fall's my favorite

this time of year has been my favorite ever since i can remember. growing up, it was because i enjoyed new school clothes and supplies and because my birthday is in september. in college, i loved walking on campus and seeing the changing leaves in the mountains - fall still makes me miss school. i love the bright colors, the cooler weather, football season and the excitement for the holidays. last fall, i was busy with morning sickness and missed out. and, we didn't see much color or cooler weather in arizona, so i'm loving four seasons again (i'm sure i will retract this statement when winter comes!).

this is the view from our back deck:


this year was our first time visiting a pumpkin patch together. we went to a local family-run farm and had a great time despite the mud and colder temperatures.

there was a little petting zoo - here's the boys by the donkeys:

calvin tried out a mini straw maze

we took the tractor-pulled hay ride to the corn maze and pumpkin patch

calvin was preoccupied with the tractor (of course), so we didn't get many pictures of him actually looking at the camera. he always had to know where the tractor and the driver were and probably would've jumped on and tried to drive if we had let him.

jumping into the corn box - like a sand box, but with corn...=)

and, since we missed the county fair this year, we had to indulge ourselves and get a funnel cake (okay, AND some chili cheese fries - they're big on chili out here and we had to try it...). i think calvin just took a bite of the fries and he clearly liked the funnel cake better:

here's the boys with our beauties from the pumpkin patch, which, by the way, were a great deal: 7 bucks for three pumpkins and they threw in 2 free gourds

calvin picked his own - the biggest one he could find

mason ate rice cereal in the festive halloween bib while we carved our jack-0-lanterns

this man takes his pumpkin carving pretty seriously.

i think it's because he has ocd, but his attention-to-detail always helps the jack-o-lantern turn out nicely. (no, he's not gonna be a surgeon...)

i love how they're looking at eachother - like pumpkin friends

happy fall everyone!