Work Anniversary

One year work anniversary! Both me and the little man took "work" pictures to commemorate the achievement:

One year ago today I went back to work full time. It was a really difficult decision because I always pictured myself as a stay at home mom and most of the women who I've grown up with and who I greatly admire chose to stay home with their kids and I wanted to be like them. But in the end John and I decided that having me work full time was the best thing for our family. We definitely made a lot of trade off's and during the first little bit we wondered if we had made the right decision (one of us was inevitably sick during the first three months 😱). But one year later we have all settled in nicely to this new phase of life and all three of us are happy and fulfilled (John was at work when we took this pic, but just imagine his handsome face next to mine. Mmm...doesn't he look good?). So here's to finding what's best for your family! 🎉

I don't know what he's going to do when he grows out of his hat. He LOVES it. I don't know what I'M going to do when he grows out of that hat! Anyways, I need to go study, so...

Autumn Aloft 2015

We went to Autumn Aloft again this year!! You can read about our first Autumn Aloft here. After a 20-year hiatus, the Autumn Aloft Hot Air Balloon Festival returned to Park City in 2014. I'm not sure why PC halted the festival 20 years ago (money?), but here's how it originally began:

"More than 30 years ago, Park City resident Gene Moser and a group of local hot air balloon pilots set out to create the classiest Hot Air Balloon festival in the world. Their ideas was to create a balloon festival that reflected the free-spirited, anything-goes exuberance of Park City; Autumn Aloft was the brainchild of these passionate balloonists." (http://www.autumnaloft.com/media.html)

This year's festival did not disappoint. We drove into town a little late (because waking up a 6:30 AM on a Saturday morning takes a lot of personal strength and courage). Two or three balloons dotted the sky, but there were no other signs of a world renowned balloon festival. Starting to wonder if we had the right day and address, I reached over to pull out the GPS when I suddenly saw this...

And then we turned around a bend in the highway and saw this...

We went with some good friends this year, Stephanie, Rocket, and Jarren.

And we brought the kids, Abe and baby. 

We took advantage of the gorgeous surroundings and took some fun pictures.

The fall colors were stunning.

There were lots of other balloons at the festival besides just hot air balloons.

And, of course, there was a guy making balloon animals.

Rocket got a turtle and Abe got a motorcycle. 

After the balloons, we all went to breakfast. We had TWO different groups of people ask if Abe and Rocket were twins. Haha! I guess they do have a similar hair color and they're just a few months apart. 

The morning ended with a dramatic race to the car. John and Abe won. Actually they lost. After racing around the parking lot they ended up being the last one's to the car, but it still made for some really good sport. 

It was another magical morning, and we'll definitely be going to Autumn Aloft again next year.