Monday's Thanksgiving Quote

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."
--Melody Beattie

Sunday quote

"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it"
--William Arthur Ward

Saturday Quote

It should be easy to be thankful today. I mean, who isn't Thankful for Saturdays?

"We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures." --Thornton Wilder

The day has finally come

I was told this day would come – and it has. Today is officially the day that I no longer need to have cash! Those of you who know me well know that I am addicted to Diet Coke, and as such I have to have cash on had – either 1’s or change – in order to feed my addiction and get me drinks out of the machine. But that is no longer true. They just installed pop machines at work that accept credit cards. You heard me right, I can now get my drinks without even having to plan ahead enough to have cash in my purse.

Isn’t technology awesome!

Quote for Friday the 14th

There are less than 2 weeks until Thanksgiving. Would you believe I haven't even thought about it yet! I need to get into the spirit. Too bad there isn't some Thanksgiving music, or movies, or something! I will just have to get into the spirit some other way.

"Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest in the grateful and appreciating heart." --Henry Clay

My favorite new exercise

I have been a good girl and have started to go to the gym here at work. I am so happy I did because they have the best machine for exercising! I have super bad knees, so I can’t run or jog, and walking – while great – doesn’t burn a lot of calories quickly. I moved on to the elliptical, and that was a lot of fun, and much nicer on my silly legs. But now a regular elliptical will never be enough – I have experienced the AMT (Adaptive Movement Trainer). I know, it sounds silly, but it is great! It is like an elliptical except you get to control the length of your stride. So if I want it to be more like a stair climber, it is, or if I want a short stride, I get that. Or I can run outright and it is great for that too. The only problem is that there is only one at the gym, so when Matt comes with me we have to fight over it. But it is great!

Thanksgiving quote for Thursday November 13th

"We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude."
--Cynthia Ozick

Tuesday and Wednesday Thanksgiving Quotes

"Lord that lends me life, Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness!"
-- William Shakespeare

"Gratitude consists of being more aware of what you have, than what you don’t."
--Unknown

Veteran's Day

Tuesday was Veteran’s day – which means I had a day off of work. I will admit that I am still in a place that I get all excited over my new holidays. I haven’t had a Veteran’s day off ever! So it was great to have a day off in the middle of the week. I didn’t make any big plans, since it was a Tuesday, other than to sleep in. I love sleeping – I sometimes wonder if it is not my natural state. I am meant to be asleep and not awake. I didn’t get to sleep all day though, because my sister Chrystie asked if I would go up and help my other sister baby-sit her kids while she was at work. I am always happy to have the opportunity to play with my adorable niece and nephew, so I went up. Matt didn’t come with me this time, and I realized how valuable he is when babysitting. Usually I am the one that takes the baby and he chases the 2 year old around. But this time I was the chaser – and while it is lots of fun, I don’t have that kind of energy!

After babysitting I got to go to lunch with my sisters and we had a good time. I got home and met Matt. We decided it was time to go and get him some new clothes (well, his old clothes decided that by wearing out) so we also took advantage of my not being at work to run to the store and get some stuff. Normally I hate shopping for clothes, but it isn’t bad when I am shopping for someone else! So that was fun.

Unfortunately all that fun was too much for Matt, and he is down sick with a bad cold today. Poor guy.

Happy Birthday Dawn

Monday was my best friend Dawn’s birthday. We were lucky enough to get to have dinner with her to celebrate. She brought her cute kids over and we had an impromptu party. Cute Carson is doing good and walking again, though sometimes he does go too fast for his legs. Natalie is getting old enough that she is smiley and giggly. We had some yummy pizza and good cheesecake.

Happy Birthday Dawn!

Sunday and Monday Quotes

I missed posting yesterday, so here are two very good Thanksgiving quotes to get you in the Turkey-day mood.

"Who does not thank for little will not thank for much."--Estonian Proverb


"You say, 'If I had a little more, I should be very satisfied.' You make a mistake. If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled."
--Charles Haddon Spurgeon

"Grace isn't a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It's a way to live." ---Jackie Windspear

A Quote a Day 'til Thanksgiving

In the spirit of the Turkey and Stuffing Holiday that is coming up, I thought I would post a Thanksgiving quote each day until Thanksgiving (or at least every day that I remember). So here I go. Quote number 1:

"The unthankful heart...discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!" --Henry Ward Beecher

Picture Tag

My sister Chrystie had a cute tag on her blog. It is to take the 4th picture from the 4th folder in "my pictures" and post it on the blog. So here I go.

This is a cute picture of my husband. I don't know when or where it was taken! But I would guess a wedding. I got a bunch of pictures from Matt when I was putting together our wedding video last year.

