In Need of a Break

This weekend Jim and I planned on heading to Omaha for a much needed break.  I have been working weekends non stop with photography and it was time to get away and have some time for ourselves.  We did something unusual and headed out on Friday night instead of nap time on Saturday morning.  I am not sure we will be doing that again.  Charlotte was so super ticked that it was her play time and she was confined to her car seat.  There was a whole lot of screaming...a WHOLE lot.  Not awesome.  Here was a rare moment of contentedness.

Saturday we went to one of my favorite places in the world...Vala's Pumpkin Patch!  We had my Mom come with us because she had actually never been there.  We had a fantastic time!  The weather was supposed to be iffy but it ended up being just beautiful and we spent a long afternoon doing about everything you can imagine...

Ate a sucker...

Checked ou a scarecrow...

Watched a dancing show...

Saw some bunnies...

Stood in line to ride the train.  Love this picture of all of us!

Got ready to depart the station...

Having fun...

Played on the train set...

Had fun with Gramma...

Peeked for the camera...

Played in a corn pool...

Squished a lady bug...

Had a snack... 

Pretended to be a farming cute family...

 Made friends with a goat...

 VERY good friends...

Even she can't believe she kissed him...

Rocked as a family...

And with Gramma...

Drank frozen apple cider...

 And at the end of the day, we got her to begrudgingly stand by the "how tall this fall" sign...

We followed up the pumpkin patch by heading to Nettie's and meeting my Dad for some delicious, allbeit greasy, mexican food.  So yummy!

It was an absolutely perfect day!

Breakfast

Yes...that is yogurt on her her forehead.

Halloween Sneak Peek

Trying to get her and Petey in the same shot was virtually impossible but still worked out when Jim joined in!

Lacy and Vinny's Wedding

Saturday we all headed to Northern Iowa for my great friend Lacy's wedding.  For once we actually made it somewhere early and had time to see her and visit before the ceremony.  She looked beautiful! 

The ceremony was wonderful and I couldn't have been happier for her.  They looked so in love up there!  After the ceremony, Lacy, her new HUSBAND Vinny and I went out for a little photoshoot.  We took complete advantage of the fall colors and small town Iowa downtown life.  It was perfect!

When we came back we ate and had fun playing with Charlotte.

We took her outside for a bit because she was getting pretty antsy and I tried desperately to get a cute smiling picture of her but I got nothing!  Plus, she had to be coloring the wedding program the whole time...

We waited while the dancing began.  In true Lacy style they had a crazy wedding party dance...let's just say that it involved zombies and I am not even joking!  We were all cracking up...see??

Shortly after Vinny and some of his friends that have played in a band sang some songs.  It was nothing short of awesome.  They sang a version of "If I had a Million Dollars" only everything that Vinny would get Lacy.  I seriously almost cried...he totally gets her and they are perfect!  By the end of them singing Charlotte was so tired she was sleeping on the table...poor girl!  We headed out shortly thereafter.

Grandma Joy Visits

Jim's mom came down last Friday to spend the weekend in Des Moines.  It was her birthday weekend so she decided to celebrate with everyone.  She was able to get here Friday night and we had dinner at our place and visited for awhile.  Charlotte was a ham like always, playing with cameras and trying to take her own picture.

Saturday we attended a wedding in Northern Iowa for my good friend Lacy from college so that occupied most of our day.

Sunday was Joy's actual birthday.  Happy Birthday Joy!  I had photoshoots so Joy and Barb came over and hung out with Jim and Charlotte, playing and having fun.  It looks like from the pictures Joy took they had a fun time.

Sunday night Barb and Joy were going to see 9-5 at the Civic Center.  We met them for dinner beforehand at one of our favorites, Spaghetti Works.  We had a wonderful dinner and then enjoyed the walk back to the car and a little playing before we all parted ways.  

Joy has meetings Monday and Tuesday so I am sure we will get together again before her weekend here is up.  And again, Happy Birthday! 

Pumpkin Patch

Anyone that knows me well knows I ADORE going to pumpkin patches.  After some photo shoots this Sunday we decided to head up north of Des Moines to go to Center Grove Orchard and Pumpkin Patch.  I really liked the pumpkin patch but I also loved the one we went to last year so we might have to visit another yet this fall!   I took a billion pictures of course so this post is littered with them. 

Charlotte in front of the cutest little scene but I could not get her to look at me.  Oh well!

Jim tried reeling her in.

She liked the goats and really loved feeding them!

Jim helped her ride a little tractor

He also helped her ride a big tractor.  Does that face spell determination or what?

Nursery Rhymes:

Mary had a little lamb

Peter, Peter pumpkin eater

The 3 little pigs houses

I love how he is the girl and she is the boy!

We took a hay rack ride out to the pumpkin patch and Charlotte picked out the perfect pumpkin!

In the pumpkin patch

It was a super great afternoon!  We headed up to Ames afterwards because we were so stinkin' close we decided to dine on some delicious Great Plains pizza.  YUMMY!  What a perfect day!

Falling Leaves

We had spent the morning/early afternoon at a few photoshoots and when we got home we played in all the falling leaves.  What a sweet girl!

Iowa State Game

Jim's company has a box at the Iowa State games and his boss offered him some tickets for Saturday's game.  We headed up to Ames Saturday afternoon and had a great time. 

It was so nice to have the box because it got quite chilly out but we stayed nice and toasty warm in our suite!

Charlotte had a blast looking out the window and watching all the action.  We would lift her up and she would practically be hanging out.

Our view wasn't bad at all!

Our family enjoying the game!

Charlotte would get restless so we would run up and down the hall.  One of the times they gave her some crayons and pictures to color.

Charlotte had a boy who was pretty darn fond of her in one of the suites down the hall.  He must have been about 4 or so and his whole family with him was giving him crap about liking her.  You would have thought they were teenagers! 

We got one last picture before the night ended.  The game was super fun and Iowa State pulled off the win!

Dad's Vision

Jim says whenever he pictures Charlotte he imagines hair in her face...I wonder why?