The Garzquists: Birthday fun, Halloween, October Barkbox, and a bit of snow

We had a short-lived cold snap before the weather warmed back up into an acceptable and pleasant fall. My favorite things about fall:

Fall colors: Our drive up to Sundance was so much fun and SO pretty. I love living in a place with so many trees that change color. Luckily for us, we don't have enough trees in our yard to require raking (though if we did, I would totally jump in the piles).
Layering: Somehow there's something so cozy about layering sweaters, vests and scarves and wearing boots every day.
Fall flavors: Caramel apple cider, caramel apples (and just plain caramel!), pumpkin pie, and homemade sugar cookies (anyone in my family knows what I'm talking about on this one. My mom's sugar cookie recipe is the BEST!)

I learned about an event held at a park near our house called the Pumpkin Regatta, where people carve out gigantic pumpkins and then race them across the lake, kayak-style. We decided that we absolutely HAD to see this for ourselves and we were very glad that we did! It was both entertaining and impressive and the day was SO nice and warm! We got to ditch our jackets and run through the leaves in short sleeves, which entertained Sophie to no end. And in case you were wondering, the Mad Hatter won the race.

My birthday was pretty low-key since it was in the middle of the week. After work, Sophie and I went for a nice, sunny, long walk at Parley's. When Dustin got home, we got dressed up and went out to dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse.

I love both flip-flops in fall and this silly face!

Apple crumble from Ruth's Chris is SO yummy!

Love this guy!

Last weekend, Dustin, Sophie, and I went for a hike in Millcreek Canyon. It started out pretty chilly, but turned into a lovely day. Sophie even found herself a bit of snow to frolic in.

Yesterday was Halloween. I had a mini party at work with caramel popcorn, sugar cookies, and Halloween music. Tawnya, Tracy, Victoria, Teagan (who were down for one of Tawnya's work classes), and Mishael came over for dinner. We ate, and talked, and even swapped out the porch light when we realized that we weren't getting any trick-or-treaters because it was burnt out! Then Victoria and Teagan put their costumes on and I convinced Mishael to use my unicorn costume from two years ago to take the girls trick-or-treating. After they left, Dustin and I headed to a party at our friend Kyle's house.

Dogzilla! Sophie tricked me into taking her costume off by pretending she needed to go outside and potty. When I took it off, she ran right back inside the house!

Happy Halloween from Calvin and Hobbes!

Cosmo was intrigued by my tiger tail

I think that this month's BarkBox may be one of Sophie's favorites, treatwise. Of course she doesn't care much about the toys, so I will bestowing those upon my Kieko dog-niece this weekend. Sophie's favorites must have been the Fruitables brand treats. They're tiny, dime sized snacks in flavors like apple bacon, pumpkin blueberry, and grilled bison and my girl can't get enough of them. I even tried putting them in a snack ball, but Soph just decided to try to chew the ball open, so I guess that toy is going to a more patient dog.