We’ve been holing up at home quite a bit playing with Legos, Minetest, skateboarding in the living room and the like.

There was a nice hike up City Creek Canyon to gather stinging nettles leaves in order to brew some nettle tea.

We found a birds nest and lots of berries.

When we got home we looked up the berries and discovered they are blue elderberries, good for jams and syrups.  Hmmm, we’ll have to go back soon I think! The area was just full of large beautiful clusters of frosty looking blue berries.

The kids brought their gloves and bags for collecting nettle leaves.

It was cool up there with lots of fall colors and smells.

When we got home we brewed some nettle tea and tried it. It was pretty good.

We’ve been enjoying lots of music listening and dancing.

We went to the library. I chose some more audiobooks for us: Black Star, Bright Dawn by Scott O’Dell, Chocolate Fever by Robert Kimmel Smith and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor. The kids each chose three or four books and then I picked out a handful more.  One of the favorites of the bunch so far is Cat Secrets by Jef Czekaj, a charming story where the cats are about to tell their story but suspect a non-cat is reading the book.

We took several other hikes in the fall leaves, including visiting some local hot springs with my sister that we’ve never been to before: Fifth Water or Diamond Fork hot springs.

It’s a little over two miles to the springs on a beautiful path with red rock, a stream and this month, beautiful fall leaves.

The hot springs were quite toasty! The kids took a while to acclimate but did enjoy it quite a bit. I sat near a warm waterfall and it felt a bit like a hot tub with jets on.

There are so, so many things to explore and discover, so much to miss out on if we don’t seize the opportunity to explore the world we’re part of!