THE PARLIAMENT OF THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS

last weekend was uea for jared which, lucky for us, happened to coincide with the parliament of the world's religions- hosted right here in salt lake city. we went to four days of workshops, discussions, and speeches with religious leaders from around the world. we listened to buddhists talk about anti-materialism, hindus discuss nonviolence, muslims speak out on climate change, catholics sharing tips on social justice activism, sikhs serve free food as an act of charity, methodists condemn income inequality, and baptists talk about rising above our petty differences. 

honestly, i was blown away to hear their stories and experiences, and by the tireless work so many people do to spread peace and compassion around the world. 

    

"the least [we] can do is speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves" -jane goodall (amen!)

    

and after the big saturday sessions, which were my favorite of the four days, we went for a walk in a nearby park to get some fresh air and decompress. so much to think about...

...so much work to do.

HARVEST BLESSINGS

somehow we are already halfway through october and i can't believe it...especially since it's sunny and 85 degrees and I still get to spend the weekends outside in shorts and t-shirts. the past few months have been kinda stressful and busy so i'm really looking forward to the holiday season and am enthusiastically embracing fall.

we kicked off autumn by watching the super harvest moon at the great salt lake. we were of course swarmed by mosquitoes and came home with 10,000 itching red lumps, but the moon was so huge on the eastern horizon while the sun set in the west- the whole thing was pretty magical.





we've also spent a pretty significant amount of time the last few weeks going for walks and drives looking for fall leaves. for all of our efforts, we really haven't seen too many very colorful spots. the trees seem to be either still green or dead and brown, with very little in between. in fact, the most colorful yellow branches we've seen were shrubs. shrubs!

we even put out a few decorations around the house to try to remind ourselves to enjoy the beautiful and short harvest season. afterall, winter is coming ;-)

happy harvest!