hello, fall ♥ october recap

I know it's been awhile since I posted, I apologize, and I'll leave it at that. ;)

October 1 - 5 we were still in Arizona. Those last few days were spent relaxing, going to Hoover Dam, visiting Sedona (no pictures from that), eating at Chipotle, conquering Flagstaff X-treme (all of those pictures are on my dad's phone and he's out of town right now), going to Bearizona - a drive-through wildlife park, and then we flew home on the sixth. My personal favorite restaurant we went to was called the Lumberyard, and that's why I have the collage of food. Plus I love food and I wanted to make a whole collage of just food pictures. My dish was the hot wings...shoowhee! So GOOD!

 

Between Pumpkin Spice Lattes and Caillou, adults and children alike were able to while away the airport hours!

October 6 was our annual church picnic. Well, it's usually a picnic, but it rained this year so we had it inside the gym. It's just a lot of fun to get together and hang out with our church family. Everyone brings a covered dish - potluck! - and we just eat together and enjoy the fellowship!

 

October 10 was Tanner's birthday - the "baby" is two years old now! And by the end of January, he won't be the baby anymore. Where did the last two years go? While I was downloading these pictures I ran across one from last year and I almost started crying! Two year old's are the most excitable creatures in the world, and Tanner is no exception. He has one of the best personalities, too - always overly animated whether happy or sad, and this day, he was very happy! He kept saying "Dant-oo!" (thank you) over and over, making sure we all heard. "Mama, dant-oo!" "Lolley, dant-oo!" "Onewall, dant-oo!" (translations on the last two names - Kelley, and Stonewall - aka, Jackson)

 

October 11 was Amie's 19th birthday. I made her feel so good about it too, reminding her this was her last year as a teenager... ;) We aren't as good at taking pictures of nineteen-year-old's as we are two-year-old's, so that's why there aren't as many. She asked for Mississippi Mud - a family favorite - for her birthday dessert, and by the end of it Jackson had "Missy-Missy Mud" all over his face. :) 

If you're wondering why she's crying in one picture, it's because my dad had written her a poem, and she was crying before she even started reading it. She handed it to me to read out loud to everyone, and I had to try very hard not to laugh while doing so. We respond very differently to our emotions. My mom snapped a picture to remind us of that, I guess.

Bottom right - what we call the "Tanner face". It's hard to catch on camera but it's one of my favorites. He makes it a lot!

We were going our separate ways on her birthday and I wouldn't see her until that late afternoon, so I sent her this the night before to see when she got online that morning.

October 12 was our annual Fall Festival at church. Also known as "Old Fashioned Day" because we wear old fashioned clothes and play old fashioned games and it's a lot of old fashioned fun!

As you can tell, we are very modest about being from the South.

October 24-26 was Antioch Baptist Church's missions conference. I only went the first two night because I was getting progressively sicker and by the last night couldn't make it. It went so well though, and they doubled their Faith Promise giving! Please pray for this church as they continue to grow and be a blessing to others!

October 27 we had all of the teens from church over to our house after the night service. We ate soup and played games and it was a lot of fun and I have no idea how we all fit in three rooms but we did! For almost three hours with minimal complaining! :)

My parents got involved in the Taboo game!

Good job, girls!

And at the end of the night, we said hello to Faith...

I feel like I'm really leaving something out, but I can't think of what it is! I think October just went by so fast I wasn't able to properly take it all in. ;) Are y'all ready for the holidays? They've really snuck up on me this year, but I've been feeling very festive for several weeks now...resisting the urge to listen to Christmas music! I don't start that until Thanksgiving Day!!

I hope each of you have a wonderful and safe November!