Fall Festivities

On Saturday we made our way to Fall City Farms to officially welcome Fall. Tom and I have been coming to this farm since we were dating and each year it just gets better. We like this farm because it isn’t so commercialized, but as you will see from the pictures, Jack loved each and every inch of it!

Jack’s first adventure was through the hay bale maze. Then he quickly made his way over to the chicken coop. He was fascinated by the chickens—but only wanted to look at them from a distance.

Next we discovered the pumpkins, including the house made of pumpkins. Jack loved sticking his head out between the pumpkins and saying “hi” to whoever would listen to him!

 

 

 

After pumpkins, Jack played in the sandbox filled with tractors---every little boy’s dream! Then it was on to see the goats, the cow, the donkey, the apple cider press (and sample the cider, of course) and the huge vegetable garden.

 

Just when we thought that we had seen everything on the farm, a tractor pulled up hauling a flatbed with hay bales on it. They were giving hay rides. Well, we couldn’t pass up the chance to be pulled by a tractor, so off we went! The grin on Jack’s face as we bumped along was priceless. He loved watching the dogs chase behind us. Halfway through the ride we stopped and the driver took us out in a potato field and demonstrated how they harvest potatoes. The use a tractor with a special attachment that digs up the dirt and brings the potatoes to the surface. Jack had fun picking up potatoes and putting them in a bag for us to purchase.

All in all, truly a fun day on the farm!

36 Weeks

36 weeks

32 weeks

I’m now in the final 4 weeks (or less!) of my pregnancy. I took the 36 week picture wearing the same outfit for comparison. He’s getting bigger and so am I! Perhaps he’ll come earlier?…

Unbelievable!

  The Huskies defeated #3 ranked USC on Saturday and we were there for the whole thing! As luck would have it, my parents had an extra set of tickets to the game last Saturday and invited us to go along with them. We knew that Jack had fun the prior weekend at the game, so we decided to try our luck again. The weather was less than cooperative, in fact it rained most of the morning.

Prior to the game, we hung out in the Zone again. This time, Jack tried out a couple of the bouncy houses and loved them!

As you may notice from this picture, Jack has a “boo-boo” under his nose. This was the result of an unfortunate collision with the concrete earlier in the week at the playground.

Jack was introduced to the Husky helmet, which he quickly became fascinated with. In fact, during a good portion of the game he kept pointing to the helmet—we wanted it to go around the stadium, too!

Jack lasted until half-time, at which time Tom put him in the stroller and  he promptly fell asleep. He slept all of half-time and the whole third quarter. Tom covered him with a blanket and newspaper (as you can see from the picture) and hung out behind the bleachers watching the game on Huskytron. I love that all you can see are his little feet poking out from the bottom of the stroller!

Jack was up for the fourth quarter and loved cheering with the fans as the excitement in the stadium grew. When that final buzzer went off and the Huskies had won 16 to 13, it was complete pandemonium. My mom  was easily the most excited fan in the stadium. She wanted to rush the field like the thousands of other fans. We convinced her to wait until it was safe to do so, and then we all headed down to the field to celebrate. What an incredible game. The Dawgs are back, baby!

Fans rush the field.

The family down on the field.

Beauty School Drop Out?

For some time now, Tom has been convinced that I should be able to cut his hair.  I've been able to avoid it for several months because he didn't have the right attachments for his razor. But, last weekend he purchased a new set of clippers and last night he decided that it was time to test my skills. I have never used a pair of clippers before, except for maybe when I was in 4H in elementary school and had to clip my cow to get her ready to show at the fair. Yes, I really was in cow 4H--remember I grew up in MV and had a best friend whose dad was a dairy farmer!

Anyways, after we put Jack down for the evening, we went downstairs to the laundry room and I set up my salon. 45 minutes and a lot of hair later, I had completed my very first haircut. I had to take some pictures, so I'll let you be the judge. Am I destined to be a stylist at Gene Juarez or am I just another beauty school dropout? Hopefully, I did a decent enough job (at least Tom seemed pleased with the outcome). I figure that living in a household of all boys, my hair cutting skills could really come in handy!

Not too bad from the front!

The sides were the hardest. I had to "blend" as I went up.

Check out that nice clean hair line!

Baby Rodda's Shower

On Sunday, Joanna hosted a lovely shower for me and Baby Rodda. It was so much fun to see many of my family members and friends. Joanna spared no detail and had everything from adorable onesies strung along the wall to a special "It's a Boy" glass for me to drink out of.

No shower would be complete without playing the game of "guess how big my belly is". We all had some good laughs as each person put their string around my belly. Some were WAY off! :)

A fun surprise was that my good friend, Carrie, was able to make it. She is due with a little boy just three weeks ahead of me but has been on bedrest for some time. She was just taken off it last week to see if nature will do its thing. I didn't expect her to come, so it was such a treat to see her there. We were quite a sight trying to hug each other--our bellies wouldn't let us near one another! It will be so much fun for our two little guys to be so close in age.

Joanna's sister, Justyna, made adorable and yummy sugar cookies as party favors.

My grandmother, or GG (for Great-Grandma) as she wants my boys to know her as, was also able to be there.

This shower was such a special celebration and it meant so much for me to share it with family and friends. I'm one blessed gal!

Go Huskies!

We went to our first Husky football game of the year on Saturday. Not only was it a gorgeous day, but we got to see the Huskies win! We headed down early and visited a few of our friends' tailgates. Jack had fun playing with the tailgate games.

Then we headed to The Zone to check it out. We met up with my parents there. The Zone is located on the Huskies' practice field. Jack loved chasing Boppa around and running with his little football. Yes, my dad is decked out in Idaho gear. It's his Alma Mater and he played football there, so we allow him one day out of the season to cheer for someone other than the Huskies.

Jack loved hearing the band and even got to have his picture taken with Harry the Husky. As you can see from the picture, he liked seeing Harry from a distance, but wasn't too excited when Harry came up to us.

We scored some phenomenal tickets and watched the first half of the game from about the 50 yard line. Jack was surprisingly mellow by this point. Probably because it was his naptime. He cheered and held his hands up for touchdowns in true Husky form. At half time, we decided to quit while we were ahead and head for home before a meltdown happened. We put Jack in the stroller and it didn't take long into the walk back to the car for Jack to fall asleep. Our little Husky was completely worn out!

Happy 65th Birthday, Boppa!

Over Labor Day weekend we met up with the family at our cabin to celebrate my dad's 65th birthday. The weather was only so-so, but that didn't stop us from having a fantastic weekend together as a family.  Here are some highlights from the weekend:

Jack and Dad feed the ducks on our lawn.

Then decide to move to the dock to dangle their feet in the water.

Boppa's birthday dinner at Cedars.

Auntie Joanna's funny face.

Love this pic because Matt is the only one making the funny face.

Now it's Jack's turn.

Jack checking out the fish in front of the restaurant.

Boppa's birthday pie.

My brother got a new camera for his birthday and snapped the following shots of Jack:

Jack flexing while wearing Boppa's shades.

Jack decides to take a break from driving and hold hands with the ladies.

Taking a break in the grass with Uncle Matt.

Don't you just love this little guy?

Where Did It Go?

Jack doesn't like to waste time eating. He'd rather be running, playing trains, reading books, or pretty much anything other than eating his meals. Our latest attempt at getting him to eat is a game that was a family favorite in my household growing up. Like generations before him, Jack loves it! Check out the video below to watch Jack make his food "disappear" from Boppa's spoon.