Four years ago Matt and I ventured out from College Station out to Chappell Hill to take part in the fall Scarecrow Festival. We had only been dating 3 months and everything we did together was new and exciting and made our hearts go pitter-patter. We walked around and took in the fresh smells of kettle corn, fall candles and roasted almonds, holding hands admiring all of the homemade items. This outing is very memorable to us as we experienced the first change of the season as a couple and the beginnings of our love.

This past weekend it was that time of year and the Scarecrow Festival was being held just 15 miles up the road from our now home of Brenham. We are now married and have an almost 5 month old baby girl. We were so excited to go back out to the place where we had once been with what seems like so long ago, but this time as a family. The day was chilly with a little bit of warmth from the sun and what felt like the perfect fall day. We had Arabelle in her cute fall outfit ready to take pictures among pumpkins and we loaded up the car and headed down the road.

Insert picture of Arabelle at Scarecrow Festival here:







Just as we made it to the first section of booths I was already scoping out the candles I needed to buy and Matt was standing at the "guy" booth...you know the place where samples of..well..anything to eat is being handed out, Arabelle begins to cry out of nowhere. She was wailing as if something was seriously wrong. We tried to soothe her and settle the emotions but this cry wasn't going away. We held out hope for about 10-15 minutes as every festival goer looked at us wondering what we did to our baby or approached us as if they had the solution. We briskly walked to the car weaving in and out of people with the siren of a crying baby. We made it to the car and she continued to cry just long enough that we were too far to turn back around and attempt it a second time. Matt and I both were disappointed and had our eye and nose on many of the things we wanted to see at the festival. We made it home and as we took out our happy girl from her car-seat she was all smiles.

We settled back in and put on our comfy fall day clothes (aka pj's)and hung out around the house. The evening ended up with family cuddle time on the couch, a movie playing in the background, cookies baking in the oven and dancing in the kitchen to fun oldies. Probably one of the greatest days of my life! In times like these I am reminded how thankful I am to be pulled away from the busy things of life just to enjoy the small things. Of course I thought I wanted to spend my day at a festival but God and Arabelle had other plans, plans that were good for the soul and made my heart smile. I love my life and I love my family and this sweet little bundle of joy that has changed so many of "our" plans.