Maren's Photo Shoot

I decided to wait to have pictures taken of Maren until after the baby comes so I took Maren to Pacific University to take pictures myself for fun. I got 10 free photo cards online as well and wanted to send a cute picture of Maren to you.

I love this line of trees.

These next three are my favorite. They were taken last over by a restaurant called Maggie's Buns. They have this cute painted wall she stood in front of. I am glad we were parked near there or I would have never captured these shots.

The Royal Family

On Sunday night, we decided to join Maren in her royal adventures in becoming the Royal Family. Yes I look like I have been hypnotized.

Daddy made the crowns and Maren loved every minute of it!

On Halloween night I gave in a decided to let Maren be what she REALLY  wanted to be, a princess. She had worn the costume I made her twice already so I was quite over it all. She couldn't have been happier.

Daddy joined in on the fun as her King.

The end of Trunk-or-treat. She had a blast.

Making Grape Juice

Brother Mitchell has been growing grapes for the last few years and informed us that the grapes needed to be picked and juiced. I felt like I was done canning but at times like this you don't have a choice.

We borrowed a juicer from a family in the ward and it was quite amazing. It took us 5-6 hours from start to finish doing three batches of juice taking an hour at a time. Luckily we had the afternoon and evening one Saturday to do it together (Spencer and I) or it would have been a frustrating process.

Some of the Concord grapes we cleaned up and prepared for juicing.

When you stir the juice it gets really frothy. We got 15 quarts out of it all and glad we had the experience. The juice is a nice addition to our Italian meals!

PAVA Halloween Party

I love that we have this fun organization called PAVA for the optometry families. It gives us a chance to have fun activities throughout the year including a Halloween party. Trunk-or-treat is great but it is dark, cold and most likely raining, and the kids don't get much of a chance to interact with  each other in their costumes. Maren has been looking forward to dressing up for Halloween all month as we have built it up in her mind. Her idea of the best costume would be a pretty princess. In fact when I first dressed her in this costume I took the time to make she through quite the fit. I think this is officially the last year I will have any say in what she wears for Halloween which isnt saying much considering she is only 2. My the end of the night she felt cute after plenty of people gawked over how cute she was. We had a good time.

Quotes of the Month-October

1. On the way to church today, the day after the BYU football game, we drove past a field where they put up a new fence. I made a comment about the fence and in the back seat Maren started chanting: "Defense, defense!"

Maren rocking her baby pumpkin

BYU vs Oregon State Game

We had a great day down in Corvallis Oregon, home of the Oregon State Beavers. Spencer was excited beyond belief. He had the jitters all day. Not something I will ever fully understand but it must be a football player thing.

Maren did surprisingly well. She had a great time yelling: "YYYY-U" or "defense"

We sat down low before the game started so Spencer could watch the team warm up. We lucked out with a beautiful fall day of no rain.

We were surrounded by many BYU fans so it wasn't so awkward. I was a little worried we would be harassed not sitting in the BYU section. The BYU section was on the opposite end just behind Maren's head in the picture above. You can see a large patch of blue.

I thought the football sculpture was cool so I made Spencer take a picture in front of it after the game. This is his victory smile as we won the game on Beaver turf.

Carving Pumpkins

We bought a large pumpkin at Safeway.

This pumpkin cost $75.00. Maren tried to lift it with the help of daddy but it was so heavy!

This is just the job for a 2-year-old. She loved helping us dig the pulp out of the pumpkins.

It was great fun.

Yeah, we are Optometry nerds. Spencer carved the glasses and I carved the eye. It's hard to tell but my pumpkin was white.

Maren thought it was so cool that we lit them outside.

Sauvie Island Pumpkin Patch

It is really fun going places at festive times of the year now that Maren is older and gets excited about everything.

They had a really neat market that sold a wide variety of pumpkins and fresh produce.

They also had an animal barn. Maren loved it.

Maren is a big girl now so she has to do everything like big people. She did not want to stand by daddy she had to squat just like him.

They took us on a ride out to pick a pumpkin. Maren chose a tiny little green pumpkin that never matured. She rocked that baby like it was her own. See video.

We had a great time.

Welcome Fall!

Maren reading the scriptures

Hiking Multnomah Falls

The Vista House or "castle" as Maren called it, is a neat building with beautiful views of the Columbia River Gorge. It was built in the early 1900's and sits on a cliffs edge.

The view of of the gorge in the background. This was one of that last nice days on the year.

Multnomah Falls. The last time we came was on Maren's first Halloween. She was 3 1/2 months old.

I didn't realize I looked so pregnant! At the top of the mile hike to the top of the falls.

Maren throwing rocks in the river leading to the falls.

Daddy trying to wash her hands off with Maren resisting.