Apple Picking

2018

Apple picking (along with our annual visit to the pumpkin patch) is something I look forward to once Autumn comes around. The feeling one gets when you're out in the open field among rows and rows of red apples with a light drizzle falling fresh on your face while being blanketed with different shades of grey from up above is like no other. The wet earth, the smell of pasture near by and the faint smell of kettle corn and apple cider donuts are the wonderful scents I remember and look forward to during each visit at the apple orchard.

Rows of tall sunflowers bring pops of color to a monochrome landscape ... however, don't be mistaken, it is the clouds that I adore the most (second favorite is the ocean and then flowers). They bring so much depth to a photograph almost like it's aching to tell a story. Well, at least that's how I interpret clouds especially when they are so defined and dark. I don't see depressing weather, I see beauty. And it is when I take in this beautiful stormy or cloudy weather that I make sure to thank God twofold for creating such wonderful diverse weather and the endless beauty in nature.

There is a tractor train ride that drops you off right next to the apple orchard but we always choose to walk. It's really not a far walk, besides walking allows us to take in all that's around us at our own pace and to have silly conversations with our kids.
Walking on mud puddles when you have the right shoes on is great fun!

We prefer small to medium size apples. Jacob likes the bite sized ones and I like the medium size apples. So Jacob was showing Riley which apples to get.

It's wonderful having a husband that shares the same interests as you and that always looks at you with so much love and tells you how beautiful you are even on those days when you feel anything but beautiful. You cannot have depth in a marriage without time and commitment. I thank our Father that we have attained that in our marriage. I praise Him for it daily.

Hungry and a bit chilled as we headed back to the café to fill our empty bellies. They have homemade pies and warm bakery goods which we tend to leave with.

With the cold weather as our companion for the next several months I like to keep my feet warm and cute with my novelty socks. I love buying floral socks and socks with cats on them. I also keep my eye out for socks that have books on them but I haven't seen any I've liked ... and of course I have several thick fuzzy socks that just scream cozy.

Now with all the apples that were picked Jacob set out to bake a homemade apple pie. Riley helped daddy by peeling the apples ... in spots around the middle, LOL!

He's so cute! His antics and facial expressions make me laugh out loud every single time.

Jacob is the baker around here. Concentrating so hard, funny.

Not bad for a beginner. He even cut out the leaf shapes himself.

I sure enjoyed the apple pie. I think we had a slice every day of the week, lol.

While most people complain about the rain and long for

Summer cheerfulness, introverts truly thrive in the Fall season.

Halloween Week

Oh, what a fun and exciting time Halloween is ... Autumn in all its glory!

The month of October is a busy fun time for our family. There are so many fun activities going on that you won't find us at home on weekends.

My mom and sister visited for Halloween last year. This was the first time in a long time since any family from my side spent it with us during this holiday. It sure was extra special. They arrived a few days before the thirty first so we had a few days to show them around. We hung out at the new and renovated park in Bellevue where there's also gorgeous deciduous trees. Such a pretty sight.

I get hot easily so whenever it's chilly for some the weather feels really good to me, fresh. Jacob and the kids give me a hard time because I wear dresses when it's chilly out. I love the coolness on my body. Fall weather is my most favorite! and wearing Fall colors is also a favorite.

We took a stroll around the park and let Riley play for a bit and after that we had lunch at Pagliacci, yum!

My mom is so serious in this picture, lol. I guess I took it before she was ready ... oops!

We took a different way on our way back home. We like driving on this floating bridge. Lake Washington is pretty big and I like to admire the pretty houses along the waters edge.

Silly boy. Cotton candy beard.

Blurry picture but still a good one. I'm so thankful that my mom is still able to visit even though she has constant nerve pain on her feet. The most selfless person I know.

At our house we typically carve pumpkins a day or two before Halloween. I would hate to carve them early and hate for them to start decaying by Halloween. I have no creativity when it comes to this activity so I leave it up to Jacob to help Riley carve his.
I enjoyed having my mom and sister home with us during this time. We always end up eating way too much food. But then again that's what happens when you get together with loved ones. Food brings family together.

And of course, Sophie had to take part in the Halloween festivities. Halloween colors go well with her calico fur. Blurry but she's still so darn cute!!!

Outside Biscuit Bitch (breakfast) in Seattle. My sister took this picture of my two boys with their grandma. Love it!

