colors + rain

This weekend the heavy rains that the Willamette Valley is known for finally came. Ben + I both love going to bed or snuggling up on the couch when the rain is pounding outside. It's a comforting sound and the cool temperatures make cuddling under a fuzzy blanket much more enjoyable than the 70-80 degree weather we've been having for the last month.

The cool weather + heavy rain also makes it easier to get stuff done inside, like cleaning out the garage. Our goal is to get the boxes cleared out and the car inside the garage before the first freeze. We got a lot done yesterday and plan to keep working through the rest of this week.

There are a lot of boxes and we found a lot of stuff we forgot we had. Like thank you notes...from our wedding, literally 2 days after I bought some new ones to send out. Figures. We also discovered a box that we didn't recognize. It had my name on it in my mom's handwriting. I assumed Ben had something to do with it, but he didn't recognize it either. Later that evening when we visited my parents we brought it up to my mom and she got a coy smile on her face. Get this, she had my brother sneak that box into our garage (she's constantly trying to clear my stuff out of their storage) back in MAY and we just now found it. Sadly, it was in plain sight the whole time. That's how bad our garage is. I'll have to share before + after photos when we get more done.

I've loved watching the seasons change in our new neighborhood. In the spring it was like watching a mystery unravel when new things would bloom in our yard.

I took a lot of great photos of our magnificently yellow maple tree out front. It is a very large tree and it is so beautiful right now (despite the hundreds of leaves it has shed all over our yard for us to rake up later).  All the wind + rain on Saturday night had made so many leaves fall that they covered the ground. It was so bright it reminded me of walking outside after the first snow, everything is lit up.

Here are some photos I took of Malakai out back on Saturday, our front yard on Sunday, and our drive out to my parents' place in the country.

{the view from our front door}

{the view from our street}

{leaves, leaves, everywhere!}

As soon as Malakai stepped out the front door (with some help of course) we thought he'd love kicking through the leaves...

Instead he went straight for the street. He + daddy check the mail together every day and he was headed for the mailbox. Even when I tried to bring him back into the yard, he screeched at me and ran back into the cul-de-sac. 

After getting the mail and running around for a bit we piled in the car to head to G'Pa + Mema's house. We were glad Malakai got some time to run around outside because it started to rain again a few minutes later. 

I had the camera in my lap so I decided to take some photos along the way. 

{hello.}

{railroad tracks, bluesky patch + windmill, biking in the rain}

{this leaf hung on for the whole 20 mile drive}

{Malakai loved watching the rain hit the windows}

{cows, pumpkin patch + colorful orchard, sheepies}

We played for a few hours at my parents' place and had dinner. On our way home there were some flashes of lightning. Then when we were getting ready for bed there was the longest roll of thunder we've ever heard. It rumbled everything like a mini-earthquake but stopped in time for us to curl up in bed under lots of cozy layers. 

What did you do this weekend?