Hallelujah Night

We had such a great evening at Hallelujah Night at our church last night! I'm glad we got our trunk ready in time for Trunk-or-Treat. We borrowed Mom's van for it, and I think it turned out great!

Here is our "sweet" van ;-)
(Contrary to what you might think you see, I am in fact, NOT 18 weeks pregnant. Or pregnant at all. Apparently I just need to get back on the Wii Fit train :-P)
There were lots of adorable trunks, and even some live animals :-) One of my best friends, Rachel, and her dad set up this awesome God's army-themed Jeep. We got to park right next to them, so it was fun spending the evening with them!
We were the very first trunk set up in the long line of them. So we had the job of passing out bags full of fun treats, and mini water bottles to all the kids. It turned out being pretty hectic for the first hour, because we just had WAY more kids than we thought we would! Only about half of the bags were filled, so Luke and my mom were frantically filling the bags while I was busy smiling, passing out the bags, and saying "you're welcome" a bajillion times after just about every child was prompted by his or her parent to say "thank you." ;-) We completely ran out of just about everything at one point, and were just passing out bags filled with one mini water bottle each. The kids probably thought our van was really lame at that point, compared to the others who were all passing out candy! Then we got some more candy, but ran out of water bottles, so we were just putting 3 or 4 pieces of candy in each bag. It was crazy, but I guess that's a great problem to have! A lot of people from the community who don't normally come to church were there with their kids:-)

Here's Luke filling bags and trying to keep up. We could see the end of the line in the distance, but it just never seemed to make it to us! :-)
Across the parking lot from us, a family was frying up some homemade french fries. It was a windy night and the smell kept wafting over in our direction. I had only eaten a turkey sandwich and some crackers for lunch, and hadn't had time to grab anything before I left for the church, so the smell was taunting and irresistable. Needless to say, multiple trips to they fry stand were made last evening;-) And I think they said that they used somewhere between 200 and 300 lbs of potatoes throughout the course of the evening!! Yikes!

And that was just the beginning of the deliciousness. There was so much chili and cornbread inside, not to mention cookies and doughnuts...yum! It was hard not to go back inside for seconds!The children also had lots of fun carnival games and bounce houses in the gym. Oh yeah, and face painting! The lines got sooo long, they almost filled up the gym and lobby areas. But no one would get out of line because they were having so much fun!

So overall, Hallelujah Night was a hit again this year! I only wish I were 7 years old again ;-) That's the only thing that could have made the night more fun for me!

We don't really have too many plans for today. We never did get to carve our pumpkins on Thursday, though, so we will probably spend the afternoon or evening doing that. And roasting some pumpkin seeds!

I've decided to try to lay off the scary movies this year. Instead of finding the scary movie marathons on TV like I normally do, I'm going to watch the Halloween specials of the sitcoms that we DVR that have been recording for the past week. Next on the agenda is one of the Home Improvement Halloween episodes! Hmm...I wonder if I can find more Halloween reruns on youtube.

So yeah, it sounds like we're going to have a pretty uneventful Halloween at our house. But that's fine with me! :-)

Don't forget about the photo scavenger hunt!! The Deadline is Monday! I will probably put the post up tomorrow that you can link to for your pictures, and I will leave it up until at least Monday night at midnight. Then on Tuesday, we will start voting for the winner! There's still time, even if you haven't starteed yet. Don't forget, there are prizes!

A Sneak Peak!!

Tonight is going to be a very busy night. Luke and I have a couple of projects going on tonight. We decided to make it fun and turn it into a date night!

First of all, we're going into town for a few things we need for our projects, and eating dinner somewhere.

Then we're going to carve our pumpkins! I went back and forth over and over about what I wanted to carve. I finally decided on something SOO simple that I don't think even I could screw it up. I think it will turn out nicely, though. I guess you'll just have to wait until my next post for the big reveal!

