Pumpkins, Hayrides, and the Best Family Ever!

Fall is my very favorite season.  I love the crispness in the air, the color and crunch of the leaves on the ground, the smell of cider, spices, and all things pumpkin!  And because I do love this season so much, I want to share that love with my daughter.  I want her to crave this season the way that I do and to savor every chilly, soggy moment of it!

This being Ayla's first full fall season and her first ever October, I wanted her pumpkin-hunting experience to be the best.  I would not accept less than the authentic farm experience.  I thought that this would be a little hard in Utah, but I was extremely wrong!  I just typed "Pumpkin patch Utah Valley" into the google machine and I found this wonderful place!

We waited until it was a little closer to Halloween to go pick out our pumpkins.  I really didn't like the idea of visiting a patch in 70 degree weather.  Oh, it was worth the wait.  We were FREEZING and I loved it!  It was the first afternoon that truly felt like full-on fall to me.  I mean we were shivering before 6pm!

This experience was perfect.  It was more than I could have ever hoped for Ayla's first pumpkin picking trick.  Ayla and I are so blessed to have Joseph.  He's such a hands-on daddy.  Ayla adores him and I adore watching their daddy-daughter relationship blossom.  Ayla is a daddy's girl, no question.

So to spare you every wordy detail... Here is our South Ridge Farms Pumpkin Patch Experience in photos!

After our hayride back to the barn we packed up our tired little ice cube of a baby and headed back home.  I could not have asked for a more perfect evening at the farm!



GAP BABY!

I have officially entered Ayla into the Gap Casting Call.  :)

If you have a spare moment please vote for Ayla!

http://www.gapcastingcall.com/GapCastingCall/EntryDetail.html?id=737585

The Shirley Family

It is not often that you meet a friend that you click with instantly.  A friend who you feel at ease with.  A friend that you can laugh with, be serious with, or even just lay around in pajamas all day doing nothing with.  Someone you can tell to shut up if they're being dumb or ask them for their opinion and genuinely care about what they have to offer.  And it's not often that you meet a friend that is there for you no matter what, at any time, completely opening their hearts and their homes to you asking for nothing in return.

Well some time during our pregnancies I met Kaitlin.

I had worked with her husband for quite some time at Pinnacle by the time we were introduced.  I was pregnant with Ayla and she was just barely pregnant with Nina.  We decided that we should hang out.  Well months passed... I had Ayla.  She had Nina.  We still had not really talked other than running into each other at stores/Pinnacle.  FINALLY, we exchanged numbers and decided to REALLY hang out.  We did.  And long story short, Kaitlin in awesome.  We had a lot of fun together and it was surprisingly easy for me to be around her and be comfortable.  I have a problem with being shy and not opening up to people, but this was not the case with Kaito.

Shortly after this fun time with Kaitlin our family moved to St. Louis.  Great, I finally met a friend and I had to leave.  Well thank goodness for facebook!  We were able to stay in touch via stupid conversations on picture comments, of all places.

When we came home from St. Louis we kind of found ourselves between a rock and a hard place.  We were staying with some generous friends but unfortunately we were about 25 mintues from Provo aka work and friends and life in Utah as we know it.  Insert Kaitlin, Geoffrey, and Nina here. 

Kaitlin opened her home up to me letting me come hang out EVERY DAY.  I would show up in the morning after dropping Joseph off at work and some days we'd be there until midnight or later.  Heck, we even slept in their second bedroom a couple of nights!  For a while Kaitlin and I ran all over town visiting malls, target, various food places, etc... but we soon found out that two babies out and around town all day isn't really a fun thing.  Pretty soon we were staying in our jammies lounging on the couch all day watching Jersey Shore, Teen Mom, Bad Girl's Club, and lots of baby shows, of course.  :)  If Kaitlin was ever sick of me being in her house and in her space every day she never showed it and I am so grateful for her being so generous and so selfless.  It was so nice for Ayla and I to have a place to go where we could feel comfortable and relax a little while we didn't have a home of our own.

As luck and fate and all that good stuff would have it, we were able to rent a town home in the same complex as kaitlin and Geoffrey!  Just down the parking lot!  I had so much planned for our neighborly relationship!  Bbq's, dinner parties, babies playing in their first snow, etc... Sadly, pretty much the day that we moved in Kaitlin announced that they were moving to Texas.  And not in the future... but in two weeks!  WHAT?!  We finally have awesome friends that we click so well with!  Not only Kaitlin and me, but Joseph had a great time with Geoffrey.  It is so rare to find good couple friends!  And they have a baby!  Just a couple months younger than Ayla!  They're perfect and we're neighbors and we don't want them to leave!

But they left.  The Shirley's had to follow a great opportunity for their little family.  All the way to Texas.

I miss lounging around with my friend talking about anything and everything.  I miss sitting outside with her and the dogs.  I miss cute little Nina and her tiny little squeals and irressistable smile.  I miss coming home at night and meeting Geoff and Kait outside and chatting away...

Friends like them are so rare.  I really love the friendship that I have with Kaitlin and I hope that we will be able to keep it going even if we're not in the same state.  Thank goodness for facebook and cell phones and video chat (Kaitlin download Skype ASAP!) to help us stay in touch.  We love you Shirley family!

P.S.  VEGAS IN JANUARY!!!

New address :)

I have changed my blogger address from http://josephtonjababy/.... to http://tonjajosephayla.blogspot.com/.  FYI :)

I don't mind Utah...

...when it looks like this:

Provo River (which I live right next to) in Autumn.

