Sweet pumpkin cuppencakes!

Dan requested pumpkin cupcakes for his 34th birthday, so I decided to try my new mini-cupcake tins that I got for my birthday in August. They worked out great, needed to bake for only 10 minutes & they were super moist & delicious! Made a ton of them. I don't know what to do with them all!

Fall hike

The colors are still pretty in Salt Lake, but they are fading quickly.  I went on a quick hike to Mt. Aire from Lambs Canyon and caught some great views.  

Whenever a breeze would move through the aspen trees, bright yellow leaves would tumble slowly through the air to rest on the trail.  Beautiful display.
I am sad to see fall go so quickly!

Hopefully I will be able to sneak in a couple more hikes before winter brings different adventures.

Green Beans

The hippies at the neighborhood farmer's market have been producing some incredible green beans this year.  I figured that I would give pickling a shot for the first time!  

One of the booths was selling a red-skinned variety that I thought would add some nice color to the batch.  They were beautiful!

Beans turned out flavorful and spicy!  Used a variation of the Blue Bell recipe.

Canning Season

Autumn means that it is time to get canning for the winter!

All fresh, local ingredients.

Made 19 - 1/2 pint jars of salsa

I learned a difficult lesson: do NOT chop jalapeno peppers without wearing gloves!!  Really damn painful for about 14 hours...

Fall is pretty

This is why fall is my favorite season.

Trail in Neff's Canyon

Sunset was ridiculous

Helpful cats

This is how Trout helps us with our homework.

This is how Inku helps me can salsa.  

Some pictures from our trip to the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park.  

Canyonlands National Park

We had weather in the upper 80's for the entire trip, sunshine every day, and great sunsets every night.  We went on a couple of short hikes and one long 4WD back-country trail in Lavender Canyon.  Great trip!