On Halloween the kids can wear their costumes with no mask and only during the last hour of the day. Riley was so excited about wearing his costume to school.

My sister loves to bake. She had gifted me this skull cake mold and so we decided to make brownie skulls. I totally loved them. They look so cool. I made chocolate covered marshmallows and chocolate covered s'mores. Those were good as well.
I can't wait to make these again for this Halloween.

And for every favorite holiday we make sure to include our babies. Jacob carved a special pumpkin with two angels on it. They are greatly missed and there's definitely a void in our home and it's even more pronounced during these special times.

Riley looked super cool wearing his spider man costume. Always anxious to head out and start trick or treating. Thankfully it wasn't too cold out.

On our way back to the house even the sky was in a festive Halloween-ish mood.

Meanwhile, while Jacob, me, Riley and my sister took Riley trick or treating Sydna stayed home and passed out candy to the other trick or treaters. She enjoys it and is very generous in her portions which we have to remind her to just give each child two pieces of candy since we get quite a bit of children knocking at our door.
Doesn't she look so pretty?!

There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spot may be lighted on,

and produce so pleasant an effect on the feelings, as now in October.

-Nathaniel Hawthorne

Out and About

Lattin's is a fun place to go hang out for a bit. We mainly go to feed the ducks and goats. They also have a country store where they make and sell a number of pastries. I usually get the apple cider donuts.

Riley has a lot of fun here. We love spending time with the cute farm animals ... and I especially love the slow pace of farm life.

Jacob and I personally love ducks. As a matter of fact he's so set on buying a few from this place and have them live in our backyard. Only one problem though ... our backyard is not big so I don't think that will be a good idea.

I'm sure these goats get fed but every time we come here they behave as if they are starving. They push each other and quite hard too so I make sure that the bullies are the last ones to get some feed.

Can't help but giggle as the goats eat out of your hand. Their little lips tickle as the nibble.

Given that Lattin's is in Olympia, which is about a forty minute drive, we make sure we find other things to do so we can make it a day. After we left Lattin's we stopped by a park and let Riley play for a while.

We got home just before dinner. Nathan's birthday had been a few days ago and as part of his birthday present they also choose the restaurant of their choice. Nathan likes to go to The Spaghetti Factory so that's where we went.

Looking at my kids I can't believe how much they've grown. I think Sydna and Nathan look so much alike. They both work at the same place and even customers have noticed the similarities. I think it's interesting at how much their faces have changed though. When Sydna and Nathan were little they looked so much like me. They had a rounded forehead and a chubby nose but now their foreheads and noses have changed and as they've grown I think they are looking more like their father. Sydna gives Jacob a hard time and tells him that if her nose ends up looking like his that she'll get plastic surgery, lol. They both have a similar sense of humor so he knows that it's all in good fun.

When we lack proper time for simple pleasures

of life, for the enjoyment of eating, drinking, playing,

creating, visiting friends and family, and watching children

at play, then we have missed the purpose of life. Not on

bread alone do we live but on all these human and

heart-hungry luxuries.

Simple Pleasures

It's December and I'm here writing posts from back in August. It's just that other things have occupied my time like reading or sorting through Riley's clothes that he's outgrown and separating them in two piles, resale and donation. I can't believe how much he's grown this year.
Also, well I just like to take my time doing things ... and when it comes to blogging well I like to be in solitude with a movie on in the background.

So back to August, summer.
I love flowers, mainly delicate ones. Like the ones you'll see below. I like to decorate our home with flowers, they just add so much beauty to a room. There are times when Jacob buys me flowers and other times when I buy them myself. When I see a beautiful bouquet I just can't pass it by.
It is said that to help oneself feel happy one must surround themselves with things that have meaning. For me it's flowers, books and home decor as minimal as they may be. Nothing fancy.

It's so nice to bring flowers inside the home ... one of God's best creations.

There are those times when we're out on a walk where I'm constantly searching for something pretty or interesting to look at, in this case more flowers. As ordinary as seagulls are I think they're pretty and they remind me of the ocean. The best walks for me are the ones taken along the Puget, naturally.
There's nothing better than to immerse yourself in the present moment especially when you're out in nature. It centers you ... it relaxes you.

Sometimes it's difficult to choose which floral bouquet to buy at Pike Place. So many beautiful choices. That's where I got the following bouquet.