Tomorrow night is "Hallelujah Night" at our church. It is a Halloween alternative for the children in the community. There is a Chili supper, games, face painting, bounce houses, and Trunk-or Treat in the parking lot for the kids. Oh, and lots of candy for them too :-)

If you've never heard of Trunk-or-Treat, it's when you decorate the trunk of your car with a theme, and kids walk from car to car collecting candy and "oohing" and "awing" at the trunks. Usually the trunks have some sort of Bible story or church-related theme. 2 years ago, my mom and I decorated ours with the theme of "Queen Esther" (I got to dress up as her!) Here was our van...I think we did a pretty good job! Okay, so it was mostly MOM. She's the creative one!

(P.S. - I'm kind of missing my long hair right now!)

On Wednesday, Luke and I found out they needed more people to set up trunks this year, so we volunteered. That meant that we had two days to get everything together. We have a lot of it put together, but we still have a lot left to do! I hope we get it all put together in time, and it's not too lame! Here is a sneak peak...we are going with Psalm 119:103 as your theme: "How SWEET are your words to my taste; sweeter than honey to my mouth." Here is a sneak peak of our decorations...I think you can see what direction we're going with this :-)

Bubble gum, anyone ;-)
(My camera was set to the outdoor sunny setting. That's why the color's so off!)

Anyway, I think tonight AND tomorrow night are going to be super fun! Which is so great, because things at work are just going downhill quickly. I'm trying not to let it get to me! And I think a fun weekend + tonight is just what I need!

On a sidenote, what is everyone dress as for Halloween? A guy at work and his wife are going as Jon and Kate Gosselin. They are dressing like them (giant bling in both ears for "Jon" and all :-P) and they're just attaching a bunch of baby dolls to their shirts somehow. I feel bad for the Gosselins right now, but I couldn't help think that this was a HILARIOUS costume idea! Luke and I were invited to a party at his house (the guy from work, NOT Jon Gosselin's ;-)), but I'm not really sure what our plans are right now. If we do go, we'll have to think of a costume to wear QUICKLY!

Christian the Lion

A co-worker told me to look up Christian the Lion on youtube, so I did when I got home from work. He told me that you can't watch the video and not believe in God (it's really great to have at least one Christian co-worker!) Being the animal-lover that I am, I watched it three times in a row and cried every time.

Since I'm having a crappy day and don't have much to write about, I thought I'd share this video with you. I hope it brightens your day a little like it has brightened mine (and most of you have probably already seen it. It's a pretty popular video, but I'm usually pretty behind on these things!)



Probably the sweetest thing I've ever seen in my life :-)

Is it Something in the Water?

Just the other day I remember writing about feeling very content with where I am in life right now, and how I have stopped thinking about the whole baby thing.

Ha. That was funny.

You see, the very next day, I found out that someone I work with is pregnant. It was a big surprise to her and everyone else, so obviously there has been a lot of excited chatter about it in the teacher's lounge.

Let me add that two other teachers have babies who are less than one year old, one other is 32 weeks pregnant, and one other is hoping to get pregnant soon. It's like there's something in the water. I believe that myself and the gym teacher are the only staff members left who do not have kids, and who are not trying. We are the minority. We're also the youngest staff members, but not by much!

I work in a small school district, so that's a pretty big percentage of our teachers who are pregnant, hoping to get pregnant soon, or who just had babies! I don't think the conversation amongst staff members has hit any subjects other than pregnancy/babies and the Swine Flu in 2 weeks. And it's about 80% pregnancy/baby talk to about 20% Swine Flu talk.

Just when I thought I was being a good little content wife, I become consumed with jealousy for pregnant teachers, and those with babies. It's not a pretty thing! I'm being totally honest with you all, but I have a hard time feeling happy for these people because of my jealousy! I know it sounds horrible! I'm praying about it and working on it, though.

As I was leaving the teacher's lounge today feeling excited for the newest pregnant teacher, yet sad for myself at the same time, I came up with a pretty good idea. I decided to make a list of all the things I want to do before we have kids. And it's not going to be a to-do list that I'm going to try to work my way through as quickly as possible so that I can hurry up and have kids. Instead it's going to be a list that I look at when I'm feeling jealous or discontent. I'll see all the things that I still want to do before having kids, and it will hopefully make me feel better about the fact that we're not ready yet. And I know you're never REALLY ready, and you shouldn't just keep waiting because all of your ducks aren't in a row. But this list is simply to keep me sane and content.

