"Good Girl"

So we live up on the second floor of our apartment building, and whenever we help Tara walk down the stairs, she'll grab our hand and hop down to the next step with both feet! It's cute, and we always figured that eventually she'd get the hang of it. Well earlier this week Tara and I were heading out to go for a walk, and instead of hopping with both feet to the next step, she actually took real steps down this time! She very gingerly reached out for my hand with one of hers, and carefully held onto the railing with her other hand (she's always been good about holding the railing). She took great care in making sure she took each step one at a time, and she was doing so great! As if that wasn't exciting enough, she was doing something that had me laughing the ENTIRE way down the stairs. With each step she took, I heard her little voice telling herself "Good Girl!!!" It was SO precious! I love that girl...

"All Done!"

So our little Tara is SUCH a smart girl! She's always surprising us with her intelligence, and her sense of humor. Her latest acquired skill is folding her arms when we pray, and it never fails to make mommy and daddy smile! However~when we say "Amen", she never says that. Instead, she always says "All Done!". It's hilarious...Just to hear her little voice say "ALLLL Done.....". And she looks so proud of herself too! Such a sweetheart :)

I'm so in love with this project!!!

So I've fallen in love with the designer Bryn Alexandra (and not just because we share a middle name). She has amazing taste, and her style reflects my taste in design; and what choices I would make if I was an interior designer. Anyway, today I found a BEAUTIFUL bathroom that I totally want in my house :) I adore the cabinetry and the choice of lighting! When I see those type of lamps, I think home office-right? But it works in this bathroom! Oh, and I could go on and on raving about those gorgeous mirrors...My goodness-it's been a while since I was head over heels in love with a project, but this one really grabbed me. Go on, fall in love yourselves...

Good times at Detering Orchards...

Over the weekend we took a trip out to Harrisburg to visit Detering Orchards.







Growing up, my mom took my brothers and I every year to get a pumpkin, sample their fresh squeezed apple cider, perch on their GIANT pumpkin for a photo op, and maybe take a hayride. All growing up, I looked forward to the day I could take my own children out to the orchard to share in all those experiences. So on saturday, we joined up with my mom, my brother Josh, and his oh so wonderful girlfriend Cheyenne; and we headed out to the farm. When we first arrived, we grabbed a little wagon to set our pumpkins and fresh produce on, and Tara thought it was a great time!






After that, we went off to see all of their pumpkins...and they had a lot of them!






After looking at all the awesome pumpkins, we went off to get some of Detering's fresh apple pie and ice cream. Tara loved it so much, and was sad when it was all gone...If you look closely, you can see that last of it there on her little face!



Right above us, in the trees above the area where we had our apple pie were some paper ghosts hanging from the branches. Tara discovered them, and couldn't take her eyes off of them :)




After pie and ice cream, we had to go off in search of the main reason you go to Detering>their amazing, fresh pressed apple cider! Mmmm!!! Tara had her first taste, and was hooked; just like mommy and grandma had been for years :)



I think daddy loved it too...hehe We bought some to take home, and daddy is looking forward to heating some up one of these evenings!

After that, we decided to go stand in line for the hayride. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any good pictures of Tara on the actual hayride; except for one.




We sat in the back, facing the path through the orchard that we were tracing. It's such a beautiful orchard!

After the hayride, we went to pick out a small pumpkin for Tara; all children get a free pumpkin! Tara was so excited to hold it herself, she couldn't wait :)



Not long after picking out a pumpkin, we went off in search of some fresh produce. They have the most beautiful displays of fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts, jams, snacks, etc. And a whole lot of gourds! And everything's farm fresh! Everything from apples and peaches, to giant watermelons and squashes; along with filberts, blueberries, pears, tomatoes, peppers and many others. You can buy them two ways; they have already harvested produce, or you can go pick things yourself. We love all the home-made jams, preserves, salsa and apple cider. They also have locally produced nuts, honey, corn, melons and other items for sale at their produce stand.



As a child, I remember being most interested in their local honey, and the apple cider. This time around though, we got a little bit of everything. Amongst our purchases were peppers, watermelon, tomatoes, filberts, beets, peaches, asian pears, and a whole lot of farm fresh apples. They have over 36 varieties! We picked a varied assortment. And fresh apple cider of course...

On our way back to our car, we had to stop real quick and take some silly photos with their giant pumpkin displays~lot's of silly fun!









So all in all, it was a wonderful weekend!

Beautiful Morning

So today has been wonderful so far...I trimmed my hair again (it was more than a few weeks overdue for a touch up) and gave my locks an oh-so-thirst-quenching hair treatment with a deep conditioner. Then I took an extra long hot shower...because the baby was still sound asleep. Then I actually had time to read scriptures for a little while this morning, which was nice because Tara's usually up and ready for the day before I can even get a shower. Besides, I've always enjoyed reading my scriptures in the morning; it just sets a nice tone for the day. Anyway, Tara woke up; and is now playing with her breakfast and serenading me. She's been chatting it up, and "singing" different songs to mommy. She's currently sitting next to me on the couch, and she keeps emptying her dry cereal onto the couch in between her legs, and putting them back into the bowl one by one. Every so often she'll eat one, then drink some milk from her sippy; but she's mostly just singing and telling stories right now :)


I love mornings like these...

My secret obsession...

So for those of you who don't know, I love photos of interior design projects. I think in my past life I was an interior designer...Anyway, I love finding photos on the internet of different designer's latest projects; and this is one of the most recent ones I've fallen in love with. I have mixed feelings about the bearskin rug, but I love the way it pulls the whole look together. I love the simplicity of the arrangement, and the tasteful yet elegant stylings of the decorator makes me think I found my soulmate :) What do you guys think?