There are several properties close by that have flower fields. I love to look out the window when I'm in the car driving past them and just admire. How wonderful would it be to be able to just walk to your backyard and pick flowers. That would be one dream come true for me.

Besides flowers I also got myself several books this past summer. I love it when I find books at the store that I have on my to-read list on Goodreads. Although I don't get to read them immediately because I have quite a bit of books at home it still gives me a happy feeling to know that I have good books waiting for me to read.

Riley admiring those shadow muscles. Made me laugh.
Sometimes I feel bad that Riley doesn't have a sibling around his age to play with, to grow up with ... we tried (twice) to give him one but we couldn't. Still, he's growing up very much loved. Sydna and Nathan love on him although for Riley that bonding time is never enough just like he always always wants to play. I often teach him about healthy parameters telling him that quiet time for him is good. He does keep himself busy but he prefers to be around people. He's a social one for sure.

There were a few nights in August where the temperature got into the mid 90's. The upstairs stays quite warm up until midnight when it starts to cool off. Jacob goes to bed by 9:30 and Riley by 8:15 so they camped out downstairs those warm August nights. I hung out downstairs for a while but I just can't sleep well at all anywhere else but my bed so around midnight I would finally go upstairs and sleep.
You know what I like best about summer? Sleeping with the windows open and waking up to a very cool bedroom and feeling a light breeze. I just love that!!

And my ever loyal companion always close by. When I'm in the shower sometimes she's laying right outside the bathroom door and other times I find her laying on my bed. She makes me smile.

I'm amazed at how great their (cats) balancing skills are. They can walk on the narrowest piece of wood and usually they wont fall or like Sophie here, laying on the ledge ... and you know she's quite heavy. Thank goodness she doesn't wobble. And she's looking at me like, "what?"

As soon as the stores begin to sell holiday stuff I begin to stock up. I really dislike when people say that Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas seems to be starting earlier and earlier every year. That's just nonsense. We only have about one month to celebrate each holiday and naturally the stores will begin setting things out about a month in advance because you know people like to plan ahead and be prepared. There is nothing wrong with that. I've never been a last minute planner/shopper and the ones that are have that same mentality that I just described. Go figure.

Anyway, I got myself a few Fall scented wax melts and I also wanted to stock up on my favorite scent of all, the green ones are Sage & Citrus. I love how they smell!!!

More books, yay! I haven't read these except the bottom one. It's 150 of the world's greatest hymn stories. I've read several of them and although some of the hymns are not familiar I have enjoyed the story behind them. I recommend this book to all believers.

Vintage games are some of the best games out there. And Santa might be bringing even a few more this Christmas.

Those whiskers and that nose ... so darn cute!!!

I've had these books for about two years and I finally decided to read them. I enjoyed them so much. My favorite ones were Tamar and Rahab's stories.

I couldn't believe that some trees were already changing colors by late August. It was odd though because the colors weren't as vivid, they almost looked like if they had gone through a drought.

Every now and then I get these two in pictures. Funny how once they become teenagers it's not cool to have family members take pictures of them but they will always pose for their friends. At least Sophie cooperated, well sort of cause she looks annoyed as hell. LOL!!!

And here's to show you her curves. She's a fatty, but a cute one.

During those "quiet times" Riley drew this sweet picture for me. It's Reagan and Lincoln holding hands in heaven. He'll do this from time to time, draw pictures of his baby siblings. It makes me happy that he continues to remember them and be vocal about it too.

For our anniversary on August 26th we bought a new dining set. We had been wanting one for a while. One day I was looking through my emails and when I saw this dining set advertised I totally fell in love with it. And although I'm not fond of the flooring they compliment each other.

Here's another good book. This lady had a cardiac arrest. She lived her life at a frantic pace. She was one of the lucky ones to survive a cardiac arrest without any severe complications. She had to learn to live life one day at a time, to not rush through life and to not sweat the small stuff. This is exactly the way I try to live my life. Sometimes I fail but then I remind myself that I need to let go of expectations. Praying helps. Besides, haste doesn't go well with my personality.
I had checked this book out from the library and decided to buy my own copy.

It's our job to live each day like it's a special occasion, because we've been

given a gift. We get to live in this beautiful world even if we've 

known heartbreak. When we live purposefully and 

well, our days are that much better.