Pumpkin Patch, NC State Fair, & a smorgasbord of photos.

             During the weeks when Keegan's away working, I always try to make the time go by as quickly as possible. When I have a week full of appointments and things to do, it flies by. Keegan just spent 2 weeks in the field, so I was thankful to have a very cram packed week full of things to do! Between appointments, ladies Bible study, working on baby shower stuff for Brandi's shower, & meeting up with friends, week one flew by. On  Friday of that week, my friend Stephanie and I decided to take our kids to a local pumpkin patch. They got to see some farm animals, play around in the play area, go on a hay ride, and pick out a pumpkin to take home. Stephanie and I had the most fun laughing and poking fun at the less-than-friendly farm manager. (We're great upstanding citizens, I know.) But he had such an attitude and it was actually quite funny, I promise. Here are some pictures from our trip:

 Bailey and Liam checking out the ponies. Bailey looks so cute in her glasses. :)

This was taken right before the turkey bit Liam's finger. Liam wasn't happy, but Stephanie reassured him that Thanksgiving was right around the corner and that turkey was gonna "get his."

Liam sharing some veggies with me.

Liam and Bailey had fun playing with all the veggies in this little wooden store front.

Raleigh and Liam. This was my best attempt at getting a cute fall picture. The sun was in Raleigh's eyes or it would have been perfect!

Bailey being cute. :)

Stephanie was smart enough to pack snacks for the kids!

My Liam is a charmer!

Liam collecting veggies for his basket.

My kiddies and I. :)

My kiddies and I on the hay ride. Getting two kids to look at the camera is a real challenge. Heck, forget that! Getting one kid to look is a challenge, getting both to look is a miracle!

Steph and Bailey on the hay ride. 

Liam enjoying his snacks and trying not to get yelled out by the angry tractor driver, lol.

        We had a good time at the pumpkin patch! It really just felt so good to get outside of the city for a little while and breathe some fresh air and sunshine. The weather this October has been absolutely incredible too, so that makes it all the better. We brought out pumpkins home and I put them outside our front door for decoration. :)

         Keegan got to come home for Friday night and Saturday night, but he had to be back at work on Sunday. We went out to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant on Friday, and we decided to go to the NC State Fair on Saturday. Some other friends of ours were also going, so we met up with them at starbucks on Saturday morning and followed them to Raleigh. We had a good time at the fair. Both kids were so well behaved the entire time! Raleigh hung out in the stroller for the first half of our time there, and then I carried her in the moby wrap for the second half. Both kids were kept entertained by all the sights and sounds around them. We took Liam to see all the livestock, ate fair food, browsed all the exhibits, and Liam even got to ride his first ever big kid rides! It was fun, despite the annoyance of trying to maneuver a huge cumbersome double stroller through thousands of fair-goers. Here are some pictures from our day!

Raleigh and Liam were both happy to see their daddy after a long week of him being away!

 Liam and our pumpkins from the farm.

 Liam pointing to the cows and saying "mooooo!" at the NC state fair.

 Keegan pushing our precious cargo through the chaos.

Cullen and Emily look so cute. :)

We got deep fried oreos. Yes, they were delicious.

 Liam on his first ride! :) The look on his face was because he was ready for it to start. He loved it!

 Raleigh hanging out and being sweet. :)

 Keegan and Liam on some random fire truck ride. Liam begged to go on this!

 Liam was literally falling asleep before we even got out of the parking lot! We wore him out. :)

               We had a great day together at the fair, but we were happy to get back to Fort Bragg and enjoy Keegan's night home. Sunday we missed church because Brandi's baby shower was at 2, and Melissa, Michelle and I still had tons to do! We spent the better part of the morning leading up to the shower decorating, preparing food and doing last minute touches. (I'll be sure to share details of the shower later.) The shower went really well and I think Brandi got some great things for little Dakota! I made it home in time to spend a couple more hours with Keegan before he had to be back. We were all sad to take him back to work, but I did get a chance to see some of their awesome living quarters out at the air strip! I'm not even being sarcastic, it was really cool! In the past, going to the field meant sleeping wherever you could find a place, whether that be on the ground, or in the back of a truck, or sometimes in a tent. But in his new brigade, they have all kinds of awesome equipment, including a massive climate controlled tent! Keegan was out there by himself that night on a guard shift, but he turned all the generators on and gave Liam and I a tour while Raleigh dozed in her carseat. Here are a few snapshots of Liam exploring the tent. 

Liam being cute on our way out to the air strip.

 Having fun driving while daddy got all the generators on!

 Playing with the toys his daddy works on for a living!

 Soon he'll be old enough to play spades too!

 He wasn't impressed with the comfort level of Keegan's cot, lol.

 We got home well past their bed time, but Liam really wanted a snack. This is the face he does when I tell him "Don't smile." Reverse psychology anyone?

             It was a great weekend, even though I had to say goodbye to my man for another week.... I have no clue how many pictures I added to this post, but I'm not going to count, because if I do, I'll probably end up deleting half of them after concluding that I have too many. I justify the insane amount of life documentation going on by telling myself that it makes my mom (grandma) happy! Here ya go grandma's! It's even better than happiness in a bottle, it's happiness in a blog!