October

October has been a little crazy. I got sick two days before October began, and I'm just now getting better. I got a cough and fever and thought I just had a virus, and then finally went to the doctor about it 2.5 weeks later and found out I had pneumonia! I wasn't that surprised, because I felt really awful, but it was still a little weird to get pneumonia. Luckily, they were able to do a few things to treat me, and I'm feeling much much better. Turns out pneumonia really is terrible! Who knew? ;)

So anyway, most of October has been spent in survival mode. We did a few things, like go apple picking (see below), but that was really about it, and even that about killed me off (it's hard to walk around a lot when you can't breathe). Toward the end of last week I started to slowly get better and we were able to do some things we'd been wanting to do for awhile. First off, we had my ultrasound appointment on Friday and found out we're having another GIRL!!! We were so excited. Jeremy and I both really wanted another girl, but for some reason thought we were having another boy, but we were wrong! Even though she was extremely uncooperative during the ultrasound (I have to have another one because they couldn't see most of what they needed too), we were able to perfectly see proof of her gender, and we were so excited! The kids are really excited too. Anna had been saying all along that she wanted a boy until the day before the ultrasound, when she all of a sudden switched to girl. Perfect! She's excited to have a girl to share a room with eventually too. Hooray!

Then that night we had a fire in our backyard! The previous owner left his fire pit, but we hadn't used it at all until last Friday. We've been wanting to go camping all fall, but that hasn't happened yet, so we decided this would have to do for now. We roasted marshmallows and tried not to get too smoked out. It was fun!

Then on Saturday, we had some friends visit! Rachel and BJ Cox were our closest friends back at BYU and we have stayed in touch through the last 10 years. I saw them in Utah in March, but besides that we hadn't seen each other in almost 3.5 years. It was so fun to spend time with them just like the good ole days. It's pretty crazy how our kids all match up so perfectly too. Theirs are all 6 mo. - 1 yr older than ours, but their genders are all the same, and even similar personalities. The boys especially had a good time playing legos and being crazy together.

 Cute Lily and Anna

They were here for about 24 hours, which wasn't nearly long enough, but it was still really fun! We were so grateful they came to see us. They had been vacationing in Tennessee and took an extra day to come see us, and we really appreciated it! They are bosom friends. :)

 This picture below makes me laugh. Silly girls!

 And cute baby Kate! She has the brightest eyes and most perfect little doll face!

This week has been all about the apples. We had those 60 lbs of apples we picked that were sitting in our basement ripening away, so I finally felt good enough to do something with them - because there was no way that was happening last week. So on Monday for our family night treat, we made apple cider doughnuts (can we say indulgent?) and then last night and today we canned some applesauce! I only got 15 quarts though, so we're seriously debating getting more to do this weekend...we have a problem.

 My giant pot almost wasn't big enough....

And last but not least, we have been having gorgeous Fall weather and colors around here lately! There is nothing like Fall. It has been and probably always will be my favorite season. I just love the milder weather and beautiful colors. Today is supposed to be 75 degrees and tomorrow is supposed to be 80!! That's a little too warm, for my Fall taste, but the mornings have been glorious and the sun has been shining on the beautiful trees. All of my memories of October last year in Chicago involve us being heavily bundled in winter coats, so I am really enjoying this October. You've been good to us, Cincinnati!

 It's rough when this is your view. Somebody pinch me. And yes, Anna is swinging like a monkey from the trampoline (above).

Fall, I love you!

Apple Picking!

One of our favorite things to do in the Fall is pick apples. We started the tradition in Pittsburgh and were able to do it in Oregon, but unfortunately couldn't find anywhere to go in Illinois (but we did buy a ton of apples and make applesauce, so we still had our apple tradition).

So we found a place about 35 minutes from our house out in the country, and picked about 60 lbs. of apples. We have loved making applesauce the last couple years (and eating it all year long), so we wanted to do it again this year. I hope we have enough! We may end up needing more eventually, but we'll see. The place we went to also had pumpkins, so the kids had fun each picking out a pumpkin. I am still getting over bronchitis that I've had for about 2 weeks now, so I felt a little like old woman struggling to breathe all day, but it was still a lot of fun. It was a beautiful clear sunny day, a little cool in the morning, and it was nice to be out and about. We packed a lunch and spent a long time there. It was a beautiful drive out there too with all the leaves starting to change. In another week or two it's going to be spectacular around here!

 Mmmm apples.

 This was the most scenic spot, the rest was actually a bit of an eyesore unfortunately. I'm not sure we'll come back to this same farm next year (not just because of the scenery), but it was fun for this year! Someday I would love to take them to my favorite fall spot in California - Apple Hill. It just smells like Autumn and has all the apple treats you could ever want.

 I want her highlights. :) Pretty girl!

 Someone likes to pose...

 Eli does NOT like to pose, but I convinced to let me take one picture.

 Anna liked to help push the wagon. Jeremy was grateful for the help.

  Cute kids! We got a couple gallons of their fresh apple cider to take home too and let the kids share a caramel apple. They were pretty excited about that - it had sprinkles...whoa. We were wishing they had apple doughnuts too, but I think we'll have to make those at home this year. Right now we have an apple cake in the oven! It's a rough life. Hooray for Fall!