I probably won't share my list on here. However, I will share one item...probably the most important one in my opinion: Go to Disney World! I am one of those people that loves Disney World, even at the age of (almost) 25 :-) I want to take a trip down to Florida during January or February or some other not-so-touristy time. I want to stay at Disney's Wilderness Lodge which is right inside Disney World (okay, that part will NEVER happen b/c of the price. We'll definitely have to stay somewhere cheaper outside of the resort. But I'm just dreaming here ;-)) I want to ride every ride at Magic Kingdom...Space Mountain and The Haunted Mansion I want to ride over and over :-) I want to stay late and watch the Wishes fireworks show and watch the look on Luke's face when he sees the most spectacular fireworks show EVER! I want to walk through the World Showcase at Epcot Center, eating at one of the great restaurants there. I want to see the animals on the Kilimanjaro Safari in Animal Kingdom, and I've been dying to ride Expedition Everest ever since it opened. I want to watch as many shows at Hollywood Studios as I can fit into a day, and I want to take Luke to see the Indiana Jones show and to ride the Star Wars ride. And I want to face my fears and ride the Tower of Terror. And of COURSE we would have to stay late and watch Fantasmic! I want to spend an evening exploring Downtown Disney and seeing the Cirque de Soleil - La Nouba show. Wow, I practically have the whole trip planned already! :-P If only money weren't an issue!

Betcha never knew I was such a huge Disney World fan! I know I'm a total nerd since I know so much about every attraction, ride, and show there. I've been there 4 times, though, 2 of which were in the past 6 years. Luke, however, has never been there. And I always thought it would be so much fun to go together once before we have kids, so that we could be kids ourselves one more time. Who knows if we will ever actually make it there before kids come along, but I sure hope we do!

So I guess now I have a "happy place" to go to whenever the jealousy and discontentment starts to creep in. And that "happy place" just happens to be the Happiest Place on Earth! :-)

Please tell me there are other Disney World fans out there. I guess I'm definitely a kid at heart!

An Afternoon Outing

I met Luke after work today so that we could head over to White House Farms again. We went specifically to pick out our pumpkins, and to eat a doughnut :-)

We picked out two fat, orange pumpkins,

Grabbed a few things inside, including DOUGHNUTS (Luke got a plain vanilla w/ sprinkles doughnut, and I got a mocha doughnut. Not as good as my apple cider w/ cinnamon frosting doughnut, but definitely one of the best I've eaten in my life :-))
And we enjoyed what is sure to be one of the last days with all these beautiful leaves STILL on the trees. They're all falling down like crazy!I'm not sure when we will have time to actually carve the pumpkins, but I'm excited! Luke is making some kind of Cleveland Cavs themed pumpkin, and I'm not sure what I'll make. I wanted to make a Wicked (the musical) pumpkin or a Twilight or Harry Potter one, but I think that just might be too difficult for my simple skills :-P We shall see!

Remember - only 1 week until the deadline for the photo scavenger hunt!! I hope you're collecting those photos! I have all of mine except for the "Trick or Treat" one ;-) (And if you're someone I know in "real life" and you want to participate but don't have a blog...you should probably just start a blog so you can enter! Don't forget, there are prizes! ;-))

Comfort Food

A few years ago, I went out on the 4-wheeler with Luke and some friends all day. We were about an hour from home, and it was probably about -20 degrees that day in the middle of January. I'm not sure why we were crazy enough to go, but we somehow survived with our 5 layers, hand and foot warmers, scarves, hats, 3 pairs of gloves, 3 pairs of socks...you get the idea :-) It was a really fun day, but definitely a long, tiring, COLD day. I remember that somehow we all accidentally skipped lunch too. So when we finally got home we were cold, tired, and HUNGRY!

That night we had chili and cornbread for dinner made by my aunt. And lots of it! The chili was amazing, but for some reason the cornbread was even better. It was the most perfect meal we could have had after a day like that!

Since I relate cornbread to that day, I always also relate cornbread with warmth and comfort (I mean really, who doesn't? :-P)

Luke had 2 softball tournament games for his fall league this afternoon/evening. They started the games late, and they ended up lasting pretty much forever. So it was a long afternoon outside in the cold! I thought tonight would be the perfect night for soup and cornbread!

