Once Upon an October

Let's just say October did not dissapoint.

The first fun October-ish thing we did was go to a lovely pumpkin patch! Did I mention how much I love pumpkin patches?

 Jayson went for the perfectly round type of pumpkin.

I went for character. Do you see that stem?! It's the best.

We also saw some pretty things:

And, of course we took our annual autumn Logan trip. Jayson's brother, his wife, and their little boy came with us, as always. It just has to be done. It's so beautiful there in the Fall I tell you!

But also, that trip was mixed with about a hundred emotions. When we pulled in I wanted to cry because it was so beautiful and because I missed it so much. I was so happy to be there. I was also thinking about how something about Logan always makes me feel a little bit incomplete and I think I finally figured out why. I think it's because I feel like I never really got to say goodbye. I miscarried two days before we moved, so my mind was not on moving or feeling sad about leaving Logan at all. That probably sounds silly, but it's a place that holds a lot of dear memories to me. I lived there with my best friends, for my first year of marriage, and for my first time on my own.

And I also kept thinking about how exactly three years ago I lived there and it must have been that beautiful then, but I didn't appreciate it nearly as much as I should have. I wish I would have enjoyed my surroundings more. I wish I would have spent more time with my best friends when we still all lived in the same city. I wish I would have spent more time exploring Cache Valley.

Since October is one of the hardest months of the year for me to not be a mom (Weird, right? Not Mother's Day, not Christmas. October. I think it's because that's when I got pregnant and man those little kids in costumes just kill me dead.) I thought about infertility too. But it turns out this was a good thing. That was were my thoughts shifted from regret to enlightenment and positivity.

Logan was before infertility. In fact, three years ago when I lived in Logan I was the opposite of infertile, because I was pregnant. In that moment I realized that infertility has given me one of the most precious gifts. It gave me the gift to live in the present and to really appreciate things when I'm in the moment with them instead of years down the road. It has given me new life and the ability to not have as many regrets. It made me realize that there are always going to be hard things and you can't postpone your happiness until those hard things are over. It made me realize that I have the ability to choose to be happy now. Infertility has given me some of the most precious knowledge that I have to date.

So, thanks for that epiphany dear Logan.

Don't worry, the rest of the post is mainly pictures. Trust me, you don't want to miss these.

My cute nephew in a car, in Logan.

When in Logan you must go to Firehouse Pizza. (Which moved, by the way. Did you know?!)

And, for the main event and the big reason this trip happened...

The Pumpkin Walk!!! It was full of pure delight as always.

Oh Candyland!

 He He.

 This LIFE display was made by FSA (Families Supporting Adoption...the volunteer group I'm part of now, remember?)

Cute kiddos talk about adoption.

Clue!!


The theme this year was, "Let the Games Begin" or something like that, so I totally expected a Hunger Games display, but I did not expect it to be this good! There was more if it, it was like four spots long, but these were my favorite parts:

Isn't that face painting rad?!

Oh, Hagrid.

Please note the random kid staring at Jayson. It kills me!!

One of my other favorite things about October is the Kim family party:

Baby Yoda! I know, I know. Cutest ever, right?!

The Star Wars crew

It's not a good party unless someone cries.

This picture cracks me up. Yoda is crying and the monkey is trying to escape. Love it!

Pumpkin beards!

At the end of October this wonderful couple got married:

It was such a lovely day and she was such a beautiful bride!

Suzie getting married also meant I got to see a whole lot of these people:

It was one crazy week of lots of good times. I love these people more than I can even explain.

And, of course, there was Halloween!!!

I was a death eater..

Jayson was Draco

 These are our sweet tats. The best part of our costumes if I do say so myself.

Ruby was obviously Crookshanks.

And, we had Sherlock and the cowgirl over to watch the Nightmare Before Christmas, which all may or may not have fallen to sleep during....

October, you were lovely!

Ruby

Most of you probably already know this, but a cute little dog joined our family this past weekend...

Isn't she adorable?! I didn't realize it at first, but everyone keeps saying she looks like a little fox. I can totally see it now! I love it!

