Loving Fall!

Last weekend Nate's parents came in town to watch his sister Emily run a marathon. 

It was a great weekend cheering for Emily, going out to eat and visiting with family! 

 We woke up early on Saturday morning to go stake out a few places to cheer for Emily.
Scotty loves his Grandparents!

 Waiting for Aunt Em. She did so great and ran the whole way! 

 She even had enough energy to take this awesome shot around mile 18!

 Proud parents!

  Yay for Emily! We are so proud too!

While Nate's parents were here they took us to Costco to get some groceries. Spoiled? I think so! 
They are so generous. 

We also went swimming at their hotel and watched the debates with them.

It was so fun to have them in town! We are excited to see everyone again at Christmas time.

Last week we also took Scotty to pumpkinland! He loved it. I love fall-like things like pumpkin patches.
October really is the best month!

We went with some of my friends and their kids. 

Scott is often to busy to stop and take pictures these days. So I will take what I can get!

He loves farm animals. He kept saying "HI!!" to them like he fully expected a response. 

Bunnies!

Chickens!

Exploring! Scott kept saying "wow!" to everything he saw.

On another note, we recently discovered that I can bring my own gluten-free Udi's bun to places like 5 guys and then we can all eat there! I'm sure this was good news to the boy LOVES french fries. 

 We also went to the fall farmer's market a couple of times at the Riverwoods.
Last time we went we bought Scotty this soft alpaca sweater. I think it is the cutest.

 This weekend we went to the Hale Center Theater to see South Pacific.
The show was fabulous as always!
Nate's brother Mike babysat and Scott didn't even care that we left. 

Scott thinks his Uncle Mike is the coolest, because he thinks of fun things like building towers out of paper towels. So fun right?

 Yesterday we went over and took some pictures in an apple orchard. I wanted to get some pictures before winter comes and all the leaves are gone. Here are some of my favorite shots! 

We are so excited for Halloween! A few days ago I made my favorite caramel corn to get in the spirit. This week we have a playgroup party and treat-or-treating with Scott on the itinerary. I also have raiding Scott's post-trick-or-treating candy collection on my itinerary.
Oh the joys of parenthood!

Happy Halloween everyone!

All About Scott at 20 Months

Scott is almost 20 months old now... Say what?!

I can't believe he is getting so big! I wish I could bottle him up and keep him this age forever. 

He has turned into such a funny, SILLY and sweet little boy.

Everyday he surprises me with the things he remembers and says. Like the other day he saw a cat at a park we hardly go to, and when we went back this weekend he couldn't stop asking about the "kitty". He is also really into telling me what color things are. My favorite color he says is "GEEN" for green, because he always says it like it's the biggest surprise of his life. He definitely understands so much these days. When he does something he knows he isn't supposed to be doing, like typing on Daddy's computer, he says "no-no, no-no" to himself the whole time (so funny to me...) Here are a few more random tidbits about Scott at this age. 

The shoe phase has not come to an end... He is still obsessed. Particularly with Nate's shoes.

 He thinks he is funny when he opens his mouth. He also thinks that is what you're supposed to do when someone says "Say Cheese!"

Some of my friends and I have a play group once a week with 7 little boys. It is more of an excuse for us Moms to hang out but is absolutely nuts! I'm sure you can picture a scene with 7 little boys under the age of 3...

He likes to stack and roll cans from the pantry. I know, cheap thrills!

He gets so silly in the tub and at bedtime. Every night after his bath before he puts on his pajamas, he does a streaking lap around the house like he is SO happy to be free and naked! Luckily we have never had "an accident" during this nightly event.

He still loves his books and is getting more particular about which ones he wants to read at night.
He really likes books with a plot he can follow now, like "Put Me in the Zoo", which is fun!

He can play at the playground all by himself now! Meaning he can go up all the stairs and down the slide without me hovering. I'm sure he could have done this months ago but I was always worried he would walk off the edge or something. In my defense, he is the kind of person who thinks he is generally invincible and who would do that. It's funny because I thought this phase would mean I could sit on the bench and he would run off and play. But if I ever sit on the bench he comes over and sits right next to me, like "oh this is what we're doing now!" So I stand and watch him most of the time at the park now.

He would much rather sit at the table with us that in his high chair. We recently put a little booster seat on a chair so he can eat at the table with us. 

He has started freaking out when we drop him off at nursery at church. It doesn't make sense to me because I go to the gym and drop him off at the gym kid care all the time during the week and he loves it! Last Sunday he let go of my hand and ran as fast as he could down the hall to get away from the nursery room. He calms down after about 5 minutes of being there and then loves it after that. When I go to pick him up he is usually all smiles. He loves playing with other kids!

He is such a sweet boy! When he hugs his stuffed animals he says "Oh Nice..." and does nice things like pretend to feed them popcorn. He also always comes up behind me and hugs my legs and says Mama! Melts my heart every time... 

He thinks taking pictures on my phone where he can see himself is the funniest thing ever!  

I am so excited for Halloween and all the upcoming holidays with him this year. Seeing your child experience everything for the first time really is the greatest!  We love this silly little boy and are so grateful for him everyday!

A Trip to Virginia

A few weeks ago I went back to Virginia to visit my parents. A month after my little brother Wade left for BYU, they moved on to their next adventure in Charlottesville, VA. Charlottesville is about 2 1/2 hours south of where I grew up in northern Virginia and it is BEAUTIFUL! It is a college town (UVA), but surrounded by gorgeous Virginia farms, countryside, and the Blue Ridge Mountains. Even though my parents moved from the house I grew up in, going back to visit them felt like going home. The new house has the same smell, feeling, and stuff as the house that I grew up. Scott calls my Mom "Gahh" and my Dad "Ba-Ba". He loves playing with them! Every morning he would run into my Dad's office saying "Ba-Ba?" And if my Mom wasn't in the room he would hold up his hands and say "Gahh? Go?"(meaning where did she go?). 

Here are a few pictures from our trip...

My Dad was out of town a few of the days we were there so my Mom and I did plenty of girl things! One of the days we went down to the J Crew headquarters in Lynchburg, VA were they have a warehouse store. $15 J Crew sweaters? Yes please! We also watched Downton Abbey at night because my Mom has never seen it and I was more than happy to rewatch it. 

Scott had fun doing everyday things with "Gahh" like grocery shopping, "helping" clean floors, and making gluten-free cupcakes :) 

We took Scott to do a few fall Virginia things like apple picking and to a petting zoo with kids activites.  

Scott loved seeing the animals!

I have to say I will always think Virginia is the most beautiful place in the world. I think I took for granted how pretty it is growing up there because I thought it was normal. But after living in southern California and Utah for the past 6 years I can't help but swoon over all the trees and natural green when I go back there.

I miss my parents very much and am always sad to leave them. I wish I could live within 30 minutes of ALL my favorite people!

Until next time Virginia!