I love Saturdays

This past Saturday was especially wonderful for the Yoder family. For this first time this season, and for Farrow ever, we escaped the city and went to play in the snow. We headed up to the mountains early in the morning with our great friend, Mo, and her pooch, Sammie. A few hours of hiking around in the sunshine resulted in 3 happy adults, 1 curious child, and 2 exhausted dogs. The proof can be found below:

What's wrong, Farrow?

Halloween, that's what's wrong. Though we had a great time this past Saturday, Farrow was fed up of her awesome lamb costume after about 45 minutes, which is a significant increase in time from her first lamb debut. For the third year in a row, we joined forces with our neighbors and great friends, the Davis', sat around our fire pit, and handed out candy all night long. We had lots of visitors come by, and had a lovely time chatting with our fantastic neighbors. Here are a few more photos of our evening festivities, including Matt as a very scary bunny, Ava and Farrow getting ready to hit the neighborhood, Big Papi dressed as a businessman, and the Davis/Yoder ladies.

Happy Anniversary

Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

Happy Birthday, Big Papi David Ortiz Yodkamp!

Five years ago today, the Red Sox beat the Cardinals for their first World Series title in 86 years. But more importantly, five years ago today, a sweet little Bernese Mountain Dog was born, who was named Biscuit (seriously). Biscuit was promptly named to honor David Ortiz, and thus Big Papi became a member of our family. Happy Birthday, Big P. Sorry we ignore you.

Babies are busy...

Holy Crow. We've have a big week in the Yoder house. Unfortunately, Matt and/or I have not reached major milestones in one week. We'd be a lot cooler if we had. Instead, we'll let Farrow steal the show once again.

To start, let me just say that I realize this isn't a "milestone" by definition. However, I think this is one of my favorite things she has done to date. At every meal, and usually after every bite, Farrow has starting doing this.

She's always loved a good meal, but it's nice of her to finally really express her joy of dinnertime. Speaking of dinnertime, we realized that she was becoming a bit sensitive to her spoon, so we took a peak and saw that she has finally cut her first teeth! It seems like she has been teething for quite awhile, so it was a relief to see these suckers finally break through. We can see the tips of her two bottom front teeth, and think we feel a few more as well. This girl doesn't mess around ... if you are going to cut one tooth, why not cut four?

And the big news of the week ... just yesterday she took her first steps! In true Yoder form, she's officially "walking" before her 10mth birthday. I have heard that both Matt and his Dad were walking at very early ages, so Farrow should make them very proud. She took just two steps on her own as she was walking towards me, and she did this routine two times! This means that we are battening down the hatches, since Farrow loves exploring. A whole new world ...

And lastly, in celebration of the season, Matt and I took Farrow to a pumpkin patch this past weekend. Even with the freezing temperatures (38 degrees), we had a great time. Farrow loved seeing all the farm animals, and was especially interested in the chickens. Once we arrived to the farm, I immediately reported to some hot apple cider, and then we hopped on the hayride that took us to the patch. Here are some photos of our Saturday morning; we'll post the final products next week, since we are slicing and dicing these guys Thursday night.

Point to the pumpkin, Farrow. Good girl.

We know, it's October ...

First, we have to apologize for being so lame for the last few months, and completely ignoring our blog. The past few months have been crazy busy, per usual. Here are a few highlights:

* We had a Yoder Family Vacation to Oregon and Idaho in early August. Seven days spent "relaxing" at Wallowa Lake and the Paloose, and battling the hottest weather the Seattle area has literally ever seen. We set a city record with 102 degrees, and the Ellen, Jim, Dan and Claire were total troopers as they camped out in our non-air conditioned house. It was great to have the entire family travel west. Here's a shot of Farrow traveling up Kamiak Butte for the first time - not a quite a 100%-er just yet.

* Farrow had another photo shoot by our amazing photographer friend, Kirsten. Matt was out of town for this one, so Big Papi stood in as the male figure of our family. Once again, Kirsten totally blew our minds with these amazing shots. Here are a few of our favorites:

* We just returned from another trip, this time we headed back east for Farrow to meet her east coast friends and family. This was her first trip to the Cape and Rhode Island, so we had to visit a list of pretty important people. We were lucky enough to be on the Cape when little Hendrik Schomp was born, so Matt, Farrow and I made a quick trip to Boston to welcome the newest member of the Schomp family. She was great on the long, not-so-direct flights, and we had a great time visiting New England in the early fall.

* And now it's October! Farrow is creeping up on 10mths, and continues to be a healthy, happy, hungry and active little girl. She's crawling, climbing everything (including our stairs), pulling herself up to a standing position using Big Papi, talking more, eating everything, and battling her first cold with grace. She's using product on her hair these days, of course, and is eager to explore this world around her. Needless to say, Matt and I are having so much fun with her. Each day is a new adventure, and I don't think that's going to end anytime soon. Here are some recent shots of the lady of the house:

Missouri

Last week we got back from our first family trip to Missouri. Farrow got to meet the Hoerstkamp side of the family, and made her first trip out of the state of Washington. Unfortunately our trip started with an over night lay over in Dallas. I say unfortunately not because we had an overnight layover, but that Farrow has already been to Texas.

Speaking of the first flight, Farrow could not have been better. We may have a traveller on our hands. She was laughing and cooing at nearby passengers, and was very curious of her surroundings. Alexia, our nanny, suggested we dress her cute so people would be nice to us on the plane. So we did, and as soon as we got through security in Seattle, she crapped through her cute outfit. Too bad. Luckily, her general cuteness and calm nature won over our neighbors in 11 A and 11 B. That and she slept through 80% of both flights. Good girl.

Once we actually made it to Missouri, it was non-stop action. It wasn't quite the 30 person BBQ I had on my first trip, but over the course of the 5 days, Farrow saw her first cousins again, and second cousins, great aunts, great uncles, as well as Teri's best friends from high school. There was plenty of food, lots out bocce, and the Grandparents allowed Teri and I to get to a movie.

Farrow also experienced humidity for the first time. And guess what, her hair is very curly. We've seen it wet before and it curls up, but it was funny to watch it get all crazy as the hot, midwestern days took their toll. Farrow would also like to thank Ryan and Holly for teaching her the Hoerstkamp ropes.

When we returned, we entered the world of teething. So far, not terrible, but she's clear in pain. However, we also returned to Farrow recognizing Big Papi to the point that she laughs when BP walks in a room, and reaches to grab his fur to pet him when he walks by. Teri loves it.

Summer comes this weekend. We're looking at 16 hours of daylight. The sun's out late, the grill's burning hot, and the garden's growing lush. It was a great trip to Missouri and thanks to all the Hoerstkamps. But we're also happy to be home.