Hail to Autumn

Arizona has been our home for seven years now and I've never felt like summer was too long... until this year. There's just something wrong about 105 degree days in October.

I decorated for Halloween last week thinking that pumpkins and ghosts would at least make it feel cooler and more like autumn. I even made homemade chili, a fall conference tradition at our house. The house looked and smelled festive, but the temperature wasn't... until yesterday when we got this:

A crazy hail and rain storm that dropped the temperature 30 degrees.

Fortunately, we didn't get too much damage from the ping pong ball-sized hail and washes that became rivers. A beautiful rainbow appeared after all the machine-gun sounding hail. You can see it's reflection on the mountain.
We are now on day two of temperatures reaching just the 80s and it feels, well, like fall in Arizona. Welcome fall, I've missed you.

Pumpkin Patch

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Arizona. But, I do miss having seasons. The brightly colored leaves and the crisp fall air in Utah were beautiful. It really felt like fall when we were there.

One of the highlights of our fall trip was going to the Pumpkin Patch with Grammy and my cousin Whitney. Crewe especially had a blast and couldn't get enough of the hay slide and cow train.

Where have we been?

We have spent much of the last week here...
in the beautiful valley of my ancestors aka Eden and Liberty, Utah. My amazing cousin Josh lives here and his family introduced us to a possible non-invasive treatment option for Crewe. We went to learn more about it and see if showed any promise of being effective for Crewe's condition.

Crewe underwent diagnostic testing and his first treatment on Monday. Treatments continued daily through Friday. Measuring Crewe's progress is difficult since he can't describe to us what he feels. We haven't noticed any significant change in the size of his face, but we have noticed a small reduction in the size of his tongue and an increased ability to stand for longer periods of time. It's likely that he needs more treatments in order to see the real potential of this medical approach. We are considering going to Dallas to meet with the doctor that developed the approach.

While we were in Utah we got to spend some quality time with my family and extended family. More to come on those adventures...

Fall is in the Air {finally}

After five days in a row under 100, I think it's finally safe to say that Fall is in the air. October is definitely one of my most favorite months. The weekend was a great start to the season: lots of playtime outside, our town's 25th Anniversary Celebration, and General Conference.

Hitting golf balls into the wash by our house has become an evening tradition
Mostly a spectator sport for Creweton
Mr. Social makes himself at home with the freshman boys hanging out next door. He now wants a skateboard.
Carefree celebrated their 25th anniversary on Saturday with a bunch of fun events like a car show and tour of the new fire station. I took the photo above at the car show for my brother Brian, connoisseur of fine automobiles.
Cal went straight for the driver's seat.
He had to see how it all works. He's just like his dad.
Again, going for the driver's seat.
Checking out the ambulance.

There's something wonderful about watching conference together in our PJs. I always look forward to conference as my "battery recharge" and this fall's conference was just what I needed. One of my favorite family moments during conference was hearing Cal spontaneously and proudly announce "da proffet, Prezdnt Mausun" upon seeing him at the pulpit for the first time on Saturday.