Indian Summer

It was GORGEOUS out today!!  70's and sunny and a wonderful day for a hike at The Gorge (a state park nearby that I used to go to all the time in high school to take pics for my Photo Art class - when we still used film and I had to develop it myself!).  Mom and I were out and about all day today and we happened to be driving by on the highway and I suggested going for a little while so that I could take some pictures of the beautiful fall leaves - and surprisingly - she said okay!  She wasn't exactly dressed for a hike - but she did great!  I got some incredible pictures of the fall foliage (there's a bunch - I have a hard time cutting out pics - as I'm sure you all know!!)

This is probably my favorite picture - I was able to catch my mom looking up at the leaves falling above her head.  Something about it just makes me smile.

After our 1.8 mile hike through the rocky terrain (☺) we went to my Grandma's house for a quick pre-birthday visit.  Then...we did some birthday shopping!  We were out all day and when I got home around 8:00 - I walked into this...

Do not ask me what possessed my husband to bake chocolate chip cookies - but it was quite a sight!  The recipe made a ton of cookie dough - and Greg was having all kinds of trouble with it!  It sounded like my stand mixer was going to break because it was working so hard to mix the dough.  After adding a missing ingredient, he eventually took half of the dough out and was able get it mixed up.  He started putting them on the cookie sheet and he was making them the size of a golf ball.  I tried to tell him that they were too big...but he didn't want to take my advice...well...until the first batch took over 20 minutes to bake.  He quickly started making much smaller cookies!  How random, though!  We figured out that in the almost 5 years that we have been dating, he has only made cookies one other time.  He said that he wanted to bake cookies for Grandma's bday tomorrow.  Aww...

Now...to rewind to yesterday.  Earlier this week, my mother-in-law sent us a Halloween ginger bread house kit...and Greg has been so excited to make it since we got it!  I was being very lazy and very reluctant yesterday, but he finally talked me into it.  So...we made the ginger bread house.  It definitely was more difficult than I expected it to be - the roof kept sliding off, I pushed the two side walls in while I was trying to hold the roof in place...you get the picture.  All in all, though - some good family fun! ☺

Grandma's birthday is tomorrow!  Can't wait to celebrate with her and the fam tomorrow evening!