The Little Things

It has been a crazy week.

I have found myself searching for little things, simple things, to find joy in. This morning it was this ...

The back story: my mom planted some sunflowers in our yard-o-rock this summer. They grew and grew and then died. Scot tied them up and left their dead heads hanging on the fence. It felt like some cruel torture spectacle, and I thought several times about cutting them down and giving them a proper burial.

Then one day I noticed a little bird pecking away at the sunflower head. Larkin and I watched with excitement as big birds and little birds came and ate from our dead sunflowers for weeks ... then daddy brought home this little feeder and helped Larkin fill it up with seeds and hang it on the fence. It has been hanging there for a week with little to no action ... I was starting to think the birds didn't like the new menu.

... then this morning two little birds perched on our bird feeder and ate at our little bird buffet. I squealed, and Larkin and daddy and I watched as the little birds ate and ate.

It was such a little thing, but it made my day!

H-A-Double L-O-W-Double E-N

We threw a little costume party.

We decorated the whole house.

We dressed up.

We carved pumpkins.

We had so much fun we forgot to take pictures.

(Below is one of the only photos of the evening, and I think Scot took it)

I heart Halloween!

Bangkok Garden

I fell in love with Thai cuisine in Salt Lake City of all places. We lived in Sugar House for a few years, right down the street from this tiny little whole in the wall Thai place called Tasty Thai. I was skeptical the first time we walked up to the refurbished gas station turned Thai restaurant, but one bite of my Tamarind Chicken and I was in Thai food heaven!

Since living in California I have hunted and hunted for a good Thai restaurant ... who would have guessed that I would find another fantastic Thai place within walking distance of my house!?!

Bangkok Garden (3230 Arena Blvd. Ste 215) is a fun little whole in the wall that serves up delicious Thai cuisine for a reasonable price! Love this place! This summer I ate at Bangkok Garden regularly. The soups and noodles were just the thing that my pregnant tummy needed.

Saying that I eat at Bangkok Garden is a little misleading. Since I live so close, I always call ahead and order my food, walk to the restaurant, and bring my food home to eat it. I'm a bit of a home-body, so this set up is perfect for me. The restaurant is adorable though. It's a tiny space packed with rich colors and decor, and the staff is always super friendly.

I heart Pad Thai, and Bangkok Garden's pad thai is fabulous! Their Tom Kha soup is delicious, and the Tom Yum soup is to die for! I love the menu at Bangkok Garden because it is broken up to allow you to put any sauce on any meat or vegetable for your entree. Genius!

If you are hungry for Thai food I recommend Bangkok Gardens if you are in Sacramento ... be sure to stop by my house while you are in the neighborhood!

The best Thai food I've had is still Tasty Thai in Salt Lake City, but Bangkok Gardens is a tad closer these days and yummy enough to blog about!

Pumpkin Hunting

Pumpkin hunting is a tradition at our house. We love to tromp around in the dirt and pick the pumpkins we will adopt and bring home to spend the holidays with us.

Picking a pumpkin is serious business, but we try to have a little fun while we are at it ...

Larkin wanted to sit on every big pumpkin she found.

She told me before we headed to the pumpkin farm that she was going to pick a yellow pumpkin ... she looked at a hundred pumpkins (at least), and finally found the perfect yellow pumpkin, which she promptly traded for my green pumpkin as soon as she saw it.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself ...

First, we did some rocking horse riding ... Yeehaw!

We posed for a family picture.

Take a moment to appreciate this picture ... I never post pictures of myself while I am pregnant. I'm sure you think I look exactly the same, but please don't ever say that to my face. Some women get cute little prego tummies- I get prego EVERYTHING ... prego arms, face, legs ... so appreciate this one. It's a rare gem!

We climbed a few trees ...

well, really Larkin clung to the branch where daddy perched her.

We ran and jumped in the hay!

We rode the train, and fed the goats, and played some more, and finally we found our pumpkins. Larkin stole mine, but I found another one, and Scot picked three, so all in all it was a successful pumpkin hunt!