"Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower."

I love this time of year, like really, really love it!  Pumpkins, mums, boots, fall leaves, kids in Halloween costumes, frost and football season all make me very, very happy!  

I always want it to last a little longer than it does.  

But it's easier to let go of knowing that the holidays are coming soon after!  We have enjoyed the weather, football, tailgating and being settled in our house.  We have lots of projects we want to do still, but nothing that can't wait a little longer.  Here's a few pictures from the past several weekends!

Our porch!  My mums aren't that great looking, but they have been through rounds of being watered, and then forgotten.  That's the kind of gardener I am...:)

A craft I did at work with some of my kiddos...we had fun picking the leaves...which ALL came from the same tree- using describing words, talking about seasons of the year, and parts of a tree!  I loved how colorful the leaves were...probably more than my kids did.  

 Hadleigh and I relaxing while tailgating!

Myself, Carmen and Kara wearing our matching Halloween shirts! :)

Uncle Bryan and Riley relaxing a couple of weekend ago when he was here!

Carmel apple that Riley and I made when he and Hadleigh were here!  Notice the snazzy Toy Story plate! :)

Haddie and Mamaw!

Sunrise this week as I was leaving for work.  

GIANT pumpkin at Bellagio!  I LOVED this.  

"Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an 

oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all."

One year!

Bryan and I celebrated our one year anniversary this past weekend.  We had a weekend in Little Rock planned, and at the last minute Bryan booked a trip to Vegas.  SURPRISE!  I'm not great with big surprises, but I recovered and we had such a fun weekend.  We ran into some of our friends in the parking lot of the airport (gotta love a small airport)...and found out they were going to Vegas as well.  So it was nice to have them to hang out with, especially during the almost 9 hours we waited on an airplane that worked.  (I really feel like I have met my quota for amount of time spent in an airport this year)  And, don't get me wrong, I'm glad we flew in one with all the equipment working properly...but sending a new plane a little earlier in the day would have been good.  Just in case you want to know, it was Allegiant airlines...not that I'm upset with them or anything.....


In a year, we have definitely both learned more about ourselves and each other.  Sharing a checking account with someone just adds a whole new element to a relationship! :)  And just when I think I am getting him figured out, he'll throw me for a loop.  But isn't that what marriage is all about, spending a lifetime figuring each other out?  


And now that we have been married a year, I am POSITIVE it won't be as easy to avoid the "when are you having kids?" question.  When you haven't even been married a year, there's not nearly as much pressure.  And my current answer is: we don't know yet.....when we feel led that it's the right time for us to add to our family, Lord willing, we will.  But, at this moment we are content with our foot loose and fancy free lifestyle.  It seems that every season in life, comes and goes so quickly, I want to enjoy this one while we can. 


We do have one pet, The Goldfish.  The Goldfish been around since my college days.  He had a sister, but she passed on.  Yes, he survived a month in my apartment on a 10 day feeder.  Yes, he survived a move across the state in a tupperware container. And yes, he's the most low maintenance/low cost pet you can possibly have!  

And speaking of pets, we have had a little stray pup running around our neighborhood....he's tiny and apparently spent the night on our porch behind my mums and pumpkins.  Sad stuff.  I am going to put a blanket out tonight and some food and see if he turns up in the morning.  We have discussed getting a dog, but we are gone SO much....we would either drive my mother nuts or have a GIANT bill at the dog boarders.  So we'll see what happens in the dog department this next year.  If one lands on our porch, I guess we'll know our answer.  We both love dogs, but Bryan is allergic...so it will have to be just the right dog for us. 

We can't wait to see what the next year brings!  I am so thankful to have such a good husband.  

I know a few of you are wondering if we survived! Good news.....

We did, and I lived to blog about it.  :)  Bryan and I kept Riley AND Hadleigh this weekend!  We had SO much fun!  We did have some help from my mom, Hadleigh stayed the night at her house...we thought she would sleep better that way.  So we dropped her off before bed, and picked her up the next morning.

We have been talking about getting Riley and Hadleigh on the same weekend for quite some time now.  Bryan had to work out of town this past week, and was going to be passing by Searcy on his way home on Friday afternoon...so it turned into the perfect opportunity to pick up Riley.  I went and picked my Haddie up from daycare Friday afternoon, and the fun began!

I will proudly say that everyone had fun, slept, ate pretty well, took a nap on Saturday afternoon...and had no major injuries!  That's all an Aunt and Uncle can hope for! :)  We managed to blow bubbles, go to Chuck E Cheese, Braum's, Miracle League, Pumpkin Patch, Chick-Fil-A, Shogun's and Orange Mango!  Yes, we had ice cream both Friday and Saturday night.  Riley likes orange ice cream, Hadleigh likes "mink" (pink) ice cream.  Her aunt Ahmi likes "mink ice cream" too so that worked out well.  Here are some picture from our weekend!

