sunset at the pier

Now, I really really love grey fall mornings,

but today,

today I am missing the beach.

I miss it's simplicity and warmth.

Back on our vacation,

we had the most wonderful evening on the pier 

watching the sun set over the water,

following a pod of dolphins,

and enjoying the fishermen's show.

i spy a dorsal fin

our walk back to our hotel along the beach was quiet and special.

friday feet

It's friday! 

Yes! What are you all up to this weekend?

Our weekend is full of pumpkin patch fun,

costume designing and making,

and roast!!!

And have you all checked out my friend and wonderful cousin in law,

Samantha's blog or Etsy shop?

Please do both, she is incredibly inspiring, and has started a great Christmas Exchange 

that sounds like loads of fun!

Without further ado,

from California,

Samantha's Friday Feet ::

"I'm constantly learning new things; 

things about social media, things about sewing, things about life. 

And Jesus has been teaching me how valued I am. 

It's been a tough to grasp, 

but he is patient and works slowly to heal my brokenness."

Also, check out these instagram submissions

from @annairwin23

full of autumn!!

Thanks Anna!

And don't forget to instagram your feet today using 

#arhfridayfeet

Have a wonderfully splendid weekend!!

who's who?

Levi just recently added all of our pictures from the last 7 years 

onto our new computer,

and it has been a blast going through them all.

I love remembering the different stages of each girl,

and cracking up at the numerous homes we have lived in during the last 7 years.

So here is a fun pretty easy game,

these three pictures are over those years of each girl around the same age.

So, who's who?!

1 :: 

2 ::

3::

not too hard, but pretty fun to compare my babies,

well, I am having fun doing it!

1000 Words

You know what they say,

"A picture is worth 1000 words."

She made a kite at church yesterday,

she couldn't wait to make it "fly in the sky"!

So on a relaxing autumn day, she pulled off her tights,

and went running all over our back yard,

yelling "Fly kite, fly!".

Her sweet determination,

her beauty,

her playful spirit,

her joyful voice

her chubby cheeks, the last remaining of her baby features,

are all perfectly captured here.

I hope to always remember her this way!

Happy Monday!

What are some of your favorite captured memories?

lately

one of my most favorite blog reads is 

Sheena's :: the little red house.

She is inspirational in her perspective,

cooking, and lifestyle.

She recently photographed this cookbook,

and I seriously can't wait to own one!

 she focuses on quite often on
the little things in life that sometimes are overlooked,
due to business, wants, and ungratefulness.
So I am writing down my list here,
of things that I am so very thankful for right now,
and my hope is that you can relate and notice
all the little things right now!

nora girl's leaf boat

my girls: that's a given and a big thing, but even when I am exhausted, I am reminded
how blessed I am to get to be the one pouring into their lives right now!

hot coffee and warm oatmeal mornings: its getting so nice in the night that our house
is so chilly when we wake up! Enjoying this simple breakfast each day warms me up,
I usually just add oats and water to a bowl,
heat it up,
add honey, cinnamon, and whatever extras I have on hand,
pomegranate,
apples,
bananas,
almond slivers,
and sometimes chocolate chips!

watching the Broncos win with my family: between the "Go Broncos!" 
and the touchdown dances,
Sunday afternoons are pretty fun for us.  

My Bed: with clean sheets and flopping our grey down comforter on it 
for these chilly nights!

and here are a few more:
no bug bites
sunsets in our favorite colors
smell of wood burning
tights and boots
baking, everything!
baking smells in my house
louis armstrong and ella fitzgerald pandora station
pretty light in my house
kicking an attacking goose in the head  
(if you would like to know the whole story, just ask, I love telling it!)
clean floors
my girls playing for 20 minutes with no fight-- sorry just had to break up something.
watching funny shows with my husband
road trips
cameras

We're back!!

Over the last week, we packed up our little car,

dropped our daughters off at their Gram and Pop's,

and drove all the way to Pensacola Beach.

Three full days of sitting at the beach!

We were giddy, and exhausted,

looking forward to a restful get away.

We drove through Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama.

We saw cotton fields for the first time,

swamps, and the USS Alabama.

We suffered through miles and miles on tiny one lane highways,

passing farm after farm
after farm after farm.
We talked and asked each other lots of questions,
it was weird with no one yelling in the back seat.
We listened to our music and some comedians too!
After 13 long hours, we made it,
checked in, and crashed.

