Fall In Utah

It's so pretty here right now in Utah - cool crisp nights are starting, the leaves on the mountains are changing, fall is my absolute favorite season, I love it. Here is part of our little corner of the world - Little Cottonwood Canyon ~

~ and unfortunately I'm letting myself feeling like a victim that is "stuck" inside the house all day, doing little things but mostly just waiting around until 4 for when the kids get home so we can do something.  But then it's time for dinner and homework and they want free time to play and the evening slips away, "Ah!  It's late! Go brush your teeth and time for bed cause you got school in the morning" - blah. I feel like life is "just happening" to me, but that's usually how I feel when school starts ~ I feel like I lose control of my family and myself in a way. Calvin here captures my feelings towards school in general:

(Hoping my negative feelings don't pass on too much to my kids, cause I do think school is good too, and if it weren't for attending school, Corey and I wouldn't have met in 7th grade and have such a fun history together. - I think I'd do better with year round school.  anyway...)

So, I'm trying to turn off the victim mode and get my family outdoors before the fall slips away ~ so homework is taking a back seat for me for now.  We went to Golden Hills park on Tuesday, then yesterday even though Ethan said he had homework to do, he came with us to Hidden Valley Park.  I'm going to make the kids go with me on a small hike today, then again tomorrow, and on Saturday too.  We gotta get it in before it's gone! I'm blowing off homework for the younger kids (Wes) not really caring if he reads or not - school/friends already claim 7 1/2 hours of their day.  Last year the first snow came on October 6th, so the clock is ticking.  Hibberts, we gonna do a Mount Olympus or something this year?