I cheated a little with the soup, and used minestrone from cans. But I made some cornbread to go along with it, so I didn't feel totally lazy :-)

The first time I made this particular recipe of cornbread, it was one of the first meals I ever made for Luke after we were married. I tried to make chili and cornbread. I failed a little with the chili, but the cornbread was a success! It was very sweet, and just delicious! And SUPER easy to make. I thought I would share the recipe with you in case you need a good comfort food since the temperature is dropping. I unfortunately don't remember where the recipe came from...somewhere on the Internet I'm sure!

Easy Corn Bread:

Ingredients:
2 c. buttermilk baking mix (Bisquick)
4-6 tbsp. cornmeal
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 c. milk
1/2 c. butter, melted

Combine baking mix, cornmeal, and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add eggs and milk. Beat until well blended. Mix in melted butter. Place in greased 9 inch square pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out dry. Cut into squares and enjoy!

Sooo delicious after such a cold evening!
Of course it's not good without butter and honey! ;-)
Now we're ready to eat while we watch Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Then I think it will be time for some reading, maybe some Office reruns, and bed. Ahh...I love Sundays :-)

Have a great one!

A Spectacular Saturday!

It's been a great day so far! First of all, I got to sleep in, so that was awesome! Then I decided it was time to try to make some homemade butternut squash soup. I was preparing to make it when I realized that I did not have a few of the ingredients I needed. Feeling a little bummed, I posted a status on facebook about how I was unable to make it, but then made some delicious chocolate peanut butter brownies...from a box :-) (They turned out great...much better than when I try to make brownies from scratch! :-P I like living by the KISS method sometimes!)A few minutes after I had popped the brownies into the oven, I got a call from my cousin. She said she had an onion and more chicken stock! Which was precisely what I needed. Thanks, Sarah!

Sarah lives right down the street from me, so I went ahead and walked to her house, taking pictures of the beautiful scenery on the way. Even though it was cloudy and gloomy, the trees still looked absolutely beautiful!



When I got home, I attempted to make my soup. It did not quite turn out right, because I had way too much chicken stock and not enough squash. It was way too watery. I followed the recipe exactly, but apparently my squash was just small or something? I don't know. I plan on buying another squash when we go to White House Farms again tomorrow or Monday (we didn't go today because it was too gross out!) I did taste it though, and it tasted pretty good! So once I get the right amount of squash, I think it will be great :-)

Doesn't this just remind you of Veggie Tales, too? Or is it just me?

Here it is after peeling and chunking it. This was quite the ordeal
About halfway done
I'll post the final picture with the recipe when I get another squash and finish it!

After that, I read a little bit of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and Love and Respect. I'm in such a reading mood today since it's so warm and cozy in here, and yet so chilly and gloomy outside. Right now, Luke and I are watching a Halloween episode of "The Office which is just way too funny :-)

Later tonight, we plan on heading into town...to CiCi's and the movies :-) We love CiCi's because of their cinnamon rolls and unique pizza flavors. Plus there's one right by the movie theater! We are going to see a scary movie since Halloween is in exactly one week!

So overall, it has been a great day! I hope we can head to White House Farms tomorrow and then maybe carve our pumpkins tomorrow afternoon or evening, too. I'm really thinking that this week leading up to Halloween will be excellent! Oh, and last night me, my mom and sister had a girls' night, went to Hot Dog Shoppe for dinner, shopped a little bit, and rented "The Proposal." So I really have nothing to complain about this weekend. It has been great!

And on a side not, is anyone else getting a little bit excited about Christmas? I know the Christmas season doesn't officially start until after Thanksgiving, but I just can't stop myself from being excited about the fact that it will be here before we know it! I've already designed our Christmas cards, and I've been browsing BooMama's 2008 Christmas Tour of Homes for decorating ideas and inspiration. The next step is to start looking up Christmas recipes. I've baked a lot this fall, but I plan to do it a lot more for Christmas! I'm trying to at least wait until my birthday (November 6) before I start breaking out the Christmas music (again...yeah, I listened to my Josh Groban Christmas CD a week ago...I just couldn't stop myself since we were having such wintery weather last week!) I love fall, but Christmas is even better!

