a reason to celebrate!

the end of summer vacation for us was marked by all kinds of excitement.  an earthquake, a hurricane and a brand new family member! our sweet niece and cousin mia came into the world born to my brother matt and his dear wife carly. we could not have been more excited! they live deep in the heart of texas, and we weren't sure we were going to be able to make the long trip but the Lord saw fit for us to go! what a blessing!
gracie was a proud cousin and so sweet and gentle with mia. jack wasn't sure what to think. :) we spent precious time together, eating, laughing, getting to know little mia, eating some more, and relaxing together. it was good.  we miss her already!

8 is great!

all the woodland creatures came out a few weeks ago to help us celebrate gracie's 8th birthday! we have quite a love of all things owl, gnome and toadstool around here lately.... so the woodland theme was fitting for a fall birthday party. meme and papa were so gracious to let us use their fun fire pit for roasting marshmallows and their backyard woods for a scavenger hunt...fun was had by all!

we love fall!

fall is my favorite time of year. cool days, crisp nights and comfort food! we spent a day last week and took an impromptu road trip to fifers apple orchard! it was about an hour drive but worth every minute of it. we practically had the place to ourselves and took our time exploring the crates and crates of apples, picking pumpkins, jumping hay bails, and getting lost in the corn maze. our busy afternoon ended with fresh pressed apple cider and homemade apple cider donuts. yum.