What's Up?

Is it just me, or is life racing by at a thrill ride pace? Sometimes I look at my calendar and wonder where some of the days have gone? If life continues on at this ridiculously fast speed, I am going to be an old lady in a rocking chair before I know it! Somebody slow things down! Life has been really good lately, I have had some really happy, sweet, moments. I try to see the good things in life, even when I have hard things in my life. But I have always, always, been greatly blessed even in the hard times, and I sure am grateful. 

Let's get right down to the pictures of what is up around here. 

We went to see the Boise Balloon Classic. We drove up the hillside, and watched them all rise from afar. It was a pretty cool perspective. But we wanted to get closer. 

 Look how awesome!

 Such a cool view!

 We drove down closer to the park they launched from.



The kids loved it! And so did I!

One day I walked in the door to find Sammi eating Nutella straight out of the Costco bulk jars. I thought it was funny, so I took a picture. I am not a huge Nutella fan, but Sammi loves it.

 I often stop at the church parking lot when I run, then I do lunges. It feels good.

 I have been going to the temple at least once a week. It has been so good for my soul. I am so grateful to be able to go and have time to sit, and reflect on life at a Heavenly level.

 The leaves are changing! Hooray!

I sometimes wear out the heels of my running shoes, creating a hole, and blisters. I have discovered that Duct tape works fantastically to solve the problem if the rest of the shoes are still in good shape. Is it pretty? Nope. Can I still run? Yep! :)

I let the boys throw random seeds in the garden this year, and this is what we have... loads of vines. Pumpkins, squash, and other random things.

We took out our Fall decor. I almost love Autumn decorations as much as Christmas, almost. Christmas is still the very best! But I love the colors of Autumn, and as you know, I adore my pumpkins!

I know it is crazy, but my kids love it so much. Why not make the house full of magic? Why not create a fantastic place, with memories for my family to enjoy! People either think I am crazy, or crazy-awesome. I am OK with both. ;)

Sammi's choir teacher said he wished he had a window in the choir room, he wished he could see mountains. So, Sammi being who she is... she painted him some mountains.

 I love Autumn! Oh and I love that picture of Jesus too, it is one of my favorites.

 The weather is cooling down, and it is time to turn the fireplace on.

 I just try to make our home nice and cozy. Sometimes I just like to sit in this room and ponder and enjoy the beauty around me.

 Sammi loves her Henry. Henry loves his Sammi.

 We came across this guy while running by the river. He just stood there and stared at us.

 I feel so blessed to live where we do.

 Sammi used some of her painting skills to paint a choir table.

William loves to spend his time building Legos. He wanted to show this to grandma, what do you think, grandma? ;)

 The Autumn tree.

Sometimes I can drift into a kind of magic land in my mind. I was just laying on the couch at night, listening to calming jazz music, while staring at this picture. The reflections from the Christmas lights created imagery on the picture, that made it look like a magical city in the mountains. I had Henry come and lay by me, and describe to me what he saw in the picture. He went into great detail about the city, and what was happening in all of the lit up buildings. It was one of those sweet moments that I love. Sometimes if I just stop and slow down, I can see the wonder that is all around me, even in the most simple of things. (The picture below hardly does justice to what we saw in real life.)

Sammi left her lights on in her car, and so her battery died. I love that I have boys who are ready to jump into action. I am also really, really, grateful for youtube videos that can tell us how to do everything!

The other day when I was at the temple, I prayed that I would see a friendly, familiar, face. Right as I walked through the doors, I heard my name. I saw a women who looked a little familiar. She said she follows my blog, and was the girl who ran into me at Disneyland a few years ago! Her name is Holly. I don't know her from anywhere, but what are the odds of running into Holly twice at really random places?! Amazing! Hello to my new friend Holly! :) You were the answer to my prayer that day!

Daniel made a gift for one of his friends (a girl), for her birthday. She loves Phantom, and so he painted it for her. (This is not the completed product, he added words too.) I think that is so sweet that he would hand make a gift like that, and she sure loved it.

This house though... oh man! I ran by it the other day and tried not to be jealous. Not of the house, look at those PUMPKINS!!!!!??? (The house is pretty sweet too.)

Sometimes life is just messy. Daniel broke off a piece of his molar while he was at Scout camp. He bit into a frozen Skittle, and that was that, the damage was done. We just got him into the dentist, and $1800.00, and a Root Canal later... Ouch! Dang Skittles! And I was the one who bought them for him! Ha! This has been a three-stage dentist trip thing for him. Sometimes life just involves ridiculous moments, where Skittles win the battle. There are moments in life where all you can do is just go, suffer, pay for it, and move on.

However, we did find a super awesome new dentist. We have been so happy with their service, especially compared to where we were going. The last time I was at the other dentist's office, the dentist walked into the room eating a graham cracker, right before performing a procedure! It seemed really strange to me, and I didn't like the general feeling or service there, but this new one has been great! So, even though it was a painful experience in some ways, at least we found a fantastic new place to go to take care of our mouths!

 Things are growing in our garden!

 Look! My pumpkin is turning orange! Hooray!

 I love my home. My happy place.

 I went to the store and I shrieked with joy when I saw that pumpkins are there!

The other day, I was having a bit of sadness and confusion over something, and my ministering sister randomly showed up with some beautiful flowers. Her timing was really phenomenal, and I am so grateful that God is in the details of our lives.