leaves are falling all around

what a great saturday we had! to start the day off we headed to st. george to attend a temple session. curtis' cousin, amber, got her endownments out and we were fortunate enough to attend while my mom watched mason boy. everytime we go i learn something new and become more familiar with what is going on. the best part about attending the temple is the feeling that is with you for the rest of the day...best thing ever! it was so great to share this experience with amber and we can't wait to go back in 2 weeks for shae's wedding!

after eating lunch with the extended family, we headed back to cedar and picked up mason from grandma's house. we changed our clothes, switched from curtis' car to our truck, then up the mountain we went for a little leaf-looking. if you think the mountain looks beautiful from town, you should see it up close...GORGEOUS!! the sagebrush has turned a bright turquoise color, trees are bright yellow and deep red, and that awesome fall chill is in the air. we stopped in a couple of cool areas, got out and walked around, and took some pictures. i was super stoked about mason's first fall drive but mason really had no idea what was going on...he was just happy about being outside (which is definitely one of his fav's).

this is harriet the cat spider :) she has recently taken up residency by our flood lights on our back porch. we became pretty intrigued and did some searching on the internet to learn more about her. although she looks pretty scary, she is harmless to humans (trust me, if there were any risk she would have been long gone...just ask any friends of black widows). like most spiders, she will lay a huge egg mass then die but for the meantime we are enjoying her company :)