Oh, How Lovely Was The Morning

"Bees were humming, sweet birds singing,

Music ringing through the grove."

(Joseph Smith's childhood home in Palmyra New York)

One beautiful autumn day in September 2015,  church was canceled.

We think the heater kicked on for the first time since last winter and maybe burned some dust or something, but whatever the reason it resulted in the fire station being called and the building getting checked over by the local fire department. The building got the A-Ok to return into, however at that point the ward leadership had already canceled church for the day. 

It ended up being a huge blessing because we had a whole entire day on our hands and nothing planned with it. None of the Stryker boys had ever been to the Sacred Grove in Palmyra so we decided that would be the perfect Sunday activity, especially on a fall day in New York.

I love the picture below! 

Just me and my two sweet boys hand-in-hand, walking into the Sacred Grove. It wasn't like this huge spiritual experience where the boys knew they were walking on hallowed grounds. But instead it was a simple peaceful feeling, that maybe only Ace and I felt. The boys ran around happily in the autumn sunlight. There was no bickering, no pestering and very few other people were around. We saw a few sister missionaries, and one couple from Australia while we were there. But other than that, my sweet family and I could just enjoy the time together in a beautiful place, on a beautiful day were we could explain some really incredible things to our boys about the incredible gospel that we live each and every day.

Silly faces of course and good thing Ace remembered to wear his name tag.

Right in the sun but you can see the tip of the Palmyra temple poking through the trees.

We found ourselves on the way home too! So that was just an added bonus.

Lions, and Tigers, and Camping with 7 Littles; Oh my

Before school got too crazy and the weather got too cold we decided to take a camping trip with the Hogges, Kuhres and Currans. With the 4 families together we had 7 little ones all under the age of 4. It was crazy but it sure was fun! It was Reid's first time camping in a tent and he did so great. 

We camped at Watkins Glen State Park and then the following morning we enjoyed exploring the beautiful gorges and falls. Laura and Jen were both quite pregnant but somehow didn't seem to notice as they hiked and chased kids around all day. I was so grateful the Kuhres had this great idea and invited us all along.

The kids were such troopers. They walked a ton and had great attitudes about it. They had a hard time staying to the trail and were often lured to the creek and surrounding puddles. Reid slipped into the creek after getting too close, and ended up spending the rest of the day exploring the highly popular trails of Watkins Glen in just his diaper and sandals. Luckily, he didn't seem to mind at all. 

These two were made just perfectly for me. They are so fun and so easy going (for the most part. Reid still will give you an ear full when he feels his needs aren't being met). They probably wouldn't survive in our family other wise. 

Autumn in New York

Fall time in New York is absolutely enchanting. I was so grateful because we had a bit of an Indian Summer this year. The warm weather and green beautiful days lasted so much longer this year. I've been quite smitten with Ithaca this school year, which I know says a lot considering the dramatic break-up the two of us had after last winter. I never thought this relationship could be mended, but I honestly find myself thinking that I'd love to live in a place like this.

I love this picture because it documents something Garret could not do all last year. He tried so hard to climb up these spider legs and then hang down but his legs and arms weren't quite long enough to make that big gap and get to the top. He must have grown over the summer, because he came back able to climb on everything and even do the monkey bars. Gross Motor skills were worked on all fall and Garret showed a ton of growth and progress in this area.

chasing ducks at Cayuga Lake

and climbing trees

Love this sweet moment with Reid. We got some tasty treats at the Farmers Market here and then just sat on the bridge watching/feeding the ducks in the water below.

Taking the plunge into Treman Falls

One of the best things this that happened this fall, was finding this sweet little gem of a place. Flat Rock. The kids and adults could play here for hours. We did a playgroup here and then had such a great time we brought Ace back for a visit later that week.

The weather changed slowly and gracefully, leaving us with beautiful views like the picture above, and gave us warm wonderful days spent outside like the picture below.

Picking Fun at Grisamore Farms

One of our very favorite things to do in New York is go to all the U-Pick farms and pick, play and stuff our faces. We made sure to do this pretty immediately after returning to New York and we made sure to do it several times before the weather turned too cold. Again, one of our very favorite activities.

One day we invited a couple of the Dads along to pick blueberries. They weren't our best pickers, but they enjoyed the beautiful weather and good company and we just enjoyed having them around.

Garret is a pretty big fan of sweet Logan

The best picking crew around....and by far the cutest.

This year we even picked our own pumpkin. The boys found a pretty perfect one, but fell in love with a painted Minion faced one, apparently named Kevin. So we walked away with two pumpkins from Grisamore Farms

We are lucky to have so many great friends here; both big and little.

A Quick Stop for some Colorado Summer

I just love this fuzzy picture of my two sun kissed, decently groomed boys. These two and I flew from San Francisco to Durango to spend a week with my family in Colorado before Ace joined us and we headed back to New York.

We spent some time at the fair watching Brock show his lamb and heifer. And of course, since we were at the county fair, we had to go on a few carnival rides.

Sweet Maryann and Reid were so excited to go on the pink elephants.

At Grammy and Papa's house we did a lot of crafting. And by we I mean Garret. This kid loves creating things. I've never loved crafts but I am learning to enjoy it more and more when I do it alongside this sweet fella. This is a trick hat like the one George made for the Man with the Yellow Hat. You can put food in it and then open a little door and the food comes out....like I said, a trick hat.

And just because we spent a lot of time playing in the water in California, didn't mean that we were tired of it. I spent a lot of my childhood playing in this creek and I absolutely love that my boys have gotten a chance to play here as well. Roadside Park is a family favorite.

 This picture is proof that my sweet fair skinned Mr Ried got a summer tan. When do I need to start teaching my kids about modesty?

Roadside Park does this to us every time.

And every time we visit Colorado, we spend time with our favorite dog. Sully is still considered our dog and if anyone ever asks the boys if they have a dog they always tell them about their Sully.

And just like that, we were off again! New York, here we come.