The Quest for Perfection

I knew that once we hit the school carnival, the rest of September was going to go by in a whirlwind. This is proving to be true. There are so many things that need to be packed into this last week and a half. We have celebrating, washing, cleaning, packing, haircuts, travel and work all on top of the normal everyday things like cooking, homework, piano, and dance. Oh My!

One of the most important things on my to do list was a trip to the canyon. I am still wanting and waiting for the PERFECT fall family photo. If we didn’t get up there on Saturday I just knew it wasn’t going to happen.

In the past it has been easy to pick up coordinating outfits at Old Navy for fall pictures. With me not working there anymore we had to scramble and just get things out of our closets. (Oh the horror!) We decided on black tops with denim. Aren’t we original?!? We packed the black clothes in the car (we didn't want to all be wearing black while we ate) and headed out.

We had decided that since Paul had class on Wednesday night and wouldn’t be home until later that we would take Emma to her birthday dinner at the Mayan on Saturday instead of Wednesday. We were pleased to find that they no longer serve their food cafeteria style. We enjoyed our meal and got to watch the divers perform twice. The kids also got to meet the enchantress who made the divers jump off the cliffs.

After we ate we drove up to Cottonwood Canyon hoping to get some pictures in the autumn leaves.

While the canyon was beautiful, it was lacking in red foliage and it was lacking in dryness. We hit some pockets of HEAVY rain. We gave up on trying to find a spot to take pictures (yes, I was pouting) and went to get ice cream sundaes at Leatherby’s instead. (Hello beautiful caramel) Since we were in West Salt Lake I asked if we could stop in to see the witches at Gardner Village. It ended up being a rather fun late afternoon. The kids loved all the goofy witches, especially the ones with the big lumpy bums.

I had resigned myself to taking pictures on Sunday after church. Alas it wasn’t meant to be. Instead of photos I got a three hour nap and Paul got to watch the Cowboys play with his friend Chris.

Finally, after the many trials and tribulations of the weekend, we got to the canyon with about 45 minutes of good light left on Monday evening. It was beautiful and cool. We got some fun shots but I am still on the quest for perfection. One of these years I will hire a professional, but for now, the timer and a tri-pod will have to do.

This is one of my favorites even though I would prefer to have a child hiding my mid-section.