A Perfect World

On Sunday a member of the Power Team gave his testimony at church. One of the first things he said was, "The American home is the number one thing that Satan is trying to attack and conquer." I had a hard time listening to what he said after that, because it hit me so hard. I believe that it really is true, and it made me realize that we have such a HUGE responsibility in today's world.

I am so passionate about family. I feel like marriage really should last forever, children should be raised to serve and love God, and that family time is so much more important than extra-curricular activities or alone-time. I think that Christ should be the center and the heart of the home.

As women, I think we really set the tone for the family and home. Yes, men are the head of the home, but I think that we have so much more influence than we realize. God has given us such a great responsibility to create a loving, soothing, Christ-centered environment in our homes. After all, we are the "home - makers." And I really believe that even those of us who work outside of the home can be homemakers. We get to make our home! We can create it to be whatever we want! We have the ability to prevent the fall of the American family.

This realization I had in the middle of church on Sunday has really made me excited! I hope it makes you excited, too. I know we can't control everything, but I think there are a lot of things that we CAN do to prevent the downfall of our homes and families.

*Instead of spending too much time worrying about how immaculate our homes are, we need to make sure we are paying attention to and loving the people IN them.

*Instead of making sure our children are involved in as many extra-curricular activities as possible, spend time having fun together and doing things as a family.

*Instead of worrying about our marriages, children, etc, blanket every situation and person in prayer, and trust God to do the rest.

*Instead of spending all of our time and energy climbing the corporate ladder, make it our main job to take care of our families and raise our children to serve the Lord.

*Instead of stressing out about making the perfect meal, just make sure that it's served at a table where the whole family can sit and have fellowship together.

We really can change the pattern that seems to be happening more and more lately. With God, we have the power. So remember what things are really important, and never lose sight of the influence that you have over your home and family! Can you tell I feel very passionately about this? ;-)

Have a great weekend! And come back tomorrow for another trip to White House Farms! With Luke this time, for the pumpkins we will be carving tomorrow. As long as he's not too sick, and it's not too rainy!

Today

Today I am thankful for...

~A great night of fellowship at Bible study

~Empty laundry baskets

~The caramel candies that seem to be disappearing rapidly from the candy dish ;-)
~A best friend I can laugh with every day, wake up next to every morning, and share everything with. Oh, and who also happens to be my husband! Today I had an epiphany and realized that marriage is really surprising me. I guess I had always thought that the wedding day would be the day filled with the most love for one another. Today I realized that I really think our love for each other has grown a little every single day. So for the past 466 days, our love has grown and we've gotten closer and closer (thank you, www.theknot.com for letting me know exactly how many days we've been married... WOW, we still haven't been married for as long as we were engaged!) If this keeps going, I can't wait to see where we are in 60 years!! Anyway, enough sappiness!

~The book "Love and Respect" by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs. I'm learning so much from it already.
~A beautiful 70 degree day. One last taste of summer before the cold really sets in!

~Naps

~Butternut squash soup, which I am attempting to make for the first time tomorrow.
~Mums, pumpkins and apples.

~Finally feeling completely content in this stage of life, and coming to terms with the fact that I'm happy we aren't ready to have kids yet! I can't wait for that time to come, but I'm finally able to live in the moment and not constantly yearn for a baby. Praise God!

~THIS overload of cuteness who has been our main source of entertainment for about 4 weeks:
~A God who provides me with so many great blessings every day, and who I know will always provide me with unconditional love, peace, and comfort.

What are you thankful for today?

Small Miracle

After my big revelation at Bible study a few weeks ago, I have really felt like I've been under attack spiritually. It was like as soon as I decided that I was going to control my thoughts, not feel sorry for myself, and just praise God for EVERYTHING, Satan laughed and decided: GAME ON.

The very next day after Bible study, I got extremely sick for about 2 weeks. Try to be praiseful when you're running to the bathroom every few minutes! It's not easy. And then there was the Ohio State game. A fun day, but our car broke down and we had to go on a wild goose chase to find a way home and a solution to the situation. Praise God that Luke's uncle let us use his truck and trailer to tow our car home!

