August is All Done

I don't know about you, but we have loved August! It has been fun spending as much time together as possible before Jared started working on his PhD. We have been clinging to every last second of summer- having a marvelous time along the way! Here are a few more fantastic pictures of Tori and Garrett!

Two cute kids + one awesome Daddy = an amazing horsey ride!!!

Garrett was having a grand time laying on top of Tori's play food!

A girl can never have too many accessories!!!

I have a feeling this boy and his smile are going to give us a run for our money!

Same thing for this one!

"Cheese!!!"

Tori is a fabulous artist!

Garrett is finally starting to get in on the sidewalk chalk action as well!

Garrett loves his hat!!!

I just can't get over how much I love these two!!!

And now on to September- let's see what you've got in store for us!!!

Tori Appleseed

Last Sunday, Tori's primary class had a lesson about fruits and vegetables. Specifically, they got to cut open an apple, look at the seeds, and then eat the apple. Typically, we haven't been able to get Tori to eat apples at all. But since last Sunday she has said, "yummy," and eaten them like they are going out of style! Thanks so much Sister Cameron!!! Tonight we had an apple with dinner and Tori noticed the seeds. She asked if we could keep them and plant them in our backyard. Sure, why not! So after dinner we all went out to plant some apple seeds!

Tori did such a good job getting the seeds in their hole!

She was so gentle in placing the soil back in the hole!

She thought the watering part was fantastic!

Garrett didn't want to get left out of the watering fun!

Since they were loving it so much, we put them to work watering other things!

What great waterers we have!!!

Now all we have to do is wait for our apple trees to grow!!!

Ph-irst Day of School

Today Jared started his Science Curriculum PhD program at Indiana University! This is a huge new goal for Jared- and really our whole family. It will take lots of hard work, but it will be so worth it! 

Doesn't Jared already look like a professor?!!

Garrett and Tori were so excited to see Daddy when he got home tonight!

We are officially Hoosiers now!!!

Colts Game

Tonight Jared got to go to the Colts' game with Ben Toney and some of Ben's family- hurrah for extra tickets! The evening started out at our ward's Elders' Quorum activity where we enjoyed a pizza party picnic- which Jared and Ben ate rather quickly. Tori, Garrett, and I stayed at the park to play, while Jared and Ben headed downtown to the game!

This was the view from Jared's seat! A bit high up- but still awesome!!!

 Jared and Ben at the game- cheering on our Colts!!!

 This was their view of the city while at the game!

The Colts ended up beating the Brown's 27 to 6!!!

Go Colts!!!

Nature Park FHE

This evening, we invited a bunch of families in our ward to join us for Family Home Evening at Sodalis Nature Park. We arrived first, so Tori, Garrett, and I walked around exploring while Jared kept a lookout for our friends.

Tori thought this rock was awesome!

Throwing a stick into the "jungle!"

If Tori tries it, then Garrett is going to try it! His stick didn't quite make it into the "jungle!"

Hurrah for a fun leaf!!!

We started things off by having a fun picnic dinner and then having a (very) short lesson. Jared did a great job keeping all the kids focused on the lesson!!!

To wrap things up, we all went on a hike! Tori made sure we stayed on the "Beaver jungle trail" the entire time!!!

Garrett was such a big guy and walked the whole way!!!

Tori is a great hiker!

We had a fantastic time tonight! You can't beat being with great friends and enjoying the beauties of nature!!!

Celebrating with Grandma

Since we were really busy yesterday, we didn't catch up with Grandma Harrison until today for some birthday celebrating! Tori was ecstatic that this meant opening more presents!

Hurrah for another cute dress!

What could it be?

Yeah for tons of new Pinkalicious stories!

There's Grandma- happy birthday to you tomorrow!!!

Thanks for all the fun gifts, Grandma! Tori loved them all!

Tori's 4th Birthday!

