oh, idaho

part deux. we went to the "haunted harvest" ... which was not haunted at all. it was actually called linder farms. it was a cute place. loved the hayride, which was through the pumpkin patch (even if we didn't get off to find pumpkins!)

{michelle & kids (trey, kinzee, skylie) on the hayride}

{me & ash}

{ashleigh tried to steal this little girl away from me, but i think we all know who her favorite was}

{the crew}

{hanging out on the pumpkin farm}

{love this picture ...}

{me & michelle}

{what a group}

{we dressed that little kinzee up like fancy nancy ... super fun}

boise is not a state

i think that was the theme from the weekend. our question was "why is it called boise state, if boise isn't a state?". but, regardless, we had great fun!

ashleigh and i flew up to idaho this weekend to visit michelle and her growing family. i didn't want to leave. or, if i had to leave, can i at least bring my friends home with me?

we arrived on thursday afternoon and spent the evening catching up. michelle made some delish beef/broccoli, rice, and egg rolls. it was so good!

on friday we had planned a girls getaway for the afternoon but the babysitter bailed on us. luckily, michelle was able to secure another babysitter for the evening, so we had girls night out. we went to nampa, which has a little downtown area (and i do mean little). but, there was a local college having their twerp dance. it was a costume dance, and the theme was "opposites attract". it was hilarious sitting downtown watching the couples walk by. and trying to figure out who they were. we saw michael jackson/lady gaga ... lady gaga/catherine hepburn ... black/white ... nerds/beauty queens ... jocks/nerds ... old men/baby girls (a lot of them) ... but the best part of the night was naming the couples who really weren't dressed up, who were just downtown. ha. we saw nerd/amish girl ... walker/non-walker ... it was hilarious!

after our halloween preview, we went for dinner at olive garden, which was delish. and then went to the movies. it was such a good night!

{ashleigh wondered why these boxes said "dog" on them. i think she just had dog on the brain}

we went to the store a few times ... we had to get stuff for all the food we were cooking. i swear, we spent all day on sunday in the kitchen. we'd finish making one thing and move on to the next. after church we reheated leftovers for lunch. when we were finished with that we made some guacamole to snack on. we ate that while we were making rolls (ashleigh's request). and then while those were cooking we made chocolate chip cookies (the dough was better than the cookies). and while those were cooking we made pizza. which was delicious. wow ... it was a lot of food.

{this camel actually had softer fur than you'd think. i don't think i've ever been that close to one before}

saturday it was raining, but in the afternoon we headed out to linder farms for a little fall action ... hay ride, petting zoo, mini donuts ... and fun! more pictures of that to come.

{me & braxton ... he's such a good baby!}

braxton is 3 months old ... that's why we needed to go visit ... to see this new addition. he's such a cutie!

all the kids were great though, and happy to have us there. i loved it. thanks for having us phil & michelle. let's do it again. soon.

{me & kinzee ... i could have brought this little girl home with me!}

shades of autumn

last saturday was perfect! the fam went to stade farm for some fall fun! they have a corn box (like a sand box, but with corn) ... a petting zoo ... miniature ponies to ride ... slides to fly down ... hay ride to the pumpkin patch ... yummy apple donuts ... and a whole lot more!

{me & harper hanging out while the other kids tried out the petting zoo}

{lovely ladies}

{thomas & julez}

{rob & avery}

{me & zoe}

{"cowboy jack" ... julez & thomas}

{it's rough getting a picture of all the kids smiling at the same time ... i might have to work some photoshop magic for the perfect picture!}

{julez playing in the corn box}

{the apple donuts really are that good!}

{zoe didn't choose this pumpkin ... the one she wanted was tiny and rotting!}

{the fam}

{and one with me}

{steph & zoe on the pony ride ... zoe wouldn't let anyone else take her!}

{i love this picture ... not even sure what they're doing!}

leaves of fall

yesterday when i got home there were leaves everywhere ... so julez and i went outside to play in them. it was so much fun!

happy birthday to steph!

i can't believe i missed nathan's birthday. on the 15th. i'm a bad aunt.

but, maybe i'm a better sister? it's steph's birthday today, and i'm wishing her a happy birthday on time. craziness, i know.

i'm looking forward to most of the fam being together tonight to celebrate. and i'm looking forward to cupcakes and caramel brownies. yummy.

