Family Photos, Minus a few family members

Here are the four group shots that I narrowed it down to. It's amazing that you can take 85 pictures of a family, and then have a difficult time finding one where everyone looks decent. As always, I thank my good friend Cindy for being so generous with her time and talent. I love you, Cindy!

Any opinions on a favorite? Please share!

Me and my sweetie!

The girls look so cute!

And I love this one with Savannah and Amos.

Today

Things I'm grateful for today (in no particular order):

Voting with my son for his first time.

Picking tomatoes in my garden....at the END of October!

Spending Sunday morning with my family...All of them.

The SUN. It's warmth, it's healing, it's energy.

Reading.

Knowing I am loved by so many.

Health. Life. Love.

I feel extremely blessed today.

Volleyball

Emilia had her last volleyball game this afternoon, and they WON every match! It was very exciting. All the grandparents were there to watch, along with Savannah, me and Mario. I'm proud of her for trying something new and having fun with it. It was fun watching. Too the bad the season is so short!

Colin Powell Endorses Barack Obama

This is a moving interview. Colin Powell is incredibly articulate, and I respect his point of view.

Utah

Last week we drove to Utah with the girls to visit Mario's family and to attend one session of our church's general conference. The 13 hour drive went smoothly both ways. The girls kept themselves busy listening to music and watching movies on the laptop. We MADE Savannah drive for an hour in Idaho. It was the perfect place for her to practice switching lanes because there wasn't much traffic. But I didn't realize the speed limit was 75mph. This really freaked her out! After getting the hang of it she got her speed up and did a great job.

While in Utah we kept busy for three full days. The following pictures were taken at a place called Heritage Park. It is a small, recreated village from the time the pioneers first settled in the Salt Lake Valley. Some of the homes and shops are original, and during the summer months you can go inside. The homes weren't open when we were there because they were preparing them for halloween. But we were able to sneak into a couple. These pictures were all taken inside the chapel which was also used as a schoolroom. You can see we had fun pretending!



These pictures are from the day we spent on temple square. There is so much to do there! We saw the movie "Legacy", about the pioneers. We enjoyed the artwork and the rich history. The temple grounds are beautiful! This photo is of the Christus, which is just an amazing sight.

And that evening we went on a horse and carriage ride. The perfect way to end the day!

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to head to the conference center to attend the morning session of general conference. This place is a sight to behold. The architecture is amazing and it is enormous. The spirit is sweet when the prophet walks in and the entire building stands in silence. I really enjoyed all the words that were spoken that morning.

Catching Up

I took these photos about two weeks ago and meant to post them at that time. So here is the last remnant of color in my garden. I have been enjoying the dichotomy of the coolness of fall making its way in and the color of summer hanging on in my yard.

I planted zinnia's early in the summer season, anticipating lots of flowers for cutting and displaying on my dining room table, but the seed just wouldn't take. I made one last effort at the tail end of summer, throwing a couple packets of seed down and here's what I got.

I bought several packets of sunflower seeds to plant in a row in the front yard. I don't know what happened, in all my yard working days I NEVER opened those packets of seeds. But God graced me with two spontaneous sunflowers just where I intended to plant my own. Hmmm, He does know what we want!

This is a scraggly old rose bush in the front, and I have another in the back. I have a plan for a space in the back yard to begin a rose garden. Mario even dug out the weeds and began preparing it for me, but I never got around to it. Another plan that will be saved for later. (I have a lot of plans...poor Mario)

Horseback Riding Hurts My Hiney!

Today the girls and I went horseback riding with our young women youth group at church. It was a long ride, and my bum hurt the second I sat on that saddle. (I won't disclose how difficult it was to get up on the saddle in the first place!) It was the most beautiful fall day in the mountains! The sky was blue, the air was cool and we all came home with pink cheeks. All of the girls loved it!

Here are a few pictures of ME and MY girls...

I love my girls!

Girlfriends....that is!

Who else but your girlfriends
would encourage you to tackle a project that seemed too big to do on your own?

Who else but your girlfriends
would show up on your doorstep, ready to work, and stay until the job is finished?

My girlfriends did just that today!

We removed the carpet and padding in the living room (hopefully it will be recycled and put to good use in the girls room VERY SOON) and exposed the hardwood floors that were in pretty good darn sharp, except for one spot. We removed every staple that held down the padding (thankfully it wasn't glued down like Mario thought it might be) and pried the tack strips up.

Oh, and put everything back where it belongs!

When all was done we were pretty beat!

Thanks girls, it was fun!