The Dietrichs: Catching up!

I'm officially on pseudo-holiday, so here's a crash course in what we've been up to since my last blog post, which was entirely too long ago! In September, I threw my hat back into the photography ring with a shoot of my former coworkers. It was a ton of fun, since Brian works at a golf course in Denver and had the pull to get it all to ourselves. It was fun to catch up, and also a little mindbending, since they converted to being LDS after being the young and crazy kids I worked with at Cheesecake.

Mom and Dad came out for a beautiful visit in October. We made it up to Rocky Mountain National Park and almost to Dream Lake before the skies decided to dump on us, soaking us to the bone and pelting us with hail. We sure made a memory!

Harrison loved the chipmunks that beg for food.

Mom and Dad at Nymph Lake.

Alaina's friend McCall, who moved last May back to Idaho, came for a visit. They were both so excited to have some girl time and Alaina had her first friend sleepover. They were thrilled to make, decorate, and eat too many sugar cookies.

Alaina's reading skills have skyrocketed this year, and she's now reading at a 5th grade level. Harrison loves to be read to, and like the good big sister she is, she indulges him often.

Daily wrestling in the bed is still a mainstay of our kids' schedule. We sure are grateful for the indestructible bed frame Anthony's parents gave us. It was the first bed they bought, decades ago, and it's still standing, even after many "force pushes" which leave the kids flattened and the bed rattling.

I bought some flashlights at Costco, and had I known their play power, I would have bought them years ago! Stella, Garris, and Harrison love to go "monster hunting" in the basement.

Kelly came to visit in mid-October, and it was nice to catch up and go antiquing (aka junk perusing).

We enjoyed the kids' school's Fall Festival, which included games and trick or treating.

Connor chose to be Harry Potter this year, since we had started reading the books as a family and he was smitten! It was fun to run into Hagrid!

While Anthony and the big kids waited the hour to get their faces painted, Harrison shoved as much candy into his mouth as he could, saying "Oben dis" and handing me more while his mouth was completely stuffed.

We had a beautiful, 68 degree Halloween and we all had a blast riding around the neighborhood on the golf carts Anthony's parents rented and collecting enough candy to make them all ill.

I had fun torturing the kids with games before we went trick or treating.

Since there were donuts involved, most of them didn't mind.

Hopped up on all the excitement and sugar, Harrison ran around like a tornado for hours. It was so cute to hear him say "Titorteat" at each house, and when people would offer him a bucket of candy, he wasn't shy about grabbing as much as he could.