The Pumpkin Patch & Halloween

We were excited to go back to Jaker's Pumpkin Patch because we had so much fun there last year! Madilyn thought it was pretty cool last year, but this year she enjoyed it a lot more! We got to go on a hay ride through the patch and saw TONS of pumpkins! Madilyn's favorite thing was the hay mazes. She was a little scared of them last year, but this year she thought they were the greatest thing ever! We found some pretty great pumpkins for an awesome price and had fun looking at the animals they have, too! 

(Disclaimer: I forgot that my camera settings were not set to what I wanted, and failed to actually look at my pictures until we were leaving, which resulted in some seriously over-exposed photos! I salvaged what I could!)

Tyson would not look at me once. He was too interested in the hay!

If you are little you can take shortcuts in the hay maze.

She just HAD to help Daddy pull the pumpkins to the car!

For Halloween this year we dressed as Minions! I made our costumes and we had fun wearing them to the church Trunk or Treat and to my grandma's house for dinner on Halloween. Since my dad is the oldest of 5, I have a lot of cousins who are still kids. They had fun taking Madilyn (and Tyson) trick or treating on my grandma's street.

Madilyn's pumpkin (Minnie) and Lucas's (Darth Vader)

My pumpkin (witches brew) and Tyson's (Pluto)

It's a little blurry, but we made our monster door again.

When we were first married Lucas decided it should be tradition for me to make pumpkin pie every Halloween.

Madilyn thought it was pretty cool to pass out candy to all the kids.

Fall is FINALLY Here! & 9 Month Boy

I LOVE FALL! There is nothing better than the cool, crisp air, crunchy leaves on the ground, beautiful colors, pumpkin everything, cinnamon smells, blankets, apple cider, and football! It is nice that Utah's weather finally decided to accept the fact that it is fall now. We have been enjoying all our favorite fall things.

The best thing that happens in fall is our anniversary! This year was my turn to plan. We had a yummy breakfast at Kneaders, then Lucas took me shopping for new boots as my gift! We went out to dinner at The Happy Sumo. Lucas loves sushi, so that's why I chose this restaurant. I'm not a sushi fan, so I went for the teriyaki bowl. The food was delicious! We also love that the booths were very spacious and almost seemed a little private because they have curtains on the side. It has been our tradition to have family watch Madilyn while we stay the night at a hotel. Since we don't have our parents nearby, and did not want to dump 2 kids on my extended family that lives out here, I decided to bring the hotel to us! I transformed our room into a fancy hotel suite, including white lights and sparking cider in fancy glasses. I even made a hotel key! I put a suite number sign on the door and we pretended we were away.

On our anniversary, Tyson turned 9 months. It is so weird to compare how I was with Madilyn at this age. It is hard to remember sometimes that he is as old as he is because I just think of him as my baby. He is such a sweet little boy. He loves to say "Mama", despite Lucas's efforts to have him say "Dada" instead. He isn't quite walking on his own, but walks along the furniture like a pro. Tyson now has 3 teeth that have cut through (1 on top, 2 on bottom) and a couple more close behind. He is such a flirt and loves to laugh!

Madilyn is such a sweet little girl. She is very helpful and is always giving us kisses. My favorite thing is when I think she is asleep and I peek into her room and hear "Love you Mama!" She is totally a daddy's girl. Whenever Lucas is not with us, she is constantly asking "Where Daddy go?" and she will cry if we are driving away and he is not in the car. She decided she really wanted boots and started asking for some so Lucas got her some cute black ones. She loves to wear them with sass! It is so cute! I have been doing "school" with her and she has been learning colors, all about apples, and all about pumpkins. She loves to watch "Word World", which is nice when I am trying to get dinner made! She is such a monkey who climbs on everything. Anything that can be placed around her wrist becomes a "bracelet" and is worn all day long.

 

 

We have not been doing as many family activities as we would like because Lucas has been working hard on all his homework (which is fine because that is why we moved here!) We did get a chance, though, to go to the Scarecrow Festival at Thanksgiving Point. It was a lot of fun to walk all through the gardens because we had never been there before. They had a bunch of scarecrows at the beginning of the path and in the park by the waterfall they had some games for little kids. Towards the end it started to rain and Tyson thought the raindrops falling on his face was the funniest thing!

Yes, Tyson is eating the leaves!!

 

 

 

I have been taking the kids to a play group. It has been fun. I am hoping that Madilyn and I can both make some friends!!

 

 

 

Mr. Tyson is now 8 Months!

Tyson is 8 months old now! He is learning like crazy and is doing everything sooner than Madilyn did. I guess that's what happens when you have an awesome sister as an example! I didn't think it was possible, but somehow Tyson can crawl even faster now. He has mastered the stairs and goes straight to the stairs as fast as he can any time we leave the gate open. He thinks that the coolest thing ever is walking around the room with the walker. He holds onto it with the biggest smile on his face and gets so frustrated when he runs into a wall or furniture and can no longer walk forward.

He loves to eat and has yet to try a food he didn't like. I have to vacuum under the table often because he somehow always finds treats under Madilyn's chair! One of my favorite things he has been doing lately is when I put him up to my shoulder to burp him he pats my back too! Tyson has cut his first tooth and is starting to cut a second one. He makes us laugh as he explores his voice and makes funny noises. When we go to the store he loves riding in the cart, especially at Costco where he can ride side by side with Madilyn.

 

 

 

 

Madilyn seems to have had a growth spurt. I keep looking at her and wondering when she got so big! Her vocabulary improves more and more each day and I am surprised by the sentences she will say. She still thinks being a big sister is the best thing ever and loves to play with Tyson. She loves to go to the library and will have us read her every single library book we checked out over and over again. She has really been enjoying learning songs and can actually sing along pretty well.

 

 

We finally made it to the farmers market and got some yummy peaches and raspberries. Of course we couldn't pass up the fresh kettle corn too!