Happy Halloween

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE! May you be showered with sugary treats and not too many scares!

Love to all,

Mandy

The Lunch Punch

Every mom needs one of these! So cool!
I wonder what Ken would do if I did this to his sandwiches... I know it would be smile-worthy, at least! :)~

Another Jam-Packed Weekend

I took this picture because I just couldn't resist sharing what we found! We picked this little item up for fun... isn't it adorable!! Couldn't pass it up... someday when we get to have a little one, they will get to wear this little snazzy outfit since their dad graduated with both his undergrad and masters degrees from their college of business. He/she will be a proud baby, just like I am a proud wifey!

Well, here are some pics from this past weekend. It was a jam-packed one!

The game started out quite good, but ended with a tragic loss. The quarterback, Potts, started the game and was making lots of mistakes and the crowd-- his own school mates-- started chanting, "Take Potts Out! Take Potts Out!"... I felt so bad for him. I told Ken that I hoped his parents weren't there to watch/hear that... Poor guy! I bet Monday was a really long day for him!

Don't you just love our elders? He is so cute! I wanted to talk to him, (and steal a nacho), but I did neither. :)

Candace, my sis-in-law, had pneumonia in a lung and still made it out to the game with us. Serious school spirit this girl has! We took this pic for you, Kim!

Harry from Dumb and Dumber, the movie, was there.

My love and me. This was when Tech wasn't getting stomped on. We were still smiling.

We got to upgrade our season tickets this year and also bought two extras so now we are down close to the field and get to bring fun people like Candace and Chase with us! Despite the loss, it was a really great time!

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After the Tech game, Ken and I flew to Houston for a Houston Texas game. One of his great friends and his sweet wife invited us. There we all stuffed our faces with all sorts of catered foods and crazy amounts of ice cream and brownies. Another football game a day later... couldn't do it if I didn't have such great people around me. :)

The massive flag was held by war vets.

Sorry my video is sideways... I only took my itty bitty point-and-shoot to the games. This is a video of the game ball being parachuted in via women military soldiers! It was so cool. Three of them jumped from helicopters way up there and strategically navigated their way down into the hole in the stadium roof. It was quite windy and VERY impressive!

The Game Ball, via parachute and soldier.

What a fun moment- both President George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush were there to do the coin toss. My mom and I love us some Georgies! One of their suites were just a couple doors down from where we were, but no joy on seeing them. Although I have never met either one, they are such genuine good, Godly men and I don't care what negativity people will harp on, they both did so many amazing things for our country!

Starting the game! Pretty cool

Another adventurous weekend for us. We hope to get to have some "home time" soon. We miss the comforts of our own space and all three of our dog sons. There is never anything like home. :)

Love to all,

Mandy

Sweet Mattie-girl

We had an accident in the family last weekend and lost Mattie. She was run over and it was pretty traumatic. This was Ken's parents' sweet dog. She was one of God's great loving creatures that brought us all so much joy. I haven't told Palmer yet. She was his best friend. Red, their bloodhound isn't handling it too well, either. He just hangs his head and won't eat.

Here is a video a friend sent me last week that I thought was appropriate. At the start of it, I thought it would be cheesy with the singing and all, but it turned out the words are wonderful and I believe what is says whole heartily.

I can't imagine the hurt they have right now missing her so much. We consider our animals our family and it is so sad to have lost a member. Please be in prayer for comfort and peace for my mom and dad-in-law. Mattie was such a special girl and they are missing her tremendously.

She had beautiful chocolate drop brown eyes. Sweet Mattie-girl.

Mattie with cousin Brock. Wasn't she beautiful?

Mattie enjoying a sunset.

Together at Palmer's 5th birthday party.

Lots of love,

M

Elk Mania

I wanted to show all of you my hubby's elk he got! I am no hunter enthusiast by no means. I can't step on a spider, I cringe to swat a fly, and let mosquitoes out the window when they get trapped in the car. I am an animal lover and don't encourage hunting at all, but it is something my husband and lots of family members love, so I support them with their passions.

Here are two pics of the group he took up to Cotton Mesa Ranch in Colorado for an elk hunt. What a fun time he had and check out this massive rack, and I mean horns! He is on the left.

He keeps telling me that this creature is going to go in our new house... in our someday future baby's room. I keep saying that nothing with eyes will ever get to be hung on our walls to glare at us and scar our children in such a way. His response... "we'll put sunglasses on it."

Enjoy this beautiful upcoming weekend!
Mandy

Palmer Posing as a Snack

Palmer wanted to show you how big his brothers' food bowls are now. We had to upgrade the size... again for the third time.


The family is getting along great! Izzak and Riggs are each at 60+ pounds and about 4 1/2 months old. Some mornings we greet them and we'll say, "Wow- Riggs, you grew a couple inches last night!" It has been so much fun having them with us. Busy, challenging but FUN! Palmer is still at his small 15 pounds and has his same short fuzzy 6 inch legs, but has grown in confidence as big as Riggs and Izzak!

Enjoy the weekend!
M

To The Burg!

Ok, three posts in two days... I'm telling you, we've had so much going on! :) Makes life so much fun!

