This time last week we were in Calgary, Alberta enjoying time with family. We went up for our nephew's baptism and stayed about 5 days. We had a lot of fun visiting family and just being together. It's been so long since the girls and I were last in Calgary - almost two years! Now that we live so much closer, we won't ever go that long in between visits and I can't wait to explore Alberta with my family. I have a running list of things to do and see when we go up. One thing that I want to try to do every trip, is drive through Banff and stop for a hike. If you haven't been to Banff, you should fix that and go because it's gorgeous. I had chosen an easy hike - Silverton Falls (trailhead is at the Rockbound lake parking lot, right by Johnston Canyon) for our little family to do. The mountains and trees were perfectly flocked with snow and before we arrived at the trailhead big, fat snowflakes began to fall. It was completely perfect. Holly and Greta were thrilled to be in the snow and going for a hike. I said to Conor that what we had been doing wrong with all our hikes up to this point was we weren't hiking in snow. It was amazing.

We made it to the falls and this is were it got a lot colder! The frozen creek came right up to the path, but it didn't register with Holly that it was ice and she walked out a few feet. I called out to her quickly knowing what she was doing and knowing what would happen, but it was too late. The ice broke and the poor girl was soaked up to her hips! She managed to scramble out okay and we quickly took off her wet clothing and wrapped her in my coat. Fortunately it wasn't very cold (only a little below freezing), and we hadn't made it more than 15-20 minutes from the parking lot. Everything was fine and some kind strangers who came upon us right after she fell in brought us a fleece blanket. It all turned out okay, just a little startling!

Conor and I have since talked about the event and shared our perspectives. Maybe this was an important lesson for our girls to learn. The dangers of ice. Maybe it'll save them from a future fatality. If not, it sure has left us with a strong standing memory of Banff!

Happy Halloween from a black kitty (meow!) and the cutest Elsa I’ve ever seen. According to my daughters, both roles require seriousness, but I cracked through their frosty exteriors and snagged some smiles. Have fun, be safe!

I just love these sisters.

Greta and I had a field trip with her preschool group in Green Bluff. We had a little tour and tractor ride and got to pick pumpkins. It was a lot of fun and really cute. This is the second time we've been out to an apple orchard and for some reason it's visiting the apple orchards that makes my heart sick for California. This was something we did every fall with friends. We would always visit Gizdich and pick a ton of apples! While I love Spokane, sometimes it's still really hard. All of the friends I went to Gizdich with were friends! I haven't really gotten to know any of the other families at preschool so they all feel like strangers. Spokane already feels like home, I just wish all my besties would move here too!

Other than the heart sick feeling, we enjoyed the field trip. Green Bluff is so beautiful and it's so close to home. We came home with a box filled with squash, apple butter and a gallon of fresh apple cider. And of course these cute pictures of my Greta girl.

My parents and my sister Alanna came to visit us this past weekend. I feel a lot of gratification having so many visitors. It's like all the years of driving or flying to Canada are paying off. I love hosting family! We feel very fortunate to have had so many dear ones visit us. And there's a few more visits on the calendar!

My parents came to help us with our yard and I mean help with an S.O.S. The yard hasn't been properly cared for for quite some time. There's a ton of large rock in Spokane - a lot of the houses' foundations are built from local rock, like our house. Our house is also literally built upon a rock. About a third of our basement is raw, uneven rock and this rock extends to the side of our house. My parents decided to start by cleaning off that rock. We didn't realize what we were getting into. A couple of feet of packed dirt was on top of that rock. It was dirty, dusty work to get all of it moved off the rock. Now we have a massive pile of dirt in our yard... We were all pretty tired by the end of that adventure and there's still lots left to do.

We made some time for some fun and we walked around some of Manito Park. Gosh, I love where we live.

We promise that we don't work all of our guests this hard! ;)

Holly is participating in Cross Country at school and she had her first "meet" this week. It was the most adorable thing I've ever seen! Oh my goodness! A whole mess of cute kids in their school jerseys just so excited to be there. Holly was all smiles. At the end of it all I asked her what she liked best and her answer was all of it. She said there wasn't anything she didn't like. Win! Holly got to ride a school bus from her school to the park where they raced. That was her first time on a bus and it was a thrill! It's the little things when you're 6 years old. Holly did a great job. We loved cheering her and the other kids on. She totally had a runner's high afterwards. She has one more meet before the season is over and we're all looking forward to it. Long live childhood!