Preparation for Tori's 4th birthday started last night as soon as the kids went to bed. And it's a really good thing it did. Jared's task was to construct the play kitchen Grandma and Grandpa Allen sent for Tori- it took him a good three hours to get it all put together!!!

Was all that time worth it? You bet- especially seeing Tori's reaction when she saw her kitchen for the first time this morning! Thanks so much Grandma and Grandpa- it is perfect!!!

Shortly after Tori unveiled her kitchen, we had  a yummy breakfast, and then headed off to the State Fair. The rest of her presents had to wait until we got back home this evening. While at the fair, Benson gave Tori a Belle doll for her birthday- which she got to play with on the car ride home. We kept hearing her say, "Benson gave me a great gift!" It was really cute!
Uncle Willie, Aunt Krista, Parker, Lincoln, Henry, and Caroline- thanks so much for sending Tori a new purse! She loves it and uses it to carry around cake, cookies, and ice cream!!!

Garrett was so excited that we let him open a present today as well! He is going to look so handsome at church sporting his new bow tie!

This is going to be a ton of fun- a kit to create 10 headbands!!! Thanks so much Uncle Jer, Aunt Kim, and London!

Yeah, a whole bunch of food to go in her new kitchen!

And for the last event of the day- cake and ice cream! Tori requested a cake with pink and purple on the inside, yellow on the outside, and colorful sprinkles- we nailed it!!!

Yep, she was pretty happy with how her cake turned out!

Singing "Happy Birthday" to our beautiful four year old!

 Tori blew all of her candles out for the very first time!!!

No need to wait for a spoon- licking works just fine! (Notice the pink and purple on the inside!)

Garrett enjoyed his cake as well!

Tori asked Daddy to read her castle card (also a request) to her before she went to bed tonight- such a cute moment!

Happy 4th birthday, Tori! We are so happy that you are part of our family! We love watching you learn and grow every single day! We adore how much you love books, clothes, shoes, and anything sparkly! We love you oh so very much!!! Love, Daddy and Mommy

Take Us to the Fair

For Tori's birthday activity we went to the Indiana State Fair. And to make it even more fun, we invited our friends the Toney's to go with us- Benson is Tori's best pal right now!

Tori and Benson- hurrah for the fair!

Garrett is starting to figure out how these things work!

Our first area may have been the favorite of the day. The kids got to wear aprons and hats and be farmers! Here are farmers Tori, Benson, and Garrett! (Garrett's hat was just a bit too big!)

Being farmers, we got to do many chores- like gathering eggs, picking vegetables, collecting wool, planting seeds, etc.

Poor Garrett- his apron did not want to stay on and his hat started to bug him!

Tori did a fantastic job milking the (water) cow!

At the end of our farmer chores, the kids got to sell their collection of things at the farmers market and get a treat- so much fun! At this point we took a break for lunch and then some yummy birthday cupcakes!

Check it out- Tori got to milk a (real) cow for the very first time today! What a pro!!!

A trip to the fair would be incomplete without some really big tractors! Tori loved climbing on this one!

And so Garrett had to give it a try as well!

Garrett and Daddy- two guys loving a big machine!

Next was the FFA exhibit- always a favorite!!! Tori did awesome climbing up this wall- another first!

We love that the FFA has a playground! And Tori loved this slide!

It's official- Garrett is definitely an Allen! Note the tongue stuck out when he is concentrating!!!

Next we were able to feed some animals! Garrett wasn't quite sure what to think!

Tori, on the other hand, was all over it and just waiting to feed her animals!!!

Yeah, she did such a great job!

Garrett really liked this duck- we visited him a lot while Tori was feeding the sheep and goats!

Garrett finally warmed up a little bit!

Tori was in heaven!!!

We saw so many animals, including the World's largest boar. And we tried some fun new fair food with the kids! The lemonade shake-up was a huge hit! The elephant ear- not so much. Tori would lick off the cinnamon and sugar and hand her pieces back to us! As our final hurrah, we fulfilled Tori's last request and found some beautiful horses to look at! We had a fantastic day at the fair!!!