Grotto Falls

Ahhhhh, it is officially fall. BUT, I'm not wishing away this amazing weather we have been having. 80's and sunny and expected to be like that for the next week at least. Beautiful. I am excited for the fall and winter, but the warm weather is oh so nice. So our little family decided to venture out and take advantage of the beautiful weather and the beautiful scenery that is in our own back yard.

We took a drive up Payson Canyon and hiked the little trail up to Grotto Falls. The leaves are starting to change colors, and we love it!

Once we got to the trail we noticed there are tons of these little fuzzy caterpillars.

They're pretty cute.

To get to the falls, we have to cross several little bridges.

Hayden was a pro. Ella? Not so much but she figured it out.

We made it!

We decided to take a dip with our feet, but holy cow, that water was fa-reeeezing!

Don't Hayden and Ella look so happy to be there?

These trees seriously look pink when walking by them.

We drove up the Nebo loop and admired the scenery. I wish wish wish this picture did it justice.

We even stopped at an overlook to eat some sandwiches, but quickly jetted out of there due to bees that wouldn't leave us alone. I didn't want my husband puffing up like a marshmallow man just so I could see Utah Lake from on top of a mountain.
It was such a nice outing. I am always amazed at how beautiful it is around these parts. And to just think, the colors of the mountains will only get better in the the next couple of weeks. :)

Trafalga

Last weekend we were bored and on a whim decided to drive up to the Trafalga in Lehi for a good time. And boy was it ever a good time :) In my book, Hayden wins for being the coolest kid in the universe.

Since I am the preggo one, I am limited to the amount of rides I can actually go on. But that's okay. Watching Hayden's face is just as good or maybe even better than actually riding these things. Here's Hayd and Carl on the go carts.

Hayden looks like she's hanging on for dear life here on the pirate ship, but believe me when I say she did put her hands in the air once. So what if it was only for about .25 seconds, at least she did it! haha

The oh so fun airplane ride. She did this a couple times and finally had the chance to sit in the front seat and shoot the pretend gun at all of us innocent bystanders. She's a natural.

Daddy took one for the team with the bumper boats. Hayden really wanted to ride it but neither one of us wanted to get wet and trust me, we saw everyone getting off those things completely drenched. So Carl convinced himself that he's a fun dad and hopped on with Hayd. It was pretty hilarious. Kids are ruthless when it comes to squirt guns. (the steering wheel has a water shooter in case you didn't get that.)

Yep, they were pretty wet when they got off, but not as bad as they could have been. Hallelujah for that.

And our favorite ride of the day goes to the "froggy ride". When we first got to Trafalga, this was the first ride Hayden saw and she wanted to ride it. We sat in line and the more she watched it go up and down and heard the kids screaming on it, the more she doubted her desire to actually want to ride it until she finally chickened out and said no. We were cool with that. We moved on. Fast forward through all the other rides and it was getting close to quitting time when she decided she did want to try the "froggy ride". So we got in line again. But this time she did it, and it was one of the greatest moments of our life. She got hesitantly on the ride, and just before it started her face turned to sheer panic. We thought she was going to freak. I was even in the process of telling her she could get off, but it was too late and up she went, panic stricken and all. But on the first drop, her face went from pure distraught to complete excitement. She loved it. Every second of it. So much so that she rode it 2 or 3 more times, I can't even remember. It was the funniest thing I have ever seen. We are pretty proud of her for not freaking out and sticking through.
Here she is after the first couple of drops.

And here is a video of her on her 2nd or 3rd go around.

It was awesome.

So thank you, Trafalga, for letting us enjoy our day with your kiddie rides.

On a completely random side note, we have pumpkins growing in our back yard. This is our pumpkin patch.

And here is one of the pumkins. Still small, but growing none the less. I am very excited about this.

Very.

My Girl is Growing Up

Hayden started Pre-School!!

I may have shed a few tears the first couple of days I dropped her off, but I am so excited for her to meet new friends and learn new things.

Here she is with her teacher, Miss Nicole, her daughter, and Lincoln.

I love my little...excuse me...BIG girl.

A Trip to See Grandparents

Carl and I had a tripped planned for a while to go to the Benton Franklin County Fair in Kennewick. I knew I wouldn't be seeing my parents on that trip, but I really wanted to. And I knew this would be a last hoorah before I got too big to travel and baby came. So last minute I decided that Hayden and I would fly up to my parents the week before and stay with them and then go over to the Tri Cities and meet Carl and his parents to enjoy some fair time. And boy was I glad we did that. It was so nice to relax with my mom and dad for a little bit, especially since we don't get to see them that often. We had fun!

Hayden was so excited to fly in an airlpane. She loved it!

Swimming with Gma Owens

Popsicles in the PNW sun

Making rice krispy treats
Puyallup Farmers Market

Me and my mum

We went to the zoo where Hayden rode her first camel

And experienced her first poop exhibit, where she learned all about animal poop. :)

And got eaten by something big.

It wore us out.

We did so many fun things together with Gma and Gpa Owens! I love them so much and appreciate everything they do for us!
They are so amazing that they drove me and Hayden over to Kennewick, so we could see Carl and Gma and Gpa McCain.
They really are the best.
Speaking of the best, Carl woke up at 4:30am to drive 10 hours and meet us there. He must really like us!! We sure missed him while we were gone, so it was good to be back with him again.


Hayden with both Gmas

At the fair, petting the bunnies. She now wants one.

Going on a little roller coaster all by herself.

Carl being awesome.

Petting some goats

I asked for one scoop. They gave me this:

So fun!

The McCains also took such great care of us the whole time we were there. We really couldn't ask for better parents and people in our lives. Thank you so much for EVERYTHING!

My Brother, the Oldest

My oldest brother, Spencer, his boys, his girlfriend, Wendy and her kids all came to visit us for a few days last month.

He is the BIGGEST BYU fan (next to my dad) and he wanted to come up and show Wendy and her kids campus.

It was fun having them here with us. Hayden LOVES any chance she has to be with cousins.

Another Girl!

We found out we will be having another girl in December!

Carl and I were pretty sure it would be a boy, but Hayden knew the whole time she was getting a sister. Who are we to question a 3 year old?
The ultrasound was fun because we were the last patient of the day and they had just bought a new ultrasound machine a few weeks earlier, so the technician spent A LOT of time pushing on my stomach and full bladder to play around with the equipment. I don't mind though, because we got to play with the 3d/4d ultrasounds. I never got one with Hayden.
Little girl was being a bit naughty the whole time and covering her face a lot, but we managed to sneak a quick peek at the future second child. She was also very active and moved around the entire time he tried to get a good shot of her. Seriously, this little baby is like a ninja. But I really love this part of pregnancy. Feeling her move around always makes me happy. I'll even laugh out loud sometimes. She's funny. :)

Everything with her looked good and normal. We are so excited to have another little girl running around the house. I am getting antsy to get her room organized and ready. Plus, it gives me more of a reason to be excited for the Christmas season!! :)

22 wks 6 days
Only 4 more months to go!