HALLOWEEN IN PICTURES

...Well, okay, a few words too.  This was such a lovely Halloween.  The kids are at an age where they really love it, get less tired less quickly, and just make us laugh a lot.  We even took Addie, Lily and AIdan into the haunted house after the parade.  Girls were terrified.....but they got through it!  :)



Lily LOVES to do chores.  Raking in her costume.  Cracked me up!

The gang....

 My sweet pirate king....

 She has my hair......

This one is funny....see Gracie?  She is the one in the front on the ground!  She is hilarious.

 Serious trick or treat sprinting

 Tired legs.....time to hitch a ride

Social networking, Fall and PHOTOS!!

It's been over a week since I updated this puppy.  Hence, this might be a rambly entry because I have so many things to talk about!!  :)  Lucky for you, huh?  Haha

Social Networking.  I imagine there are "studies" out there that proclaim it is the absolute downfall of humanity and it that will certainly cause us cancer at some point.  My view on social networking is that it is quite amazing.  Before I discovered it, I wondered about people I had lost touch with over the years.  I hoped they were happy and healthy.  Those people whom I spent so much time with in my younger days and who I shared so many laughs with, and tears with-those people may have been out of sight, but never were they out of mind.  Life is such a winding journey that it leads everyone in so many different directions.  It is nearly impossible NOT to lose touch. Until now, until Social Networking.  Blogs, Facebook, twitter.  It allows us to seek out each other, reunite in some way.  Sure, it's not the same as actually hanging out with people face to face--but it is so much better than having no contact at all, right?

I am so thankful to social networking for allowing me to see my dearest friends' children, and share just a little bit in their joys, to email and chat and share stories again.  It's such an awesome (yes, awesome is still a staple in my vocabulary.  I realize I am stuck in the 90's) GIFT.  Dear friends, I am SO SO happy to be reconnected with you again!!

Fall is here.  It is breathtakingly beautiful this year.  Seriously.  I walk most days and have been taking so many pictures of the leaves.  The colors are spectacular.  Wisconsin may have harsh winters, but all 3 other seasons are so wonderful that it is worth it.  The spring is richly fertile, bright green and floral.  The summer is mild and pleasant.  Then-the fall is utter perfection.  It's a wonderful place to be. 
Here are some pictures of the colors, most of these are in "technicolor" mode, but I like what it does to the leaves!

It's nice being home.

8 Years.....

Eight years ago today was my wedding day.  It was beautiful.  It was beautiful because it was candlelit and because I walked down an aisle of rose petals and because it was at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville.  However, to me, the reason it was so beautiful is because the love was palpable.  I think everyone there could feel what Jason and I were feeling.  It was powerful. 

I remember that when I got down the aisle to my betrothed that day he said "my gosh, you look like an angel".  He took my breath away.  I remember crying through my vows, crying through his.  We danced together during the ceremony...it was more than I ever could have asked for.

The true test of marriage is LIFE.  Real life.  Balancing kids and work and bills and wants and needs.  That's the test.  Do you still have love and passion and friendship after you wade through all that life throws at you?  That is the test. 

I am blessed with a true partner in life.  He and I navigate our path, and we love through all of it, and we kiss and we hold hands and we have passion for each other that surmounts anything that we ever had at the beginning.  We do"life" well.

I am so thankful that I cannot put it into words. 

Thank you, Jason for all the beauty. 

 This is US.