Visit with the Macfadyens

Last weekend I was so excited to have my family come and stay, even if it was for just one short night. They arrived on Friday night at about 10pm and had to leave by 7pm on Saturday, and the time just flew by as it always does when we're together. It was so nice to see them again though and to get to celebrate Dad's birthday. I think the family picture is the first one since our weddings of all of us together! We always forget to take one. But this time we remembered and it only took about 20 minutes to get a good one!

Dad with the cake Jo made him.

Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters...

The Macfadyen/Hunt/Bolton Clan!

A Night Out

Wednesday evening seemed like it was going to be perfect weather for a trip with friends out to a local church to do some "Trunk or Treating"...at least, we hoped it wasn't like last year when we froze our toes off! In all fairness, it was much nicer this year, even though it did rain towards the end of the night. At least it wasn't frigid!

We had a lovely time with our friends Josh and Tamara and their three adorable girls. After dinner, we all sat around watching Josh get his make-up on for the evening...it was so funny, Josh and Tamara both wore shirts that said "CEILING" on them, and they had pom poms and went around cheering, "Yay, ceilings!"...get it? They were CEILING FANS! I think the best part was when people totally didn't get it and they would just give them this really funny look!

Emma, Josie and Addie had some great costumes. Emma was a cowgirl, Josie was a rooster (although every time someone asked her what she was, she shouted "cock-a-doodle-doo" which was really funny) and Addie was a goldfish.

Good times were had by all...and when we got home, we got to dip into the candy stash! A perfect way to end the night :)

Josh getting his face done...he scared a few children!

I realized that this is the first picture I had ever taken of me and Tamara together! That's crazy!

Josie was pretty worn out by the time we got back.

Brad and I right before we got to enjoy some hot chocolate and donuts...look how happy we are!

Addie

Happy Birthday, Emma!

I can't believe it has been a year since Emma was born! Today our little niece is celebrating her first birthday. We are looking forward to going to a birthday party for her on Saturday. It seems like just yesterday that she was so teeny tiny, and now she is crawling everywhere and exploring everything in sight! It was hard to get some updated pictures of her because she is so quick! But the last two pictures are from the other night when my sister-in-law Amanda brought her over for a little visit. What a cutie!

Okay, did anyone see the sky last night? It was amazing! I looked out the front window and my jaw dropped. I went outside and saw the pink/blue colored sky, and started taking pictures. Then I turned around, and behind me the sky was orange! It was incredible!












This verse just kept running through my head:
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands." Psalm 19:1

On another note altogether...I was getting the pictures off my camera last night and found these funny ones that I took a few days ago. Brad was taking Sadie out to his parents because we were having the youth group over to our house and she would have just barked the whole time. So I helped Brad load her in the car, and as he pulled out, she just looked at me out the front window, and looked so forlorn (well, she is a basset hound, so she always looks pretty sad!)

Beauty Everywhere

After living in Colorado for a year (a while ago), I must admit that I have become a little bit of a scenery snob. I often think that unless there are towering mountains with beautiful rivers running through valleys surrounded by snowcapped peaks, it is not truly beautiful. Obviously, this is crazy, and there is beauty throughout all of God's creation...I sometimes just fail to see it.

The other morning, I arrived at work at about 8:20am. As I turned down the street that the church was on, all I could see was fog! It was weird because it hadn't been foggy at all the rest of the way to work. When I got out of the truck, I turned to close the door, and across the parking lot I saw the most beautiful scene...the sun was shining through the trees and because of the fog it was just amazing. Fortunately, I had the new church camera with me, and was able to snap a few pictures. It does not do it justice though, and I can't seem to quite put it into words.

Flavor Fruit Farms

I look forward to this time of year so much! As soon as the end of summer draws near, I start checking the trees (to see if the leaves are changing) and sniffing the air (to see if I can smell Fall yet). Now, this is a hotly debated issue - does Fall have a smell? I welcome your input on this controversial subject! Also, I had to change my layout to reflect this fabulous season!

Well, as soon as I smell Fall (which I did!), I anxious await our first trip to Flavor Fruit Farms and any other Harvest type things. I love the colors, and the crisp air, and the donuts and cider...I just love it! Last weekend, we were finally able to make our trip with our good friends, the Greens. We love to go and eat tons of sugary donuts and drink fresh cider...it's the best!

An added bonus this year was that I got to see an ELEPHANT! I'm not sure why exactly, but I think elephants are so cool! We pulled up, and saw that there were elephant rides, and the three girls and I gasped SO loud! It was really funny. But it cost $5 a person to ride and mostly kids were going on, so I just watched for a while.

Such a fun day!

Chad and Rachel and their girls (Faith, Grace, and Hope)

This is one of the only pictures of me with my eyes OPEN! I kept squinting too much!

I'll have to work on that for future pictures :)