harvest barn.

last year, by accident, my mom and I stumbled upon this adorable barn just outside of town.  

I had no idea it existed, but boy am I glad we decided to stop and check it out. if I could live on site, I probably would.   we took a trip back to the barn on Friday and it was just as I remembered... marvelous! 

where do I even begin? when you first pull in, the entrance to the barn has a beautiful display of pumpkins and all things fall/harvest. I nabbed several small white pumpkins (my favorite!) to display at home. aren't they the cutest?

  there are also tons of kid friendly activities to do on-site... visit the farm animals (J loved seeing the cows, sheep, and pigs up close!), walk through a corn maze, play in a real combine harvester, play in a corn bin, wagon rides... the list goes on and on!   then you go inside. the inside is fiiiiiiilled with holiday decor. the main level has fall decorations perfectly placed about,

and a counter to purchase a huge variety of homemade fudge, as well as other food items.

I sampled these two and, well, couldn't leave without them. DELISH, I tell ya!     moving along... then you walk up the stairs to the top floor (the most magical, in my opinion!) and find that it's ALL CHRISTMAS! 

do they not have the cutest decorations?! I wanted one of everything... oh, and check out the arched ceiling on the second story:

   the detail is just beautiful! everything about the barn is cozy and perfect.   if you're ever in southern iowa during the Fall season,  do yourself a favor and stop by the barn!       Pin It Now!

a quick catchup.

oye.   I have NOT been good about this blogging thing lately...so here is my attempt to get back on board.   here are a few snippets from life the past few months:   a fun walk/bike ride around the lake with GiGi  it was the perfect day to spend an hour or two outside before nap time.   and bonus!  we got to see a mama (or maybe daddy?) bald eagle feeding three babies.   it. was. awesome! 

my Grammy's 92nd birthday party  almost all 3,000 of the family members on my dad's side (or so it felt!) got together to celebrate my Grammy's birthday. it was so wonderful to see and catch up with all of the family.

  adding to the family...Michael's younger brother got married! so excited to have another sister-in-law to add to the mix. :) their wedding was amazing (even though it rained)... from the decorations, to the food, to the love felt between the two newlyweds. I love them both dearly and had such a fun day!

  whew! picture overload, but it will be nice to have these memories documented.    up next...J's 2nd birthday  (I promise it won't take me 3 months to write again...hopefully...) 

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a junkin' weekend.

 my completely unintentional, i just had zero motivation blogging hiatus   has come to an end! not sure if I have any readers left at this point...   moving on! 
 this weekend was a fabulous weekend for multiple reasons- the weather was BEAUTIFUL, it was spent with friends and family, and it was filled with junk (jubilee, that is).   

junk jubilee is this amazing 3 day event where vendors from all over come and set up shop  so people can peruse through their treasures.  

the crew, ready to take on the crowds and junk

   it was extra special this go around,  because my mom and aunt had their very own booth (and I felt like a proud mother, snapping pictures)!

aren't they the cutest!? my mom is on the left, aunt is on the right.

michael and i seriously considered purchasing this awesome windmill for our backyard, but backed out at the last minute. we weren't ready to make quite the commitment, or haul out that 9 foot piece of metal! 
the day before the jubilee started,  my mom was busy getting everything ready to go. James and I came over to get in her way help her out, so i was able to snap a few more pictures of her items for sale. i legit wanted to purchase every item she had!  

and here's J doing what he does best...

playing outside and loving life!   now hopefully it won't be so long before i post again...

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a tiny (but actually really big) announcement.

 so excited to finally put it out there that we're expecting baby #2!   the last 12ish weeks have been very different  from the first 12 weeks of pregnancy with james.   have you noticed my lack of posts lately? ...that tiny bump in the picture is why.   i have been tired, experiencing morning all day sickness,  and trying to keep up with a very active 20 month old.    we had a slight scare a few weeks back,  but i was able to get an ultrasound to make sure all was well. sure enough! a healthy, active little peanut was in there, strong heartbeat and all!   thankfully, i'm starting to feel more like myself again.   we didn't find out the gender with j,  and we plan on not finding out with the second, as well.   so there you have it! can't wait for october to roll around this year... although that is the peak of football season. let's just hope i don't go into labor on a friday night. :)

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our mini getaway.

 michael had a few days off for spring break (darn you, snow days!),  so we decided to take a quick family trip to omaha for a long weekend.
we had a wonderful and sleep deprived (for the little one) time. lots to do and see meant little to no naptime. sleeping in the same room as mom and dad meant forget sleep, let's hang out! needless to say, lights were out extra early for michael and i,  as we wanted needed our child to get sleep.
anyway, sleep is overrated (ha!), so we made the most of our awake time. we spent some time in the old market, a morning at the zoo, a lovely afternoon trek around a local lake, and lots of time exploring the city.   oh, and our drive to omaha consisted of several stops to explore some of the neat sights that western iowa has to offer.
wonderful memories were made for our little family.

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