Hanging out with great grandpa Barrett

We are spending the weekend with my grandparents since they returned home not long ago from their mission at Martins Cove. They live on about an acre of property and Bailee just loves being able to run around. Being here makes me want to live on a piece of property like this to raise children and to be able to have space to have trees and a garden. I feel like I can breathe out here!

Halloween night!

We were not planning to take Bailee trick or treating but went ahead with it at the last minute. I looked up the best places to trick or treat in Sacramento and came across an area called Curtis park that really was not too far from us and we were excited to check out a new part of Sacramento. On our way there bailee fell asleep so we decided that we would let her nap a bit and luckily I always have a deck of cards in my purse so Dave and I just sat in the car playing games until she woke up. The neighborhood was an older area and we loved the uniqueness of each house and the friendliness of the people there. Dave even had a great chat with a guy who moved here from Portland with his family and how much they love that neighborhood they are in now and how it reminds them of Portland/Vancouver. We are so glad we went and it was so fun as parents to see how much people loved seeing Bailee so small and confident walking up to their door and happily accepting their treats and knowing to put them in her bucket. My favorite was the bucket that had a banana and orange as gag treats and Bailee picked up both of those and managed to grab a chocolate with the banana. I gave the fruit back to the guy because he would need it later but it was quite entertaining for all of us. Another guy let her pick her own and said she could get another candy, she got into power mode and quickly grabbed 2 more pieces. She just loved it and we are glad we went ahead and did it because she loved it so much and we were able to love it from a new perspective as the parents :) oh and nothing scary seemed to phase her. She loved touching the scary decorations and thought it was silly when they would make spooky noises! The pumpkins i posted are from a house that is famous for amazing pumpkin carvings and they had ( if i had to guess) about 20 pumpkins displayed on their lawn to look at and all were very unique. One more thing I just remembered was that Bailee would not let either Dave or me hold her bucket under any circumstances. She even fell over once because it had to be at least 2 lbs and she had the death grip on it and would not let us help her carry it.

Canning attempt #2

So there were two aspects of my day canning, one was way fun and the other very eye opening and humbling and I would like to share both. So I would be canning for my second time and since my awesome grandpa gave me a pot to have and picked all of the tomatoes for me, I figured I may as well get the last couple of canning tools that would make it possible for me to can in the future. So the Walmart closest to us that has canning supplies involves driving through some rough areas. After getting my supplies and on my way home, I was stopped at a red light and happened to notice a man looking through the garbage of a business. I assumed he was likely getting cans to recycle and get money from, but instead he pulled out some kind of food and put it straight to his mouth to eat it. Other times I may have been grossed out and just quickly looked away but after having read a book not long ago called "the glass castle" I saw him differently. I was thinking that he is somebody's son, a brother maybe... And due to one circumstance or another, his life has come to getting his food from others' garbage. It made me not only count my ABUNDANT blessings, but also instilled in me a desire to do what I can to help those I can. As the holiday season approaches, it reminds me of the true meaning of the season and how our Savior Jesus Christ was the perfect example of giving and serving everybody regardless of their station in life. A lot to take in but I wanted to share and record that experience because it really impacted me.
On a lighter note, we went home and I got to canning the tomatoes! I ended up doing the whole process on my own as Dave was at work and it was such a great feeling to accomplish such a task and know I could do it on my own if I had to. I ended up with 14 quart jars and 9 pint jars which was awesome. I no longer have a fear of canning and look forward to continuing to do it as opportunities come.

A couple of silly pictures lately...

So I found the cutest panda umbrella that matches Bailee's shoes and couldn't resist getting it and she loved playing with it! She is not the best yet with holding it up but you can kind of see what the umbrella is of. Another thing that was fun was Dave and Bailee playing with the box her umbrella came in. He packaged her up and delivered her to me in the box. She seemed to be a bit unsure at first, but went with it and stayed really still in the box, then popped out for me :)

Dave's pumpkin patch!

We went with our friends, the Hudson's, to a place called Dave's pumpkin patch today and had lots of fun! We had a pancake breakfast, Bailee and Sienna played in a corn pit, rode ponies, watched the punkin' chunkin', corn maze, and picked out pumpkins! It was a beautiful day and we are so glad we went :) I would say Bailee's favorite was definitely the pony ride. She kept laughing and smiling while she rode and didn't want to get off at the end! We got pretty lost in the corn maze ending up in the haunted portion which was even a little creepy during the day time. Definitely a place we would recommend. Great day out with great friends :)

Camping!!!

So we have been wanting to go camping all summer with Bailee to just test it out with her, and the teacher Dave works with suggested a place about an hour from here so we just went with it and booked a trip this weekend! We only did one night which turned out to be perfect. We left Saturday morning and arrived there about 10:30 am which gave us the whole day to play! They had quite a few ameneties that we were able to enjoy and  it was very child friendly! Mini golf, playground, and ping pong were our favorites but they also had a water park, swimming pool, bocce ball, and arcade available. We had a great day and Bailee seemed so grown up on this trip! We may not return to this location though after a night of wreckless neighbors who kept waking up Bailee... but Saturday was so fun and we now feel confident to make a habit of taking our family camping :) Dave and I even had some time alone with a campfire, games, and treats which (if you know us well) is our ideal kind of date!

 

Bailee loves her new big girl chair

 



Our dinner before

Amazing foil dinner!

 

 

My Loves :)

She slept both ways in the car!

 

Slowly but surely I will blog again now that I have a faster way to do t!

We got home from a busy weekend of my moms birthday and conference and as I was unpacking tonight, Bailee discovered my reading glasses again...It seems that wherever I put the she manages to find them. I also discovered that one pair is bent now and I have a idea of the source, but I am grateful I can still use them!(Nothing is safe anymore :) instead of taking them and putting them back I decided to embrace the moment with her...