Squire's Castle

Are you loving fall yet?  'Cause we are!  One of the good things about living in Ohio is being able to see the beautiful fall trees!  They are absolutely gorgeous here.  We definitely had a beautiful earth created for us.  Last weekend, finals ended and externship applications were submitted!  It was time to get out and enjoy ourselves!  We have wanted to go to Squire's Castle since we have been here and we thought that it would be a great time to take the drive up there.  It was a lot of fun.  We went on a little hike and the colors on the trees were just amazing.  The only thing that was a little disappointing is that we didn't get to go inside the castle because there were 2 different weddings going on while we were there...Bummer!  Now we know not to go on a beautiful Saturday!  Here are a few pictures that I took while we were there.  On this little outing I realize how much I dislike my camera....Hopefully, very soon I can get my new camera....I'm always dreaming :) 

Yes, a picture of me!  I was there and have proof!

My Pumpkin Patch

I have finished more pumpkins for my pumpkin patch.  I am loving all of them.  As you can see below, they are all different shapes and sizes.  I just love all of them.  I tried picking a favorite one but I like them all for different reasons.  I have been on a pumpkin break for that last week or two but I am hoping that I can get back into doing more before the season is over.  I still have tons of fabric and even a few different fabrics that I haven't even touched yet.  To answer questions from before, I started with a pattern that you can find here then I just adapted it to make all the different shapes and sizes that I wanted.  Or I did make one of them this way, which was even more simple, but you can only use one fabric per pumpkin that way.  They were so simple to make and I love them!

Going to Grandma's

This last weekend, my grandmother has some major surgery.  My mom drove up from Oklahoma to stay with her and I was able to go for the weekend.  Luckily, the surgery went well and good news was given.  She is now home recovering.  I am glad that I was able to go up there and spend time with them.  I was nice and didn't take any pictures of her in the hospital, but here is one of my favorite pictures of when I was a baby with my mom and grandmother:

 Love you, Grandma!

This is prime time for the beautiful fall colors.  I was able to take a few pictures as we drove by some incredible scenery.  Not the best, but they will have to do.  After all, I was in the car while I took these.

I was also able to stop by and see my Grandpa, Dad's Dad.  It was so good to see him.  I stopped by and he was raking leaves!  He's 84 and still raking leaves!  He amazes me all the time.  I love his house.  Everything about his house brings me feelings of happiness.  I once wrote a descriptive report on his house...I wish I could find that.  Oh well....I didn't take a picture of him, but I did take a picture of his house while I drove by :)  I know, I'm strange....

I had a good time and we were all very happy with the results of my grandmother's surgery.  It was a short little weekend trip, but I'm very glad I was able to go. 

The only thing I didn't enjoy was the fact that it's suppose to be only a 3.5 hour drive, but it ended up taking me FIVE hours both ways!  On the way there, I hit traffic and some construction and then got lost....I thought I would be golden on the way home leaving on a Sunday afternoon, but I wasn't that fortunate.  There was a really bad accident.  They shut down the highway and it took me 2 hours to go about 2 miles.  I won't give details, but it was the worst accident scene I have ever seen and I drove by about an hour and a half after it had happened.  The accident has kind of haunted me this last week.  I have prayed for those involved and their families several times.  It turns out that 5 people were killed and 4 were seriously injured.  My thoughts and prayers go out tho them and their families.

Just so I don't leave on a sad note...While I was in the traffic, I saw a couple of hot air balloons.  It was nice to have the short distraction as I sat and waited.  I even got my camera out and took a picture.

That's all for now...Love ya Grandma!  Get well quickly!!!

Fall is Here!

Fall is here.  This year it feels like fall came over night.  Last week we had temperatures in the upper 80s and lower 90s, which is unheard of here.  We were setting record high temperatures.  I used to always enjoy fall, but living in Ohio has changed that a little bit.  I still like fall and the colors around this part of the country are absolutely BREATHTAKING...but I don't feel like I ever really got a summer even with the hotter temperatures.  Maybe that's just part of getting older...No more summer breaks, no more days of lounging around or going to the pool daily or fun amusement parks everyday.  I guess the main reason I'm not looking forward to fall this year is because I know that cold and sunless skies are ahead and will be here before I know it.  I am going to try my best to fully enjoy fall this year.  Tonight I got out my Halloween decorations!  Decorating will ALWAYS get you in a good mood!  Also this year I have decided to make my own pumpkins.  I finished my first big one last night and I am absolutely in LOVE with it :)  I plan on making my own little pumpkin patch, but they are taking me a lot longer to sew than I thought.  For some reason, I couldn't get the pictures in the order that I want and I'm too tired to spend any more time on it, but here's the pictures of what I have so far:

This one will be the biggest pumpkin in the patch:

Here is my big pumpkin with my two little "trial pumpkins"

So, I put my phone on top so you can see just how big this one is.  I didn't mean for it to be this big, but I still love how it turned out!

Wish We Could be There!

September has been a great month for our families!  My sister, Karri, had her first child, Darcy Elizabeth!  We are so excited to have another niece!  Here are a few pictures I was able to grab off facebook!  Isn't she so cute???  I wish I could have been there or that I could see her and hold her!  She's so precious!



We also had Josh's brother come home from his full two year mission!  Go Chase for completing an honorable mission!  We are so proud of you and can't wait to see you!  We wish we could have been there when you got off the plane or on Sunday for your homecoming talk!  We love ya and miss you!

