Time Out For Women

This year I had the opportunity to go to Time Out For Women in Kansas City. While I don't necessarily heart the music that is performed (it gets old after about the first song), I love to hear the speakers and be surrounded by so many amazing women. It was a very uplifting experience! (I should never, ever be allowed to hold the camera and take a picture of myself! It's positively awful!)

Nice Baggage! Never travel far from your trusty baggage cart, um... and your baggage.

To me, the best part of the whole thing was the drive to Kansas City. I loaded up with seven of my favorite friends and partied the whole way there! Oh how I love these back-seat gals! Jenny, Debbie and Terri. We had a wonderful time eating snacks and chatting about everything under the sun. I got a crook in my neck trying to turn and listen to all of their wacky and crazy stories!

I was truly lucky to sit in the middle with these two girls. I loved getting to know Jamie better and was so excited to talk with Tina. They are both so funny and kind!

Yah. Who's driving anyway? What can I say about the front-seaters? Life is never ever boring with these two women around! Heather and Kim navigated and led us around with finesse! Thank you Heather for driving and Kim for telling her where to go (even if you don't think a wart is a part of the body)!

My other favorite thing about this trip was a concert given by Jenny Oaks Baker. I had never heard her play before but left there wanting every single one of her cds. I was so happy that she was part of the musical presentation! All in all, it was a wonderful trip filled with bathtubs, pillows, Oprah and chatting. Thank you Honey for holding down the fort while I was gone and ladies for giving me a fun-filled break that was definitely needed!

(And we really did miss you LeAnn!)

For those of you who don't know my brother, Richard, you are definitely missing out. I thought this would be a good time to post this but if you haven't seen the movie White Christmas, it won't be quite as entertaining. Although, I think it's pretty darn awesome. Go Ricky T!

Fall Fun and Halloween

Can we say leaves? I think that the people who owned this house before us did not own a rake...or arms. I would say that we have at least five years of leaves stored up in our backyard and we had the brilliant idea of getting rid of them. Too bad we didn't think about having to pick them all up after we made our wonderful, giant pile. Heather, you want to teach that leaf burning class any time soon?

Anyway, the kids had a great time diving (and yes, I literally mean diving) into them. David had a great time chasing the kids with the leaf blower and I had a great time watching!

This was Jake's wonderful Halloween costume. After many attempts at getting him to try on different things, he went with the default, David's "tracterrr" hat. He refused to wear a costume but was thrilled to get candy in his bucket.

Caleb was a ninja and wore an authentic Japanese headband that David got in Japan when he was little. Sorry the picture is so little. I can't find my pictures of the trunk or treat from our church. When I find them, I'll post those.

Caleb wanted a mean pumpkin this year. We had a good time carving it and the neighbors loved it!

My Claim to Fame

In college I went on a trip to Europe with one of my professors. Basically it was a study abroad without the credit. We romped around Europe looking at art, shopping and culture. One of the other girls that came on the trip was from Utah ,named Ashleigh Ingersoll. She has since gotten married and is now known as Ashleigh DiLello and is a final 6 member with her husband on So You Think You Can Dance. I was so excited for her because she has overcome some amazing obstacles to get where she is today. Watch and vote for her!

Here we are eating "French" fries. Stunning, I know.

Kindegarten Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

I was one of the lucky moms who got to go on the fall field trip to Stuckmeyer's Farm. It was so great! Check out Caleb's face. He was a little excited to be there! I love being able to see Caleb interact with his classmates and teachers. I love being a part of this stage in his life.

Caleb and his "other friend Mason" on the tractor hayride.

I love, love, love Caleb's teacher. She has been so great with him and he loves going to school every day.

Two of my "groupies" were so tuckered out they fell asleep on the bus ride home. I thought it was so precious!

playing catch up

I haven't had time to post the rest of the things we did this summer and I need to get on with Halloween, thanksgiving, etc... so here is my version of a speedy summer blog. I just couldn't skip some of these good moments! Because I just loved their faces. This is a typical afternoon when David gets home from work. These two love and flock their daddy as soon as he walks in the door. I am so blessed to have David around!

We had a "Banan-o-rama" activity at our church where everybody wore yellow and we played a "bunch" of games with bananas. It was a riot I tell you! These two monkeys had a lot of fun.

Clayton City Art Festival. We went down one Saturday afternoon and saw some wacky and creative art (yes!!!!) I was totally in my element and it felt oh so right! We got to make hats and I made David wear mine just to be funny. He wasn't too excited about it when he started getting looks and smiles from everyone around us until Noodles and Co. decided to give him a free meal just for having the courage and the audacity to wear such an "awesome" hat! SWeet.

I decided to make a wreath out of dried lavender this year. I tried to grow my own but it all died with the torrential rains we had this summer. Luckily David was trimming back all of the bushes at the temple and let me have all of the Lavender. I dried it, then made the wreath. David sneezed for about a week, every time he came into the house until the scent mellowed out a bit.
Another project. I was trying to find a table to put on our patio that would be good for the kids to eat on and I found this one on craigslist. It needs a little tlc so David picked it up and I have been sanding it ever since. Parts of it are rotten and have to be replaced. I'm hoping to finish it by spring of next year......I'll post when I finish. Hopefully this will give me incentive to finish it.