We recently had a trip to Fredericksburg, Texas, to visit my parents and almost all my siblings, their spouses, our nieces and nephews were there. It was a great time! My parents did an acorn count. They filled a jar up with them and then had everyone fill out a sheet guessing the number in the jar and my sis, Jen, guessed on the spot right when the announcement was being done- and she WON! Way to go, Jen! My parents are building a home there, they are retiring there, and it has come so far! My mom has researched and researched and will have made this home look like a historical land mark. She has designed it to look as if it has been there for a hundred years and the detail is enormous and makes my brain crazy thinking about it all. It will have the old-time push button light switches and all. It is amazing! My sis, mom and me chose every paint color, for the entire house and it will be gorgeous! The best part about the weekend was all the laughter we shared. As we all get older we seem to just keep getting closer and it is just a wonderful feeling. I am the baby of eight children and wish all of us lived in the same town. We are spread around the nation and I wish we got to spend much more time together. I may try and do a family reunion after we get into our new home. Wouldn't that be fun?? I think it's past due, and I think 250 acres would be plenty of space for our enormous family... hopefully. :) Back to the weekend, my mom bought a tether ball game and oh my goodness, what a hilarious game! The kids barely played with it, but the men--- oh the men had a great tournament. My face was hurting afterwards from laughing so much at them. They were so serious and competitive--- at TETHER BALL! Oh- what memories! ...and my sister in the background just kept saying, "yea- there is just no way to look cool playing that game..." because it kind of makes you spazzy chasing that ball on a string- jumping, ducking, swinging, kicking, falling, yelling- and the facial expressions of the over-exertion from a bunch of grown men's' will to win.... what a blast! My sis-in-law, Amy, was the only brave woman to take one of them on and she put up a great fight! The kids had a Halloween pinata and my mom did the bandanna over the eyes and even spun them around three times before they could attempt to hit it... I guess I need to wikipedia "pinata hitting" because I was shocked that not only could they not see but you have to make them dizzy, too! Surprisingly they all hit it. Kiddos' equilibrium must be more stable that ours at older ages. I'd have run into the tree it was hung from had I tried. There is no way I could have blindly and stumbling dizzily hit that two foot by two foot object. People would have been running away screaming. We enjoyed two nights of campfires because it was pretty cold outside and the second night their nice neighbor came over and played his guitar and even sang for us. The majority of the time he was singing and playing my dad and brother were engulfed in trying to get pictures of the fire- it had a mysterious green streak every now and then probably from something someone threw in to watch burn. I ended up with tons of pics of the fire itself, but never anything green. It was wonderful watching all the children play. My dad, Grandpa Bud, camped out in the house with one of my nieces and nephews and they claimed they froze. The house has walls but is not completely shut in yet. Grandpa Bud wins the bravest award because he was out in the open with all the critters and cold sleeping in a sleeping bag on a concrete floor. Have I mentioned how much we love where we stayed? :) Ken and I don't mind camping every now and then, but if we have a choice to have a warm bed we jump at it!

The view from the window on the plane on the way there. Ken took this shot.

Dean and little Nathaniel. He is a very loving father.

Littel Caden. He was a man on a mission the entire trip, building fires, patroling on his four wheeler, always had a project.

My mom's shirt. They have two weenies- Sorella and Annie.

My sis taking a break in the beautiful weather.

Lots of relaxing going on! My nephew, Corbin, and Niece, Marin.

Marin and Corbin contemplating life, I'm sure.

Caden and his tiny four wheeler.

Stopping to chit-chat.

Collin was the oldest kiddo and he ended up busting the pinata, dizzy and all.

Brother's, Nick and Jason, hard core game going on.

Jason and Dean- look at that jump-shot!

I'm telling you, it was brutal!

But so much fun!

Sis-in-law, Amy playin volleyball with nieces, Jordan and Chandler. It was such a beautiful day Saturday!

THE fire.

Sweet Annie.

All-in-all, Grammie's and Grandpa Bud's was so much fun! Love you all!

M

WE HAVE FRAMED WALLS!

Hello, again. I have so many exciting things happening right now. Below are some fun pics of the house progress and some others as well. Enjoy!

His dad was outside looking at the backhoe and Palmer just kept his eye on him wondering when he was coming back. He loves his daddy!

We went out to the land after eating one day and I did not have the proper shoes... an obviously incredibly muddy day, my shoes kept sticking in it so I just stepped out of them and let that squishy mud go right between my toes. :) I actually left that day and walked all the way back to the car, forgetting my shoes. We found them the next time we went out there.... still stuck.

My muddy feet with a touch of poison ivy. That ivy and me do NOT get along.

Palmer's feet were muddy next to mine. :)

He was investigating and inspecting all the trenches that day-- making sure it was all up to par. He must have stood on that exact mound five times that day. Maybe he was playing King of the hill by himself. :)

Ken and Danny visited the fish man at Tractor Supply and bought over 200 fish to put into Palmer's Pond. So, now we have to feed them... diet food?? That is the only fish food at Tractor Supply. Those fishies can either like it or like it.

Rings from the fishies eating.

A super stormy night. We have had so much rain. This was the sky where the house is being built. God's artwork, amazing.

...and then there was a break in the rain... and WE GOT TO POUR THE SLAB! Hooray! This was a sheer glorious day! The crew was so fast. We had 38 concrete truck loads and only one got stuck in the mud on the way back to the house... pretty good considering!

While the slab was being poured, this little beauty landed on my shoe. Out there, we are one with nature. :) It's all around us and to see the detail in all the creatures is fascinating.

THEN WE HAD WALLS FRAMED UP! This was another glorious day!

The staircase in the garage leading up to the upper storage level was installed so we went on up! That is my love standing up there... yikes!

The view from above.

Part of the back porch and my love.

The sea of wood-all the interior walls and beginnings of a ceiling are there! Our builder, Brad Morris, and his crews, are doing a fantab job! :)

That should be all for now. Have a great week!

Lots of love,

M