It's times like these that we REALLY REALLY wish we lived closer to our families!  We love and miss you all!

Country Jam 2010

Oh how I LOVE country music and country music fans!  This year Country Jam was on both a Friday night and all day Saturday.  I was able to go with 4 other girls and we had soo much fun.  They had a HUGE line up that included Gloriana, The Band Perry, Danny Gokey, David Nail, The McClymonts (who you have to check out on itunes!  I LOVED them), Jason Aldean, Sara Evans and several others that I can't think of now.  We had so much fun until.....it started to rain.  We were all pretty bummed that it rained.  The show continued but we weren't that prepared for the rain.  We did get to see everyone except for Sara Evans and Jason Aldean, who everyone wanted to see the most, but what can you do!  We left and went to eat at Chili's...YUM!!!  Even with the rain, we were able to have a good time.  I only took ONE picture the whole time we were there and it wasn't even of the girls that I went with....Well here it is.  This is The Band Perry:

It was a lot of fun and all the artist were pretty good.  I really like the McClymonts the best though.  Maybe because they just surprised me by how good they were...not sure, but you should all definitely check them out.  The fans were just as entertaining this year too :)  There are some CRAZY people out there.  Next year, I promise to take more pictures.  I can't wait for next year!  It's been a fun tradition for me here in Cleveland! 

Labor Day 2010

What?  I'm only two and a half weeks late!  I can't believe that September has already FLOWN by!  I don't remember it even beginning and now I am sitting here and it's already the 23rd!  Time is just flying by!  This year we were able to have a pretty good Labor Day.  We went to breakfast with our friends Dave and Valerie and their kids at Bob Evans.  YUM!  Their food is oh so good!  We have so much fun with them too!  After breakfast we went on a hike with them to Brandywine Falls.  It's GORGEOUS there any time of the year!  Here are a few pictures from our fun excursion:

We taught her how to do "The Thinker:"

And this girl would pose for me any time I asked :)

Like always, we had a blast with them!  They are soo much fun and have such great kids!  We had a great Labor Day this year.  I have no idea what else we did that day, but I'm sure we had a great time doing it...After all, I wasn't at work and Josh wasn't at school.

Grrrrr . . . .

So I have sat down quite a few times in the last few weeks to do a blog post, but I never got more than a sentence or two written..But I am FINALLY here and I hope I can update the last few weeks in just a couple of posts. Yesterday, I had a dentist appointment right after work. I figured that if I left work RIGHT on time, I would make it there early enough to fill out the paperwork first. Like most, I have never enjoyed going to the dentist. In fact I haven't been in a really long time...Probably somewhere between 3 and 5 years. But I am starting to have a tooth ache and I have dental insurance now. So I made the appointment. But what happened after work? First I got called into a meeting at work that only lasted about 15 minutes, but I was already suppose to be gone. Then when I hit the road, what do I come across???

Yep, that's right..TRAFFIC! Now I am usually able to miss the majority of the traffic on my way home, cause I get off at 4:30 and get a head start. But it seems like whenever I HAVE to be somewhere after work...there's ALWAYS an accident along my way. I ended up having to cancel and reschedule my dentist appointment. Oh well...no big deal. Luckily I had their phone number in my phone! but as I was sitting and sitting (it ended up taking me about an hour to get home), I was reminded of a time just a few weeks ago when I was sitting in traffic. That time I was suppose to bring a new mom dinner. I felt AWFUL. I called her and told her I was stuck in traffic...she ended up having dinner around like 7pm! Why is it that when I HAVE to be somewhere, I hit really bad traffic?? I just don't understand. Can anyone shed some light?

Oh Timmy!

Last week I got to go to a Tim McGraw concert here in Cleveland! It was soo much fun. Lady Antebellum opened for them as well as Love & Theft. It was such a good concert. It was on a Thursday night and it was sooo HUMID that night, but it was also so worth it. I LOVE going to country music concerts and events. There are such interesting people that go to them. Sometimes it's just as entertaining to people watch as it is to fully get into the concert. There were a TON of people there. I was amazed by the number of people and yet how quickly we were able to get out of there. Anyways, here's a few pictures:

The Crowd:

Valerie and Cassie:

Lady Antebellum:

And Mr. Tim McGraw:

It was a lot of fun and Tim was AMAZING! And I can't wait to go to Country Jam next month for more and see even more interesting people ;)

Who Knew?

Who knew that getting up at 7:30 on a SATURDAY wasn't so hard? Who knew that you could get so much more done on a Saturday if you woke up before noon? Not I...until today! I've been running about 3 times a week with my friend for a few weeks now. Our schedules were crazy this week, so we decided that we would get up early on Saturday to go running. I got up somewhere around 7:15ish and I was able to run 2 miles, shower, go to 2 different stores, get my oil changed, go to the bank and the post office and make it home all but 11:30! To honest, that's usually when I wake up on Saturdays! I was very impressed with myself, not that I am looking to do this EVERY Saturday. Saturdays are my ONE and ONLY day to sleep in but I did enjoy getting a lot of stuff done early and still have a full day to do other things like....



SEW! I can't believe how many comments I got from my sewing machine, so I thought that I better use it soon so I don't disappoint all of you. Now, don't except great things from me anytime soon, but I did do a few burp cloths. I know a lot of people including my sister that are having girls or just had girls, so I thought this would be something easy to do. Don't look too closely at the stitching! I thought they turned out pretty good. Now it's about 5pm and I have a talk to write!