Pumpkin Picking... Gotta love it

I've been seeing so many pumpkin picking photo's online, everyone is getting into the fall spirit and I love it! It's the best time of year! It's so exciting to get to do all these annual things especially when you have little ones around! 

We did our little pumpkin patch visit today and it was a blast. We went with my sister, mom, brother, his wife, and her family. I think we've all gone together for about 4 years so its become sorta a tradition...

 So here's a little taste of our visit to the farm today.

As Real as the Passing Time

There was a point a few months ago when it felt like Darby was supposed to stay a newborn for some time. I think it feels that way because you have a need to cope and enjoy everything about that time in your babies lives. But it passes. Much too quickly. You remember they only have one year of babyhood. And YOU only have one year to enjoy them being a baby. And suddenly they're almost a year old. Three more months and we'll be celebrating a life that has been here for an entire year. But mentally you just gave birth to her like… a few days ago… right? and how did she even come, because your first born was just a baby like a few months ago… right? When did he stop being so cute and start acting like a young teenager? Using the term, "That's not cool enough for me." and only being interested in things young dudes are supposed to like. But anyway I'm supposed to be talking about this actual, physical baby of mine right now. It doesn't even seem like she's supposed to be real sometimes like,
 Oh thats was just a long dream I had last night.

Not only is she real but she's as real as it gets. She laughs hard, jabbers too much, gets into anything and everything. Throws huge objects off shelves, or puts unsafe things in her eyes and mouth. To music she dances and sings, drums with her hands banging against the table, or falls into a deep coma sleep. Point being, she wants me to know music makes her feel good(join the club Darby).
 She MUST have her outdoor time. If it's getting later in the day and I still haven't taken her to sit in the grass or gone on a long walk with her she gets a little fussy, trying to tell me, "OK mom, I've had enough of this indoor crap, why don't you take me where I like." Silly mom doesn't know these things. But I'm figuring it out. Slowly. So, these are the kinds of small things moms spend so much time learning and then after years of growing up you wonder how your mom knows so much about who you are, almost more than you know yourself!

Darby, you're such a light in my life. I know it seems like it's taking forever to grow up and learn to do things like brother does but that same amount of time will pass before you in only a moment once you're older. And you'll hate it. But it will make you want to cherish and remember because it will make you realize in the end all you'll really have are the memories.
xo

Mesa Verde

My sister and I have been planning to take a trip together for a while we just had no idea where we were going. There are too many places out there we want to see! We got in the car on Friday at 2pm thinking we were headed towards some Utah Natuonal Parks but after two minutes of looking at the map and weather we suddenly changed our minds and headed toward Mesa Verde National Park instead! And let me tell you, it was the right choice!!! We took the route through Ridgeway, Colorado instead of the suggested Utah way and it was incredibly beautiful. On the way home we went though Utah thinking it would be less hilly for my zero powered car and perhaps a little quicker. Instead it took about half an hour longer, more fuel, and much less of a pretty drive. Needless to say, I highly recommend our first route!

We left town at 2pm and arrived at the park entrance at exactly 6pm with a short break in between driving. Not bad at all! I was a little worried about Darby not being able to handle the drive but she did great!

(Post bed flash photography and post sleep photos)

It ended up being a pretty chilli night(I desperately need a new sleeping bag) but it wasn't bad. Darby stayed really warm, maybe a little too warm, I was over concerned with her getting cold!

The drive from our camping spot to the actual dwellings is about half and hour but another beautiful drive. If you want to see all the dwellings you need to get tour tickets before you even enter the park. There are some amazing ones I wish we could have seen in person but we didn't have the money or time. There are so many places to stop along the drive and other places we could have gone too. You could literally spend three days there and still have stuff to see! At the main stop they have a museum, book store, and a few hikes. One leads down to a self-guided dwellings that you don't need a tour ticket for and another leads to petroglyphs. It was so incredible to see the "Spuce Tree Dwellings" and learn about how they used to live! It was a big-little village and they even had a little ladder you could use to go below ground and see some of their architecture. This trip was so worth it and I can't wait to visit again some day!

xo -Liz