More Visitors

Last week, Rod's sister, Janna, and our nephew, Matthew came to visit us. It was great to have them here and Amelia loved having someone to play with. Matthew is 4-1/2 so he is very entertaining to her.

Last Sunday after church we went to Sutherland Farms which is a local farm and pumpkin patch. The weather here has been very nice lately, unseasonable warm actually, but on that day it was sunny, cold and windy. The kids loved seeing the animals, playing in the corn pit and taking the hayride. We got them each their own little pumpkin, as y0u can see in the picture. Between getting up early for church, the activity and the cold, Amelia was pooped by the middle of the afternoon.

The rest of the week was spent doing simple things: going to the mall, the park and the children's museum. It was so great to see both of them since we had not seen them since May. I will try to post some Halloween pictures in a few days.

Life

It's amazing how busy we can get with life. No one thing makes it so crazy just the combination of things. I started this blog to keep everyone updated on Amelia and our family and then I don't post very often or put up pictures of the little one. Sorry!

Anyway, Rod's parents were here for a visit over the weekend. They just finished a long trip through the Great Lakes. This picture is her hugging the pig they sent her during the trip. It was good to have them here and so nice for me to have a little break. Rod and I spent the day on Saturday driving up to Silverton, CO to hang out in the town and see the fall colors. It was very pretty and fun.

Amelia continues to grow and develop and truly amaze us with all of her changes. She is definitely trying to say more words but they are still mostly limited to hi, by, mommy & daddy. I think dog is in there somewhere too since Sadie and the chihuahua across the street are her favorite playmates. The fall is finally here and it is nice to be able to play outside in the afternoon. Amelia loves being outside but gets frustrated when Sadie takes her(Sadie's) toys away. Amelia will pick up Sadie's rope or ball and wave it in front of Sadie. Then she gets mad when Sadie comes over and takes it out of her hand.

Off to San Diego

Since the summer is over, we decided that it was safe to travel again without the risk of being stuck again since we're flying stand-by. This last weekend (Sat.-Tues.), the three of us flew out to San Diego to see both my parents. Thankfully all our flights went smoothly. It is always good to be able to visit with family.

On Sunday we went to the Padres game since a trip to San Diego without seeing a Pads game is torture to me. They have a great grassy park area in center field where we ate our lunch and let Amelia run around for about an hour. It worked out really well because then by the time the game started she was full and tired. She slept for at least 3-4 innings only stirring when the Pads made a good play and everyone cheered. Plus the Padres won!

Here's a side note to anyone with toddlers that likes to eat at Claim Jumper. We went there for dinner after the game and without asking they brought out a toddler plate for Amelia very soon after we were seated. It had cinnamon applesauce, mandarin oranges, turkey and cheese. We didn't have to order anything for her and she had food ASAP so she didn't get fussy. Claim Jumper gets four stars in my book for this idea. All in all it was a fun trip!

My First Harvest

Only 5 weeks after planting my garden I already have produce! I was able to pick a zucchini this week and was amazing at how big it grew so quickly. I'd heard that zucchinis are quite prolific growers but now I understand what they mean. At least I can freeze it, bake with it or cook it (a lot!).

I finally showed Amelia my garden this week. Obviously she could always see it since it's in the backyard but I had never really pointed it out to her. She got so excited as I showed her the zucchinis and the squashes growing and let her reach down and touch them. Last night when we went outside she started pointing to the garden and wanted to go look at everything again. She even started showing Daddy where the vegetables were on the plants. Next year she and I will have to plant some radishes especially for her to watch grow.

A Getaway

Last week, Rod's parents were here for a few days. So we took the opportunity to get away up to Durango for a night. We went for a hike when we got up there last Sunday and by chance happened to pick a hike that followed a beautiful creek and waterfall. I love having a digital camera so you can take tons of pictures and not waste film. We wanted to share some of the pictures with you. If you have never been to Durango, Colorado it is a trip you must plan on taking. There a tons of fun things to do and the scenery is awesome.

We stayed the night at our favorite B & B, the Apple Orchard Inn. It is just a little north of Durango in the Animas Valley and each morning and evening you can hear the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad go by (another thing to check out if you come). Most of you know that we lived here for a year about four years ago. We keep asking each other why we left and are hoping that God will allow us to move back someday.

Our Day at the Fair

Since we didn't make it back home this summer to go the the Del Mar Fair (aka. the San Diego County Fair), I wanted to make sure that we made it to our local fair. The San Juan County Fair only runs for 6 days and is billed as the largest county fair in New Mexico. I love the Del Mar Fair and was hoping for something similar but this is New Mexico and I didn't want to get my hopes up. Surprisingly, I was not disappointed. We went to the fair yesterday, spent most of the day there and were very entertained.

As soon as we got there we headed straight for all the animal barns because we knew Amelia would like seeing the animals. We saw every pig, cow, goat, sheep, bird and rabbit being shown in San Juan County and Amelia loved it. One lady even took her duck out of it's cage and let Amelia pet it. We also saw a dog show (which Amelia slept through) and all of the crafting exhibits. It was a mini version of the Del Mar Fair and we had a lot of fun. Amelia only had a 30 minute nap all day so I'm hoping she'll sleep most of this afternoon. We'll see!

Visiting Williams

Last week Amelia and I went to visit Rod's parents, Richard and Connie (otherwise known as Nana & Papa), at their place in Williams, Arizona. Williams is about 30 minutes west of Flagstaff and 50 miles south of the Grand Canyon. It's great to relax and enjoy the great views from their place. We took Amelia into the community pool and, again, she loved the water. She also loved the big yellow tomcat that they feed when they're there. One night for dinner we had corn on the cob and for the first time we offered Amelia the cob. As you can see she loved it and had no trouble eating it.

Now speaking of trouble, that came on our way home. Since Rod works for Mesa Airlines, we get to fly free on any US Airways flight or their affiliates. Before we left to head into Flagstaff on Friday I called to check the availability on the flights we were taking. At that time there were 6 seats left on the flight from Phoenix to Farmington. I know that doesn't sound like very many but the plane only seats 19 people so 6 seats is almost 1/3 of the plane. Well to make a long story short (or shorter), the flight was full when we got into Phoenix so we had to stay in a hotel for the night and then our flight out the next day was delayed. So finally we left Phoenix at 2:45pm on Saturday. Amelia was so tired on Sunday that she slept in until 9am and then took 2 naps! I know we should almost expect that to happen since we fly stand-by but you always hope it won't.