Oh October, how I love thee.

October.

My most favorite month of the year.

The month started with a road trip to Utah to visit my sister and brother-in-law.

the Great Salt Lake.

warm.  salty.  smoggy.

glad we saw it.  don't need to go back.

My most favorite thing we did in Utah was visit Arches National Park.

I have to admit that I am not a National Park kind of girl.  I am a vacation-on-a-beach-in-Maui kind of girl.  However, knowing that this was probably going to be my only visit to Utah coupled with the fact that my husband most definitely IS a National Park kind of guy, we seized the opportunity and planned a 3 day adventure hiking the rocks of the Park.

Any guess who the matriarch of our family is???

Loved having my momma along for the fun.

So, it took no more then 2 minutes of playing on the rocks till I realized that this place was AMAZING.  I had never seen/experienced anything like it.  It was majestic, really.  Huge, massive, red rocks in the most amazing shapes/forms rising above the earth in the most interesting ways.  It was as if God was whispering over and over again throughout those 3 days into my ear,

 "Jennifer, I wanted to remind you of who I am.  I am powerful and majestic and creative and awesome.  I know that there is a lot of sin and problems that you see in the world.  But I wanted to take these few days and get your focus back onto Me.  If you focus on those problems, they will overtake you, consume you.  But if you keep your focus on Me, then I will overtake you, I will consume you.  And then My power, My power that I used to create all of this, will be in you.  I love you."

Oh, He is so good.  So good.

"I have never let schooling interfere with my education."  -Mark Twain

my youngest sister and my momma.

Needless to say, I am now a National Park kind of girl!

Meili taking a rest after a long day of riding on Dad's back.

We all loved the adventure of hiking through the rocks, especially the boys!

Matt and Suzy were SUCH great hosts!  We all had so much fun with them and loved every minute of being together!

precious family memories.

On to Canyonlands National Park.  Another amazing creation by God.

after taking the gazillionth picture, it was time to get a little creative.

mother dearest.

Another fun thing we did on our Utah trip was visit Park City, the site of the 2002 Olympic games.

oh, how I love this guy.

Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;

let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.

Let us come before Him with thanksgiving

and extol Him with music and song.

For the Lord is the great God,the great King above all gods.

In His hand are the depths of the earth,

and the mountain peaks belong to Him.

The sea is His, for He made it,

and His hands formed the dry land.

Come, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;

for He is our God and we are the people of His pasture,

the flock under His care.

Psalm 95