The next morning we woke up early,
ate a scrumptious hotel breakfast, and walked along the beach.
It was cool and cloudy,
we couldn't believe we were there.
Really, it took about 1 1/2 days to get into vacation mode.
I joke about parenting other people's children while I was there,
and sadly it was a little true,
I was not used to being off mom mode for more than a few hours!

But once we got into the vacation lifestyle,
we lived it up, hours on the beach, yummy restaurants,
and we even rented beach chairs on Thursday.
We felt fancy, and had a blast people watching, reading,
and taking breaks from sitting to search for shells and sand dollars
to give to the girls.
The weather was gorgeous!
Sunny, high in the 70s and a nice breeze.
Ahh, the life.

Thursday night, we paid for a walking pass on the pier.
We watched the sunset,
took pictures, and saw a pod of dolphins!
There were a myriad of fishermen,
it was fun watching them toss fish over the side of the pier,
smack them on the ground, making an art out of their work.
It was so peaceful watching God's glory set on the horizon.
(more pictures to come later of this adventure)

Friday was great/terrible.
We followed our usual routine,
we had grown accustomed to relaxing,
and we liked it.
After a few minutes on the sand,
we got pretty hot and headed into the water.
A girl asked us if we were brother and sister,
which Levi began nodding his head yes.
Another girl told me about her crabs at home,
Freddie and Mr. Spongebob Krabbs.
It was cute and made me miss my girls even more.

While looking for shells,
we found numerous tiny crabs still in their shells drifting along with the waves.
I was a little creeped out, and began walking so cautiously around.
Then I spotted it, a perfect sand dollar, white, that was the size of a half dollar,
(we had only found pieces, many pieces of sand dollars, no whole ones,
we joked about us vacationing to a "sand dollar graveyard", 
it was funny to me, maybe you had to be there)
I bent down to pick it up and found one silver fish with a yellow tail
(if you clicked on the link, I couldn't narrow it down to any specific fish, 
because as you can see there are many silver fish with yellow tails)
started swimming all around my legs,
and soon more appeared, really freaking me out,
chasing me away from our perfect sand dollar.
Every step back I took, more appeared,
it was completely irrational, but I thought,
what if they bite?
Shortly after they got tired of scaring me,
someone found a jellyfish nearby.
I was done.

So I parked my keister, do people use that terminology still or is it just me?
Anyway, I sat down to read more,
but it was so hot in the direct sun,
so I moved to the poolside under a free umbrella, and that was nice,
then I started to feel a heat rash,
it burned and itched,
so I went  upstairs, showered and took nap,
it finished the trip nicely.

check out the couple walking the beach, so cute!

We headed back,
after a few minor setbacks,
one being my first flat tire,
past the millions of farms,
we made it home to an adorable banner,
and three snoozing loves.

We were so thankful to have had the opportunity to go,
and so happy to be home with our girls again!

What have you all been up to?

Dear Little One

Dear Little One,

     One, one year old, ONE?! How?! Why?! 

I love you, Penelope, you are a beautiful soul!
I love your constant smiles and laughter,
(after your first three colicky months, whew).

I loved watching you dive into your first birthday cake,
like you had totally done this before,
like you thought it might go somewhere.
We like to joke about that poor piece of cake,
you couldn't get enough.
You appreciate food, a lot.
You're favorites include but definitely are not limited to:
avocado
sweet potato fries
peaches
bananas
cheerios
oatmeal
chicken with rice
and obivously, birthday cake

You love to be outside.
Swinging is your favorite thing to do at the park,
and you would sit there all day if I allow it.
Whenever we go outside I follow chase you around 
grabbing everything from your mouth.
You crawl so fast, I know that once you start walking/running, 
I won't be able to catch you.

You are passionate.
We can't wait to see the little girl you will grow into,
but at the same time, please don't grow too fast.
You play intently and you love toys and eating books.
You are persistent and focused.

You love your family,
you just love to be around us.
You play with your sisters and can definitely hold your own,
cracks me up how awesome your grip is.
And even the doctor remarked,
"Wow, she is very strong for a 1 year old."

 I love seeing your face light up when you see me or your dad.
(I won't hold it against you that you have said "Yea-yea" before "Ma-ma",
I may bring it up from time to time though).
You love to wait at our glass door, smacking it till you can see us coming.
You shower us with so much love, we are thankful.

Little Pip, you are our joy! 

We are blessed by your life!

I can't wait to celebrate more birthdays with you!

Love,

Mama

xoxox