halloween for the hunts

This is my little pumpkin. I thought it was the easiest costume for Huntleigh to wear for her age. I didn't want to freak her out by the fact that I was dressing her up as a vegetable. She didn't seem to mind, though. And we convinced her to wear her hat by bribing her with candy.

Our good friends, Lisa and Bryan and Mya, came from Tallahassee to spend a long weekend with us. Mya and Huntleigh became fast friends and bonded through their first real trick-or-treating experience together as pumpkins.

Independent pumkin.

"Tricka-tricka!" (That's what Huntleigh was saying before she started to say "trick-or-treat!")

Sweet ride.

loungin

twins

Hannah got me these really fun boots (for a great price!) and we put them on the Hunts. She looks like a funny little bird or something....And the sweatshirts that we have on...I just couldn't resist buying one for the both of us! I'm not one of those moms who is all about matching with her daughters, but it was fun to do it at least once. Who knows? We might all be in matching Laura Ashley dresses for our Christmas picture!

lucywill at raccoon ranch

We decided to head out to Raccoon Ranch in the middle of the week for a little break from life in the "city." Lucywill came with us, as well as their parents. Huntleigh refers to her favorite friends as "lucywill" and I think that is how I now think of them as well. Life with lucywill is so much fun. We played outside on the playground quite a bit, ate doves and corn casserole for dinner, and drank some really good wine after the kids went to bed.

a family affair

This is my brother's shop. At least, this is the bare-bones of it. Look ahead to see the progress! We spent an afternoon there helping paint walls and feeding the crew. There really was little that I could do, being preggers and keeping my almost two-year old out of trouble. I did bring beer, though. After Huntleigh got over her initial fear of the space and the paint sprayers, she got really excited and jumped around everywhere...even into the freshly painted blue-grey wall. You can tell who we're boycotting from Scott's shirt. Come and see Fox Creek Outfitters. It's awesome and you'll be treated the way a customer deserves to be treated.

Totally Hip Hagers

Every year we try to participate in the Autism Speaks walk in Forest Park to support our family. Josh's twin cousins were diagnosed with autism when they were two years old and they are now 12 going on 13. Our team is the Totally Hip Hagers and we're always the ones in the loudest tye-dyed shirts. It's a fun morning, even though this year the sun wasn't shining. Huntleigh hung on really tightly to Hannah and tried to get as many balloons from strangers as she could. I think the best part of the morning for her was when she got to sit in the awesomely large fire truck. She is fascinated with fire trucks. It's really cute.

Josh, Johnston and the Hunts. I think you can tell in this picture how she looks like a Hager.

Hunts in the ominous fire truck...which surprisingly, did not scare her at all.

baby love

I know Josh just saw this picture and let me know his disapproval, but I had to post it because we might not ever take a picture like this again. Now, his belly looks bigger than it really is, I promise. He's exaggerating to produce the prego effect. I'm 26 1/2 weeks pregnant in this picture, which makes me 6 1/2 months along. Below, that's my mom and dad when my momma was preggers with me in 1977.

last night at Three Forks

Reveling in the moment of just being the "two" of us for a few more hours.

the whole gang.

goodbye Colorado

Shooting the sporting clays course.

Cigar love.

Can't get enough of the aspens.

Josh's guide, Gabe. He's awesome.

Josh's elk.

Josh's mule deer.

Almost 6 1/2 months along.

Aspen love.

in hiding

Usually, I try to go on a couple hunts with Josh each year at Three Forks. This year, because I'm preggers, I really need to take it easy because of oxygen flow to the baby (we're somewhere over 7000 feet). So because of me, Josh had this amazing opportunity to hunt one of the "sacred" areas on this ranch....it is rarely touched. They drove us right up to the spot and set up this camp for us. It was crazy. We had this camo tent with big cushy chairs and tons of layers to keep us warm as the sun went down. The only bummer was, we only saw one elk, and he wasn't worth the shot. So it was a lot of effort for a lot of nothing. We did watch a bear race across the field at one point before the sun went down. That was wild. He did get his elk on the next hunt, though, when I wasn't there. It was a beautiful 5x5.

Colorado

Josh and I are currently here, where this is the view outside our cabin

and these things are really fun to wear. We are here because the boys love to hunt. Doesn't it seem like every trip I take revolves around a hunting theme of some sort?! There is no agenda and no pressure to do or not do anything. I feel like this is my last hurrah before my life changes again forever. I like that I got to bring one of my babes with me. It reminds me what it was like to be pregnant with my first babe and felt like she was my little buddy who came with me everywhere I went. I think she likes this mountain air because she's been kicking and moving a lot. I love that it snowed here last night. I hope we can bring the cooler weather with us back to StL.