November Wrap Up

A few random pictures from the rest of November~ it was a busy but fun month:

Going to see New Moon with my sweetie



The start of Jr. High Basketball- Jameson is excited to start for the B team

Genna's actual birthday on the 22nd- 7 years old!



Hoarfrost



Another puzzle done


Jameson's edible cell project

MidOctober Merriment

Time Out for Women 2009 in Kansas City was SO wonderful!


The kids did a great job on their Sacrament meeting program all about the family


Another puzzle finished up


Bambi has a close encounter with our minivan while Troy & Jameson were home teaching


Mo tries on his costume and is not a big fan of the hat


Carving our pumpkins for FHE


The sun makes the fall colors so vibrant

Art out my back window

What's a girl to do when you are stuck inside because it's too icy to go out? The kids are playing games, working on puzzles and playing with the puppy. Me- I'm playing with pictures.

I took this picture of today's icy sunrise.


I was experimenting with some different filters and these are what I came up with.

Here is a cardinal and a junco perched in the tree.


I know these aren't gallery quality but they sure are making me happy today!

New

dawn

(I promise I won't start every post with a sunrise picture)

glasses

haircuts


puzzle started

yummy bread recipe with homemade apple butter

way of eating pudding(during our service FHE)

idea that I think I am going to do for Genna's birthday treats at school- she'll love helping me make them.
cool music up at my nephew's myspace page (link fixed)

This morning

Started out beautifully...

and it got even better. Troy had to run up to Lincoln and asked me to go a long for the ride.

he even bought me breakfast, lol! That is his brother Shane's mini Book of Mormon sitting there, isn't it cute?

We made sure and voted.

It was so nice to have long lines to wait in.


I also noticed the leaves on our tree turned yellow this year- most years they just turn brown and fall off.


Hope you had a wonderful morning too! Don't forget to vote!

Wonderful Weekend

Here is a reflection of the wonderful weekend we've had, seen through Jameson's eyes, since these are all pictures from his camera.


You never would have believed that Saturday was the first of November in Nebraska- it was sunny & 70 degrees. We took the opportunity to get some things done outside and made it a family work day. Now the kids weren't overly thrilled at first, but I think in the end we all had a fun time. Now the garden and all the flower beds have been cleared and leaves tilled in.


Look at Mo- he is getting so big. He has gained more than 3 pounds since we got him. He is such a fun puppy and we love him dearly! We're so glad that he has finally figured out that this is his home. While we worked on Saturday, he just played happily in the yard along side us. We were worried because before we would be playing with him and he would take off down the street to where he knew his mom and siblings were.


This weekend was our Stake Conference up in Lincoln. We had an amazing adult session on Saturday night which was all about the temple. Afterwards, we went out with Troy's family to Texas Roadhouse. Sunday's session was equally as wonderful. Such good reminders of how we can do a little more and strive to be better each day. Tonight we were on the road again, traveling up to Troy's sister's house in LaVista. We made welcome home signs because Stephanie gets back next week from her mission. I'll take pictures at the airport of the cool signs we all made. We had dinner together and just enjoyed one another's company tonight.


After Stake Conference today we came home and had breakfast for lunch. Troy made us pancakes and sausage. I was so excited to try out my new cute little OJ glasses. I look at these glasses every time I go to an antique store. My grandma has similar glasses and I just love the size and colors of them. But I could never bring myself to pay the $3-5 per glass price at those stores. Friday, I was shopping at our little thrift store here in town and found 2 sets of 3 for 50¢ a set. The sad thing is that we realized we're not big orange juice drinkers. Connor commented that he thought of the show Fear Factor and just downed his whole glass at once. Maybe next time, I'll have to buy citrus punch.




This is Jameson's halloween candy. He was thrilled with the full sized hershey bars(his favorite). Speaking of candy- you should go read the story of the Candy Bomber from WWII. It is really touching. Here is Cocoa's cool FHE lesson based on this story.


