memories

So much love...
no end of giving...
open arms welcomed everyone who entered home...
home cooked food to fill all bellies...
so much love...
a laugh that was contagious...
calm, peaceful spirit...
genuine care about each person's life...
so much love...
letters, so good about sending letters...
the perfect lap to lay my head on...
admirable faith...
just so much love...
valued each and every family member...
an inner joy that radiated outward...
such a strong woman...
so much love...


Memories...on this day, that is what I treasure the most. Each one of these memories is a blessing. The love she shared I will never forget. She is at home in heaven, but her life here on earth will not be forgotten. Miss you Grandma, I miss you very much.

Costumes for all?!?

Although halloween isn't exactly a time that we "celebrate" necessarily...it was pretty fun to go to Hesston to wait for three little trick-or-treater's in particular. We stopped at our neighbors house first to see little Liam (5 months old) dressed up like a pea pod (I forgot to get him a treat...baby food). Then we ate supper at Mom and Dad Sweigart's and spent the evening visiting..and bringing out the costumes we used from back in the day! The kitty mask is what I wore when I was 3 years old...only 22 years ago!

And Ben thought I looked scary in the kitty mask!!! He was able to create his own scariness on his own :). Oh, and no these were not the three trick-or-treater's I was talking about. Those three were MUCH cuter.

Kade was Bob the tomato (Veggie Tales)

Ava was Tinkerbell


Maddox was Larry Boy (Veggie Tales)

Hardly believable!

Just had to put a picture of the price of gas, because I can hardly believe its going to stay like this...although I can hardly believe it actually got this low after being nearly 4 dollars/gallon a few weeks ago!!!

random recent pictures

I realized I didn't have a recent picture of our house, since the changes over the summer. And the other ones I just thought were cute.

Ahh, it is fall...

This last weekend, we went to Hesston for a pumpkin carving party at Mom and Dad Sweigart's. It was a good time, this time Ben and I made a tractor. There was a cat (Brent and Alyssa) two funny faces (Mom and Ava..and Dad and Maddox/Ava) and a deer (Mitch..Maddox kinda lost interest immediately after seeing what it involved). After the pumpkins were finished, we had homemade pizza! It definately felt like fall when we were leaving...BRRR! I think that was the first night it was below freezing this season. Right now, it feels quite chilly...I'm drinking some coffee with the electric heater on, and a woodwick candle burning (my pretend fire place)...probably the real heater will have to go on this week sometime. This is my favorite time of year...feels so cozy, all the fall smells, even the football (ask Ben, I watched quite a bit with him on Saturday)...and of course being thankful for all the wonderful things we are blessed with!

Our own fall festivities!! (day 5:part 2)

Carissa had a whole evening of events planned..Darren and Dan (a friend of hers, who I actually went to HC with as well) joined us. We ate homemade pizza and then proceeded to the pumpkin carving!! Ben and I were together, Darren and Jenny, and Carissa and Dan. It was quite the event. Removing the guts from the pumpkin, coming up with a design, drawing it out, then cutting it out. We all did a pretty amazing job. To finish off the night, we had hot apple cider and caramel apples! Quite the home fall festival it was.

We had a good time visiting Carissa, and all the activities we did as well. We arrived safely home on Sunday night around 10:30.

Fall Festivals and more...(day 5: part 1)

Saturday was full of activities. The three of us drove out to the apple farm we went to last year. It was a bit different this year, but still very enjoyable. We ate apple donuts and rode on a hay rack ride through the apple trees.

Then we stopped in a small town, to go to a fall festival...the main street was full of little craft vendors and such. We stopped to eat popoosa's (a central america meal), which was pretty good...its similar to a quesadilla. In the afternoon, the three of us and Jenny (one of Carissa's roommate's) went golfing! It was a par 3 course, which is like real golf but on a much smaller scale. I think I'm going to go ahead and say none of us were great, but we all had a great time. I'm not exactly gifted in controlling the ball, or controlling my strength...which was a bad combination with a good sized creek nearby. Not to worry, I wasn't the only one, Carissa had the same problem. We found other balls to use, and proceeded with our "intense" game.