I feel Loved... (lots of posts below!!!)

Luke's flowers

Mom & Dad's Flowers


Mom and Dad have been to Florida all week while Luke has been in Denver all week. It's been super busy for me this week, so the time has flown by. They both sent me flowers to tell me they loved me and are thinking about me while they are away! Talk about making my day!!! Love you!

Christmas Decor

The outside decor

My Christmas Wreath

The Posts

The Living Room Mantle

The Living Room

Our Christmas Tree

The dogs Tree

The guestroom tree

Our bedroom tree

The kitchen tree

On Halloween Luke and I did our annual decorating of the Living Room Christmas Tree. On November 1st we decorated outside....so all the decor is done! Enjoy the pics! I changed up outside this year by adding ornaments to the window boxes and adding the big snowflakes I found at the Dollar Tree...can't beat that!

Alicens Shower

Alicen and Jason's nursery is done in trains....this was really neat!

My blanket

The group

Claire and little Katherine

Alicen with Mrs. Linda

Carrie, Alicen, and Jeanie

The hostesses: Me, Claire, Carrie, Alicen, Amanda, & Brandie

Claire & Brandie

Carrie & Amanda

The food: Breakfast Casserole, Sausage Balls, Crab Bites, Cupcakes, Fruit, and Punch

This past Saturday we celebrated Alicen and Jasons little boy with a shower. It was held at Claire's house. We had a wonderful turnout!! The food was good and the gifts were even better. Alicen loved the knitted blanket and hat I made for her, I see many pictures in the near future! I was so happy to be able to participate in this shower...it was fun!

Putting up the Christmas Tree

Time lapse video...

Christmas on Halloween???

Luke and I get this question every year...."You're putting up Christmas on Halloween?" Our answer is always "YES!" I know we seem like nuts to most people, but I thought I'd share the reasons why we like celebrating Christmas on Halloween.

Growing up, our family really didn't celebrate Halloween. We dressed up as kids but only went trick or treating at Grandma and Papa's and Aunt Debbi's house. It wasn't a big deal for us. As I get older, I realize a lot of emphasis is put on Halloween. I think kids dressing up is supposed to be simple fun....even though I'm really not a fan of the vampires or witch costumes....being a bug or something is too cute!

I also think Halloween can be seen by some as Satan's holiday. I just don't get a good feeling when I think about Halloween....and for us, I can't see a better reason to celebrate Christmas on Halloween. I've learned recently that Satan tries SOOO hard to be like Jesus. That is his number one goal. In Revelation they even talk about a beast that had a fatal wound that healed itself to resemble Christ on the Cross and the Ressurection. I know that's deep, but stay with me....Satan tries his best to lead people astray, be destructive in our lives, and his number one goal is to lead us away from Christ. Many people do very unholy things on Halloween, things I don't even want to think about!

So in our household, Halloween isn't just another day....it's a day we CHOOSE to celebrate Jesus's birth....because He is the only one true Savior. So, putting up Christmas on Halloween is not something we will ever apologize for! No matter how crazy our neighbors think we are...I'm sure some kids might be confused coming to the door and hearing Christmas carols blaring, but oh well. We're just celebrating Our Savior and the true meaning of Christmas!

Ok I'm off the soap box. I'll post pics of our Christmas filled house tomorrow morning!

My Boys really let me down this time!

Luke and I went to Hastings tonight and I realized I had missed getting the new Backstreet Boy CD....now NEVER in Backstreet history have I missed one of their CD's. At first Luke told me they were in the oldies section....which I didn't find the least bit funny. We found the CD, checked out, and headed to the car.

Well, let's just say it's a stinkin' dance sounding CD. I mean come on guys, we've been through thick and thin together. You were playing when I got in the Focus for the first time and you were even the first song I put in when we got the Edge. I mean we've gone from "Everybody," to "Show me the shape of your heart" which at one time did belong to you guys, to "Get another boyfriend," which I sang for a few months 8) , to even "Something I already know." Now your new song is "PDA" and grabbing someones booty....are you kidding me?

Guess I'll see you guys in Branson one day, but by then you'll probably be named the "Backstreet Old Men." As long as you sing the oldies but goodies I'll probably be the first in line to get tickets!

For now, I'm going back to my old CD's......and keeping those uplifting thoughts in my mind...instead of thinking about how you've let your biggest fan down by producing a DANCE CD!!!!

Enjoying God's Beauty

Mt. Nebo

Deer!

Water at Spring Lake

Love the colors here

Spring Lake- down an old dirt road

More of Spring Lake

Me & Luke at Mt. Magazine

Mt. Magazine

Ducks at Holla Bend

Petit Jean

Me & Luke at Petit Jean

Galley Rock Cemetery: an old abandoned cemetery we found thanks to Greg Davis!

Mom & Dad

Me & Luke

Love the iron work in old cemeteries

It's sad you can't read most of the stones anymore.

Galley Cemetery

This past weekend we went with Mom and Dad to see the fall color in the northern part of the state. We stayed at a hotel in Russelville, but we toured all over. Our first stop was an abandoned cemetery Greg Davis told us about. It was neat to see and sad at the same time...those were people with true legacies, and now you can't read half the stones! Then it was onto Mt. Nebo....beautiful. We even saw deer!!! The next day Luke and Dad got up for sunrise, Mom and I slept in. We went to Mount Magazine and viewed all the color. The trees were so pretty! We ate lunch at the lodge which is amazing. On Sunday, we went to Holla Bend, which has pretty wildlife and then went onto Petit Jean Mountain. Dad and Luke decided to hike the Falls, so Mom and I went to Morrillton to a Walmart and to eat lunch. We got home early on Sunday. It was a great trip! My pictures just don't do it justice!