And then just yesterday we found out that our car needs a new engine. We definitely weren't expecting that, and we can't afford it right now. Attack #3. I really don't think this is just random bad stuff happening. I think that Satan has very intricate strategies to make us CRACK under the pressure or frustration. And the things we are learning in Bible study just point more and more to those facts.

So fast forward to today.

I had kind of an off day today. I slept in a few minutes (which I NEVER do!), and almost fell asleep at work in the PM. When I got home, I had lots of plans to finish cleaning the house (I got a good start on things last night). But after just about falling asleep at work, I decided a nap was in order. I was standing by the bed petting Ellie when I decided to walk around the bed and get the remote so I could watch The Office while I fell asleep. Somehow, a little decorative, metal swirl on the base of the bed punctured itself through my work-pants by my ankle (I have no idea how this happened, as the metal thing is not the least bit sharp, and is actually pretty thick). I didn't realize that this had occurred, and tried to take a step back with my stuck-foot. My body weight had all shifted backward, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I was falling in slow motion, straight backwards, still perplexed as to why my foot was not moving to catch all of my weight. About mid-fall, I realized it was stuck, and that there was nothing I could do to stop it. And then it happened: the dead weight of my body hit the bedroom's hardwood floor with nothing to stop it.

A split second after I fell, I just sat there stunned. On my way down, I really thought I was going to crack my tailbone (again) or break my hip (okay, so I'm not 80 years old, but I definitely have an active imagination that tends to panic a lot). It was that kind of a fall. But as I hit the floor I DID NOT EVEN FEEL IT. I'm not just saying there was no pain...I literally DIDN'T FEEL IT. It was like my body went numb. Three fingers on my right hand were a little sore because I think I landed on them, but no other part of my body even felt the impact of the fall. So not only did I not break anything, but I won't even have a single bump or bruise.

I know it's just a little thing, but isn't it so amazing and comforting to know that God takes care of us in little situations like this? I look at it as a tiny miracle :-) If God took care of me today by preventing me from getting hurt from a little fall, how much more will he protect me with my health, or with this scary financial situation??

So even though things have not been great the past month, I am still praising God. It's not that bad, and I know he will take care of me. He's done it so many times before!

"Cast your cares upon the Lord and he will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall." ~Psalm 55:22

Take comfort in this verse if you are going through a hard time. He will never leave you! There is nothing and no one bigger than God! "Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world!" (1 John 4:4)

White House Fruit Farm

I was planning on spending the entire afternoon cleaning today (my house needs it!!) However, as soon as I got home from work, my mom called with a better offer! She invited me to go to White House Fruit Farm. I had never been there before. Well, apparently Mom took me there a lot when I was little, but never since I've been old enough to remember it! It's basically just a big farmer's market. I love it because just about everything there is locally grown, and I just love searching through all the pumpkins, squash, and other fall foods. I guess they are open year-round, and I really want to go at Christmastime, too!

It's so cute there! The hay bales definitely deserved their own pictures!
Our first stop was the pumpkin pavilion. I bought a few mini pumpkins and some Indian corn.

After that we headed into the main building and spent forever browsing through all the fun stuff inside! Mom's best decision of the day was to buy some fresh donuts. We each got one, and it was definitely the best donut I have ever had in my entire life, hands down.

After we were finished with all of our shopping, we headed down to the lake
Where we enjoyed our delicious donuts. Mine was an apple cider donut with cinnamon frosting. I must have another sometime SOON! ;-)
Then we headed out.

I want to come back with Luke sometime in the next few weeks to pick out our pumpkins to carve, and to eat another donut ;-) I hope this place becomes a family tradition...I know they have fun harvest days and special days around the holidays, too.

As if that were not enough of a GREAT day, we stopped at the Christian bookstore in town on the way home. They had SO many books on sale! I bought 4 for a total of about $16. And one of the books was $11 itself! What a great afternoon :-)Wanna see all my loot from White House Farms? Here's the stuff I bought at the pumpkin pavilion:
Some mini pumpkin candies, baked potato toppings for tomorrow night when we have steak and potatoes, and garlic sesame sticks
And some butternut and yellow squash and sweet potatoes! All for me, because Luke gags at the sight of all three of those things. But I'm planning on making some butternut squash soup on Thursday and frying up some yellow squash to go with dinner tonight.

