Sunday Exploring

So that title is a little bit false...it should be called...chasing Charlie to try and get nice pictures of him. Our Exploring actually started on Saturday...our power went out for a couple of hours so we went out in the stormy weather. Miles went down for a nap and Max was outside working with the Elders and Justin so we went to see how the work was going. Charlie was excited to use his umbrella, and he has a pretty great Degas umbrella we inherited from a tenant. 

Blustery..not really

I know I don't really need reasons to take pictures of my kids but the reasons for these are that I want to get some good photos of Charlie as he is going to be 3 in a couple weeks, but the Fall colors are starting now, Also, I'm a little obsessed with him in his glasses. I think it's pretty adorable. So, on Sunday Charlie just happened to be dressed up like a miniature professor and it kind of melted my heart. He inherited his awesome sweater from our Ward Swap last week and I couldn't be happier. I decided that I needed to take pictures of him somewhere pretty, also it was a pretty nice day and it would be fun to get out of the house and explore. 

We decided on Pittock mansion, It is a little special to us because it is one of the locations we went for a date in the days we were past Charlie's due date just waiting for him to join our family. We then went back at Christmastime shortly after he was born. 

I don't think we had been back since and it is so close to our house. 

As far as trying to take pictures of this kid...it's hard! He is always in motion and we were losing light...so most pictures are blurry.

He stopped moving for a moment to look over the big cliff and watch the river.

And then he was off and running again...

This one turned out the best,

He makes this face when he's pretending to be sad and it cracks me up.

He kept running away and climbing in not so safe places so he got some scoldings...which have been happening more frequently these days.


Yet he keeps running away from us.


It felt good to get out of the house, it seems that it has been more difficult lately, or rather I'm more intimidated with some increasing tantrums and obedience issues from my little Charlie..It's just a phase right?

Pumpkin Patch and Pumpkin carving!

We had the opportunity to go to a pumpkin Patch this year, Last year, we kept putting it off then Charlie was really sick the whole week of Halloween so we never made it. We were excited to go with Lisa, August and Brayden,. At first I was thinking I could make the attempt with both boys and Max could stay and work on the property on his precious Saturday, but I decided I couldn't handle it with Charlie's current tantrums. I used a little bribery and got Max to agree to come with us. (He wanted to come the whole time but he also feels a lot of pressure to get things done on the property before a ton of rain comes) Anyway, we drove out to Heizer farms which happened to be quite the elaborate pumpkin patch. 

(Boo, I just accidentally deleted pretty much everything I wrote so here I go again...it's fine, I have all the time in the world...) 

Anyway..as soon as we got there, Charlie spotted these...and climbed right up. I assume they were placed there for children to climb on.

We then met up with Lisa and the boys and ate some snacks. Max had lunch while Charlie and I shared some kettle corn. Charlie was then eyeing August's sucker. (Oh yeah, I totally forgot Charlie's glasses. He had taken them off at some point before we left and in the hustle and bustle of loading up 2 kids in the car, they were forgotten...)

Next, we went into the barn to check out the animals. Charlie loved watching the baby duckies but he was bummed he couldn't reach them.

Charlie waved to the pigs instead of petting them.

In the barn there was also a seed pit (like a sand pit) with diggers and tractors and trucks to play with. Charlie loved it.

And then, upstairs in the barn was this amazing space. It made me want to have a barn. Think of the fun events you could have up here. They were playing Charlie Brown on the TV

We then met up with Lisa and the boys again and the kids did a couple rounds on the big hay slide. While Charlie was having fun with his cousins I took the opportunity to take tons of photos of Miles.

When Charlie needed a break from sliding I tried to get some photos of them together.

Charlie tried his best to hold his brother but Miles is so darn wiggly that it was hard for him. 

He eventually let Miles roll off his lap into the hay. Miles didn't seem to mind as he still had his fists full of hay.

We then watched as they shot pumpkins from these cannons. It was quite impressive but it also made me question what Americans do for entertainment.

Charlie played in here briefly but got frustrated because he couldn't get the tractors to move on the bumpy ground.

He loved grinding corn kernals to make chicken feed though.

We then decided to take the hayride out to the pumpkin patch. We had already purchased our pumpkins but we wanted to go for the experience (and photos of course) There was also the large corn maze out there. Lisa took the boys and Max and Charlie eventually went while I nursed Miles on a hay bale.

Charlie loved traipsing through the pumpkin patch.

I think this photo is so funny.

Miles wasn't too excited to actually touch the pumpkin.

Lisa was happy at the end of the day...the boys, not so much!

Miles was happy after he got a belly-full of milk.

We then rode the hayride back.

Charlie and August got a little cuddly. It was precious, .

Charlie ended up with blisters on his feet so he got a free piggy back ride to the car,.

Lisa came over with the boys for dinner and we had some pot roast (max's deer). I then put my kids in bed, we said our good byes to cousins and late that evening I fulfilled my end of the bargain by helping Max dig a trench at the house behind us, at midnight. If that is not speaking his love language, I don't know what is.

The following Monday we decided to carve pumpkins for family night. We quickly realized it was hard to get the family involved as we weren't ready to let Charlie work the knifes and he refused to get his hands dirty by pulling out the pumpkin guts. 

We did some research on pumpkin carving and patterns and it paid off. Max always out-carves me when it comes to Jack-o-lanterns.

After we put the boys in bed, we finished carving and admired out pumpkins on the deck. Is that not impressive?

Happy Halloween!