As you probably gathered from the title, her name is Ruby, but the nick-names have already begun and I've started calling her Rubezie. Also, Jayson suggested that we should call her Rue, which I think is the cutest thing ever. I mean, who doesn't love a good Hunger Games nick-name, right? Ok, maybe you wouldn't if your nick-name was President Snow or something, but anyway....

I love that her hair and Jayson's hair match. They're about the same color and they're both wavy! Do you remember the scene at the beginning of 101 Dalmations where Pongo is looking for a girl-friend for himself and Roger? He looks out the window and all of the owners look like their dogs? I always think of that when I see her and Jayson together and it makes me giggle with pure delight!

So, we got a dog because we sort of stumbled into an ideal situations. Jayson's brother and his wife owned this dog before us, but Alona (the wife) decided that she wasn't enough of a dog lover to have an inside dog and two kiddos (she has one on the way) and she felt like Ruby wasn't getting the attention she deserved. Alona knows I love dogs, so she texted me to see if we would be interested. I told her that I was definately interested, but we'd have to convince Jayson.

In the end Jayson was the biggest sweetheart. I swear I didn't try to hard to persuade him because I didn't want to be selfish and get a dog just because I wanted her if he really didn't. He decided to let us get her because he knew how much it meant to me how happy it would make me.  :)

Ruby is absolutely perfect for us. Jayson's allergies aren't too bad with her so far (phew!). We had watched her for a few days before and Jayson didn't have too bad of a time, so we figured things would be ok. Jayson also doesn't have a ton of patience for really naughty dogs (so...basically any puppy, right?) and since she's about 4 she's out of her puppy stage. She's also one of the most well-behaved dogs ever. Seriously. She doesn't chew up anything but her own toys, she doesn't whine, she hardly ever barks, and she's very obedient.

Another reason we weren't getting a dog is because right now we don't have our backyard completely fenced in, so the dog would have to either stay in the house all of the time or be out on a chain. I don't like the chain option and as a general rule I like big dogs and I felt too bad about having a dog contained to just our kitchen and front room (Jayson's rule is that dogs are not allowed on the carpet). Since I already knew Ruby and already loved her I was totally fine with getting a little dog. We also worried about getting a dog and then later finding out that they weren't good with kids, but we already knew that Ruby is great with kids! Getting a dog that you already know has a whole lot of pros, let me tell you.

Ruby is also such a sweetie. Whenever people ask me to describe her the word "sweet" is always the one that comes to mind. She's just so full of love. When she gets excited she practically wags her whole entire body. (Oh, having an excited dog to greet you at the door is one of my favorite things in life!!) Her favorite little toy is a little squirrel and she likes to throw him up in the air and then run to get him. She also really loves to have her tummy scratched. Her very favorite thing in the whole world is going on walks. She gets SO excited, it's hilarious.

Also, when I first arrive in the driveway after being away she's usually doing this:

I just adore seeing her little face through the window watching for me to come in. It makes me all sorts of happy! 

Life with a dog is the best sort of life. 

On My Mind

I feel like my mind is running 100 miles an hour as of late. But, none of the things I've been thinking about really need their own blog post, so I'm just going to post a bunch of random thoughts for you.

• It's October!!! I was thinking about it the other day and I think October is my very favorite month. General Conference, Pretty leaves, pretty pumpkins (because, aren't pumpkin patches one of the best things in the whole wide world?!), pumpkin treats, the Pumpkin Walk, pumpkin Reese's, Halloween, little kiddos in cosutmes,  etc. I love October.
• It's General Conference this weekend! I'm a geek and I love General Conference. Also, every General Conference Saturday we get Eintein Bagels. It's one of our little traditions that we have started together; although I think it actually started with my roommates in college. (Right girls? Maybe not. Maybe it only actually happened once? Also, in college I would innevitably always stay up crazy late the Fridy night, usually talking to Vienna, before the Saturday session and feel like garbage during it. I have not carried on that tradition. But anyway.) So, I was going to write a blog about traditions and how I think good traditions are wonderful and just really bond people and all that.  But then I realized the post would be as long as this bullet point. Thus, it is a bullet point and not an entire post. You're welcome.

