Trip to Pennsylvania

Looks like something never got published from...October! I feel like we fully took advantage of the fall weather and while we were there. 

We made sure to go to Highland Orchards to see the animals and get some apple cider donuts - SO yummy! The kids had so much fun playing with uncle Ben on the slides and giant tires.

Another highlight of our trip was going to Lake Harmony, PA for the weekend, which is up in the Pocono mountain range. Had some cooler weather and hiked the trail to Hawk Falls, which was gorgeous!










My parents stayed at Lake Harmony Inn right on the lake which had a beautiful view and Ava loved sitting out around the fire pit with uncle Ben.



I bounced back and forth between where my parents were staying and a cabin that was a mile away where my friends from high school were staying. We were celebrating 10 years of being friends! We did lots of fun things like cook for each other, play games, hike, talk and laugh our heads off, build a fire, drop beats around said fire, ha! Love them. And they were SO fun and nice to my kids, can never be too grateful for that, MUAH!


The day after getting back we went over to New Jersey to my cousin Lori's house for a little birthday party/visit for me! I always look forward to seeing them when we go home, she and my other cousin Allison are just the sweetest, so fun to talk to - and both happen to have boys about the same age as Ava so it is always fun to share crazy toddlers stories :) And there is NEVER a lack of food at a Sandone gathering, my kind of people!

 side side note: 3 months later I hear from Lori that Xavier (furthest to the left) is still talking about Owen and can't wait for him to come again - this cute kid has 3 sisters in middle/high school so having another boy in the house must have been quite memorable for him. Can't wait to see them again!

Couldn't leave the state without a birthday breakfast with the sweetest girl there is. She makes everyone around her feel so special and she showered Ava and I with fun gifts for our birthdays and brought me to West Chester (Classic Diner), one of my favorite places ever. She makes me feel like I'm at home even when I'm miles away! Thank you Nicole.

And this picture just makes my skin crawl a tiny bit at the thought of doing a solo trip with two littles again but they sure are cute (and honestly, they did way better than I expected and it could have been much worse)!!

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Scenic Pennsylvania Drives

It's cold and drizzly here in Idaho today and all I can think about are the magnificent scenic drives through Pennsylvania last week. There is beauty all around!


The picture above is a golf course located right behind a big neighborhood...oh to have a house right there with that view! Sometimes when I am driving 5 minutes to church here in ID I think about how LONG it took to drive to church when I lived in PA (15 minutes, haha). But then when I'm there I remember how beautiful that drive is, which makes the distance no big deal!

This picture below was taken from the edge of my church parking lot. Can you believe the rolling hills in the distance? Our building is tucked back in this beautiful little section of Chester County near West Chester. West Chester is my dream place to live.







This is seriously what a normal drive through Southeast Pennsylvania looks like, almost everywhere! And New Jersey too, apparantly, because this was on my way to my cousin's house where they threw me such a sweet little birthday party!  (more trip highlights later!)



Leaves, leaves, everywhere! Stopped for a little photo shoot of the kids off the side of this road because how gorgeous is this fence and tree line?





Again, sorry you have to bear with my manual focusing (broken autofocus)...but I'm so glad I have these pictures to remember this place by. Lucky for me, this beauty is right here in our very own Boise, and the trees are still turning colors so I'm not too deprived!

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Owen James turns ONE

We got to do a little celebration the weekend before he turned one when Grandma and Grandpa Harper came to visit. He got spoiled with fun books, wooden cars, bath toys, and lots of love!

Then we had to celebrate on his actual birthday too, of course! So Ava surprised him with some new balls and we took him to his favorite place on earth - sand and water!



We took the boat out to Lucky Peak for the afternoon and Owen just dug and ate dug a ton of sand and Ava swam to her heart's content with daddy.







Owen wasn't really sad or happy on the boat, just just "yelled" the whole time to the tune of the boat's motor, it was too funny.



He's such a little go getter these days and I'm excited to see him grow and play next summer as a full grown boy! Mostly I just predict all the trouble he and Ava are going to get into in the coming years together. Pin It

January Salt Lake Trip

A couple weekends ago we took a trip down to Salt Lake to celebrate Grandma Harper's 84th birthday with all of Devin's cousins and their families. Sadly I don't actually have pictures of the birthday celebration, but we did have a fun day in Salt Lake on Saturday before the party began.

The Trax station was a 5 minute walk from The Little America hotel where we stayed so we took it down to Temple Square and explored the visitor's centers.


It was so fun to hear stories about Grandma from her children and catch up with all of Devin's cousins. Seeing everyone together made me realize what a joy it must be to see your posterity grow and make good choices that bless their lives. She is such a wonderful example to all those around her of a hard-working, faithful woman and we love her!

And for some other random things worth documenting...

Neil and Laura must have thought they had a small army with them when they got pizza Friday night. They brought two pizzas (this size) back to the hotel for us from The Pie Pizzaria and all 8 adults and 7 kids only put a slight dent in these bad boys. Can you even tell by the spoon in the picture how big this really was?! Big or small, it was the BEST pizza I have EVER had!


After waking up multiple times in the night with Owen, Ava woke up bright and early as well, so I took her for a walk down to the lobby of the hotel so we wouldn't wake Devin and we stopped in the hallway bathroom on the way. They were so fancy and chic with granite enclosed stalls and a little sitting area so we sat and got ready for the day. As tired as I was, it was a fun little mommy-daughter moment with Ava.


There were about 20 little kids at Grandma's birthday celebration and Ava was pretty shy toward everyone at the beginning of the night but by the end she was running around having the time of her life with all the little girls. Here she is with Chris and Carlie's little girl Naomi, who has the best hair I've ever seen :) Pin It