Homecoming and Scarecrow Farm 2026.

We are loving all the fall things! The girls enjoyed their homecoming dress up days at school and going to the homecoming game! Doesn't everyone love Kley's new school spirit overalls? :)

A favorite fall tradition is visiting Scarecrow Farm, a big pumpkin patch with lots of fun things in the closest bigger town to us. It was a sweet day, a day where Kley and I looked at each other and really treasured our family. Much to be thankful for!

Slide fun.

Three growing girls!

Kley was thrilled to pose by this butterfly, ha!

Every year I try to do this crazy game and the best I have ever gotten is three pegs left and Kley comes over and tries it one time and nails it immediately. How did he do that? He really relished the fact that the game said he was a genius.

The girls bounced and played tag for a long time- love watching them together!

Relaxing in the corn pit.

A rare picture of the two of us- I have now known Kley for more than half of my life. How sweet!

The sunflowers were blooming there like crazy, so beautiful! So glad for a fun day together!

 

Pumpkin painting and fun fall Saturday 2026.

What a fun fall weekend! It felt like fall was coming with cooler temps and we broke out the sweatshirts and enjoyed our fall tradition of pumpkin painting!

Cute ghosts for Norah.

Pumpkins on a pumpkin for Ellory.

Color swirls for Lucy. 

We stopped by my grandma's and brought her some flowers and a pumpkin from our garden! (We grew our own gourds and pumpkins this year for the first time and they grew like crazy! It was so fun and we shared a bunch with our neighbors.)

Saturday morning was tons of fun! There was the smoke off/football games on screens downtown, along with the farmer's market and a touch-a-truck event. In a neighboring town, a local flower patch did a fun fall event with vendors, flower picking, etc. To top of off we stopped at Fields of Fun (pumpkin patch) to pick out pumpkins for our front step. Such a great morning!

They had puppy station there and they were so cute!

Yay for fall!

Labor Day 2026- pool and Fields of Fun.

We enjoyed our Labor Day tradition of hitting the closing day at the pool and opening day at Fields of Fun (our local pumpkin patch)- what a fun way to say goodbye to summer and hello to fall! It's always fun to compare the pictures of annual traditions and watch how much they grow each year! Love these sweet girls- they are growing up and so thankful to be there for all the moments!

I remember when their faces could barely reach the holes and now they have to squat and Norah can just stand there!

They were playing games and laughing at the pool and it was so sweet to watch! We also got to close out the day with supper at Culver's with De Jongs- yay!

Labor Day weekend in Rapid City 2026.

We headed up to Rapid City for Labor Day weekend to visit my grandma! It was a quick trip, but so glad we were able to go. (We were originally going to go for a few days in July, but we couldn't because of my unfortunate kidney stone surgery.) It was nice because my parents were already there visiting too, and my sister Kayla drove up to our house and then road with us to come too!

Group photos are me favorite, especially with family we don't get to see all the time!

We love you, Grandma, and so glad we could visit!

Special time with Gigi! (All the great grands call her Gigi.)

We went to Bear Country USA and it was such a nice outing! It was nice that my grandma could join too since half of it is drive through, and for the walk through part they had a golf cart she could ride on and the driver was the nicest tour guide.

It was fun to see all the different animals, like bears, bighorn sheep, bison, reindeer, etc. Some were so close to our van!

Yay for Aunt Kayla joining the trip too!

The walk around part had lots of smaller animals like raccoon, skunk, otter, badger, prairie dog, etc. I loved that the baby bears got to have watermelon, my favorite!

What a special visit and fun time together!

So fun that my parents were there too!

We got to go see my cousin Rachel and her daughter Taylor's new apartment and swim in their pool!

The girls were very excited to go paint pottery. We had done this a couple times before on visits and were thrilled to do it again! My mom, Rachel, and Taylor got to join too. (My grandma went home to rest a bit in between activities, so I'm glad we got to do a great mix of things that my grandma could join us for and things to keep the girls busy with too, it turned out great and we packed a lot of fun into one day!)

The whole gang (like all of my family there, plus my grandma, aunt/uncle, and two cousins and their families) had supper together at Pizza Ranch, and their Pizza Ranch is special because it has a huge arcade! It was quick weekend trip, but very thankful we could make it happen and that we got to see our family there!

Ending the night with dominoes with Gigi, a precious sight!

Kennebunkport, Maine- Steph's bachelorette weekend.

I got to go to Kennebunkport, Maine for my good childhood friend Stephanie's bachelorette party! I missed Kley and the girls and was hard to leave, but I'm glad I could support Stephanie and they had a fun time at home together! They got to see Papa and Amma, go to a movie, see friends, go to the back to school inflatable party, and the church end of summer pool party, so I'm glad they had lots of fun things at home.

Maine was beautiful! I had never been but heard wonderful things. The hotel we stayed at had the best hotel breakfast ever and was so cute. We did some shopping, walked around and enjoyed looking at the beautiful houses, ate good food, played some fun bachelorette games, and enjoyed a boat cruise.

This was on the boat cruise! It was unlike any boat I'd ever been on because it was truly sailing and definitely tipping over to whatever side the wind was blowing again, so we really had to hold on, but it was a fun experience! It was a bit cooler/cloudier weather, but that's okay and better than being crazy hot.

The beautiful bride- thankful to be friends our entire lives!

There were these massively gorgeous hydrangeas all over and I wanted them!

A very fun sight we got to see on one of our walks was Walker's Pointe Estate, which is the 11 acre Bush compound. Stephanie is a huge GW Bush fan, and it was extra amazing because we saw Laura Bush on our walk! She was out walking with a friend and her security detail- so cool!

Such a beautiful place!

This was outside our hotel. Stephanie, it was fun to celebrate you and we can't wait for the wedding in Italy in October!