• I am tired. Jayson has been working crazy hours lately, so basically it's left up to me to do the house work, the yard work, and work a full time job. But, I can't complain too much because it's been helping us out a lot to save up for adoption.
• Speaking of babies...there are so many babies! I'm not even joking, I have known someone having a baby every month from January 2012 and it's now coninuing to May 2013. Every single month. That's crazy business. And do you want to know the best part? Two that are on their way on in my family. My step-sister is having a baby in January and my sister in law in having one in March! Yay for new nieces and nephews for me!
• Also, there are a ton of wedding lately. There are a couple this month that I'm crazy-excited about and a couple this coming Spring and Summer and have me all giddy! YAY weddings!

• It turns out I actually really like to do yard work. There is nothing like the smell of freshly cute grass and there's nothing like looking at your yard just after you mow it. It's breath taking I tell you. I'm getting ready to plant some Tulips and Daffodils and I'm really stoked! Also, I will have a garden with veggies and herbs next year or I will die. Who knew, right?
• I'm starting to think that maybe I should live on a small farm. I want to have chickens so they can lay eggs for me to eat and I want to have a cow so that I can have myself some fresh milk. I also want to grow oodles and oodles of fresh fruits, veggies, and herbs.
• Lately I've also loved cooking and baking from scratch. We decided to stop eating out so much so we can save some money and I've actually enjoyed cooking. And do you know what I really like? Cooking with fresh ingredients. You know, like fresh veggies and herbs/spices.

• So, I really want to go and pick some apples in a nice, lovely orchard. Does anyone know how I can make that possible?
• I'm thinking that what I need to do is turn our backyard into an apple orchard/ pumpkin patch.
• Recently I've been thinking a lot about how much I love my co-workers. Seriously though, they're the best! I work with such kind and wonderful people.
• Something I'm really excited about right now is that Jayson and I are now part of a volunteer group called Families Supporting Adoption. You actually automatically become a part of it when you are approved to adopt through LDS Family Services, but you don't have to do anything with/for the group if you don't want to. But, we decided that we really want to. It's been really cool so far to go to the meetings and discuss what's going on with adoption in general, to talk about setting up different panels for support for those involved in adoption, talking about what's going on with adoption in politics, and that sort of thing. Even before we started the adoption I had dreams of working in the adoption field one day, so it's really awesome to  actually be so involed in it now. Yay adoption!

• Lately I've gone picture-taking crazy. I just love taking pictures of anything and everything these days!
• I don't feel like I'm seventeen. For years I've gone around saying things like, "I'm not old enough for this, I swear I'm still seventeen!" But the other day I was at work and it hit me. I don't feel like I'm seventeen anymore. That was kind of a weird realization, but I like how it feels. For so long I've felt like I'm just pretending to be grown up, but now I think I actually feel grown up. But, now I don't really know what age I feel like I am. I guess maybe I feel like I'm 24 or something? I suppose it's because I feel really settled and established in life right now, which is really awesome. I feel like my life is my very own. I mean, obviously it's always been my own, but now I feel like Jayson and I have really established our lives together. Now we have our very own neighbors that are going to be our neighbors for years to come. I guess our way of lives just feel more permanent after so much about life has felt so temporary for so long. Does that even make any sense? Yea, I guess esablished is a good word. I'm established and I'm 24. I like that.
• My out of stater friends are going to be in town this month. EXCITED!
• I've been day dreaming about building myself a wrap around porch on my house. I just love wrap around porches!

 So, that's just a little taste of what goes on inside this crazy head of mine these days.

 

For the Love of Pants

So, everyday the CEO of the company I work for writes a blog post for the employees to give words of encouragement and inspiration, which is pretty awesome.

Today she wrote about how we all need to have a little bit of silliness in our lives to counteract all of the stresses we have.

So, I'm about to go a little silly on you.

Let's talk about pants.

I've always been a pants girl. They get overlooked far too often in my opinion. It seems like people are generally very concerned about their shirts and I'm the kind of girl that finds a shirt she likes, buys it in every color, and calls it good. Also, basically all of my shirts are either gray, blue, or yellow and they are mostly solid colors, but sometimes they have stripes. My shirts are pretty boring.

But, my pants are great. I put a lot of thought into buying pants. I'm that girl that can go into the dressing room at the store with ten pairs of pants and end up not buying any. Just ask my mom how much she likes to go shopping for pants with me. "Not very much at all", is what she'll tell you.

