Five Fun Fall Things For the First Day of Fall!

Five Fun Fall Things!! 1.) Fabulous Mums! 2.) Fun Foods! 3.) Fragrant Flowers! 4.) Fantastic Helpers! 5.)Festive Decor!

Last night we made some yummy caramel apples...the boys were in heaven! (and so was I!)...then today Tanner and Logan helped me cut down all the cornstalks, pumpkins, and sunflowers from our garden and we decorated the porch with them. It is very empowering to grow everything yourself. I loved having a garden this summer and want to do one each year. The boys were great helpers and we had alot of fun working hard and "bringing in the harvest" today:)

Have a great first day of Fall everyone!

Time to Make the Doughnuts!

Today Tanner, Logan and I made homemade doughnuts (going to all these apple orchards kind of put me in the mood to try that:) So here they are...with their messy hands...cutting donuts out, shaking all the cinnamon, sugar, and powdered sugar on, etc. We had a great time....not sure if they tasted all that wonderful, but it was sure fun making them!!)

Spicer's Orchard

Ok, so I'm a little obsessed...three orchards in three days...what is wrong with me??!! So we went to Spicer's today...I swear I'm cutting myself off...no more apple orchards for at least a week! But...the boys did have fun:)...they always love the sandbox and like the new haymaze they put up there...

Personal Progress Pajama Party...a.k.a. "P" Party!!

Tonight we had a "P" Party for Young Women's...a Personal Progress Pajama Party! Each of the girls wore as many P things as they could think of, and we had fun P-foods, like pretzels, popcorn, popsicles, punch, Paydays, etc. I think the girls liked it...thanks to my sister Kathy for the great idea! So here are the girls in all their P attire...aren't they such perfectly polished princesses:)

It fits!

Ok, I know this is totally tooting my own horn here...but let me explain. My family (parents, siblings, and brother-in-laws) have been doing a "biggest loser" competition for one month now. We are all trying to lose weight and see how much we can lose by mid-November (my brother Gary's wedding). So, we "weigh in" every MOnday morning and post our weights and share how our eating went that week/ encourage each other, etc. So, in the past month, I have lost 12 pounds. I still have lots more to go, but I am now the weight I was when I got married. Over the past couple years, I have lost about 30 pounds overall, and my wedding dress didn't fit for a while there!...but now it does! When I got on the scale and realized I was at my "wedding weight" again, I put on my dress and made Scott take a picture of me...so I could show proof to my family on our family website:) Anyways, my reason for sharing this on my blog, is for motivation for me:) Now that I've told people I'm trying to lose weight, it will help motivate me to keep going:)

Three Cedars Farm

After going to the apple orchard yesterday, it put me in the mood for fun fall things...so we went to Three Cedars Farm Orchard today. The weather was great!...They've built a whole new kids area which is awesome! They have this cool, plastic, lifesized cow that the kids can "milk" and water comes out. Also, check out the size of those pumpkins in the third picture...huge! It was a fun time...I love that place...mainly because it is so beautiful, the displays are awesome...it just oozes with charm!

Erwin's Apple Orchard

Today we went to Erwin's Apple Orchard for church playgroup. It was a perfect weather day...crisp, fall-like, and clear blue skies. The boys liked the hay maze, tractor trikes, the animals, the wagon ride through the orchard, and of course the yummy cider and donuts!:) I love fall...my favorite season...and visiting apple orchards and pupkin patches throughout the season is always a highlight...everyone had a great time!

Erwin's Apple Orchard (continued)

Here are some more pictures from the Apple Orchard:)

Mallory is Crawling & Preston's First Haircut

Mallory finally caught up to her brother and is crawling all over the place! I kind of forgot how crazy it is once they start moving. I can't turn my back for a minute! All of a sudden I am very aware of electrical cords and all the little things I didn't notice before. We need to get some gates...this house has lots of stairs which doesn't go well with two crawling babies!

Also, I just gave Preston his first haircut. His hair was getting a little too scraggly and it looked like he was getting a mullet and I couldn't stand it anymore:) I think he looks like a little gentleman now:)

Silly Hair!

I took the boys to get their haircut the other day. Since it's a little shorter, I was playing around with it last night and being silly. The boys were cracking up in the mirror as I gave them mowhawks, spikey hair, and every other kind of hairdo after their bath...oh, the simple joys of life when you are a child:)

Labor Day in Virginia

Here are a few more pics that we took at the park in Virginia...

Manassas Battlefield

While we were in Virginia...we drove into Manassas (just outside Washington D.C.) and met my old roommate from BYU, Audrey, and her daughter Natalie. We had a great time meeting up for lunch and catching up (of course I forgot to take pictures...bummer!)...anyways, after that, we visited the Manassas Battlefield and museum where apparently a famous battle occured in the Civil War. Pretty interesting...so these are a few pics from that little field trip:)