The end of November

Today is Ryan and Sara's little girls first birthday....with all they have been through I decided to call Sara and see if she was planning a party. She wasn't feeling up to doing much so I offered to make the cake...at least for a few pictures! She was greatful and we had so much fun. She told me that Alivia likes animals so this is the cake we came up with!.....kitty, puppy, chicks, sheep, and a few pigs! The kids helped me decorate it after church. Happy birthday Alivia!
As a side note...please keep this family in your prayers. They are going through so much with Coleson right now...it overwhelms me to think about how hard this must be one them! Then we went to mom and dad's for lunch and a family photoshoot. She wanted a new picture for her Christmas card that showed the baby so here it is....pretty good really considering all the small munchkins....I only took 5 or 6 shots too!

Happy Thanksgiving!

So much to be greatful for.....Our pastor had the best prayer on Wednesday night about all the things we have.....it was very long as you can imagine. We are so blessed! Often I find myself wondering why...why me? Why do I get to live such a priviledged life?

One of the best parts of Thanksgiving this year was a book of beautiful Psalms Taylor wrote in her 5th grade class...

Why Praise the Lord
Praise the Lord for books and learning
Praise Him for protecting me and keeping me safe
Praise Him for my house, family, and friends
Praise the Lord for everything He has done for us
He has given us shelter from the cold
He has given us clean water and good food that can't make us sick
He has blessed us greatly
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord for giving us a second chance
Praise Him for always loving us
Praise Him for sending His son for us
Praise the Lord for pets
Praise the Lord for all the animals that walk on land
Praise Him for creation
Praise the Lord for everything that walks on land
Praise the Lord for everything that swims in the seas
Praise the Lord!

My Psalm of Trust
Lord I will always trust you
I will trust you in the hard times
You are a powerful God
You are the ruler of all the animals on land
all the animals of the sea
and all the beasts of the earth
You are the ruler of all the earth
trust in the Lord of He is good
the Lord will always be there when you need Him
He will always love you
if the Lord kept a list of sins
I would surly be dead,
but the Lord is graceful and kind
He will keep forgiving you
No matter how many times you sin the Lord will always forgive you
Trust the Lord your God with all your heart, sould, mind, and strength

And to that I say AMEN!

My mom is an amazing host...she made 3 pies this year....pecan, pumpkin, cherry...of course Micah and Owen chose a dilly bar instead...silly boys!

Sam & Jack...such nice kids...well done Keith & Cindy!

Careful with the whipcream machine!

8 weeks old today! my sweet little niece....I can't wait for my new flash to come....using lamps just doesn't cut it...next I want one of those umbrella's and a stand and maybe a new lens!-Ha...the list just keeps getting longer the more I learn!

My precious nephew and niece

a few fun pages

A preview of my mom's book

This was a fun project once we got the photo's all scanned in. Jeannie and I spent hours scanning! Here are a few of the pages we did....they are all very basic since this book had to be made in a matter of a few weeks....but it turned out as a nice surprise even so!

The Ultimate Surprise

We actually did it! We surprise mom with a wonderful night to celebrate her 60th birthday! We stayed at the Hearthbeckon.....a wonderful home in Stanwood. It was a perfect night filled will all of her favorite things...including her sisters, nieces, daughter, daughter-in-law, and granddaughters. It was such a reward to pull this party together as it has been in the planning for nearly 10 months. I made a book that Jeannie and I scanned pictures for.....I will post some of those pages next! What a riot!

Fall Festival

Fall Festival was a certain success. It was a lot of fun to work at it as a team this year.

Yep...that's Taylor!

Scary I know...she was so excited to pretend to be the bride....I think it was because of all the talk with Jared & Natalie's wedding...or should I say...I hope that is why she wanted to be the bride :-)

Micah was a power ranger even though he has never seen the show...we couldn't find the mask and I was needing to get to church so too bad for tonight!

Oh Hailey...you are such a sweet princess! It felt very odd to me to see you dressed up as a bride because I know that in the snap of my finger you will be that grown up young woman....just stay small for a while for mama's sake okay?

A beautiful Sunrise

Seriously...I didn't edit these at all...Thank you God for this beautiful morning!