Patterson Fruit Farm

I think I found my new favorite place to go in the fall. The Patterson Fruit Farm is about a half hour from our house and you go on the most beautiful drive to get there. I swear this area has some of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I love that about Ohio. On the weekends they do a family fun fest where you can take a tractor and hay ride out to a big play area. You can also pick out a pumpkin, pick your own apples and pick your own strawberries when they are in season. Brittany and I took the boys there the other day and we loved it!

Jack had so much fun!! He loves tractors and pretty much anything that moves right now. The whole time he kept saying "Ta-tow!" meaning, tractor- while making a very excited, very funny face demonstrated in the picture above. He was cracking me up.
This little guy, Jackson, actually had his first experience of committing a crime. :) Brittany found some candy in his pocket that he had taken from the little store! She made him take it back and apologize, but it didn't seem to phase him at all. How can the store clerk get mad at that little face?

I think I found the pumpkin I want Mom!

We were on our way back to the car from the pumpkin patch and I look back and find Jack just sitting in the grass folding his arms and checking things out. I'm not sure why he was folding his arms, but it was funny. He sat there forever watching the tractor go by and whatever else was going on. I finally had to go pick him up to put him in the car. He was not happy. I think we will be making more trips to the Patterson Farm.

My attempt at being healthy :)

I am the biggest snacker. I love to snack on whatever pretty much all day long. So I decided I need to try an alternative to my usual snack. I borrowed my friend, Brittany's dehydrator and turned this fruit into some YUMMY fruit leather and apple chips (with a little cinnamon). It was my first time doing this and I was so happy with how it turned out!

It was super easy and I actually had so much fun doing it! My kitchen smelled so good the whole time it was running. I wish it smelled like that every day!!

I did apples, pears and nectarines. SO GOOD! Now I want to try mixing different fruits and making a variety of flavors. I want to make more apple chips and try drying other fruits that way, but I'm not sure what fruit to use. Any suggestions?

Now when I get the urge to snack (all the time!), I will be getting part of my daily amount of fruit. Sounds like a win, win situation!

All sorts of cuteness...and trouble

Jack LOVES to go for walks. We try to go for a walk every day but if it was up to him, we would be outside all day everyday. We walk up and down our street and look at the ants, trees, cars, and buses as they drive by. I guess one time he saw me stepping on an ant because now he tries to step on every ant that he sees. He's always saying "Shoo!" as he steps on it. I think it's funny.

Apparently now Jack can reach up and grab stuff from the kitchen table because when I came down stairs the other morning, I found all the crumbs from the cereal box all over the floor. He looks at me and says "No!....Uh-oh!" I went and got the vacuum and made him help me clean it up! He is turning out to be a good little helper, even if he is the one who made the mess.

Messy!!

Jack now refuses to let us feed him and insists that he do it himself. I must admit he's pretty good at maneuvering that spoon and he looks pretty cute. Now I just have to get used to cleaning up a much bigger mess EVERY meal time.

He now sits at the table and eats dinner with us. He thinks he is pretty cool sitting by his Dad. He has always been a good little eater and pretty much just eats what we eat...thankfully!

He totally ignores me in this video and won't do anything I say. I guess he is more interested in his food than his mom. Probably won't be the first time!

Random Video

I have been trying to upload these videos FOREVER and my computer has been acting up so I decided to try it on Justin's.

Jack is learning new things and lots of new words every day. He is very entertaining to say the least. Unfortunately there are a few things that he has discovered that I would prefer him to ignore. This video explains itself! :) Boys, boys, boys...

Hurricane Ike...in Cleveland

Sunday evening our power went out around 6:30pm during a really big wind storm due to Hurricane Ike. Most of the time I think it is so fun to have the power go out and light candles and use flashlights to see. We had put Jack to bed and played Phase 10 (which Justin beat me at) and went to bed early, expecting the power to be on in the morning. Well, we woke up and had no power. In fact we didn't get our power back until Tuesday morning! It's now Wednesday and some of our friends still don't have power. It is amazing how much we rely on it. I couldn't do my hair, charge my phone, read any blogs, check my email, put on a movie for Jack, wash our clothes, or even keep our food cold. We ended up taking everything out of our fridge and putting it in the Schuller's - Thank you!! Needless to say, I am happy to report that our power is now on and we are now extra grateful for the blessing of ELECTRICITY!

On the other hand, we are truly grateful that this is the worst of it. We pray that those who were impacted the most from the hurricane will soon be able to return to their homes and families.

Indians

The Indians played the Minnesota Twins last night at the annual CADA (dental school) night. They won 12-9!

Go Indians!

Rainy Day

I love rainy days! It has been raining all day and I love it. I love the sound of it, and I love to watch it rain really hard. Maybe it's because I grew up by Seattle, but there's just something about a rainy day that makes it okay to stay at home, don't do your hair, make cookies, and watch a movie. I think that's what I will do today. :)

Total Random

These are just a few random pictures that I have been meaning to post but never got around to it.Love that face! He always seems to be so happy in the bath tub. Then the story quickly changes as we try to get him dressed.

I made these cupcakes for a friend's baby shower. I LOVE how they turned out! Mom - if you are ever wanting to buy me something... I want a cupcake stand. :) Isn't it so cute?!

I made these cuties for breakfast on our anniversary. :)

I have been trying to get Jack to leave his hat on because he looks so darn cute in them! He usually only lasts about five minutes, unless he forgets that he has it on, and he takes it off. Is there a trick to getting them to keep it on?

One day, I put Jack down for a nap. He laid down without a peep for about ten minutes. Then I heard him cry pretty loud but I wanted to give him a minute to see if he would just fall asleep, which is what he usually does. Well he cried for about two minutes and just like I anticipated, he fell asleep. About a half hour later, I went in to check on him and this is what I found! No wonder he started crying! His foot was completely stuck. Poor little guy...I think I will check on him a little sooner next time. :)

The Hemsley's

Last week, some of our friends, Jon and Amber, from our old ward in Rexburg, came to visit their family that lives in Cleveland. They were so nice to contact us and see if they could stop by. They are on their way back to Idaho after being in Virginia all summer. They have the cutest little girl, Jocelyn, who we have never met, so it was so fun to get to see her! She is adorable and already so big! She is about 8 months old and crawling everywhere.

Jon, Amber, me, Jocelyn (in the car seat behind me!) Justin, and Jack

Jack had fun having Jocelyn over. He even gave her a little love!

Good luck with your move back to Idaho!! Thank you for stopping by...it is so nice to see some familiar Idaho faces here in Cleveland. We were so glad to finally meet your little girl and anxious to read about your trip and hear how all of your big decisions are coming!! :)