Family, Autumn, and a Park

This year, we were blessed by a friend who gifted us his time and talents for a family photo shoot in the park. We had a great time while we captured a few moments in time. We are thankful for our friend's generous gift. Many thanks to you, ZachRicky! (there's a story behind that nickname--a story for another time, maybe). :-) Thank you MUCH Zach!

Teen Time

We have a new teen in the house! Riley recently had a birthday.

We celebrated him with a day at the range, a special homemade sushi dinner, and an evening of cake and gifts. Riley had a great time with the guys at the range and we learned that he's a pretty good shot!

Riley chose a pretty specific cake--yellow heath toffee cake with fall sprinkles and the traditional candy corn. The cake hit all the high points that Riley was looking forward to and the sushi dinner was a wonderful treat. :-)

We had a great time celebrating Riley and welcoming him into the teen time of his life. Happy Birthday, Riley! We love you!

October Beauty

This month has had so many beautiful weather days to enjoy. Here are just a few of the scenes we've encountered. The church property has these beautiful red trees on the property, and with thier vantage point, they have wonderful sunset views.

We've spent a few nights out on the porch with great weather and no bugs to bother us. Such a pleasure!

We even had a couple of days where the day was perfect for hot air balloon rides and we were able to watch them float over our neighborhood.

The combination of trees in autumn colors and the lake never disappoints!

I'm so thankful we have so much to enjoy surrounding us. Praise God for His creations! :-)

Come in Character

The youth group hosted a game night and asked all of the participants to show up as a game character or a game host. I challenged the children and told them that I was not going to put any money into thier costumes but that they could be resourceful and creative--and they were! Hannah chose to be Miss Scarlett from the game Clue,

Sonja went a bit retro and was an Oregon Trail Pioneer,

while Riley and Connor represented two different characters from the game Polytopia.

They did an excellent job! I was really impressed--especially by the boys' effort. Way to go, gang!

Kind of a Preview

A sweet friend of ours gave us some of his time and talents yesterday so that we could get a few snapshots of our family. The day was threatening rain all day and we were aiming for the golden hour to meet up with him at a local park. We prepped and prayed and the Lord gifted us with no rain, winds that had calmed, beautiful lighting, a joyful photographer and memories made. We chatted and played, Sonja and Riley even danced, while we waited and posed for our photos. Collectively we took candids and came up with some great shots.

I'm excited to see what our friend Ricky has for us after editing. Thank God for memories made and moments captured as well as dear friends to share them with.

Dorito's Demise

Remember how John got a great betta fish gift for his birthday? That's when Dorito came to live with us. He was a really fun gift with unique story. Well, Dorito died this week. Fish don't live that long, but it was still sad. So what do you do with a tank set up that's fairly new, but empty? You get another fish! So off to the pet store I went for a new resident. When we arrived, the girls and I saw some great choices, and we went home with a beautiful blue crowntail betta we had named Cool Ranch (AKA Mr Cool) to stick with the chip theme.

We excitedly took him home and introduced him to John and we put his plastic bag into the tank for acclimation. Not long after, Sonja reported that Mr Cool was floating upside down. :-( Distressed, I called the shop which graciously told me that stress will occassionally do that to fish and they told me to come back for another. So, Sonja and I packed up Cool Ranch and went back to the store. Once there, we traded him in for another betta. This time a Dragon Scale Crowntail.

He's a little harder to fit into the chip theme but Nikolas suggested Buffalo Ranch. I'm not sure we've settled yet. We might leave the chip department and move into dinosaurs as the tank is Jurassic themed. If so, I think we'll name him Malcom--after Dr. Ian Malcom, notable for the chaos theory in the Jurassic movie. After all, it was with much chaos that we ended up with him anyway. In the end, our new addition is doing well, and now, we can honestly say we own leopards and a dragon. :-)

Her Rendition

I saw something on Etsy that I wanted to get for the fall season. I showed it to Sonja and she said, "I gotcha".

She took one of the pumpkins we had purchased and disappeared into the office. A while later, she emerged with a great replica of the art I was eyeing! Sonja did a fabulous job!

Too bad it's on a pumpkin that will rot. I'll have to get a plastic pumpkin and have her do it again. :-) Great job Sonja!