Our friends hosted their annual Halloween party on Saturday night. Frightful fun was had by all. My little goblins were too busy with pumpkin whoopee cushions to keep their costumes on. Here is a quick review of the evening:

All the guys in costume:



All the ladies (take extra notice of the skeleton!):


The Viking couple (hostess and host):



The costume contest winners. The Leprechaun won the "Best Male" and "Best Overall". Wonder Woman won "Best Female". Laura Ingalls won "Best Kid".


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Fright Night

Apple Picking

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Kansas buddies!

We spent two weeks in Kansas visiting with our wonderful friends, the Bartholomew's. It was fun and relaxing. All of our children still get along wonderfully and it was sad to have to say goodbye as always. Here are some of my favorites from our time with them.











- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Santa Claus Half Marathon

I did it! At some point in the last four months, I decided it would be a good idea to run a half marathon this year. It has taken me a week to appreciate having done it, (yes, I felt like I was ninety for two days afterwards!) so here are the "home stretch" photos from my fan club. The course was nice... 12 miles of big gravel and about a mile of pavement. At one point I found my mind wandering and wishing that a big, Alaska bear or wolf that roams the area would have mauled me (somewhere around mile 11)!!!!

I survived it and I owe most of my success to my kids. Had they not been willing to ride their bikes for many 6-10 mile rides while I ran, I would not have been able to do this. Yes they sometimes whined and sometimes they convinced me to stop and pick berries! But they are awesome and if I were any where near fast enough to receive a medal, I would have given it to them! I finished in 2 hours and 17 minutes. I am satisfied that I ran a race with the word "marathon" in the title and until I lose my mind again, I have no plans to do another.








- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Backcountry Skills!

Putting our arms to work because our campground didn't have any wood for sale on our first day. Jordan is turning into quite the little man!








- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Lil' Cowboy

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Quilts

I upgraded my sewing machine for this deployment with the goal of completing 12 quilts for the year. I'm on schedule so far, but my sewing machine started having trouble last week and I had to take it back to the dealer for repairs. It would straight stitch and free motion quilt, but the first time I tried to do a zig-zag stitch to make cloth bowls, it sounded like it was breaking needles.....but without a needle actually breaking. Sorry for the boring post... But blogging is much easier than scrapbooking!

This is a table runner that I made for a friend after she attempted to learn and decided she didn't really enjoy her new hobby. I stole her fabric and made it for her, then surprised her with it.



I made this doll-size quilt for my niece to use on her baby dolls. The one below matches and was made for her newborn sister.







This one I made and shipped to Charlie for his cot. Super-long and too wide. He claims that he has the most fashionable cot.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad