Fall in South Carolina

We went to visit my grandmother in Greenville, South Carolina a few weeks ago.  Most of these pictures are of my children...

Tony took them down to the little river by her house

 Is that my baby girl????  She looks so old in this picture!

 My Uncle Bobby made it in the photo shoot.  Uncles are so fun.  My Aunt Sandy is super fun too - I really need to get better about taking pictures...

 I took a walk with my grandmother one day...

 while Tony took the girls to the neighborhood playground.

Back down to the river... I think Emma fell in during this trek.

 Pretty ladies in pink!

 Another walk by the river.

 You can see some of the beautiful fall trees.  It was the perfect time of year to catch them, but unfortunately the winds from Hurricane Sandy blew most of them off a few days before we got there.  Fortunately that was the only adverse affect in this area.

 I love this one!

 One day we met up with my cousin at a park.  She is actually my mom's cousin, whom I have always called Aunt Debbie.  This is her granddaughter Tate, who is just a couple of months younger than Emma.  They remembered her from our visit last summer.  I'm sure my friend Jessica could tell me exactly what relation Tate and Debbie are, but we just call them cousins. :)

 Tony made a leaf pile.  He spent lots of time outside with the girls on the whole trip and I was able to hang out with my sweet grandmother.  It was lovely!!

 Sassy girls!

 That night we went over to my "Aunt" Debbie's house and got to see her sweet husband Lanny, son Chad and daughter-in-law Stephanie.  Chad and Stephanie also have a son who was hanging out with another cousin (who's not related to me) and an amazing young man named Camille who came to live with them from Cameroon (in Africa) 8 years ago as a teenager.  I don't remember how that happened, but it was very much a God thing.  I had heard about him, but never met him, so it was a real treat that he was there.  I think he was away at college when I came to visit last year.  My Aunt Sandy and Uncle Bobby and grandmother were there too (they are actually really an aunt and uncle - Sandy is my mom's sister).  You'll just have to use your imagination to visualize this lovely scene full of yummy food and people who love each other because it didn't occur to me to take pictures, as usual. :(  I'm so thankful for such a wonderful extended family!!!

Halloween Fun

We had lots of fun during the Halloween season this year.  The girls had lots of fun doing all kinds of pumpkin crafts at school during the month of October.  Our church had a "trunk or treat" party the Sunday before Halloween.  We decorated our trunks in the parking lot and the kids trick or treated.  Here's my bride and Cinderella.

 We met up with the Pence zoo and had lots of fun and got LOTS of candy.

 I love these girls!!!!

 And the zebra too!  Tony was in Lubbock with Anton this weekend.  They did some fun mountain biking out in the hilly part of the state!

 On Tuesday Emma's school had a Halloween parade and party.  Here's her class.

I'm so grateful I can be a part of these fun school things!

 Emma also got to have Chocolate, the class dog, that week.  He helped the girls carve their pumpkins Tuesday night.

My silly girls!!

 On Wednesday morning Anna's school had a Halloween parade.  Here she is lined up.

Chocolate came along too.

 There's Anna's Kindergarten class.

 Ready for the main event.

LOTS of loot.  This doesn't even include what they got at the church.  I'll be glad when the chocolate is gone.  I wonder if I'll ever make it through Halloween without stealing most of their chocolate within a week... so yummy!

Fun times!!

October Music

TTU played TCU last month in Dallas, so we decided to go camping in Dallas and go see Anton.  We were excited to camp at this place because there is a very nice mountain biking trail there. I had somewhat of a spiritual enlightenment moment while I was biking. I have always been nervous making tight turns on my bike... a few weeks ago Tony was watching some biking videos on YouTube, and he pointed out how the bikers were turning their heads to look at the end of the turns they were making.  He said when you look to the exit of the turn, your body and bike will follow. You can check it out here... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3nkzjACUG4 (my man can ride like that by the way - except for the jumps in the air :). So I totally forgot about this conversation when I went to check out the trail. I quickly realized that there were LOTS of sharp turns on the trail, and I wasn't having much fun. Then about halfway through, I remembered watching the video and I started looking at the exit of the turn while I was riding through it. IT WAS MAGIC!!!! What used to make me nervous and took my joy of riding was suddenly FUN!! So on my awesome long windy ride, I was praising God for this revelation and it made me think of how things in life that are stressful can be full of joy when I look to the outcome of the tempory struggle and to God as my goal. Yay God for mountain biking and for joy in the turns of life!  So here is our campsite. 

We met up with Anton at his hotel for breakfast Saturday morning.  It was SOOOO good to see him!!!

The tickets were over $100 a piece, so we didn't go to the game.  We did go to the stadium and watched the Goin' Band march in.  We found them right as they started to play and march, so we didn't get good pictures.  These were taken outside the gate after they were inside.  Anton is the tall one on the right, just next to the column.

He's right under the "S".

In this one he's right behind the lady in the purple shirt who is by the bike cop.  I feel like a fanatical groupie!!  Anyway, it was very fun and exciting to be there.  TTU will play Baylor in Dallas right after Thanksgiving - the tickets were reasonable so we got some and we are looking forward to seeing the Red Raiders and the Goin' Band in a couple of weeks.

The next weekend Anna's choir sang at church.  I remembered my camera, so I took a picture of  my girls in the cute clothes they have that they will only wear to church.

They sounded great at the contemporary service...

and in the sanctuary. :)

Sweet choir buddies!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

The Rest of September

We went to Huntsville State Park one day at the end of September, and we took Anna for a little horse ride when we first got there. 

Then Tony and I took turns mountain biking.  The girls were happy to hang out in the little nature center while we were biking.   They have a table with lots of goodies they can touch.  They put some antlers on their heads.

 Anna wanted a picture by the baby alligator.

Tony took them for a little hike and they ran into me on the trail.

Anna took a picture of both of us with our bikes - a rare site these days. 

Hopefully it won't be too many more years before we can all hit the trails together...

This is what the girls did one Saturday morning while I was sleeping in...

Tony took them to see a children's play that day... best husband ever!

A fun random picture of Anna swinging...Tony must have been on the ground.

And some "best dad EVER" pics...

Here's a sample of Anna's kindergarten work.  The sentences at the end say "my sister is four" and "my favorite toy is a dolphin".  She's doing really great with reading, writing, number and having fun!

Oh I'm so blessed!