fall

okay, so it doesn't exactly feel like the crisp fall weather that we're used to.  but, it has gotten cooler!  we have been loving the weather lately.  i can actually go outside after 11am without sweating to death.

every time we pass a pumpkin, mae goes nuts and yells "punkin!".  so i knew that this would be the year that we could take her to a pumpkin patch.  i did some research and found some good ones not far from us.  this little munchkin had a blast.  

the first thing we did was a pumpkin hunt.  you ride a tractor out to the evergreen farm, and get to hunt for little pumpkins hidden throughout the trees.  mae loved the little pumpkins.  i love how excited little things make her.  holidays are that much better when you have a little kid around to get excited with.

 i love this guy

 then we checked out some of the animals that they had on the farm.  i wasn't too sure if mae would really like this, sometimes animals freak her out.  (and when i say animals, i mean taxidermy animals at cabella's, or the fake animals they have at the rain forest cafe.  so, maybe it's just fake animals that freak her out).

 surprisingly she loved the animals. 

 then we played a little bean bag toss

 and we came home very happy and sweaty.  we had a great time.  and she still wants to go outside to see the "punkins" on our front step every day.

i've always loved to bake.  but something about the fall makes me want to bake like crazy...especially things with pumpkin!  so, we've done quite a bit of baking around here the past few weeks.  whenever i bake, mae likes to put on her little apron and get out every pot, pan, bowl, spoon, cookie sheet she can find.  i love it because it keeps her pretty busy!

after general conference, cody and i decided we needed to start some regular family home evening.  and the past few weeks we have had some fhe successes.  we usually do something simple, like this week we talked about the prophet and sang 'follow the prophet'.  that's about as much as mae can handle.  but, it really brings the spirit into our home, and that is a feeling that i want mae to grow up with. 

The Birthday Girl

it's hard to believe that this little munchkin is already 2.  it seems like i was just posting about her first birthday!  a lot has happened since then.

mae is a happy, energetic, fun, excited little girl.  she is so full of life.  she brings so much joy to so many people.  we're so blessed to have such an amazing little girl in our lives.  her favorite things right now are dressing up in her princess dress, throwing/ kicking the ball, lining all of her books up, and then jumping from one to the next.  She loves to swing from the bar on the treadmill, or anything for that matter.  she loves to be outside.  and she loves girls!

when we were deciding what we wanted to do for her birthday, Cody kept bringing up chuckie cheese (i think he wanted to go more for his enjoyment than for mae's).  so we decided to meet up for lunch the day before her birthday.  we were lucky to have sydney in town with us, so she got to join in the festivities!

mae loves merry-go-rounds, whenever she sees one she has to get on it!

she did pretty well with the little kid games.  but there was so much to see and do that she didn't want to be stuck at one game for very long.

 her favorite game was one that you pulled a lever and the wheel started spinning, then you pushed a button to see what number you landed on, and that was how many tickets you got.

 she got so excited anytime tickets came out.  she and sydney actually hit the 100 ticket spot!

 cody spent a lot of time at the skee-ball machine (his favorite).  mae loved throwing the balls up the alley.

this is probably my favorite picture from chuckie cheese. haha i love this guy.

 of course we had to take the obligatory birthday wreath picture.  as you can see, she did not want to take off her princess crown.

 

that night our town was doing a "frozen" sing a long.  they had all kinds of treats, and Elsa was there for you to meet and take a picture with.  we figured this would be an awesome way to end mae's birthday.

so she got all dressed up in her princess dress.

 she was so excited to meet Elsa.  there were TONS of people there.  i have never seen so many little girls dressed up as a disney character anywhere...and that includes halloween and disney world.  it was a little crazy, but mae was loving life.

when it was our turn to take a picture with Elsa, mae walked right up to her and sat on her lap.  but she would not smile!  i'm not sure why, but she was trying so hard not to smile.  it was so funny.

needless to say, this little lady had an awesome birthday.  thank you to everyone who wished her happy birthday and sent her gifts, she was very spoiled by our favorite people.  she is one lucky girl!