Pumpkin Patch

We love pumpkin patches around here! This year, Little Bug was able to catch her first "real" roller coaster, aka a simple up and down loop. This is the before shot. She was pretty darn excited.


I was too busy consoling her afterwards to snap the after shot.


Now, if only Little Bug would be consistent with what she wants to be for Halloween...

Fight

Recently my dad has had a slew of health problems. About six months ago we found out he has serious heart disease. The doctors were amazed he had not had a heart attack. Especially considering the week before he was diagnosed he had gone snow camping with the scouts. High elevation and cold weather should have slowed his blood flow enough to have caused a massive heart attack. We were grateful to God for his life then.

About three months ago he had a very rare and severe reaction to his heart medication that left his liver unable to function. Such a sever reaction to the medication led the doctors to discover he has stage 4 lymphoma. Usually lymphoma is very treatable. However, he was diagnosed with both the intermediate and aggressive subtypes making it difficult and risky to treat. The doctors had him on chemo days later and stated if the cancer had gone undiagnosed for two more weeks there would not have been anything they could have done. We are grateful such a severe reaction led the doctors to the bigger problem and feel blessed to see the hand of God in his life. I know the Lord will take him when he wants him, I just hope it is not quite yet. I now suddenly have the painful realization I will never be old enough to loose my father.

He is on a particularly hard and rough chemo cycle. He spends two and a half weeks in the hospital and roughly a week and a half at home to complete one round. He needs a total of 6 rounds and should be done with chemo at the end of February/beginning of March next year.

I just had the opportunity to spend 3 weeks at my parents helping out and most importantly visiting my dad daily at the hospital. I am grateful for many things: for the miracle and blessing of his life, for the privilege of having a father who did nothing short of providing me with a wonderful life and ever inspiring example of generosity and goodness, and for the fight he has within him.

It should be mentioned...

I turned 30 and am thereby now suddenly filled with all the wisdom, knowledge and experience to be taken seriously in life.

I was still at my parents on my birthday, so Andrew surprised me by flying into town early! It was so nice to share my 30th surrounded by family, including my father. Little Bug helped put the candles on my tart and I laughed when I saw a candle so creatively placed right in the center of a tasty raspberry.

Pasta

The other day I wasn't feeling too well and a friend brought over some homemade chicken noodle soup. As I got to eating it, I noticed that the noodles in the soup were also homemade and extra tasty. This reminded me that my mom had gotten me a pasta roller for Christmas 10 years ago. Yes, 10 years ago and I have been carting it around with me ever since (it is pretty big). The funny thing is, I asked for the pasta roller that year. So, today it finally got pulled out of the box (I am pretty impressed I even knew where it was). After wiping the dust off of it, I got to work making my own homemade noodles. The dough was pretty easy to make and very fun to roll out. Can't wait for dinner tonight!

Sweet dreams

Straight hair

I have been curious for a while what Little Bug looks like with straight hair. I was never able to convince her to let me use a straightener on it. Today I let curiosity get the best of me and offered her a bag of fruit snacks in exchange for doing her hair. I am pretty sure I could have gotten it straighter, but I only had the length of time it took Bug to finish her small bag of fruit snacks. I actually think she looks quite a bit different. That, and I am afraid it is almost time for her first haircut. We will have to see if her curls last after such an event. I think it is going to be more traumatizing for me than her.

Our little man

Not quite a fish

In a few weeks the outdoor sprinkler parks and pools are closing for the season. We thought we should test Little Tank out in the water before this happened. Here he is ready to be plunked in.

I would describe his experience as indifferent.

That is until he got submerged more into the water. People at this point just thought we were cruel snapping photos of a crying baby. Bug really didn't understand why he would be crying doing one of the greatest activities in the world: swimming.

So she tried to console him with a kiss.

According to her this did the trick. However, we think being lifted a little out of the water had something more to do with it.

For some reason I can't get over it

I had no idea it would bring me such great joy to go out to my backyard and pick a large bowl full of tomatoes and by evening have a pot of freshly made spaghetti sauce for dinner. Next summer, I am definitely planting eight tomato plants again.

Birthday bash

Andrew's birthday recently came and went. He turned 31! Now it is pretty official he is in his 30's. Little Bug and I thought he deserved a new suit this year. So, the Saturday before his birthday we blind folded him and drove him to the Men's Warehouse. For the record, it is pretty hard fooling this guy what direction you are driving. As in, I'd ask him what direction we were driving and he'd say, "west" or "now we're going northeast." Who knows that?! Especially while driving blindfolded. The only reason I know what direction we are ever driving is because our car has a little automatic dial that tells you. Although he knew what direction we were going, he had no idea he was about to get a new suit. It was a pretty fun surprise. And check out that blindfold. It is a scarf I can't wait to wear in the fall.

On his actual birthday we had family over for dinner and Bug was more than happy to bake him his favorite lime cake for the event.


While creating this post it got me thinking about Andrew's last birthday when he got a surprise visit to Utah. First off, how has it been a year already?! Second, look at how much younger Little Bug looks? How can one go from looking like a baby to practically being a full fledged child in a year?! It makes me a little, ok a lot sad. And finally, wow did Andrew get a much better looking cake last year.