happy halloween

I managed to catch a rather nasty cold this week, so I'm home while everyone else it out trick or treating. I even had a costume ready for tonight...guess I'll have to wear it next year. Of course, cute kids are much more fun to see in costume anyway. So hear ya go.

Yesterday the kids got to dress up for school. Olivia and Isaac are both vampires and Grace is Alice in Wonderland.





Tonight Olivia is trick or treating with friends so I didn't get another picture of her. Here are the other three. Grace is a cat tonight.



And here is my adorable WALKING skeleton boy.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

opinions please

I've been mulling this over for awhile and wondering what you think.

Anyone interested in me doing mini photography sessions? I'm talking like 20 minutes and I'll edit 5-10 pics for $50-75. So you don't get the full 30-50+ photos to pick from, but you get a few good ones and call it a day.

Even if you don't live in the area, I'm interested in your opinion.

But wait there's more....

I've also had some inquiries about buying my fine art photos...(please excuse the explanation) as in non-portraits, things like flowers, landscapes, etc... so I'm also wondering, if you would be interested in me making my fine art photographs for sale in more official way. Thoughts?

Thanks a bunch!

(I'm double posting this over on my photo blog too in hopes of getting more response.)

friends

On Monday, before October turned into winter, Asher I spent the afternoon with Avery and Danielle. The babes played and the mamas talked and talked and talked. Pregnancy. Parenting styles. Food. Health. Church callings. Fashion. It was just what I needed.

I'm so grateful for dear friends. I have been very blessed at all stages of my life with wonderful friends. Friends who inspire me and teach me and love me and make me laugh and share in my joys and sorrows. And the blessings just keep flowing. Since we've moved back here, I've made several new friends who I just love already. I'm a very lucky girl.

To all my friends out there, virtual and otherwise, thank you! You mean the world to me.

vacation pics

Way back in August, we went on a fun vacation with my family to Jackson Hole and Yellowstone. I finally got around to going through the photos and posting about it. To keep my blog more organized, I went ahead and post dated it for August. So if you want to see more pretty pictures Check out my post here!

the perfect breakfast on a morning such as this

The view out my back window this morning...

It hasn't stopped snowing since this was taken either, so now there is even more snow!
On cold mornings there is nothing better than a hot breakfast and we've discovered a new one: steel cut oats! Its possible we are the last to find out about this MUCH better version of oatmeal, but its better late than never right?

I had heard mention here and there that steel cut oats were way better than rolled oats so when we picked up some bulk items at Blue Chip Group, we got some. This week we got them out and have been eating them every morning. We love them!!! The texture is so much better than rolled oatmeal. The only downside is that they do take longer to cook.

For those new to steel cut oats here is what they look like uncooked:


And here they are all cooked up and yummy!

Asher really, really likes them. The first morning we made them he ate three bowls! This morning he was entranced by the big falling snowflakes and enjoyed his breakfast in front of the window.

What's your favorite hot breakfast for chilly fall/winter mornings?

sign of a real man

willing to wear his baby in the moby wrap

this photo is a couple months old
i stumbled upon it the other day

i love these two

15 months old (yesterday)

Our boy is 15 months old and each day he seems less a baby and more a little boy. He is walking but not full-time yet. Each day the ratio of walking to crawling leans more towards the walking, but he's not totally sure about it yet. He can crawl like lightening so when he wants to go fast that is his method of choice.

He loves coloring, eating with a fork, chocolate, helping us cook, putting things in containers, being outside, sharing food with Mommy, giving the most wonderful hugs, playing with his big brother and sisters and nursing of course. He still nurses quite a bit. And despite my attempts at teaching him the sign for "milk" to use when he wants to nurse, he usually just crawls on my lap and pulls on my shirt. Not very discreet I'm afraid. He's also extremely loud and vocal although he doesn't say real words very often.

Every day we seriously love him more. He is such a delightful little chap and makes our lives such a joy.

pumpkin apple soup

Last week my live in chef/husband, Jared, decided to make pumpkin apple soup. He found this recipe and then proceeded to do whatever he wanted per his usual cooking method. The fact that he glanced at a recipe at all is rather amazing. He is the king of making stuff up out of his head.

But back to the soup... he used vegetable bouillon instead of stock and then added ginger, cinnamon, and a bit of nutmeg to it also. He also added white beans after the rest of the soup was blended to add more texture and substance. Oh, and he left out the milk. It really didn't need it.

The soup was a hit! Everyone loved it, including Asher. We all had two big bowls each. It is both sweet and savory and really hits the spot this time of year.

sunday night walk at dusk

Sunday evening after taking the missionaries home (we had fed them dinner), Jared burst through the door demanding we all take a stroll through the neighborhood. The weekend had been unseasonably warm and the fall colors were calling us. We rushed to put on our shoes and head out before the sun beat us.

The first delight to greet us was this beauty in our neighbor's yard. Don't you just love how roses last and last and keep on blooming? It makes me happy that the gorgeous blossoms keep coming back again and again from spring to fall.

Olivia, who was in the concluding chapters of her latest book, brought it along.

But the call of fallen leaves was too much to resist.



Asher got to enjoy playing in the leaves for the first time.



And as darkness fell forcing me to turn on my flash, we rounded the corner towards home, Asher perched atop Daddy's shoulders.


Fall is a glorious time of year.

child labor

We like to start early around here.