It's the most wonderful time of the year

Fall is here. Finally. I thought it would never come. With the cool air comes new beginnings, healing, and the festivities of the holidays. We made a big deal out of this past chilly weekend. I had a great new cinnamon scent in our Scentsy warmer, pumpkin cookies in the oven, chili in the crockpot, apple cider in my hand, and my handsome husband wearing flannel. I smile thinking that it's only the beginning!

Our special family tradition now is to go to the Ozark Corn Maze in Cave Springs. We went last year with my mom and dad. I missed my dad there this year, he would have for sure wanted to take Lilly up in the newest attraction - helicopter rides.

It was so cold her little nose was pink the whole time but we had a blast. The tractor took us for a ride to the pumpkin patch. This year there were no vines and leaves since all the pumpkins came in boxes. This actually excited Lilly because they all had stickers, and she loves her stickers! She played in the pumpkins and put a sticker on all of us. We went through the children's corn maze and Lilly lead the way the whole time, getting us lost and then found again. We topped off the trip with some hot apple cider.

We spent a lot of time in the petting zoo where Lil squealed in delight at each new goat, sheep, and cow she saw. She was the cutest I've ever seen her. Tipping her head to the side and bending over to look at all of their faces, asking some if they were "doin' good?" She got a little too friendly with one goat and tried to make him wag his tail.

I'm officially term today (37 weeks!!) and we're so excited about meeting little Isaac any day now.

Life and Death

Our lives changed forever the day after my last blog post. My dad passed away on May 30 after the two most stressful weeks we've ever faced. I wish I had something profound to write, but I don't. I miss my dad and hate thinking about our family's future without him.

My dad was always there when I needed him. After my first mission trip to Mexico I got very sick and couldn't stop vomiting. Dad drove to my dorm at the U of A, picked me up, took me to a hotel and spoon-fed me Gatorade until I was better. When Matt called my dad and explained that he needed to take me to the ER for appendicitis, my dad said, "I'll be there as soon as I can, I'm cooking dinner for Cindy before she gets off work" and he stayed with Lilly until I was released the next day. I've never had trouble grasping how much my Heavenly Father loves me because my dad loved me so much.


We always had a good stock of Oreos, chocolate bars, and ice cream at our house because my dad loved to bring over our favorite treats. He came up at least once a week to see me and play with Lilly or watch her while I ran an errand. Lilly still talks about him and enjoys looking at pictures of him.


Matt put together some picture collages with his new app to make blogging a little easier. We have a wonderful, happy life with lots of love and enjoy time with our sweet girl. We're very excited about welcoming little Isaac Matthew to the family near the end of October.

Summer Time

Summer is here and it's time to fill up the baby pool and enjoy the sunshine! The season change also accompanies some relief from the nausea I've experienced this pregnancy. We're 16 weeks along today!

Lilly has been learning so much lately and has lots of new words she can say. All day she points to things to tell me what they are and who they belong to. She'll point to my pillow and say "mama's" and then to Matt's and say "dada's". I recently bought her some Babiators sunglasses and she is very proud to tell you that they are "Ninny's goggles". She calls herself Ninny and it makes me smile :)

She's so sweet and affectionate. Every morning after she wakes up I go get her and we get to snuggle in bed for a little while before the day starts. Her hugs and kisses get us through the day!

 She had Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease recently and it was not fun at all!! Poor speckled kid!

 I think this goofy face looks just like Matt's baby pictures!!

 Playing at her new water table.

 We have a river rat. The kid loves stones and water.

 Lil and Cooper at the park. She was squealing in excitement.

 Sprinkler time!

 Mother's Day! We enjoyed having my mom at church and celebrating what a blessing she is!

 This picture cracks me up. I had just told her not to touch it. As you can see, she's not touching it ;)

 The new Babiators. She loves them.

Disney

Holy smokes! I found the lost post!!! Yay!! It was posted mistakenly on a neglected recipe blog I started a long time ago. Well, here it is!

Our trip to Disney World was awesome. We had so much fun with family and Lil loved all of it! She even did well on the plane! My highlights of the trip were swimming in the pool with Lilly, eating all the good food, spending time with family, riding It's a Small World, reminiscing with Matt (it's where we honeymooned!), and watching Lil hug and kiss her cousins.

Peanut and egg-free ice cream from Ghirardelli! Somebody liked it!

I have loved being a mommy lately. Lilly is growing so fast and she's so smart! She has all of her favorite songs memorized and can even sing a little bit with me. When I sing a song and get to the part where it says "Hosanna" she says "nanna" and smiles :). She's so cute. She learned to stomp her feet yesterday and now "If you're happy and you know it" has become even more fun!

She is eating a lot better and can chow down on chicken nuggets. Our big girl is even weaned from the bottle and is full-time sippy-with-a-straw! We have a toddler!! After I sing her bedtime songs and say our prayer, I lay her down with her blanket and she says "night-night". What a sweet blessing she is.

Hello Again

I truly did have a blog post last month and I was so proud. I told Matt to check it out and he was like, "Uh, there's nothing there." It had somehow deleted itself. I was so devastated that I haven't blogged since. So hopefully this one will be successfully published!

That's not my only excuse for not blogging. I'm also 12 weeks pregnant and have been feeling miserable for the past 6 weeks. Hopefully relief is on the way. We're so excited and thankful and looking forward to our newest addition around October 30!

We had a wonderful trip to Disney World the beginning of March. That's what my last post was all about, including tons of pictures. For a recap, my sister-in-law did a fantastic job and you can check it out here.

Since then, Matt and I both had birthdays, we went to my cousin's beautiful wedding, loved celebrating Easter, and have just been enjoying life with Lilly. Here are some pictures!

We took Lilly to an Easter egg hunt in the rain. There were tons of poor little babies soaked to their Huggies but they seemed to enjoy it! If only we had brought a better umbrella :(

The sunny Sunday egg hunt went much better!!
Lil glues cotton balls to make a spring lamb. She's so crafty!


Petting fluffy puppies at the Heart Walk.
Lil and Grandpa CD building a picnic table!
It's sturdy and awesome!

Water-painting.
Toddler Time at the library.
We love Saturday mornings. Here's Lil in the doll bed that my grandpa made for me when I was 5.