october summed up by instagram

1. Minnie and I went out and gathered some leaves on a walk. She told me these were blue and pink. We are working on colors.

2. Two of my good friends, Marissa and Ginger, and their little babes came with me and the girls to Gardner Village a few weeks ago. The bigger kids all got to ride on ponies. Minnie was a real natural, swaying her hips along with the movement of her horse, Blueberry. Nothing could be funnier than seeing these little kids on little horses.

3. Minnie after church, ignoring the fact that I had asked her five times already to come down and get in the car. I had to document it, naturally.

4. Caramel apples for family home evening. I think I have ten cavities because of these babies.

5. Minnie and her boyfriend Gray. They held hands a good majority of the day that day.

6. Some of the pumpkins we harvested from the backyard. It was by far one of our best crops.

7. Avenues in the fall is my favorite. Minnie is a big fan of leaf crunching. It's so funny how every season seams new to her because she doesn't remember anything from a year ago. I love it because it makes everything so new and exciting.

8. Minnie started to refuse naps for awhile and I wanted to cry. I think we're back onto a good napping routine and she's snoozing like a real baby right now. Praise the heavens above!

9. Minnie really loves the neighbor's cat down the street. She'll often look for it out the window or ask for it as we're walking out the front door.

10. October gave us some pretty wonderful sunsets.

11. The wedding!

12. My view during our fall walks through the neighborhood. Love these two little girls of mine!

13. Minnie meeting Lance and Christine's little Bennett Nicholas for the first time. Christine was nice enough to share some of her Lorna Doone cookies with Minnie but then Minnie rubbed a bunch of cookie crumbs right into Bennett's hair. Soooooorry!

14. Some of the loot from our apple picking. Made for some delicious apple crisp!

15. The cutest bookstore downtown. I miss living downtown.

16. Cute Minnie in her lobster costume! Isn't Halloween a million times better with kids??

over the weekend and our little backyard oasis

I feel like our backyard has become some kind of little oasis for us the last few months.

I'm sure much of that is due to the fact that I just keep buying things for Minnie to play with back there.

Is it possible to spoil your child with too many second-hand toys?

Julia tells me it's not.

 

I honestly get the majority of Minnie's things from DI or off of KSL classifieds for ridiculous prices.

Thus, we now have a baby pool, a little climber with a slide, a swing (thank you Target gift card), a scooter and a little kitchenette (purchased for $5 two weeks ago...her absolute fave these days) all scattered throughout our backyard.

It's nice for me because I can just go out there and let her play to her hearts content while gardening, or more frequently, just basking in the sun.

It's a summertime dream come true.

On another note...our garden is growing!

We've had our fair share of troubles (R.I.P basil, carrots and the sweet peas are on a steady decline) but we planted zucchini and pumpkins just so we would actually have some sort of produce to show for all of our efforts.

Bless you zucchini and pumpkins that grow like weeds.

And look! We actually have a pepper coming in. It's a Christmas miracle.

And lastly, we had quite the time getting to a drive-in movie this weekend but finally got ourselves there Saturday night.

Who knew drive-ins were so popular?

We tried to go see Monsters University Friday night but the line to get in was blocks and blocks long.

When we finally got to the ticket booth we were told it was sold out.

Wah wah!

Minnie was a hot mess in the back seat and Bob, Julia and I were about to scream.

We ended that evening eating our cold Hot n' Ready on Bob's Mom's trampoline with all our blankets and pillows.

Min was pleased as punch jumping and eating pizza and rolling around on the pillows.

We tried again for the movie Saturday night, arriving an HOUR early and made it in without a hitch. 

The place was still packed, but it was a lot of fun.

Minnie watched the movie for about 10 minutes and then decided playing around in the front seat was a lot more fun.

Whatever.

The only problem was she'd occasionally hit the horn or turn the volume up full blast.

Minor details.

And hey, look at that "super moon"!
It was pretty bright, but not as big as everyone had made it out to be.
I still thought it was cool.

infant gardners

As soon as we found out we'd be staying in Salt Lake City for awhile, Bob and I decided it was time to plant a garden.
We've been wanting a garden since we were married, but every year it just hasn't worked out.
Apartment living, baby prep, moving back East for the summer, etc.
Well, this is the year folks.

My parents already had some herbs and other plants growing in the garden, but unfortunately there was lots of weeding to be done because the yard had been sorely neglected the last two years.
It took a few days, but we finally got most of what we wanted planted.
And now, Robert and I are the biggest gardening nerds you'll ever meet.
We go outside daily looking for new sprouts and signs of life.
We're like new parents all over again.
I must admit, it's been pretty fun.

Thus far we have planted: beans, snow peas, corn, onions, cucumbers, carrots, potatoes, zucchini, pumpkin, watermelon and basil.

We also have: rhubarb (which I have no idea what to do with. My mom loves the stuff), mint and thyme.

We are still planning to plant some lettuce and tomatoes. Hopefully we'll get more of the yard weeded this weekend so we can get those babies going.

It's so fun to be able to do this together with Robert. We seriously have no idea what we are doing and both of us are surprised any of this stuff is actually growing. I love getting excited about things and learning how to do things together. Gardening is also a great hobby for me because Min and my future babes can run around and play in the yard while I work.

I remember when my parents got really into gardening for a few years when we were younger and I specifically remember my dad proudly bringing in a head of Romaine lettuce from "the farm", as he lovingly called it, for my mom to make a salad. As we ate dinner he would tell us over and over how good it tasted. The pride in his eyes was unmistakable. He was eating the fruit of his labors, literally. I thought he was such a nerd and now look at me...biggest nerd of all time. In a month or two I can imagine me or Robert doing the very same thing when our garden is in full swing.

As I'm getting older I'm learning a few things, like parents are a lot cooler than I thought and that I'm going to be a lot more like mine than I ever dreamt. And you know what? I kind of like it.