Apple picking.

We headed out to Dressell Farm today to do a little Apple picking. What is it about picking your own fruit that magically makes it taste better? I'm partial to the Jazz apple, but the Fuji's we picked today are amazingly good.

My least favorite part of apple picking: the hayride. I don't enjoy hayrides, I don't why they are supposed to be fun. In my opinion they are itchy and slow and boring. Friday night hayrides at Spring Canyon were my least favorite camp activity. But Skylar thinks they're cool....

Noni and Skylar filled the bucket while I took pictures and talked to Micah on the phone. Not much picking on my end, just eating:)

The fruits of our "labor".....
It's hard to believe it's almost November and the holidays are apon us!

The short list.

We are still new to this whole "home ownership" thing. It was a pretty scary undertaking for us, not just because we were taking on the maintenance of a house but a house that's 110 years old. You always hear stories about what a money-pit an old house can be. It appeared to be well maintained when we bought it, but you never know what the quirks are until you actually live in it.

So far so good. Our old house has been good to us and we haven't had any emergencies yet (knock on wood). In fact, as I've mentioned before, I am officially in love with old houses now.

I love this house so much that I would happily live in it for the rest of my life if I could move it to a different part of the country with me. In every house I've lived in since college, there have always been things that have driven me crazy after awhile. Annoying storage issues, appliances that are sub-par, grimy carpet, etc.

But after almost 5 months in this house there is nothing about it that annoys me. Every single day Micah and I talk about how thankful we are to be living here and what a great place we have to come home to. There are a few things we would like to "upgrade" but as a whole, I love every single thing about it. And that's saying something.

You homeowners out there know there is always a wish list of improvements. Things that would be nice to do if you could. So here is our wish list. It's pretty short.

1. A fence for Skylar and the dogs. (Per city regulation it has to be 50% see-through and no more than 4 feet tall...basically a white picket style. Icing on my dream cake, if you ask me.)

2. A new fridge. We have stainless steel appliances except for the ancient fridge. I've always fantasized about having an extra fridge/freezer to have all stocked up, so I would love to move this one to the basement. I'm so used to buying things as I need them due to lack of freezer storage that I don't have much in reserve. In fact, for about a year our freezer space consisted primarily of ice cubes and breast milk.

3. New counter tops. Except for my "baking station" with a butcher block counter top, the counters are linoleum and the top layer is pulling up. Micah tried to cement it back down and now it's bubbled.

4. Renovate the master bathroom, otherwise referred to as our "dirty pink secret". I would show you a picture, but it pretty much deserves it's own blog post, so I'll save that for another time. Just know it is covered in more pepto-bismal pink tile than you can imagine. Honestly, we were so excited to find a house with a master bath that we really didn't care what it looked like. But it would be nice to update.

I think pretty much all of those things, except the fence, would increase resale. We'll see what we accomplish while we're here.

In the meantime, we are checking one off the list! The fence is going up now, just in time for winter so I can open the back door and let the dogs out without having to walk them every time. We decided not to do the whole yard for now, but we are at least getting the back right corner done.

Today the peanut gallery watched the progress from the playroom window:

Getting posts put in around these massive tree roots was an undertaking for sure:

I'll post pictures when it's done. I can't wait!

Sunday.

It's cold and drizzly here seemingly everyday so it's hard to spend much time outside. Skylar also gave up naps this week, so the days get a little long.

We decided it was a no-pants wearing, bed-jumping, tent-making, tv-watching, treat-eating, two-bubble baths kind of day.

Skylar has been so serious this week. It's hard to get her to smile about anything. She's really missing her daddy and she's very vocal about it. But she's going to be alright.

Indignity.

Skylar and I were killing an hour in Target the other night (I was hoping to wear her out) and out of the corner of my eye I saw a discarded costume sitting on the wrong rack. A Hot Dog costume. It had no tags, and there were no others to compare it to.

So I took it to the front to find out how much it was, because if you know my husband, you know a Hot Dog costume would make his day. I had to get it for Micah. Well, and the Hot Dog Queen.

The employees had no idea how much it was, so they made up a dirt cheap price and it was mine.

It was Sabot's actually..........

And he HATES it. He stood frozen in one spot for 30 minutes until I took it off. I just assumed he would lay down or something, but I found him right where I left him, his head hung in misery. Seriously, why are we putting up a fence now that I have this hot dog costume?

Had it been Jack, he would have owned that hot dog. He would be shamelessly trotting up and down the streets working that bun and basking in all the attention he always seems to attract. Jack was made for stardom. He holds up his little paws for his pink, fur trimmed parka. (Please excuse the fact that in this picture Micah is wearing a shirt he's had since 10th grade and randomly pulled out of the closet last week. There is no explanation for that.)

Jack's perfect costume will someday cross my path. But until then, Sabot will have to suffer the indignity of being a hot dog because it makes us happy.

