Magical Moments

Recently, I've had numerous magical moments with my girls, and I have to document them somewhere (beware, this is a bit long). On most occasions, when I would think to run and grab the camera, the moment would pass or we'd be on to the next thing. I think what has helped the most with these moments is the slight change in weather. It is perfect fall weather! Also, I am loving their ages -- 3 1/2 and 15 months (probably my favorite age to date with the toddling and "talking" and parroting). And I have started a teaching job at the College of Nursing at the "U", which has made me cherish my moments with them even more. I'm only gone 2 mornings, but all of my free time goes to this, so I want to soak in this time, these faces:

OUTSIDE

Because of the weather, we are outside most of our waking moments. E can now open the back door and head out. She loves to do this, and gets so frustrated when I lock the door. I have to do this when I'm making dinner or doing something where I can't run outside and make sure she doesn't get into trouble or get hurt.

When we are outside, we're blowing bubbles or drawing with chalk or riding tricycles and scooters or swinging or taking walks. Rainey has become quite the acrobat on our swing set -- sometimes I feel as though I'm watching a circus act the way she moves between swings or uses her toes to hang on to the chain while she's swinging upside down. I wish I had more pictures of all of her tricks. She loves climbing up and down this pole of our swing set.

One night while I was starting dinner, I left the girls outside to play and I checked on them from the window and they were just hugging each other. I loved being able to witness such a tender moment between these two little friends.

The other day we were sitting on the driveway -- Rainey and I drawing things for a birthday party and E toddling around with chalk or a pine cone or whatever else she happened to find. And then E decided to come up to each of us and give a big love and a kiss. So sweet.

One of our walks:

On some of our walks we like to look for "bugs" -- A ton of Box Elder bugs live in this wooden pseudo-fence in our neighborhood, in a cul-de-sac. I love to let them be free and search for various things. Today Rainey brought me "treasures": a rose petal, a rock, two different leaves to show me the beginning of Fall colors, and a little stick.

Here they are with their bug:

At a park with cousins:

HIKING

Escaping into the mountains is one of my favorite activities. It's especially fun with the current weather and the hint of changing leaves. Here's a picture from one of our hikes.

A favorite past time of E's -- dumping any sort of dirt onto her legs and shoes:

Rainey taking the "statue pose" very seriously -- she and her cousin came up with that on their own:

A different hike with same Mitchell cousins:

"Camping"

We camped over Labor Day weekend with our SLC Peterson family -- very close to civilization. =) Rainey was in heaven! And E loved going in and out of each tent.

While we didn't sleep much that night, our food was tasty. I've been wanting to cook foil dinners and to use my dutch oven. And nothing tastes better in the morning after a brief and interrupted night than hot chocolate, scrambled eggs, and pancakes made over an outdoor stove.

We hiked up Bell's Canyon to attempt fishing. The hike was short, but pretty steep, especially for 3 year old legs. Rainey was a trooper.

Just before the hike with Dad (I didn't get a picture of the whole group, all 16 of us -- we left the babies at home) and here she is at the end:

At the top -- we didn't catch anything, but it was a peaceful place to spend some time together:

THE GARDEN

My girls are obsessed with tomatoes. I only grew tomatoes in our weak-sauce garden (i.e. 3 pots), and they would pick the tomatoes as soon as they turned any shade of red or yellow. E would just pick any she could reach. Rainey loved to water them, even if they struggled to remain upright.

Our neighbor left town for a few weeks, and he said to go in his garden any time and pick whatever we wanted. My girls LOVED this. Sadly, I don't have a picture of this, but his garden is huge and legit. He has a tractor to till the soil each year. He grows tons of different things. Anyway, some nights, we would head next door and walk in his garden. They love to look at the various vegetables and fruit growing, walking up and down the aisles, picking grapes off of his vines. Rainey without shoes and E in her diaper. It is magical.

Here's a picture of what's left from one of their hauls (E's last grape is in her mouth):

Going to town on a yellow tomato:

Kevin calls these photos: steward of Gondor

MORNING TIME

Rainey gets to watch a show in the morning while she drinks her milk. E drinks her bottle, as well, and sits on Kevin's or my lap for at least 10 minutes (sometimes longer). Some mornings, Rainey comes over and joins us. One of my favorite moments of each day. I almost didn't capture it -- I had to be extra sneaky in taking the pic (i.e. not looking at my phone when taking the picture) -- not loving my morning face, but theirs make it worth posting.

OUR POOL

This has occupied hours of our time, and most of the time there's no water in it. They love to play in it with toys, to hide in it, to throw things in and out of it. E especially loves to climb in and out of it. When we do fill it up, they sit in it for a long time. Sometimes we don't dump out the water, in case we want to use it later -- I usually forget about this as we come home with groceries or something I'm distracted by. E will head straight for the pool in her clothes and shoes. Before I remember, she's sitting in it, happy as a clam. Here's one time that I thought to get a camera -- Rainey and my cousin got in with her:

A few pics from different days -- she's too eager to get in, so we usually forget the swimsuit for E (it's also a big small for her now):

This is what I found when I peeked under the pool two separate times one morning:

And this is how she came out on her own from underneath:

Even Aunt Annie got in on pool time earlier this summer: