Halloween Prep and Some "Ari-ness"

We have been having a blast with Halloween around the corner. Ari looks for pumpkins everywhere! She has also been starting to talk up a storm. She is rarely quiet. So here are some of the pictures and videos of our happenings:
We went to the pumpkin patch and carved pumpkins:

We also went to Ben's parents' ward trunk-or-treat. I promise I will get better pictures at Halloween....

Ari has also been learning a lot; I have captured some of it on video:

The Lake and Conference

Ben's dad was gifted 2 condos on the lake this past weekend. All of the family who live in Springfield spent Friday night, Saturday and Sunday all together.
Twice a year our church is broadcast across the world. It is called General Conference, you can watch a recording here. We spent the weekend watching the 8 hours of broadcast and playing in-between :) 

Grandpa and Grandkids watching conference

Lunch Time!

Ari loved playing with Lance, he wasn't too keen on it :)

Paddle boats!

Joe got pretty good at the Kayak

There were hot tubs in each house, all the cousins had a blast!

Ellie and Ari were the only two up one morning, but they had a blast playing with the sensor lights :)

Cousins having breakfast! Ari loved sitting at the table with everyone!

Story time with Uncle Jeff :)

Watching conference with Joe

There was a playground with a play house that Ari loved

She was "cooking"

Yesterday, (we had been home for a day) Ari brought the carrier to me and she said "back-pack, Ake (lake), fun?"  She loved it!

It was amazing weekend. We grew closer as a family and enjoyed taking a break from life :)

Farm Park and Cooking

I have a lot to write about but I keep putting off writing a post, so I am going to get up what I can right now, and post more later. 
We went to the Farm Park with some friends:

 It was a beautiful day and we had a blast seeing all the animals!

 Ari got to see a sheep for the first time, she loves "baba black sheep" and so when she saw the sheep she kept saying "baa baa"

 Ari also loves to help me in the kitchen. I have found that if I give her a task, she is much better behaved...Ben was home while I was making dinner one night and captured a few pictures...
Ari loves her Apron and asks to put it on whenever I put mine on. She also loves her "uppy down" (the step stool). She moves it around the kitchen to where ever I am working.

I took this picture just after I took a shower...I forgot to put some things away...

 

 Ari is crying because she made a mess,  and I was taking a picture instead of cleaning it up :) She enjoyed the peanut butter though!

Arianna Updates

Ari is 20 months old and is surprising me everyday. I have to say that parenthood is better than I expected it to be. I can't believe how much I enjoy watching Ari learn. For example, today was the first day that she said the full word "Apple" instead of just the final syllable and I wanted to throw a party. She helps me unload the dishwasher and remembers where things go, not just her spoons and forks, but other things that only I use. Ok, this might be boring for some of you, but you can just skip down to the pictures ;)

Ari understands more than I thought was possible for her age. I had no idea how fast kids pick things up...she can recognizes the numbers 4-10 (she thinks 1,2 & 3 are all "2") and can count to 2. She knows all the "normal" colors and even points them out on shirts and signs she sees. She is also starting to put 3 and 4 word sentences together.
We have a Melissa and Doug puzzle that has doors that open and have magnets behind them...she knows where each magnet belongs. Here is a short video, of course I caught the tail end of it, but you can get the idea.

As far as sleeping, she has been doing so much better. She has a great bed time routine, that she asks for, and is now sleeping a full 12 hours at night. She also normally takes 2 hour naps during the day. I know we will probably hit a rough patch again, but I am glad things are going smoothly again.
Ari is still growing very fast. I haven't measured her, but she is in 3T clothing. She really enjoys being outside and going places in the car. I have started to think about winter plans and what I am going to do with her when I can't take her on a walk or to the park everyday. She really enjoys swimming so I am hopping to join one of the community centers to get her in the pool at least once a week, but I welcome any suggestions for keeping a toddler busy and happy indoors!
Saturday we went the Harvest Fest and Ari rode a pony and played in a toddler bouncy house. 

 

















 

Sunday I took a few minutes to take some pictures. It is still hard to get her to smile for the camera, but you can see how much she has grown. 

 

This is the face I get a lot when I am trying to take pictures. She loves her tongue!

The underneath of Ari's hair is very curly. All I did was put a little gel in it to stop the fly-a-ways. The top is still very straight though...

 

Yes, this is Ari trying to climb a tree in her Sunday clothes :)

 

Ari has been having fun at home too...
We bought a new footstool and she thought this was a better use for it...

Coloring with some friends :)






Eating whipped cream...

St. Louis Weekend

Sorry it has been a little while since I have posted. We have had two adoption options that have stalled, so it has been a bit of an emotional roller coaster. 
Last weekend we went to St. Louis to visit my family. We had a blast! My mom brought out a bunch of my old toys, including this car. We called it the Flintstone mobile. 


We also went to the Botanical Gardens. It was beautiful but the weather was pretty hot. We were able to get in free, though. Who knew that if you are a STL county resident, you get in free on Wednesdays and Saturdays?

This was at the end. Ari was pretty tuckered out.

This is just to give a scale...

We fed the Koi fish and they were huge!

Ari loved throwing food into their open mouths

Ari had fun playing with the fake sheep :)

Silly Girl :)

She really wanted to touch the water.

Playing music with Daddy

They had this neat "foodology" exhibit about where food comes from. It was inside so we enjoyed it a lot :)

This is how Ari plays with new things...'I will play with it if I can keep it at arms-length'

This is my attempt at taking a "beautiful" picture

We spent a great Sunday with my dad. I had forgotten my camera and the pictures above are from Skylar's borrowed camera. So no pictures from my dads...
We are so happy to be a family. Ari is continuing to learn and grow and surprises us every day. I promise an update more specifically on her shortly.