Frozen Hot Chocolate

So I've been really craving hot chocolate these days. I like to get the sugar-free kind and then add lots of mini marshmallows. I recently discovered frozen hot chocolate, and now I alternate between the two. This recipe is from nutritionist Joy Bauer, and considering it's a dessert, isn't too bad for you at all. And it's easy to make.

These are the star ingredients, plus some ice and vanilla.(You obviously don't have to use the low sugar and light versions of everything--it would no doubt taste even better if you went full throttle).

In a blender combine:

1/2 cup of chocolate syrup
1 cup of fat-free evaporated milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups of ice cubes

Garnish with some whipped cream (and chocolate shavings if your feeling fancy and have plenty of extra time on your hands). It makes a blenderful, so there's plenty to share!

Perfect peace.

“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you” Isaiah 26:3

“ . . . May the Lord keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other.” Genesis 31:49

Cookies not for sharing.

One of our neighbors brought us a homemade apple pie a couple of weeks ago, and I've been wanting to return her pie plate with something in it. I decided to make some fall sugar cookies and take them over.

Skylar always "helps" in the kitchen and this time was no exception. She went and got her chef's hat and favorite apron and pushed over a chair to help. Usually she dumps ingredients and helps stir, no big deal. I totally wasn't thinking through the logistics of cutting out and decorating cookies. It did not go as planned.

At some point I gave up trying to control what they looked like and just let her go for it. Needless to say, they didn't look much like pumpkins.....

Before putting them on the cookie sheet she had to smell each one (and by smell I mean she stuck them on her nose) ensuring that nobody besides she and her daddy would ever want to eat them. I got tired of asking her not to rub the cookies on her nose and resigned myself to the fact that these would not be going to the neighbors.

By the time we got to the decorating it was a free for all, and she had a blast. How many sprinkles can one cookie hold?

A whole lot......

So can little hands.....

When it was all said and done she was strung out on sugar and supremely satisfied with her handiwork. The neighbors will just have to wait.

Meanwhile, Micah was busy recreating his dad's ribs. The whole process takes 12 hours from start to finish and by the end he was sooooo excited to eat them.

The ultimate man meal.......

......followed by lots of extra sugary sugar cookies of course.

Lake Placid.

We spent this past long weekend in the Adirondacks in Lake Placid just relaxing and storing up lots of good memories. (And there may have been a quick stop at the Gap Outlet).

Autumn up here is gorgeous. The aspens in Colorado are pretty spectacular, but here you have a variety of colors besides gold.
We rode the gondola to the top of Whiteface Moutain:

A view of Lake Placid from the summit of Whiteface:

A little faux-toboggan ride:

Micah was soaking up every minute, trying to store up a year's worth of hugs:

This picture was just moments before the previously posted goose poop incident:

There was a delicious Crepery in town. We love crepes and since it was surrounded by French Canadians we decided it must be good. And it was. Micah got a Creme Brulee crepe, and really I can't find the words to describe it. It was everything good about a creme brulee stuffed into a crepe. For real.

Skylar and I shared one with strawberries and whipped creme. She ate all the whipped creme.

We had a hotel room with a private beach, this was the view from our back door:

The weather was gorgeous: sunny and a balmy 65 degrees. It couldn't have been better.

At some point we realized this was our last trip, just the three of us. It's hard to imagine sharing our attention with another child. Of course, once we meet him/her we won't be able to imagine it any other way.

We can't wait to go back again, maybe this time next year to celebrate our reunion!

Party foul.

It's all fun and games until you sit in a giant pile of goose poop and find out your mom forgot to bring you extra pants........

That was a bummer. Poor baby. You'd never know just an hour before she was running laps around our hotel room naked as a jay bird happily yelling "I want to be naked!!! Being naked is awesome!!!"

Moral of the story: be careful what you wish for.

Lots more pics from our weekend getaway and no motivation. Maybe tomorrow.....

WHY wednesday.

Skylar asks me "why?" all day long. (For some reason I thought that didn't start until three and I had more time, but I was wrong).

I have a few why questions of my own that I wish I could get answered.

Like WHY are there dead flies between my double-paned windows. How did they get in there when it appears to be sealed tight? And how am I supposed to get them out?

WHY is the silverware tray always filled with crumbs when only clean silverware goes in?

WHY on days when you forget to take the trash to the curb by 7 am do they always come on time and days when you get it out there on time they are always a few hours late?

WHY is it I can only finish half of my diet coke when I drink it from a can, but if I pour it in a glass I can drink the whole thing and if I'm at a restaurant I can drink the equivalent of a whole six pack?

WHY can't I hear my cell phone ring when it's ten feet away but I can hear Skylar call me when she is upstairs with her door closed and I am on the other side of the house with music playing?

That's it for today.

How about you?

A sad substitute.

When we moved here I gave up all of my favorite places.

We have no Costco.

No Hobby Lobby.

No World Market.

No Chipotle.

No Chic-fil-a.

Because it's a small town without much variety, places like Target don't have sales or clearances because they sell out of everything immediately.

The closest decent shopping is over an hour away. And they don't have any of the above mentioned places either.

But we do have this........

Not even the same thing.