Jameson's trumpet and a few of the songs he is working on for their Veteran's Day concert at school. I'm so grateful for music in my life. This weekend I listened to a lot of great music- at Stake Conference and here at home on the computer. Hopefully Made with Glue and Love doesn't think I am blog stalking her- it's just she has the Mamma Mia soundtrack on her playlist, so I've been hanging out quite a bit at her site.


With Election Day and Veteran's Day fast approaching, I looked at these pictures from a flag burning ceremony we attended, with gratitude in my heart for this great country we live in. I believe our founding fathers were inspired men. I am so thankful to those who serve to keep our country free. I pray that on Tuesday that good men and women will be elected to run our country.




Add finally these pictures are just funny to me. Here is Jameson eating his first atomic fire ball! Thanks Cheryl for taking them.


I hope your weekend was wonderful as well!

At my house this week...

we had a puppy playdate(with Mo's 3 siblings who live down the street)

I'm getting ready to put my heavier comforter back on my bed

I've been packing for Time Out For Women

I brought in all my herbs from the garden

drying lavendar(if I'm doing this wrong- can someone let me know!)

freezing parsley

I'm loving the view from front yard these days

my neighbor's tree

I'm in charge of Genna's Halloween party at school- so I've been getting that organized. This is for a pin the wart(hershey kiss) on the witch game.

I'm scrabooking for a sorority project. Scott Nisely was killed in Iraq in 2006 and we are putting an album together for his mother. We're just doing a uniform basic layout for now and will add titles and possibly embellishments later.

What's going on at your place?

Awesome Hike

I awoke early Friday morning to the sound of thunder and heard the rain beating upon the roof. I was going to be very grumpy if it kept up and ruined our plans for the hike we were going on at Waubonsie State Park in Iowa. The stars had all aligned when we set up this activity- there was no school, the boys scouts could attend with us and all of our boys could attend. We are working on Arrow of Light requirements and this hike counted for our outdoor activity with the Boy Scouts and a hike for a few of the boys who still need to earn the Outdoorsman Badge.

Thankfully, as we were eating our butter braid and drinking our hot chocolate with halloween marshmellows, the sun decided to come out. And it stayed out the rest of the day! I was so grateful that the weather was cooperative. We had about a 25 minute drive to our destination.

Our first step when we got there was to get our lunch started. The Boy Scouts were awesome about teaching our boys about the different positions they hold and what their responsibilities are. They all worked together to get a fire started and a stew made so that it could simmer while we went on our hike.

We really couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day to go hiking. It was crisp and cool with a light breeze. There are some great views from the trail that we took. The last leg of the hike was a hill that was a killer and one of the parents jokingly asked the boys if anyone wanted to do it again and 3 of them ran down it and back up another time. I wish I had their energy!

We got back to our little camp and had our delicious stew and s'mores. The boys had still had quite a bit of energy and so they played capture the flag. Before we knew it our time was up and we had to clean up and head home. I am so grateful for the Scouting program. Even though I grumble sometimes about the responsibilities of being a leader, I am so grateful that Connor and I can spend days like this together.

This and That

Alright, time for some odds and ends...

Where we went last Saturday. Friday night we stayed in Independence and had dinner at the Hereford House- yum! I opted not to bring my camera into the park, after we got completely soaked last year at Elitches in Denver.

The Mamba or as Genna kept calling it the Mamma. The boys went on it, us girls had a grand ol' time on the Merry Go Round.


Didn't get a picture, but Sunday we got to see both of my sisters and their families, which was very nice!

A sneak peak of my incredibly fantastic birthday present made by Amber. Seriously, how lucky am I? I promise I'll show you more of them later!

A few fun things that I found recently...


my cool new vintage scale + ugly, but necessary outlet

tiny little wreath and pear

Daddy and what I think is one of our 6 babies who fledged from our bluebird box this spring and summer

Wrapping Idea- kraft paper + clearance candy + homemade card

Card I made for my Sorority Sister(Yikes, her birthday was in March)

Connor got his drum for band yesterday and it has been played nonstop since. Don't you wish you were me?

Jameson broke his arm today at recess. He fell flat on his face after losing his grip while hanging from a soccer goal post. He gets his permanent cast next Tuesday.