{me & steph last st. patty's day ... office shenanigans}

miss you at work, steph!

and the winner is ...

not me! but i did finish, so there. the chicago half marathon was this weekend and they had a 5K available as well. mia and joe ran the half marathon (which explains the lack of pictures of them, since they had to be there an hour before us), terri ran the 5K, and gayle and i walked the 5K. and we didn't even come in last.

{terri & gayle on the train taking us to the race ... notice how dark it is outside and how we shouldn't be awake at that time, much less on a train downtown}

{me and gayle waiting for the half-marathoners to start so we could get in the back of the 5K line}

{me & terri before the race}

{terri & gayle before the race ... and that guy in the blue shirt kept smiling in our picture}

{all three of us before the race. yes we had a lot of time to spare}

{after the race. yes they gave me a medal}

{gayle & terri after the race}

a swingin good time

i'm actually in the office this week! but yesterday, misse & the girls picked me up and we went over to the park for lunch. the girls were so happy to be swinging ... i just had to share some pictures.

{zoe would only let me push her ... and isn't that armband adorable?!?}

{harper was so happy!}

{avery loved this big swing ... she was going pretty high too!}

surprise!

i was totally surprised. aaron had planned a top-secret "birthday adventure" for saturday and i was a lot excited and a little nervous. the clue for birthday adventure #1 was a bunch of yummy theater candy ... which led to watching eat, pray, love at the theater. afterwards, he asked if he could blindfold me for the drive to the next birthday adventure.

so blindfolded, aaron drove in circles (literally) so i wouldn't know where we were going. at the point of me about to get sick, he pulled over and told me i could get out for some fresh air. and then he led me, blindfolded, back to my own house ... where family & friends were waiting to surprise me. i can't believe i didn't guess at the surprise party at all. apparently i have a bunch of secret-keepers and liars for friends and family!

but it was awesome. thanks all for sending memories of me (did we really pee our pants and throw up that often?). i laughed, and cried, and reminisced. and a huge thank you to my family, for planning the best surprise party ever. consider yourselves warned though ... i'm a better secret-keeper than the rest of you ... and i like to plan parties.

the best part of summer

last week i came home from traveling on thursday (yay!) and it was afternoon (yay!) and it was sunny (yay!) and hot (yay! - if you have a pool, which we do). so we went swimming, and i looked over and saw the huge tomato plants, with bright red tomatoes on them (big yay!).

so i picked them. and then we had BLTs for dinner. (yay!)

BLTs are my very favorite thing about summer. are you jealous? you should be. they were delicious.

just a lazy sunday afternoon

yesterday after church the girls were playing on their scooter. (side note: i bought that scooter for avery for her birthday and they love it!) funny stuff.

zoe turns 2!

i failed again. zoe's birthday was last weekend and i forgot to blog. but yay ... she turned 2 on july 16! so dang cute!

country music brings out the best ...

we bought tickets to the tim mcgraw/lady antebellum concert for a couple months and i could not wait to go. the last time we saw tim mcgraw was fantastic (though we were in the 4th row and what concert wouldn't be fantastic from there?). but this time we bought lawn tickets. the music was awesome. the trashy people around us, not so much. oh well. it was good times. enjoy some photos.

{i wouldn't have thought it'd be too hard to get a good picture of 5 people, but i've been proven wrong. jamison, sharla, mia, terri, and joe}

{apparently terri didn't think i was serious when i told them i wanted a nice picture. good job to the rest of you, though}

{you might not be able to see this very well ... but the lawn was full! lots and lots of country-lovin drunkards}

{as if mother nature knew that we were at a country concert ... a cloud shaped like a guitar. do ya see it?}