Pumpkin Patch!

As I've said in many previous posts, fall is my absolute FAVORITE time of the year. One of my favorite things about the fall is going to pumpkin patches and corn mazes. This year we went out to Linder Farms. It is about 15-20 minutes from my parent's house and we had a blast! They have great deals, we all went to the patch, hayride, corn maze, and other fun things for $7! They have buy one get one free entrance on Tuesdays and Thursdays and also if you look at the webpage, mention that when you go and they will give adult admission for child price. This is definitely our farm of choice for years to come!

Trying to get a family shot on the hayride. I should have just asked someone to take it for us.

Carter was very excited about this pumpkin. It was the first one he found when we got off the hayride.

He can be such a sweet little boy sometimes!

Found my pumpkin.

Look at that handsome devil!

Typical Emory...index finger in mouth and other hand in her hair or mine. (She really does have hair in the back, a nice little mullet. Any advice on what to do about that?! I don't want to cut what little hair she's grown, but I don't want to be "that parent" who is walking around with a baby with ugly hair that you refuse to cut! I honestly don't think it's that bad, but it's getting close. I'm sure that's what they all say though.)

Four pun'kins in a pumpkin barrow.

So cute! I just want to squeeze her, don't you?!

They had this huge "pool" of dried corn to play in. Carter LOVED it! Emory liked it.

Despite how it looks in this picture, Carter LOVED being buried in the corn.

Such a perfect fall day, 70s during the day and cool crisp night with a huge harvest moon.

I'm slightly embarrassed to post this, because we are so not "PDAers", but I had to for the future printing of the blog for scrapbook. Anyway, Mike and I had our first kiss in a corn maze, so we have to kiss in every corn maze and I wanted to document it! :)

In the corn maze.

Carter running through the hay bale maze. It was kind of dusty as it got busier.

Emory dancing to the live band.

I love the way Carter is looking that the scarecrow. Scarecrows are a favorite or Carter's this year.

A visit from the Coralies!

Cute boys. Carter and Jaden are only 4 days apart. Carter looks to be finally catching up to Jaden. He's usually like 3 inches taller...now maybe only 2?!

Cute girls! Bailey and Emory. They're about 6 months apart! Bailey weighted 16 1/2 lbs and Emory is 17 lbs. I have tiny children.

This picture makes me laugh. I love how they're looking at each other.

"Cheese!" Emory likes to pose for pictures now. I love it!

Playing Elefun.

Feeding the cutest puppies ever!

Coralie, Emory and I before we had to go home for naps.

The Coralies are actually the Stokes, but when we first became friends Mike couldn't remember their last name and so called them the Coralies and it just stuck! Sorry Justin! Anyway, last week my good friend Coralie came to visit her family in Boise and we got together on Tuesday while all her family was in school. It was so fun to spend time with a friend and Carter was SO excited to play with Jaden. Emory and Baily even had some fun together. Too bad Justin couldn't come so he and Mike could have had fun together too!

Coralie's family had some cute little puppies that sadly their mom was run over when they were only 2 weeks old, so they've been bottle fed ever since. they're about 4 weeks old when we got to feed and play with them. Thanks for a fun morning Coralie!

A few more randoms from September...

These are just a few pictures from September that weren't on our trip to Texas or Emory's birthday.

Our cute little nephew Cannon.

The kids enjoying their last month playing together before Ben, Nikki & Cannon moved.

Carter and Emory LOVE powdered sugar donuts!

This summer while Michael was studying for the Bar it became a morning tradition for Mike to take Carter for a drive around the cul-de-sac and then when they came back Emory would sit in Mike's lap and pretend to drive. They've been continuing this as Michael is going to the library to job search.

I am so sad that Emory's face is shadowed because her face is just adorable in this picture!

The 3 Amigos

Happy 1st Birthday Emory!

I cannot believe our little Emory turned 1 year old! But she did. She's walking and starting to say some words too. She says Dad-dy(it sounds like 2 works, SO cute!), shoes, cheese, uh-oh. She is in such a fun stage and just is hilarious. She is such a girl. She loves shoes and coats and anytime she's wearing anything that people "oooh & ahhh"over her in. She started walking for the first time in Target when my Mom and I were trying pea coats on her. She apparently thought it would look so much better if she walked in it rather than crawl and she just took off! We just love our little Emory!

To celebrate her birthday we just had a little party here at the house with my family. I made her favorites: marinated BBQ chicken, macaroni and cheese, and rolls. I also made her cake. It isn't anything amazing, but I was pretty pleased with it! I'm sure as you look through these pictures you'll be surprised by all the pink, because I've never been a pink person at all, but Emory has me liking the color more and more. She just looks so cute in pink!

One year ago this precious little baby girl joined us 2 weeks early.

The cake!

The table all set for her dinner party. I decided to make it a bit fancy by using the crystal glasses.

Emory enjoying her dinner of favorites!

Blowing out her candle. She really was trying to blow it out. It was so cute!

Thoroughly enjoying her cake.

Opening her presents. Thanks to everyone for her great gifts!

