How do you mix Halloween and the World Series?

Maggie's weekend trip

This weekend I went to go visit my friend Catherine and her family in the Bay Area. They have an almost-5-month-old who I hadn't met before! Isn't he a cutey patootey? He fell asleep within 5 minutes of getting his costume on for the ward Halloween party, and slept through the entire trunk-or-treat mayhem.

On Saturday I tagged along with their family to Half Moon Bay on the Pacific coast south of San Francisco, which is a prime hub for Halloween pumpkins and Christmas trees. It was foggy and cold (but not as cold as Utah is today. Brrr! Somebody remind me why I came back to Provo!) The farm we went to had a straw maze, plenty of pumpkins, and get this -- sword fighters!

It's October and you know what that means

Yes, it's October, the temperatures are falling and the leaves are changing color. I'm shopping for Halloween decorations and starting to bake more. We've survived ten months of marriage.

But what October really means in the Kopp household is baseball playoffs. It means that Don is regularly glued to the tv, and our downstairs neighbors probably hate us because of all of the jumping, yelling, and stomping going on. It means that I am often keeping an eye on scores while Don is at work so I can text him with regular updates. It means that there have been serious debates about flying to Minnesota or LA to go to a game (we decided to stay home. Sorry, neighbors). It means I just bought a Yankees-themed pumpkin carving kit, which should arrive via UPS sometime this week, and I have to wash Don's Yankees shirt weekly.

Not that I'm complaining -- I love that my husband is so enthusiastic about his favorite sport and his favorite team. The next time you see me, I even might be wearing Yankees gear!

Another glimpse out our window

There were actually two of these guys on the hill across from our complex, munching on leaves. They stayed around long enough for me to search frantically for my camera and let me take a picture.

I looked out the window and what did I see...

This was the view from our balcony before I left for work this morning.

Fun weekends

Two weekends ago we went to see The Reverend Horton Heat up in Salt Lake. Last weekend was a 3-day weekend for Pioneer Day. We went camping with Megan, Matt, and Wyatt and some of their friends and family near Scofield and went hiking in the heat. We went fishing at the lake and on the river below the dam, but all we really caught was the grass on the river bed even though there were fish jumping all over the place. Did I mention I finally got my own fishing pole? And I was the only one to actually catch a fish (but it was only an inch or two longer than my hand).

Chi-ca-go

Last weekend Don and I went to Chicago - I had to be there for the American Library Association conference. We spent Friday night and Saturday sightseeing; Sunday I was in meetings all day and Don went to a Cubs game. Some of the highlights:

--The huge Picasso sculpture a block away from our hotel. I remember seeing a cool photo of it in one of my elementary school textbooks, or maybe the encyclopedia. Yes, I was a nerd and actually read the encyclopedia for fun sometimes.
--Meeting up with my old friend Sara and her husband, John. They took us to a cajun restaurant and Don ate a huge plate of crawfish.
--The weather was surprisingly good -- just humid enough.
--Navy Pier at night. We walked all the way there from our hotel. We ate ice cream and played mini golf. We said hello to the guy who was handing out clubs, and he said that we were the first people who struck up a conversation with him in his entire shift. Kinda sad! He gave us a free round but the people in front of us were super slow - I think they thought they were playing against Tiger Woods or something.
--Tall building tours. We went to the top of the John Hancock Center building on Saturday, and went to the top of the Sears Tower on Sunday. They have this new thing at the Sears Tower where they've built these glass observation booths onto the side of the building, on the 104th floor. I think they've only been up for a few weeks. You step out from the main room onto a glass platform -- it's kind of freaky but amazing at the same time. Here is our view from one of the booths. Too bad it didn't turn out better, I forgot my real camera (shocker) and had to use the camera on my phone instead. Click on the photo for a better view!