pumpkin patch

we took Harper to the local pumpkin patch yesterday. i knew she would enjoy it but I didn’t realize she would like it as much as she did. she smiled and laughed the entire time we were there. the pumpkin patch is geared toward little kids and has a little straw maze, games, corn maze, goats, a haunted house and hayrides through the pumpkin patch. i took SO many pictures because Harper was being so stinkin’ cute…

oh, and of course she had to wear her pumpkin hat. she’s always dressed for the occasion!

I told you there were a lot of pictures. And these were just my favorites…

for those who haven’t heard the news -

Harper is going to be a…

 

And she’s been practicing with her very own baby…

Our new addition is to arrive somewhere around April 27th, 2012.

More details to come…

peek a boo

it’s always fun when family comes…

My parents made a trip down in September to visit us. We hadn’t seen them since February when Harper & I went to Canada. It was so fun to have them here and Harper LOVED being with them. She warmed up perfectly. We had so much fun spending time with my family.

 

We took my parents and brother up to the ranch with us to experience our life for a couple days. We had so much fun, we didn’t want to leave! We cooked lots of yummy food, rode horses, went to Register Rock, shot guns, had a campfire and played with Harper.  The boys even worked a little and rewarded themselves with a fishing trip. A very adventurous stormy fishing trip at that!

 

When we got back into civilization, my sister and her hubby joined us for the weekend. We went to the City of Rocks, out to eat, went bowling, and to DQ for a little treat. It was a fun day with my whole family!

My siblings had to go back to school, so my mom and dad stayed with us for a couple more days before they flew back to Canada. It is always so hard to see them leave! We think you should move closer…

Thank you for coming and spoiling us. We had so much fun. We love you Grandpa & Grandma! Come back soon!!!

{Sorry for the photo collage overload. There are SO many pictures, so it seemed like the best solution!}

what’s new in Harper’s world

{THIS POST WAS WRITTEN AT THE FIRST OF SEPTEMBER. I’LL DO ANOTHER UPDATE POST SOON BECAUSE SHE DOES SO MUCH MORE NOW!}

she discovered how to open and close drawers.

 

just this week she finally figured out how to walk in her walker {she could only go backwards until now…she’s our moonwalkin’ girl}

 

she is VERY ticklish. she even starts laughing like this when I’m just washing her belly in the tub. gotta love it!

 

check out those new 2 front teeth…

 

she’s started doing this squinty nose face a lot. it cracks me up.

 

and, yes, she is almost 10 months and growing way too quickly. where in the world did my baby go?!?

i’m just wondering - where did my summer go?!?

does anybody else feel like their summer came and left and didn’t invite them?

i’ve been trying to figure out what happened.

and then i realized…

my summer consisted of me hanging out in the kitchen all day and chasing Harper around.

no, i didn’t take a job as head chef at the local restaurant. although, it kind of felt like that. i was busy carrying on the Bedke wife tradition…and filling some rather large shoes.

you see, in the summer all of ry’s family moves up to the ranch to hay. his mom and grandma {who are both AMAZING cooks} bust out their chef hats and their very top notch skills and feed the haying crew {which consists of ry’s family} straight up gourmet meals with gourmet desserts and everything…EVERYDAY!

well, it just so happens that the first year we are here for the summer, mom and grandma can’t come up {mom would make it up around 7 or 8pm and then leave the next morning by 7:30am}.

so, guess who that left?

correct. MOI!

holy intimidation.

needless to say, i had no choice but to take on the task. i did my very best and, wow, was it ever exhausting! add taking care of Harper’s needs to that and ya, that’s probably where my summer went. it left with the fried chicken, stew, country fried steak, homemade bread and rolls, dijon sirloin tips, marinated roast, waldorf salad, ham & swiss wraps, eggs lorraine, eggs benedict, cherry pie, boston cream pie, supreme carrot cake, and all of the other millions of delicious calories we consumed.

i calculated one day and i spent a total of 9.5 hours in the kitchen the entire day {that was making food, cleaning up, etc. for 3 meals}.  it wasn’t like that everyday, but i’d venture to say i did about 8 hours a day. 

we sure ate good though.

more visitors!

we’ve been lucky to have more visitors lately {yes…if you haven’t noticed, having visitors is completely blog worthy in our world…don’t judge}. in fact, 2 weeks in a row! first was our ever so favorite Stokes clan. we neglected to take pictures because really we just sat around and stuffed our faces and chased children and watched movies and hung out. it was absolute bliss! we loved having them. see you in a few weeks :)

second, was the Mays from Texas. Pres. May was the branch president in the first area ry served in on his mission {exactly 9 years ago}. they went out of their way to come visit us and we were so happy they did. they are such a sweet couple and so fun to visit with. ry loved showing them his roots and giving them le grande tour of the ranch. they absolutely loved Harper {she was pretty taken with them as well}.

thanks for the visits!

piggies and cows and fried food, oh my!

we took Harper to the county fair to see all of the animals. she loved most of them, but wasn’t exactly sure what to think of the piggies {they were kinda loud and in your face, especially this one} -

Harper just patiently waiting…

…while we were waiting for this fried fair beauty {yes, I cropped myself out because, let’s face it, I looked TERRIBLE!}

And a lil family photo op to finish off the night. I love Ry’s “trying to make Harper smile for the camera” face at the camera.

daddy’s lil workin’ girl

About two month ago while it was still summer {yes, I know. this is LONG overdue!} Harper and I loaded up our stroller and took a 2 mile trek to go see daddy while he was working. We love taking walks around the ranch because, really, where else can you take a stroll with surroundings like this?

But mostly, we just love to ride the tractor with daddy. Harper loves sitting on daddy’s lap, holding the steering wheel and watching everything going on around her. She’s such a joy!

I took this shot as we were leaving to head back to the house. I love haying season {well, minus the awesome hay fever I get!}…

About 2 weeks later, daddy was cutting hay closer to the house {we could see him from the front porch, so MUCH closer}. We decided to walk over and go swath with him for a little bit. Harper, once again, was in heaven.