And I can't wait until I see this:

Snow on the Mountains! (Timp)

And then this:

I love this season and the next...

One month and one day away!

My baby Tiny will be one year old in one month and one day.  AH!  One year, are you serious?!  It seems like yesterday that I was counting down the weeks and days until I would deliver my sweet little girl.  I remember wondering what she would look like, sound like, act like...  She has exceeded my wildest dreams on every level.  I love this girl more than I could say, write, think... LOVE HER!

Having said that, I can't wait to celebrate her first year in a big way!  I mean BIG!  I want to put everything she loves together and make it so special!  Something that she won't remember, but when she looks back at the bazillion pictures I will sureley take, she will wish that she could remember.  :)

I have big plans and I can't wait to get started on her grand Elmo themed party.  I'm sure every other one-year-old has an Elmo party, but hello, Elmo is so lovable.  Who doesn't love that little red monster?  Ayla is OBSESSED.  I mean, she can spot him from a mile away in any store and she shreiks and screams and lunges for Elmo like mad.  It's not fun calming the tantrums that my girl has when we don't leave the store with her beloved Elmo.  Guess what we're getting her for her birthday?  Haaaa...

Ooooh did I mention I love my Tiny girl?

My Sensitive Big Girl

Ayla is growing so quickly.  Aside from getting bigger physically, her personality is growing like a weed!  I love getting to know her funny little quirks and her silly facial expressions.  She really shows everything on her face.  (Just like her mommy.)

She's become so independent (at times) and as much as I like the breathing room, it makes me sad that my little Tiny seems to need me less.  Of course if she is sleepy or teething or doesn't feel good, she is as clingy as they come, but when she's in a good mood, don't even bother the girl!

Here are some things that she does like a big girl:

-Play with her foam puzzles
-Look at her books
-Watch Elmo (Her current FAV)
-Climb up and down the stairs
-Eat food, she wants to do it herself!
-Ride in the front of the cart, swinging her legs and yelling her head off
-Carry things in her mouth (while crawling) and deliver them to me
-Splash water on herself in the bath.  (I always have to do it again to get the soap off and that makes her MAD)
-She can undo her own diaper now, which is scary.  We have not had a disaster yet but I feel one looming...

It's hard to believe that in a little over one month she will be a year old!  It has gone so fast!  I already miss the days when she was a tiny, squishy thing that slept all the time.  The older she gets the more tired I feel and I will admit, some days my patience flies out the window, but I love every minute of being her mother.  I can't wait until she can walk with me and I can put little braids in her hair and we can have girly conversations.  I can't wait for silly things like taking her in for her first pedicure and first haircut at the salon and letting her shoe shop with me and pick out her very own shoes!  I'm excited for my little girly best friend!  With my luck she will be a total tom-boy and watch hockey with daddy and not want to be around me, but that would be ok too.  Watching this girl love on her daddy melts my heart to butter.

Some cute pictures of my big girl!

Ayla in her cute big girl shoes grocery shopping at Harmon's.

This is Ayla on her 10 month birthday eating yummy lunch at Iggy's!

(She loves to have her own plate with a little bit of ketchup and anything else we're willing to share with her)

Last week we decided it would be ok to give Ayla *half* of a chocolate chip cookie while we were driving.  When we got out of the car this is what we found.  She was perfectly happy with herself until we started laughing.  Our poor girl is so sensitive that it breaks her little heart when we laugh at her.  Without fail a breakdown occurrs when we laugh at silly little Ayla.  The cuddles that happen after these breakdowns are the best :)

Recently...

Ayla and I recently had the opportunity to go to Washington state to visit family for 2 whole weeks!  This was definitely a long, much needed vacation!  It was the longest Ayla had been away from Joseph and I know if was rough for her to be away from daddy for so long!  It seemed like as soon as we got home from St. Louis we were off to Washington!  Getting a break from the heat in St. Louis and Utah was wonderful for Ayla and for myself!  We actually needed to wear jackets at times and I loved it!  I miss the Pacific Northwest a lot.  If I could move there tomorrow I would!

Here are some pictures from our trip:

Ayla and I on the airplane.

Ayla in front of grandma's house.

Ayla and Grandpa John.

Ayla enjoying the greenery!

Eating lunch at Grandma's!

.Petting some donkeys.

Watching Sesame Street with Grandma.

Ayla hanging out with Emory.

Eating ice cream with grandma.

The last fun thing we did was visit Pike Place Market in Seattle!

We also had some studio pictures taken of Ayla.  She didn't really like to cooperate, but we still got some good ones!

Ayla, my mom, and I made the 15 hour drive from WA to UT and Ayla did so well!  We drove over night which really helped a lot.  :)  Every time I make that drive I think to myself, I WILL NEVER DO IT AGAIN!  Flying is so much easier.

We're now back to our regular routine.  We're living in Eagle Mountain and Joseph is working away.  I'm in the process of applying for some jobs.  As much as I love being with Ayla I miss the social interaction and the second income.  I'm hoping to find an evening job so that Joseph and I can trade off with Ayla and we won't need to put her in daycare.  Wish me luck!

Here are some pictures of a recent day spent with our friends Kaitlin and Nina!

AYLA YEAR ONE

Click here to view this photo book larger

Click here to view this photo book larger

I cannot believe that my baby girl is going to be a year old in two and a half months!  Time really does fly.  It seems like just yesterday I was hearing her screaming for the first time at the hospital.  She's grown so much and we have done so many great things as a family!  This book will be for her (and us!) to look back at for the rest of her life and see what went on her very first year!