our first missouri hunt

hunting for a christmas tree in montana is a real adventure. the perfect tree is on a hillside, about 100 yards up from the road, in 18 feet of snow and is pretty full on one side. so after 5 hours of hunting (you are frozen through by now), you settle. and are truly happy with your find. it is a totally different experience in missouri and it's a good change. first, the only place you can cut down a tree is missouri is on a christmas tree farm. this means that all the trees are beautiful and you can pick the best one out of thousands of beauties. they were actually groomed! you get to pick the kind of tree you want (unlike montana where you will take any tree that doesn't hurt when you touch it), you get to pick one out in less than an hour and they give you a measuring stick so you don't have to cut off five feet to get it to fit in the back of the truck. they even bag it and attach it to your vehicle for a dollar. a dollar? really? they obviously don't know the value of their service. it is not as exciting as the montana hunt, but we are willing to cut back on excitement for a safe experience that sophia is willing to do again. we went to the living windows in downtown columbia. it was fun although some of the windows were a little sexy for family night. luckily sophia didn't care. she wants a scooter though. they come with side cars...

gobble, gobble

we had a great thanksgiving with my family this year. we think it may have been 5 years since we had thanksgiving in st. louis. it was much warmer than we are used to which was not such a bad thing. we had a lot of fun. we got lots of pictures of family (thanks to Syd, some of which i won't post). sophia had a blast and ate everything she could get her little paws around. she looked adorable in her thanksgiving dress. now, we start the christmas season!

fall festivals

i finally figured out our internet and here is the latest...

we have been living up the "fall festival" mentality. it started off with Harrisburg's September Days festival. there was a baby contest and we entered our precious little monster. she dressed up like a mizzou cheerleader and was ADORABLE! there was a lot of stiff competition (and most of the girls wore dress up dresses) so we didn't even get an honorable mention. oh well, she looked great!

we went to a u-pick apple orchard. it was a beautiful day for apple picking. we pulled sophia in the wagon and phil and i climbed trees to get the best apples. most of the lower ones were already picked (apple season happens a lot earlier in MO) but we were up for the challenge. sophia and her dad are both apple crazy! we also got some pie pumpkins and made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (thanks to Kim, they are our faves!). sophia ate most of the pumpkin so we'll have to get a few more. she loved it!

we went to the pumpkin patch and got some pumpkins to carve for Halloween, which was a blast. they had a petting zoo area, wagon rides, music, food. it was a lot of fun.

sophia was a blueberry for halloween (that's what we called her when i was pregnant). it was impossible to find a blueberry costume (there were lots of sexy blueberry muffin costumes though) for a baby so i made it. a blue ball with a green cap? you bet!

well, here goes nothing

and to think i mocked my friends for blogging...
i've been wanting to do this since sophia (my adorable baby girl) was born 6 months ago and i am just now finding time, but that's how life goes. so much has happened to our family in the past 2 months: i quit my job (woo hoo!), phil (my fabulous husband) graduated from pharmacy school and got a job in missouri which prompted us to move to missouri (the weather sucks but my family is here and they are worth it!), we're trying to sell our house (if you are looking for a nice place in hamilton, mt, have i got a deal for you), we're renting a house in harrisburg mo (besides the enormous house it came with 5 cats, 2 dogs and 3 horses), phil passed his pharmacy boards with flying colors (of course), and sophia is being sophia.

so, more about sophia! i love staying home with her although since we have no neighbors (our rental comes with 130 acres and i am desperately missing our old neighbors) it's just the two of us all day every day. she'll be talking in no time since she listens to me all day long. she can roll from her back to her belly now and she can't be put down without showing off (there's a cute video with her ladybug panties showing).

she can sit up pretty well but i don't trust her alone.

we've been swimming in her baby pool and the above ground pool here and she's loving it. especially when it's 95 degrees and 90% humidity (i'm not exagerating!).
i can't believe she's 6 months old. we go to town a few times each week. by town i mean columbia mo. harrisburg has a 3-way stop where there is a merc, an antique shop, a bank and a service station like one out of a scary movie but not much else. we might have to get out there and make some friends.

phil is doing great at his new job. he's learning a lot about chemotherapy which is new and interesting for him. the government is great to work for. they got my vote when they sold us half price tickets to mizzou games! go tigers (we still love the cougs more)!