trick-or-treat.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN.

from robin hood & strawberry shortcake :)

birthday in iphone photos.

    

look what i got for my birthday!

i had a wonderful birthday!  i think i'm going to like 24.  we had a fun day.  you'll be seeing more pictures (not from my phone) soon.

happpy friday!

(no original source)

i'm twenty-four today...  my husband woke me up multiple times before he left for work telling me so.  he's cute.  my mom is coming to springfield today to take me shopping. we may have to stop by red velvet at some point.  :)  we're heading to silver dollar city tomorrow just like last year for my birthday and sunday we'll hand out candy to little kids in our neighborhood...maybe saturday night too!

happy halloween weekend!  

have a wonderful weekend, friends!!

handsome cowboy.

how cute is our nephew in his costume?! adorable.

wow. i cannot believe october is almost over! seriously. where did this month go? millie and i are going to my favorite park to walk with some friends today... it's a beautiful fall day.

weekend fun.

smores and dancing around the fire pit at the in-laws.

sometimes i look like i'm twelve. half my age...fantastic.

i married a big time chiefs fan. i love him.

breast cancer awareness (those are pink balloons :))

we also got to hang out with michael's family in the kc area. his cousin, matt, is going to india for 16 months, coming back home for 3 and then going for 16 more. keep him (and his mom) in your prayers. he just left last night!

happy friday!

we've got a lot planned for this weekend.  pumpkin carving at the in-laws tonight and then a mini-trip to kansas city for family time and a chiefs game.  
my birthday is in one week. (i happen to love birthdays!) 

have a happy weekend friends!

halloween is next weekend!  do you dress up?  we prefer handing out candy.

us last halloween.

i'm back!

wow, no post since last friday!

so a quick update:  i've been super busy.  i worked 36 hours in 3 days. (i always do, but not in a row)  and we've been without internet.  it was kind of nice because we talked a lot more and i got more sleep. not much is new other than the big red grill that sits on our back porch now (thanks to the in-laws!) and our nephew turned 4.  we had a little party at the park and i borrowed sweet baby katie the whole afternoon.  i started to learn how to crochet (thanks to my lovely friend anna).  also, i'm soaking in the last week of being 23.  michael took me shopping today... i walked away with 4 shirts and 1 hoodie.  they. are. all. kc chiefs.  they were on sale and "too good to pass up" in his words. and that pretty much sums up the week!

maggie hope.

ok, remember how i said my "baby fever" was going to be put on hold? well, that's kind of hard to do when you hold a sweet little baby girl. i went over to my friend's house today. she is pretty much my hero. :) we've talked about births and such a little, but today i heard all of her birth stories. she has five. she is such a good momma! 

here's the short version of maggie's arrival:
maggie was born last saturday and i've already mentioned i was a little bummed that i wasn't there. our life group did a surprise yard makeover for them and brittany was having contractions when everyone arrived, but hid it.  she called her midwife and let her know and brittany said her midwife just laughed when she got there and saw what was going on. as the day went on she went into full labor and had the baby while a group of friends were working in the yard, kids were running around and loud machines were going. her daughter, emma, stayed in the room with her which i think is SO precious. brittany said emma kept whispering "will you tell us when you're going to push?" i've seen the business of being born a couple of times now, but hearing about a natural (home) birth from a real friend is just so special. i pray to have wonderful birth experiences to share and cherish someday. i got some great advice today!

brittany talked about wanting to start a blog and i think she should. you would read... right?? five adorable kids... a stay at home mom (and dad working from home).. homeschooling.. and a real passion for Jesus. so, brittany... just do it already! you would be much better at sharing your birth story. ;)

*picture from the day maggie was born, borrowed from brittany's facebook.

short and sweeeet.

pictures from last weekend :)

ok, so our internet has been in and out the past couple of days. boo (but good because i've gotten tons done around here!)  anyways, i was talking to my mom earlier on the phone and started with the whole "what are you up to" and she blurted out:  "oh, looking at cameras online."  well, it's almost my birthday and i happen to want a new camera.  i told her to keep secrets better.

i know where i get my big mouth from.

p.s. hagen was really mad at me for taking his picture.  it was sad, but oh so cute!

things that make me happy:

some things that made me happy today:

hoodie weather! i basically have two that i love wearing. 

the one today is from victoria secrets pink... it happens to have the year i was born on it.

the leaves are really officially changing colors.

my little pumpkin sitting there as millie and i got back from a lovely little walk.

the picture by my stove. i looked at it as i was cooking dinner and got an immediate grin on my face. 
it's just so cute.

letting my eyes rest. yes, i'm a four-eyes little nerd.

dancing around in the laundry/millie's room with michael and millie chasing us.

parenthood is on tonight.

what made you happy today?

right now.

hi friends :)  i was about to post some more pictures of the weekend with family including a picnic at a park, but that will wait for some other time.  michael is in class and i'm sitting here... kind of bored.  dishes are done.  laundry is finishing up.  and i'm thinking i'll watch lots of televison.  exciting night, right?  i feel like sometimes i forget to enjoy these quiet moments.  the silence.  yes, millie goes a little crazy every now and then, but she's being super sweet tonight.

