You Light the Spark in My Bonfire Heart

If I ever had anything capture my soul, it would be these two songs. When I hear them, I feel like they encapsulate the exact way I feel about my little family. These three people are the loves of my life and my very best friends. Nothing has ever touched me like my trip to South Africa and becoming the wife and mother to this family. 

 

 

Halloween 2013

After much anticipation, Halloween finally arrived! This was the best October I've ever had. From pumpkin picking and the balloon festival, to play dates outside and trick-or-treating with our best friends...I'm not sure it can be topped! I hope I never forget: the sight of Peyla's little legs poking out from her Thomas the Train costume, watching her scrambling from door-to-door as she tried to keep up with her friends, Ali's sweet face in her fluffy Pooh outfit, scrunching up her face in only the way Ali can do...saying "tick o tweeeet", pulling around our red wagons in the neighborhood. May I always see them in my mind's eye!

 

 Morning Halloween play date in the park with the library group. (Too warm for Pooh!)

 The Dahn Family Halloween!

 My favorite girls in the whole world!

After the hoopla, this is how we found Ali while we prepared for bath.

I think she was trying to head back out there!

Halloween dress rehearsal!

Every afternoon, we head out for a walk of some sort. Whether it's around the short block, or pushing the girls in the stroller- we like to spend the end of the day outdoors. This particular day, the girls insisted on taking their pumpkin buckets and walked around saying "trick-or-treat". I called it their Halloween dress rehearsal! Plus I got to practice with my camera in the sweet light.

 

 Let the many faces of Ali commence...

 

 

Her faces crack me up. She walks around like this all day. I love her sass!

 

My big girl.

Pumpkin carving

 Peyla was a great helper and wasn't afraid of the "pumpkin guts" this year.

 Ali had no fear and dug right in!

 

 The finished product!

 Two cute pumpkin models.

My favorite place to be in the whole world.

SRP Balloon Festival 2013

We headed out to see some hot-air balloons up close at the SRP Balloon Festival a few weeks ago. What a fun night! We walked around the festival, then finished by stumbling into the weekly car show at the Scottsdale Pavilions. And of course, some ice cream! 

 

 

*many photos courtesy of Kendra!

Tolmachoff Farms- Pumpkin Picking

After much scouting and planning, we finally decided to ring in the fall season with a trip to Tolmachoff Farms in Glendale, AZ. It's a smaller farm and we worried that the kids would get bored easily...wrong! The Fridard-Dahn families rode out for another adventure together and it was a blast! Although honestly, these five girls (and let's face it- their parents too) could enjoy watching paint dry. As long as we're all together.