I used to be what you might call a pants snob. In elementary school I owned Jncos. I'm not proud of it, but it was it is. In high school I had Buckle jeans and the like. I know buying $80 jeans seems silly, but they fit me like a glove, which is a big deal because that hardly ever happens to me with jeans. But, don't worry, I went to college and got wiser and realized that spending that much on pants is probably not the best idea. Also, I couldn't afford them, so that phase of my life came to an abrupt halt. So, just know, that if you see me walking about in a pair of really expensive jeans they were even given to me as a gift or I got them at a yard sale. Seriously though, I've gotten two really awesome pairs of jeans at yard sales this summer. Thanks Mom!

I'm also ridiculously attached to my pants. When one of my favorite pairs gets ruined I get a lot more sad about it than I ought to and sometimes I even go into denial about it for a little while. Sometimes I see pictures of myself in my favorite pants of the past and I have to reminisce for a little bit...

I'm obsessed with pants. You get it.

So, obviously, this new fad of colorful pants has had me all sorts of goo-goo eyed. But, I decided I was going to be frugal and that I didn't need them. Because, let's face it, I have accumulated quite a lot of pants over the years that I absolutely adore and I definitely don't need anymore.

And then there was Target.
One day one of my dearest of friends Vienna and I wound up at Target. Because, when I'm with Vienna it's law that we end up at Cafe Rio or Target. Sometimes we end up at both and those are really good days. Anyway, this particular night we were going to do a craft night and, naturally, we ended up at Target instead. And there they were. Pink cord skinnies. By the way, I've recently decided to branch out of my blue, gray, and yellow self and like pink too. Which is a big deal because I haven't like pink since I was like eight. But, now I'm off topic again. So. The pink skinnies. I shouldn't have done it, but I took them to the dressing room, along with some non-cord bright pink skinnies. But, what would you know, neither of them fit. But, now the idea was in my head. I had, for a moment, held some colorful pants and thought of them as mine.
After that they were in my head and they just wouldn't get out.

But, I decided that if I were going to have colorful jeans I would get them in some sort of non-expensive way. Not that the Target jeans were expensive at all, but I wanted cheaper. So, I researched dying my own pants and do you know what I found? They wanted me to take one of my existing pants and BLEACH them before dying them.

I mean, can you even imagine?!

First of all, and this is the crazy truth, I don't have any jeans that I don't love, so it would be hard to choose the pants to dye. Secondly, I cannot bleach my pants. I just can't do it. It would ruin them and they would probably tear after wearing them like three times and then I wouldn't have my beloved pants or colorful pants. lose/lose.
One suggestion I read was to buy pants from a thrift store that were already white, but then you'd have to buy the pants and the dye and you'd have to figure out where to dye them at (because surely is not happening in my bathtub), so it would be a lot of hassle and probably wouldn't be that much cheaper than the Target jeans.
So, whatever, I don't need colorful jeans, I told myself.

And then there was Old Navy.
I wandered into Old Navy one find Saturday because I was in search of some boots for the coming cold months, as Nash, my mom's puppy, ate my brown ones last year; and you need brown or tan boots to wear with your brownish things and black or gray ones to wear with your black and grayish things, you know what I mean? So, anyway. I needed some boots. But, I walked in and there they were again. Colorful pants all over the place. And then I saw it. The sign overhead that said the pants were on sale. For $19! You guys, these pants are usually about $35! But, I didn't need them. So, I proceeded to the boots, which also happened to on sale, so that was awesome. And then I saw them... peachy-pink skinny cords! They were the perfect color. They had my size, but I've never really had much luck with Old Navy pants, so I figured they wouldn't fit anyway, so I might as well try them on to get this silly obsession out of my head.
But of course, they fit perfectly.
In my defense, I'm actually pretty good and not giving in to impulse buying.
But, pink pants aren't going to be in style forever, so it's kind of one of those carpe diem kind of things, you know?

And I cannot lie, while I love all of my pants, these are my new favorites. I haven't felt this way about pants since I bought my first pair of Buckle jeans.

And when I wear them I feel like a million bucks and like I can conquer anything that comes my way. Because that's what a great pair of pants does for you. 

We all deserve to feel that way sometimes.