Weekend in Iowa (part 1)

Lillia and I headed to Ames last weekend while Brandon headed to Texas with his buds for their annual Cyclone Football road trip.

With the weather being as beautiful as it was, we took full advantage of being outside!  My mom, sister, Lillia, and I made our first trip to Center Grove Orchard!  Lillia loved it!  Actually, we all loved it!

We found farm animals...

We ventured into The Three Little Pigs Houses....

We milked a cow....

We played in the corn pool...

We bounced on the big yellow "pillow"...

We went down the big slide...

We found a fuzzy wuzzy...

We picked out pumpkins...

And what trip to the Apple Orchard is complete without a little snack?...

 

 

Thanks for such a great trip to the apple orchard gramma and Molly!  Let's do it again next year!

Lillia's Two!

This sweet girl turned 2 years old on October 3!  She is such a delight! We are loving this age!

Brandon's family came to celebrate Lillia's birthday with us in Kansas and the following weekend we celebrated with my family in Iowa. (more about our Iowa trip later)

Thanks for coming to celebrate with us Papa, Grammy, and Uncle Bri!

Uncle Bubba we missed you! (and Caitlyn too!)

A little help from mom blowing out her candles!

Happy Birthday Lillia Paige!  We love you!

27 Weeks

When packing for a weekend in Ames, which included going to a wedding, I happened to remember that I went to a wedding at the same point in my pregnancy with Lillia.  So I specifically packed the same dress and jewelry in order to make a little comparison!

The reception happened to be at the same location, so I grabbed a picture in the same spot I stood a little over two years ago!  

What do you think?  Has much changed in two years?!  :)

Girl After My Own Heart!

On Saturday I was watching the Food Network.  Paula Deen was on, creating some delicious dish with chicken, and of course, butter!  ;) 

Lillia crawled onto the couch with me and watched for a few minutes.  I told her "There's Paula!  She's making yummy chicken!"  She watched with me for a little bit, then went back to doing her own thing.

Yesterday after she woke up from her nap I brought her downstairs.  The tv was on, and just so happened to once again be on the Food Network.  She looked up at the tv and said "There's Paula!  Making chicken!" 

OH MY STARS!  I LOVED that she said that!  And I couldn't believe it either!  She's a girl after my own heart!

When you're out of peanuts....

Ok, so perhaps by now you know I LOVE FALL!  It's definitely my favorite season!  And what snack screams fall better than Candy Corn and Peanuts?  Mmmm, such a delicious little treat...it's hard not to eat the whole bowl by yourself!

So, the other day Lillia and I ran to Walgreens to grab an extra ingredient we needed for dinner.  And of course, there on the way to the checkout, was a huge display of candy corn!  So, needless to say, a bag ended up coming home with us.  My mouth was watering on the way home...I couldn't wait to mix it with some peanuts!  I opened the cupboard to grab the jar of peanuts I just knew we had......nope.  We were out.

Enter the State Fair!  Have any of you ever had a Cashew Nutroll at the Iowa State Fair?  Tasty little treat that I can't leave the fair without!  Anyways, if candy corn and peanuts are supposed to taste like a peanut nutroll, why not mix candy corn with cashews?  And why stop there when you have almonds in the cupboard?

Well, there you have it!  My new FAVORITE fall snack mix!  Cashews and almonds took it to a whole new level!  If only I could blame the disappearance of these pieces in the bowl on my husband, who happens to despise candy corn......