But that was a fun tag. Thanks Chrys!

Halloween

We had a fun Halloween this year. The day before Halloween we carved up our pumpkins and I made some Halloween Cup Cakes. I don't know why I made them, since I didn't want to eat them, but it seemed like a fun thing to do. We had to borrow eggs from our neighbors to make them! Shows how good I am at planning ahead.

We both had to work Halloween day, and it was fun to see some of the crazy costumes that people wear! Work seemed to drag on forever, but when I finally left I hurried home. Matt was just finishing up his costume, and then we got in the car and drove down to Matt's sister Becky's house. We got there in time to have some dinner and watch the kids get ready for Halloween. Matt's Aunt Amy and her family were their too. It was fun. Carson dressed up as Spiderman - with some very impressive muscles. Cailey was a cute Dora the Explorer, complete with purple backpack. Little Cameron was a puppy. Amy's kids were all pirates, and some very good looking ones too!

When they set off to go Trick-or-Treating we drove up to my sister Chrystie's house. Her daughter Arden was just finishing up her Trick-or-Treating and we were able to play with them for a little while. Arden was a little skunk (lil' stinker) and Daxton was a Dragon.

It was getting late at this point, but we stopped by at my parent's house to trick or treat ourselves (got some good candy) and then we went to a party that our friends Chris and Whitney were having. They had their Wii set up, and we brought our Dance Dance Revolution game and had a good time.

I put together a slideshow of our Halloween. I threw in some pictures of my niece and nephews in St. Louis even though I didn't get to see them. They were just too cute!

Happy Halloween

Really scary pumpkin...and one with a creepy face.

Cruise

Well, I was going to write a novel about our cruise to Mexico, but I decided to cut it shorter and just show more pictures!


We had a really good time. We went from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas and back, with another stop in Ensanada. In San Diego we played around at the zoo and just hung out by the water. In Cabo we went scuba diving and it was fun. In Ensanada we went to La Bufadora (the Blowhole) and it was pretty cool too.


Anyway - here are pictures.

Quirks? Me?

My friend Whitney tagged me on her blog to name 6 "quirks" that I have. It is possible that I may have a hard time keeping it to six. But here goes.

1. I eat my M&M's in rainbow order, making sure I have an equal amount of each color. The same applies to skittles, or any other candy that comes in different colors.

2. I won't eat meat off a bone. I just don't like it! I now have to eat my KFC with a knife and fork because I just can't bring myself to take a big bite off the drumstick (yuck).

3. I count when I walk. But I don't just count the steps, I count them by fours (1,2,3,4 - 2,2,3,4 - 3,2,3,4 - 4,2,3,4).

4. I don't do well in quiet. I have to have the TV or the radio on at almost all times. I had to put a radio at work because I couldn't concentrate when it was quiet.

5. I am a Disney freak. I love everything Disney, I smile at cartoons, I cry during the fireworks at Disneyland. I just love it all.

6. I can't sleep with the sheets or blankets tucked in, and I totally can not sleep in a sleeping bag. It is just too confining. I need to be able to move!

Well, that is just scratching the surface of my quirkiness (is that even a word?)

For this game I am supposed to tag 6 people to also list their 6 quirks. I guess I will just tag everyone that reads this blog and has a place to list them! (you know who you are)

Exploding Heads

Lately I have felt like my head is going to explode. With all the news about the meltdown of the economy, the wars, the presidential election, and everything else going on, it has been hard for me to relax. I read an article that 80% of Americans are "stressed out" right now. I think I have to believe it! I have had to stop watching news before bed because I was having some less than relaxing dreams at night. I had a stress out weekend where I ate comfort food and watched sad movies so I could cry and just wrapped up in a blanket. I think it is a good thing that we are headed out of town, and even though there will be a TV in our cabin, I think we will have to impose a ban on watching the news.

Even watching the presidential debate - which was so much fun the first time - just made me mad. I was tired of hearing the same things over and over. And - sorry to anyone who likes him - but I also decided that I HATE John McCain. It got to the point where each time he would speak during the election I would just yell "Shut up!" at the TV (very mature, I know). So if the Republicans win this time around, I may be headed to Canada. (No, this doesn't mean I support Obama, I think he is a little slimy too, but out of the two, he causes me to throw less things at the TV.)

We downloaded the voter information pamphlet to see what other exciting candidates we had the opportunity to vote for, and I realized the system is seriously messed up when I saw SuperDell is officially running for Governor. Yep, the system is messed up, and I will believe it is totally broken if he wins! I hope there are not enough people out there that think it is funny to vote for him that he wins.