i feel like sometimes i am wishing the next big thing would happen in life.  i think my life gets dull so i need something new and exciting to happen.  but, you know, i really want to just be okay with right now.  i know God has SO many wonderful things in store for the future, but He's also given me so many wonderful things right now.  i need to embrace right now a little better... because i have a feeling i'll regret it a few years down the road if i don't.  i want more adventures.  i look at all these blogs that seem like it's one big adventure after the next and dream of adventures like theirs.  i don't want to get caught up in wanting this or that... but to be happy with my family and not worry about how much money we have.  i want to live and not just work all the time (i feel like i have to keep my current job mostly because of insurance...any pointers here?!)  i want to stay home with my kids one day.  maybe these feelings have something to do with the fact i'm getting ready to turn 24 and i still feel like there is SO much i need to learn about who i really am.  and maybe i feel like i should have a lot of that figured out by now.  i'm reaaally looking forward to this spring because michael will finally be finished with school and he'll have more time.  we'll have more time.  i want us to have time before bringing a baby into this world.  remember all my previous "baby fever" remarks?  well, i'm okay with waiting a little while longer.  we're in no rush.  we'll be living life and adding a baby eventually to join in and i want baby to have a pretty darn good life.

p.s. has anyone ever heard of the cookbook more with less?  i was thinking about getting it and wanted to know if it's worth it.

pumpkin patch.

we took the kids to the wilson-rutledge farm. they loved it. kadi had to help me find the PERFECT pumpkin. i think we looked at every. single. pumpkin. it would have been nice if the weather was a little cooler (it was in the 80's not feeling very fallish). it was so good to spend time with my sister & her kids, my mom, and aunt. they need to head to springfield more often (and i should probably go back home more, too). i loved spending the day with them, but i'm still a little bummed i wasn't at my friends house. i think i'll share that story after i go meet little maggie this week. it's a good one!!!


funny story: we saw a little baby at the farm (it's no secret that i have a little "baby fever" going on) and my sister was like "awww it's a baby". i told her she needs to have another so we can be pregnant together. and my niece (who just turned five) said very matter-of-fact-like "she can't because she's taking no-baby-pills." it was hilarious.


happy sunday!

pumpkins + family

this is a little bit of my saturday in iphone pictures (i promise this won't turn into iphone photos only on this blog... :))

oh, and my friend had her baby today!!! she had her at home and we were supposed to be there with our life group (not knowing baby maggie was coming today) but my family was in town so we didn't go. i can't wait to go over and meet her!!

i'd say today was a pretty good day!!

my 300th post!

we've been pretty busy so tonight we decided we needed some "us" time before michael started back on his school work (which he's doing now while i blog).  he took me to a mexican place up the street... and refused to take pictures. our waiter kept calling us "me amigos" in a strong accent... it was great.  then, we sat outside with millie for a while and just enjoyed the nice (warm) fall evening.  the leaves are starting to change!  our neighborhood is pretty quiet besides hearing some kids laugh, a couple of dogs bark and people talking as they walk by.  it's SO much better than living downtown hearing people yell because they are pretty much drunk at every hour of the day or weird irish music like our old neighbor listened to, loudly.

now we're going to enjoy some pumpkin spice cookies i baked today. i've already had three and shared some with my friends, karissa and erin, when they came over earlier.  they are delicious!!!

ohh and i'm so excited because my mom, sister and her kids will be here saturday!  i haven't seen them in over a month and they only live an hour and a half away. sad!

what a day.

today was long.  i'm tired.  i'm happy to be home and spending the evening curled up in bed with my millie girl.  we're getting ready to watch "parenthood"... the only show i really look forward to watching every week.  have you seen it?  so much family drama going on.

things might be kind of quiet on the blog the next couple of days.... it's going to be busy, busy around here.

oh, and go say congrats to mandy.  she just found out she's having a little girl!! so exciting!

and yes, i'm committing a major blogging no-no...  a no photo post.
so, go here to see some pretty pictures that i wish i took today.

today:

please excuse the weird kissy face.  i'm not sure what i was thinking.

i didn't want to get out of my warm, cozy bed.

i'm still in my pjs.

my house is freezing.

i've been listening to fleet foxes radio on pandora since i woke up.

i should be cleaning instead of blogging.

i'm kinda missing my dark, longer hair. (michael told me the other night he missed it)

i'm also kinda missing living in the apartment downtown because i could walk to places instead of having to drive. 

it's 54 degrees outside...

i'm thankful for fall.

i think i'll make chili for dinner.  it's that kind of day.

sunday afternoon.

i've spent the whole entire sunday afternoon with my hott (yes, TWO "t"s) man.

pastor mark talked about our hearts today and basically what motivates us as believers.  it made me think about how i am and how i desire to be.  i long to be a loving wife, friend, sister, daughter, and mother (someday) for all the right reasons and not just because i have to.  sometimes it's easy to just play the role of these characters in life instead of really living it out and loving/serving to the fullest.

i'm going to work on it.

welcome october.

"I'm so glad to live in a world where there are Octobers." -Anne of Green Gables
(i saw this on my friend's twitter today.  love it.)


october is my most favorite month. i'm pretty sure i fall in love with missouri in the fall...i love the cooler weather, the colorful trees, the pumpkin patch, the corn maze, the coziness (we get to try out our fireplace for the first time ever), baking pumpkin everything (even though my husband isn't a huge fan), wearing cardigans & boots... and it's my birthday month.  i changed my desktop calendar today. go get a free one from lisa rupp. :)