back in september...

...I forgot to post about our little adventure!

So, back in September, we headed up to Coeur d'Alene Idaho for a little week long selling job Jake wanted to do. Ashlyn and I obliged, and figured we'd make a little vacation out of it.  

As it turns out, there isn't a whole lot to do in Coeur d'Alene in September. We had missed all the summer adventures (which weren't kid friendly anyways) so we were stuck trying to find something to fill up a weeks worth of time.

Well, in Ashlyn's humble opinion, we stuck gold! We discovered miniature golf! My not so little miss schmutz was in heaven the rest of the week.

In one week, we ended up heading to the outdoor miniature golf course four times, the indoor one twice, and the game arcade twice (where we were able to make off with 5 rubber duckies and 2 bouncy balls.. we are so good!).

Now, back here in Seattle, we just can't wait for it to - 1- become warm again. 2- for sunlight to be around more than 8 hours a day. 3- for it to at some point stop raining long enough for the sidewalk to dry. or 4- just build an indoor miniature golf course already!

We're so glad when cousins come visit...

...glad as we can be!

We had a lot of fun playing at the park

making yummy caramel apples

exploring a pumpkin patch complete with

bucking hay barrels

photo opportunities

and, of course, pumpkins - even green ones

oranges ones too

also, good pumpkin chairs

megan had fun running around with us mommies and practicing not falling down among the numerous shoe tripping vines 

we also got to discover a rubber duck race

which quickly turned into a fascination with just the water pumps... forget those ducks 

and, finally, we got to climb on hay barrels! 

While in Seattle, our cousins also ventured with us down to our favorite...

Pike's Place Market!

Where we filled our tummies with crepes (laura's favorite), mini donuts (kid's favorite), and lamb yeero (my favorite)

we also tried our luck at getting all the kids to look at us, at the same time, and smile

it didn't work... but megan was very cooperative!

The kids loved looking at the water.

And, finally, the last morning in Washington ended up being very wet.

We decided to still head out and enjoy some breakfast.

We headed to downtown Kirkland and stopped by our favorite pastry shop for some melt-in-your-mouth croissants, a covered gazebo for the adults,

And a wet park adventure, with umbrellas, for the kids!

We loved having our cousins Taylor and Megan come over to our house! We hope they can come again soon! We also enjoyed a lot of other fun things, and food, yet (sadly) didn't get any pictures of them! 

It was a fun and sun filled week!

We Love Cousins!

the Pumpkin Patch

It was so sunny and warm the first weekend in October, so we decided to enjoy the sun outside at a local pumpkin patch!

 Ashlyn had a lot of fun riding the pony, riding the hayride, and riding the tractor pulled cow ride; 

But the highlight of the trip was, most definitely, going to the patch of pumpkins and picking out a huge, heavy "daddy" pumpkin.

We had already bought, according to Ashlyn, a "mommy" pumpkin and a itty bitty little "baby" pumpkin. But, at the patch, we decided adopting another "baby" pumpkin wasn't such a bad idea either.

But, by golly, it was time to finally bring home a "daddy" pumpkin.

 Our little miss schmutz was very happy with our decision, and is happy to have her pumpkin family complete.

Thank you Dyer family for coming and pumpkin patching with us!

family photos!!!

we were able to get family pictures taken last night. Our photographer was a rock star, and she already had some of the pictures up and web ready by this afternoon! Which, gets huge brownie points in my book since I have absolutely no patience.

I am so happy with how the pictures turned out! But, since a picture is worth a thousand words, this post does not need many words...

Happy Birthday Dear Ashlyn!

We have been talking about little miss schmutz' birthday for months! Every time we would pass party decorations, go to a friend's birthday, or see a toy that Ashlyn wanted, we would talk about how "maybe" we could do that, get that, for her party.

We ended up doing a "strawberry" themed party - and it was a lot of fun! We had wonderful friends, great food, and plenty of princess accessories!

I love my little 3 year old! She is the most precious little girl and I couldn't have asked for a better daughter and best friend!