In her coat that started her walking and playing with the Weebles Carter picked out for her.

Dallas

After our Oregon trip we had a few weeks just hanging out around Boise and Michael's family decided they needed to see us, so they flew us out for 2 weeks. We left September 1st and came back September 13th. It was so great to see everyone. I hadn't been there since October 2008. Almost 2 years! Michael went out last summer, but I didn't go because I was pregnant and as most of you know I'm a little nervous about flying anyway, but when I'm pregnant...I'm even worse. (After 2 cancelled trips that were arranged during my 2 pregnancies we now know never to plan a trip with flying involved when I'm pregnant! I know I'm crazy, but it just freaks me out.) I did do very well though on these flight even considering a few very bumpy rides through big thunder storms. So, maybe I'm getting better?!

Anyway, after a very long day of flying (layover in Las Vegas and a stopover in Amarillo that was delayed 2 hours because of bad weather in Dallas) we got to Dallas and made our first stop at Whataburger for dinner. It was yummy. Went home and slept. The next day Carter's eyes were all red and swollen and he was crying and rubbing them. We found out he is allergic to cats! They had to lock the poor cat in their bedroom for the whole 2 weeks, but at least that worked and we didn't have to stay somewhere else.

We did a lot of shopping as usual and ate at our favorite places: Whataburger, The Gas Station (Chef Point Cafe), Frullati, a new favorite BJs, and Cici's Pizza. Look up Chef Point Cafe if you're curious about the gas station restaurant. It's amazing!

We spent time with all the family, I finally got to meet my new sister-in-law Sandy!:) went to our nephew Eric's football game, swimming at Aunt Gayle's, and birthday parties for all the little girls-Athena, Giovanna, and Emory. We also took Carter to the Omni to see a movie about sharks. He loved it. The Omni is one of Michael's favorite places, It is a huge dome theater. All the movies start with a helicopter ride over Fort Worth that is pretty awesome. It feels like you're actually on the helicopter. We also last minute decided to go to a Rangers game. They were playing the Yankees and it was a great game that ended in a walk-off homerun by Nelson Cruz in the 13th inning. It was a long game, but a good one. After the game at like 12:30 they had a firework show too. It was so fun to be out just Michael and I. Carter loved playing with all his cousins. And still talks about them and says he misses them a lot. The other highlight for Carter I think was playing "Boo" with Grandpa as we were shopping. Dale would hide among the racks and jump out and scare Carter. He seriously LOVED it and it was nice for me because he was entertained while I shopped! Oh, and the other highlight for Carter were the tornado warnings and news coverage of the tornadoes that hit Dallas while we were there. Carter LOVES tornadoes and says he's going to be a meteorologist/storm chaser when he grows up.

So, as usual we had a great time with the Hawkins family! Thanks so much Janet and Dale for the great trip. You always spoil us so much!

Another highlight for me was on the flight home we had a 3 hour layover in Denver so my good friend Miriam and her little girl Sadie met us at the airport for dinner! We were great friends in middle school and then she moved to Oklahoma after 8th grade but we always kept in touch and then we went to China together when I went the 1st time. She got married just before Michael and I did and we kind of lost touch and recently got back in touch through good ol' facebook! She's so great! It was so good to see her and catch-up and Carter and Sadie had a good time together too. Thank you so much for coming Miriam.

Carter playing with his "Texas Grandma & Grandpa" in their backyard. They had the best bubble-maker I've ever seen and a cool helicopter toy.

Watching the bubbles crossing the street.

Mike is trying to get the helicopter to pop a bubble. It took several tries, but he was finally successful.

I caught the bubble popping if you look really close you can see it right above Carter's hands.

Swimming at Aunt Gayle's with all the cousins.

Carter pretended the sofa was a garbage bin and the toys were garbage. Basically he just made a huge mess of the toys, but he loved it.

At the Mavs fan shop. A trip to Dallas isn't complete for us without a stop here.

MFFL stands for Mavericks Fan For Life. Mike is getting Carter indoctrinated early.

Carter looked so cute in this and he LOVED it! Too bad it was like 50 bucks for the outfit. RIDICULOUS!

Outside the American Airlines Center admiring downtown Dallas.

Emory trying on some funny Halloween headbands in Old Navy. She looks like and elf in the hat one!

Janet and Dale's beautiful new hardwood floors! I want these in our house someday. I'm usually indifferent to flooring or prefer carpet, but these are gorgeous! The picture doesn't do them justice.

At Grapevine Mills Mall one the rides. I love how kids (at least mine) love to play on these even without paying for them to move!

Carter being silly next to a "Texas Twister".

These 2 pictures are taken at the same spot just facing different directions. The new Cowboys stadium is ridiculously huge, and then the Rangers Ballpark.

At the Rangers game.

Miriam and I at the Denver airport.

Carter in front of the "tornado shelter" aka bathroom in Denver. They had a tornado near the Denver airport once a while back and no one knew what to do so they decided to mark all the restrooms as tornado shelters just in case. Carter loved these too. He's such a funny boy. :)