MAC and CHEESE

Here are some cute pictures of Grayer eating his lunch the other day. He didn't want to sit in his booster seat so I let him sit on a regular chair. I thought it was cute how he could barely see over his bowl to scoop up more Mac and Cheese!!

Friends Forever

About a month or so ago Andy came to me and told me that his old mission companion and wife from the Philippines were going to come and visit us for a few days.... I was not too thrilled about the idea because I knew Andy would still have to go to school and work which would leave me alone to entertain these people who did not speak English that well, but I said "okay" (with only small amounts of murmuring)!!

On the day they were to arrive I got the house all clean and headed to my book club meeting that night. I got back home around 9:30 pm and shortly after our doorbell rang. I thought, wow, they are early (their plane was not supposed to land until 10:00pm) I opened the door and low and behold my two best friends from High School were standing on the doorstep. I was totally blown away with confusion and excitement... see video below.

So the company that I was expecting/slightly dreading from the Philippines turned out to be my girls, Emily and Mindy!! I was so thrilled, I could not believe it!! They had worked it all out with Andy without me suspecting a thing. I totally fell for it, but I'm glad I did because it was a beyond awesome surprise!!

We had such a good time together. We stayed up late almost every night catching up on life and remembering old memories!! We visited the Hill Cumorah, the Sacred Grove, and Niagara Falls.

The Hill Cumorah Visitor Center

Emily and Baby Jackson

Mindy

The sun was setting on our hike up the hill

The Monument at the top

Joseph Smith's home


In the Sacred Grove

We stopped to take pictures of the Palmyra Temple with all the Fall colors

Niagara Falls -- it was freezing!

Oh and we went out to eat at the Cheese Cake Factory

Another fun thing we did while they were here was sing together. Back in High School we sang together in a trio, so I got out our old CD and we re-learned an old song called the The Olive Tree, then we sang it in the Sacred Grove (we had the sister missionary giving us the tour record it for us)


Emily posted on her blog an old picture of us 3 girls when we were in 9th grade, so I went through some of my old photos and found a few that I thought I would share:)

High School Softball

High School Choir (Susan - front row, last one in the left. Emily - 2nd row, last one on the left. Mindy - front row, 3rd one in on the right.)

I think we were in our first year of college here

A fun girls trip to Emily's cabin!

Thank you so much Emily and Mindy for coming to visit me, I had a blast! You have started a great tradition... where should we go next?! Love you both!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN...

FROM THE CUTEST LITTLE MONSTER AROUND!!

Here are a few more pictures of our Halloween celebrations...

Our Pumpkin master pieces.... I wish I could take credit for the "Lightning McQueen" but that is Andy's work of art!

We had a fun ward Halloween Party with games and trunk-or-treating

These are 2 of Grayer's FAVORITE baby-sitters

PUMPKIN Overload

We have this awesome little farm not too far away from our house that we like to visit, especially at Halloween time. It has animals to feed, wagon rides, donuts and other goodies, teepees, and lots and lots of PUMPKINS!!

Grayer and Andy enjoying their donuts -- Grayer, of course, picked the powdered sugar donut and I think Andy's was glazed pumpkin. DELISH!!

They dye their chickens all sorts of different colors!
This purple one is my favorite:)

Feeding the alpacas, and sheep... they also have goats, donkeys, deer, and a pony

These are the world's largest teepees, and at Halloween time they fill them clear to the top with carved lit pumpkins. We love walking through them and looking at all the fun jack-o-lanterns!

Thanks Powers farm we had a great time!!!

Then for Family Home Evening last night we carved the pumpkins that we got!

Grayer was giving Andy the
"I don't want to touch the pumpkin guts" look:)
Oh, and I promise I have pants for my child, he just always takes them off!

Final pumpkin carving products to come on Halloween -- Stay tuned!!

Pandora Radio

Today Grayer and I were upstairs listening to Pandora Radio on the computer while I cleaned the bathroom and he played with his cars. If a song came on that he liked he would stop playing cars and run to the computer area to listen or do some dancing.
After repeating this multiple times I noticed that he wasn't returning to play with his cars so I went to check on him. From first glance I thought he was sitting on the chair listening to a song,

but when I walked over to him I noticed he had fallen asleep. It always melts my heart when I see my sweet boy all tuckered out from playing hard!! So Stinkin' Cute!!

A post about nothing...

I don't have anything new to report except to share a few new pictures of Grayer...

Back in June my brother Rob came to visit us and brought Grayer a UGA sweatshirt. We have been having some cooler weather so Grayer got to wear it for the first time!
Thanks Uncle Rob -- GO BULLDOGS!!!

The other day we were playing at some friend's house and the little boy that Grayer was playing with bit him on the cheek and left this little beauty. Grayer was SO upset, it was really sad:( But in true "little kid" fashion they were buds again in no time and were hugging and kissing as we said goodbye! These pictures where taken the day after and it already looked so much better!

So that completes my post about nothin' much!!! Have a good day!