Now my house is REALLY ready for the rest of the fall festivities and holidays!
I think this is my favorite part

So this is the best Monday I can remember in awhile. Although Luke and I did get some bad news about our car...it needs a new engine. NOT cheap. So far my old crappy Neon has proven to be more reliable that the new Passat which was supposed to last forever. We're not happy. But trying to trust God and not panic.

Happy Monday! Don't forget to keep snapping those pictures for the scavenger hunt!

Oh Fall...How I Love You

This morning I walked to church and snapped some pictures of the beautiful scenery on the way. I'm not going to share the pictures yet, though, because I'm going to use some of them for the scavenger hunt! (I'm still participating although I'm not competing!) The sun has been shining most of the day (for the first time in what feels like FOREVER!) It's just been so beautiful!

JC got our family pictures done this weekend, and I love them because of the scenery! I have to share a couple because I think he did a beautiful job!

Look at all those beautiful leaves! The reason I could never move away from here :-)Love the sky in this one
The three children in the middle, plus me and the other Luke on the ends (our b-i-l :-))
And my favorite one! Because I'm the tallest in this picture. Never mind that I'm sitting on a branch that's as high as Luke's shoulder!

I'm trying to really soak up this last month or so of fall before the Christmas season begins. It seems like the beautiful leaves fall way to quickly from the trees! I'm hoping to spend the next couple of weekends Enjoying the beauty, making lots of soup, wearing all of my fall clothes, watching scary movie marathons, and having a pumpkin-carving date night with Luke! Then it will be time for November. November will bring with it my 25th birthday, Youth Explosion, The New Moon Premiere, parent-teacher conferences, and Thanksgiving! There is just way too much to look forward to (although I'm NOT looking forward to pt conferences!) :-) Even though I've been sick for half of it, I really think that this fall has been one of the best ones ever!! I'm loving every second :-) And I hope you are too! I really feel like the beauty of fall is just as close to the beauty of heaven that we will get here on earth!

Prizes!!

I got a call from my mom this morning asking if I'd like to spend the day shopping with her. I'm glad I decided to go, because it was a really fun day! Even though it's freezing and dreary out, the leaves were still all so beautiful. I think they're just about at the peak of their beauty right now.

We ate lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings...my mom had never been there! It was of course DELICIOUS as usual. The Asian Zing sauce is my absolute favorite! You should definitely try it next time you're there :-)

While we were out, I had a chance to pick out the prize for my October photo scavenger hunt! (I hope you all decide to participate, and are getting your pictures together!) I decided to go with a fall/Thanksgiving theme with the prizes. So you will be competing for:

This cute Thanksgiving pumpkin sign from Kirklands (only my favorite store EVER):

This Fall Gatherings candle, also from Kirklands. Take my word for it, it smells AMAZING!! Your house will be so cozy, filled with the sweet yet spicy scents of pumpkin, mulled cider, and cinnamon rolls!

And my favorite part: this Pumpkin Spice Cupcake mix, complete with the cupcake and frosting mixes, plus sprinkles, liners, and icing toppers! How fun for a party or just a cozy fall day :-)

So there you have it...perfect for the last stretch of fall :-) Remember to be keeping your cameras with you and snapping pictures for the 5 categories: Trick or Treat, Orange, Together, Delicious, and Harvest.

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And now I just have to share something that I bought for myself today. I love adding little touches our house that make it more of our HOME. I LOVE monograms, because I think they do just that. We've lived in our house for almost a year now, and I'm still yet to display a single monogram! So today I bought this one at Hobby Lobby for about $12. I love it! It's hanging in our hallway right now, but I may be moving it to the living room or bedroom. I'm not sure yet, but I'm loving it :-)I guess that is all for today! I'm off to the church to work in the nursery during the power team service again, and after that, Luke and I are going to Applebees with some friends for the second night in a row! I'm not complaining though...I haven't had to cook since Thursday! :-P

Have a wonderful weekend!