Bubbles in the driveway!  This is a great picture of Riley....running.  Because that's what he does best!

She loved the bubbles!

Slide at Chuck E. Cheese 

 She really liked the "moneys" you put into the machines!  Not really the game so much...

Renalli's pumpkin patch in Tontitown!  It was great, and we were the ONLY people there!  

 Funny face she is making.  

 He organized all the pumpkins for them into piles by size and color.  

 The quote for this picture is "I get three pumpkins because I'm three, and Hadleigh gets two pumpkins because she is two."  Well, of course! :)

Her two pumpkins! 

Ghosts! 

 They didn't really want pictures, they just wanted to run around.  

And pull the wagon!

Little Miss and her pumpkin, that she traded in for two small pumpkins!

Cuteness!

Going to pay for our pumpkins! 

Waiting while "Uncle By-an" paid.  

 Ahh, home snuggled in watching Toy Story before a good nap on Saturday afternoon!

Playing musical chopsticks at Shogun's!

 We liked the soup!  

And we had some hand holding!  :)

We sure love these two kids!  They are such sweet, funny, good kids!  So proud to be their Aunt and Uncle!  

Hadleigh's Two!

Here's our birthday pics!

October 2008

October 2009

October 2010

My sweet girl turned two yesterday!  Her "wooo pig sooie" birthday party was this afternoon and Bryan and I drove down this morning to see the birthday girl and spend some time with her before the partying this afternoon.

She had a big crowd coming to her party, so we gave her our gifts early.  We got her some new boots and a jewelry box with her name on it, she loved it.  She would open the lid and watch the ballerina spin and listen to the music repeatedly.  It was so cute!  We then of course had to load it up with her necklaces, pink ring and silly bands!  She needed to get a good nap in before the party so we laid down in her new "big girl bed" and read "The Little Engine that Could" (twice) before she took her nap.  I loved having some quiet snuggle time with my girl.

jewelry box! aka "haddie's box"

going to put our new jewelry box in her room

hadleigh and her mamaw and mimi!

This was Hadleigh's "smash cake" I made for her...the hog was centered...but it got hot and slid to the edge while we were in the car.  oops.  

 had and grandad

 had and her papa

Granny and Hadleigh 

the biggest hog cake I have ever seen!

 she "oooh" and "awwed" over every single thing she got.  so sweet!

eating her cake!

I loved this...

Rescuing Yulia....

The same blog that helped Yuri and Wade get adopted is now campaigning to save this little sweet heart.  I feel like I have a pretty good idea of the 5 people who look at my blog :)...but just in case God sends the right person, randomly along, to my page I couldn't help but pass this information along.  
We met Yulia while in Ukraine in April, and she was one of the kids we scooped out of their beds to just hold for a few minutes.  You can read more about this sweetie and how we can help raise the MONEY that it will cost to adopt this sweet girl here!  She is one that will face moving to an institution, and it's almost certain she won't last long there.  That's a hard sentence to type, but a true sentence.  

Couldn't help but add the picture we have of her.  Makes it seem very real knowing that we have seen her with our own two eyes!   

On a good note....They have already raised around $15,000 of the $25,000 needed for someone to go and bring her home!  That's pretty amazing, and nice to know that her family will have the financial burden lifted so they can focus on just bringing Yulia home home!  I love, love, love seeing people work so hard to bring kids to families and homes that are all the way around the world.  It's a comforting thought to know that God knows every single child in every single bed bed, in every single orphanage around the world.  I am happy that I can do just one small, tiny, tiny, tiny thing by posting her information on the blog.  Please join me in praying for Yulia and her journey to finding a family.    

Sunday Afternoon Fun!

We went and rode 4-wheelers Sunday afternoon.  We started at my Ma's and then ventured over to check out JB/BW's hunting spots.  They hunt very near my Grandparent's farm.  It was nice to spend an afternoon outside!  It was a little hot, but still very fun.  I loved riding 4wheelers and being at my Ma and Papa's while I was growing up, it's so nice to spend time there.  We packed a cooler with some leftover pizza and waters and ate in the great outdoors.  It took about 10 minutes of riding before we stopped and Bryan ate the first piece of pizza.  I had an encounter with seed ticks and Kati came inches from stepping on a snake....it was about all the excitement we could stand.  

Loading up and heading out!

Bryan and I 

 Bullington's!

Two of the best parts of the day I didn't take a picture of.  The first was, Kati hopping down the trail behind the 4-wheeler in rubber knee high boots and her helmet.  She really looked like a space alien.  It makes me laugh just thinking about it.    And I love anything that makes me laugh repeatedly when I think about it! :)  The second was ending the afternoon with homemade apple cobbler at my Ma's.  I hope to be half the cook/baker she and the other ladies in my family are!