Fall in Philly

A couple of weeks ago we went to visit Ashley and Scott in Philadelphia. I still cannot believe how very beautiful it is there. So lush, green and just covered with trees. It is a little piece of heaven! While we were there we went to an orchard and picked apples right off apple trees. Those Golden Delicious apples were the most tasty apples I have ever had. Makes me want an apple tree of my own! Ariyah got into the action too. She was so excited to pick apples. She kept saying "apple, apple, apple!" What a great experience it was to climb up a quiet, little grassy hill to the apple orchard and pick apples! Yum!

Titi Ashley pickin' our half a peck of apples!

Ariyah enjoying an apple cider donut from the country store at the orchard. Yes, they are as good as they sound. Heavenly...

Fort Buildin

One of Ariyah's favorite things to do lately is build forts with her Daddy. Chris and Ariyah spend good quality time coming up with new ways to build forts in the family room. The like to make secret passages and twists and turns in their forts. Chris is so good at it! Check out the latest fort...

Here is Ariyah in the fort...

Here she is coming out one end...

And here she is coming out the other end. Check out that crazy fort hair!

One more deep inside the fort...

So much fun!

She WILL remember...

Ariyah loves oranges. The problem is, she chokes on the casing around each orange segment. So, we have to peel the casing off each piece of orange. It takes forever and I hate doing it. Today she wanted an orange with her lunch. I told her she could have one when Daddy came home from work. What do you think was the first thing she said to her Daddy when he came home at 6:00? Daddy...Orange! She has the most amazing memory. She does not forget!

Last summer fling!

A couple of weekends ago we had a fun long weekend in St. George to say goodbye to summer. Our dear friends the Bryants invited us to hang with them at their friend's condo. The weather was perfect! It still felt like summer, but wasn't too hot. We spent a lot of time at the beautiful pool swimming and hanging out. Ariyah loves, loves, loves to swim! We also played at the playground that was right outside our door and had some good food at the local Mexican food joint. It was so relaxing and fun! Thanks so much to the Bryants!



Ariyah and Daddy had so much fun in the pool! Check out Ariyah's huge floaties!

Our friends!

Dinner at Poncho and Lefty's...yum!

Stylin' with Mrs. Potato Head

One of our favorite toys as of late is Mrs. Potato Head. Ariyah loves to get her parts out of her “bum” and make crazy faces with arms for eyes and tongues for noses. Today she decided she wanted to wear Mrs. Potato Head’s earrings and glasses. This really does make for hours (well at least minutes) of fun!

Look at her look down her nose at my lack of Mrs. Potato Head style!
With this picture, she'll have an idea of how she will look when she is 80!

Ariyah's latest creation...

In her shoes

Ever since Ariyah could walk she has loved to wear other people's shoes. She loves to put on any shoes she can get her hands on. Any shoes that are left by the front door are fair game. She loves to put them on and stomp around in them. She seems to especially love heels! (That's my girl!)

Look at those long legs! Perfect for heels!

What happens when you leave a toddler alone with an ink pen and a sofa?

This....


Thanks to the Internet, I found out that hand sanitizer gets black ink out of microfiber! Who knew? Now I can add upholstery cleaner to my mommy job description!

Locked out!

I now know that Ariyah can lock doors...I literally went into the garage for 10 seconds and in that time Ariyah had locked the door to the garage. I knocked and heard little mischevious giggles on the other side of the door. I pleaded with her to unlock the door, but all I got were more giggles. Luckily, Chris was home to save the day! A spare key outside might be a good idea...

Confession time...

OK, so I don't journal. I wish I did. I have always wanted to, but every time I start, days, months, even years go by before I pick it up again. I finally gave up. The thing is, I don't want all those blessed moments of our family life to slip away without me recording them. Things that I think I will always remember have a way of getting misplaced in my brain. New special memories replace the old ones all the time! So, with some encouragement from friends, I started this blog as a way to capture and preserve all the wonderfullness of this thing we call life! I hope this will serve as a place where we can become reacquainted, reconnected and where our bonds as family and friends can grow stronger. I am looking forward to recording and sharing all of these precious moments that having a daughter (and a husband!) gives to me every day. I hope you enjoy our time together! Now keep your fingers crossed for me...I will update my blog...I will update my blog...I will update my blog.