That was enough Doom and Gloom for today. I need a vacation!

15 Minutes of Fame

Our friend Ben Johnson is being featured on XMU Satellite Radio on Thursday at 8:00pm. He has been working really hard to get some exposure for his CD. We are excited that he is getting some play time - so tune in if you get the chance.

Who turned off the heat?

Winter came in this weekend. Matt will say it is only fall, and that the cool down is nice. I think it is really cold and I am not very happy about it. This weekend was one of those stay inside weekends where it is raining and cold all day and all night. There is snow on the mountains now (too bad I don't ski). The rain and cold made it nice to stay inside with my fuzzy pink slippers on and watch TV.

Friday night the weather was still good, which was lucky because we were babysitting Matt's cousins Eli and Isaac, and those two boys were having a really good time running around in our back yard. Our little apartment isn't very kid friendly, so we were happy to be able to use the yard. We even had some neighbor girls come over and we let them chase the boys around for a while. But they were darling little guys, just so sweet and happy. We watched some old Disney cartoons that I have on DVD. They seemed to like the "Flowers and the Trees" an old Silly Symphony. We watched that one a couple times in a row.

Saturday was yucky outside, but we went out into the storm to look at houses. We are starting to get serious about finding a place to live. I think I have reached a point where I am done renting. So we met with a realtor and went to several houses. Unfortunatly the only thing we agree on is that we don't agree when it comes to houses. When we go into a house Matt is looking at the garage and the yard, and I am looking at bathrooms and the kitchen. I really want a house with a pantry and a master bathroom. Matt wants to be near a park and have room to work on projects and have room to have parties in the house. So, it will be interesting to see what we end up with.

Sunday was Becky's birthday (Happy Birthday!) so we went down to Sandy for her party. Her kids made her a beautiful pink cake, and we had a good time. I am a little sad that I didn't get a picture of Carson, Cailey, and Matt playing Twister, but I was too busy spinning the spinner. We also played a very exciting game of hide and seek. It is always fun to visit with Becky and to play with her kids. We love them so much!

September Madness

One of my co-workers sent this around. It is funny (and sad) because it is true.

(click on the picture to see it bigger)

Hi Dax

Matt and I went to play with Chrystie and her kids the other day. Matt and Arden had a good time running all over the place. Sometimes Arden was chasing Matt, sometimes Matt was chasing Arden, sometimes I don't think they even knew, but there was a lot of smiles and laughs.

I spent most of my time with little Daxton. He is so cute, and just smiles and talks. We had a nice long conversation, and if my translation is correct he told me that I am beautiful and he loves to spend time with me. I think he may have said something about me being one of his favorite aunts too, but that part was a little hard to understand because his hand was in his mouth.

We had a great time with the kids! Here is the only picture I got. Those kids just don't hold very still!

Alphabet Soup

When I began my new job they “suggested” that I receive some additional certifications. While I wasn’t too excited about having to study again, the incentive was good enough to get me going. Today it became official, that I am not just Amanda Haun Clark, CPA, but I am now Amanda Haun Clark CPA CFE. (Certified Fraud Examiner) Oh yeah, now I am impressive!

I am going to take a break from studying for the next certification until I get back from my vacation in a couple weeks. The CIA exam should be harder, but at least I will be studying in the winter when there is nothing better to do anyway.

A Sappy Moment

Sunday my ward had their annual primary program. I teach the 6&7 year old kids, so I was lucky enough to have a chance to participate in the program. I participated by sitting behind the organ and trying to stop kids from wrestling on the stand. But it went well and I am always impressed with those little guys. The kids are so sweet and so strong, that it makes me wonder how they can do it. There are some amazing parents out there teaching their kids! But it was a really sweet program, and I was totally touched at the end when the children on the stand were singing “Onward Christian Soldiers” with so much power and faith, and then the parents and the rest of the congregation joined in, and I was impressed that these kids are leading their parents and the rest of us in this song, that they will be leading us in so many ways – anyway – I got all girly and choked up, but it was a very cute moment.

Autumn Leaves

Saturday we decided to take advantage of a fairly free schedule and take a drive to look at the leaves changing color. I have historically had a bad attitude about fall. I see it as only the precursor to Winter (the season of death!). But I decided to make a good effort to enjoy all seasons here in Utah, and we took a ride to look at the leaves. I will admit that it was an especially nice day to take the ride because it was sunny and about 80 degrees, so I didn’t feel too bad about summer being over. We drove up to Logan (with the ulterior motive of getting ice cream) and I must admit it was a beautiful drive. The red trees were out in force – though the yellows haven’t turned yet. I am sure it will be lovely for a few more weeks.