Conference 09...Day Eleven...Sunday Driving, Fall Colors and Puppy Chow

We had a nice morning at church with the family. It's always fun to visit another congregation and see what's the same and different. This is the view I saw walking out my dad's front door. Wouldn't that be a beautiful sight to see every morning? Just lovely.



Love how the painted details match the fall colors.



Since it was fall and all...we decided to take a drive up the canyon and see some of the spectacular colors. It was a gorgeous day, even if it was 100% colder than I was used to.



Remember all that rain we got in Salt Lake City? See what the mountains got?



Simple, but beautiful.



Exploring



the trail



on their own



while Cliff tries to soak in the scenery.



I love red leaves. They look the crunchiest.



See...I match.



This is the entrance to a ski resort I used to frequent in high school. We also used to camp nearby in the summers. I always took this beauty for granted. I remember when I was new to Illinois (the first time, in 1989) telling someone of my camping plans with friends for the weekend. Instead of "We're going camping," I said, "We're going to the mountains" and she looked at me sideways. You have to realize 2 things:

(1) I arrived in Illinois by plane, at night, straight from boot camp
and
(2) I had never been camping anywhere BUT the mountains...or lived anywhere without mountains. I thought mountains were everywhere. Nope. Some states are luckier than others in that department.



I love this view. I want a house right.....there. Yep....over there.



After a camping trip, or ski trip, or trip to the "beach" (haha...what we called the beach...on the reservoir) with friends, we always had to stop at this waterfall. LOVE it!



Cliff asked Jake to take our picture. He whispered to me, "let's kiss on 3", knowing Jake would be disgusted and refuse to take the picture if we didn't do it at the last minute when there was no turning back...and we Stuarts always count 3 when taking pictures. It's a rule. But I looked at the shot and started laughing at Cliff's expression, so we tried a retake.



But Cliff forgot to tell me we were doing a normal pose this time. I hate it when I don't get the memo!



So we finally got it together...



And even agreed to pose for a "non-gross" picture, too.



No chance on earth they're kissing for the picture.



We got home just in time for puppy feeding!



They devoured their puppy chow mush...



In a race to the finish!



Even covered in puppy mush, who could resist that face?