Happy Halloween 2010!

I don't think we knew quite what we were getting ourselves into when we woke up on this beautiful crisp Sunday morning!  Went to church (really good service today), ate at Panera Bread ( Broccoli/Cheddar soup is the best!), we meet the FIL at Menards to pick up brick face and sand, came home and began a pathway from the back of our deck to the garage! This is a HUGE deal for us! We had such a rough winter last year that last winter we had a tiny little pathway scooped with snow as high as to our hips and I fell a couple times trying to get to my car in the garage. GRRr!!! But with the help of our friend and FIL we are in beginning stages of a new walkway! And it is pretty fancy if I do say so myself! Check it out! Hopefully it will be done next weekend! This is before....

The beginning stages...

Digging and leveling...

The first 9 bricks are down...

Then there were 15.... We only got 15 our first trip to Menards, so my FIL and I went back to Menards to get 24 more while the boys dug..

The next ones it was a little darker so I enhanced them, but you get the drift. We decided to make a step and go off to the left to make the pathway to the door.

This is what it looks like now....

This is the remaining candy.....

I fell like I planned for 100 and we only had maybe 35. Oops!! I must say all of the costumes I saw this year were legit and looked really good!

Hope everyone has a great week!! It's the beginning of a great month tomorrow!! :-) 

This is how Kirby puts himself to bed after a long day of being outside and playing with the football. He is so snuggly. 

Here is my quote from last week, that I really liked, so I wanted to share:

It's a mistake to take yourself too seriously. Learn to laugh at all the flaws and foibles that go along with being human. 

Hope every one had a great Halloween!!

Peanut Butter!

Did you know that peanut butter is supposed to help reduce cardiovascular disease? Kirby has always enjoyed peanut butter, but has only been given a little bit at a time, well this weekend we let him go at it! (The jar that is) Let me tell you he loved it! I read online that it provides him Vitamin E, which helps prevent disease for his sweet little self!

I put it on his nose! 

Here are some happenings from the past couple weeks....

YUM!!

We had lots of peppers!! Does anyone need peppers! We have lots!! And it got to cold for the plant so we ripped everything out of our garden now. 

Hunty is a stud! :-) 

The gorgeous vine on the trellis, I'm loving the changing of the berries on it!

A little relaxation golf for my husband, I still get frustrated when I can't hit the ball like a softball. :-( 

I'm pretty good at driving the golf cart though! :-)

The wind was unbelievably strong and the poor archway completely fell down and it was garbage day so we had garbage cans in the road! 

ADM vs. Mt. P

So in our crazy, fast-paced, cold, loving world. Let's enjoy the simple things! We are saying goodnight to the sun at what seems like a nascar race pace getting darker and darker, earlier and earlier every night, just embrace what we have and Love Life!! :-) Wrap up in your favorite blanket and a good book! Tonight out daily bread gave us a good analogy about forgiveness. 

Forgiveness can often times be a tough thing to do, I'm a one lucky girl though, this is one of my husband's strengths! He comes with many more! :-) The analogy is of a teenager and his father. The teen ager was always getting in trouble, an no matter how much he hurt his parents with his previous wrong doing, he would soon turn around and do something else wrong--knowingly he would be forgiven.

Finally, his dad takes him out to the garage for a talk. Dad picked up a hammer and pounded a nail into the garage wall. Then he gave his son the hammer and told him to pull out the nail. (This is called a lever as I would tell my science students.) The teen grabbed the hammer, and yanked out the nail. 

"That's like forgiveness, Son." When you do something wrong, it's like pounding a nail. Forgiveness is when you pull the nail out." "Okay, I get it," said the teenager. "Now take the hammer and pul out the nail hole," his dad replied. 

"That's impossible!" the boys said. " I can't pull it out" 

Our sins can be forgiven and washed away, but their consequences are ours to pay. Thank you Lord for being filled with compassion. Amen! 

Bring on those trick-r-treaters tomorrow night!! I always love to see little kiddos cuteness!! :-) But I'm having a hard time staying away from the candy!

Now go dress up and have fun!! Happy Saturday! :-) 

Our Wedding Day!!

Alright last post I promise, then bedtime for this girl!! We were busy tonight and I had to watch Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters! But I have to share this one last thing!!! Nolan and I were married December 18th, 2009, but I'm embarrassed to say we still hadn't bought the copyright to our wedding pictures. My parents as an early birthday for me and early 1 year anniversary to us, BOUGHT US THE COPYRIGHT!!! I am beyond words speechless, and couldn't express how thankful I am for them. I was going to wait a couple more months until our 1 year anniversary to post these pictures, but am too excited and love them!! So I wanted to share, because I just can't contain myself. I have already started a book on shutterfly!!:-)

Our wedding day!

Love Him! :-)

My girls!! :-)

We all wore red heals!! :-) I love it!

The men!

Our  Families! 

Wedding Party!!

I loved our centerpieces!! Red Roses and Red Apples :-)

Waiting for his bride to walk down the isle! He's so handsome!! :-)

Hands:-)

My brother sang!! :-) He is so AWESOME!!!

We were married in a beautiful lodge in front of a fire place and under a deer head. :-)

The cake!! It am so blessed to all the people who helped make our wedding beautiful! Thanks! The cake had red apples in-between each layer! 

Our rings on an apple:-)

My Husband's cake!! It's been a sad week for Mr. Benge. Needless to say we don't like the Yankees in our house. :-)

The wedding party with an outside picture. 

Have a great day!!

The house I grew up in is looking a little different!

Friday we drove back to my parents for some quality family time!! My parents have been working so hard on their home, and we haven't been home since the end of May, so needless to say the house I grew up in is CHANGING!!! It is beautiful!! I'm so excited for my parents and they have done a wonderful job! It was really good to see my family!! :-)

Here is a new photo from the front!! It is a 2 car garage attached to the house, new siding, new shutters, new front patio and front door!! It is AWESOME!!!

Now from the back..... You will notice a large room all the way on the left of the picture is walk in closet in my parents room! The middle extension is the GREAT ROOM!! Then the back patio and the large, insulated garage!!!

The walk in closet from the inside...

The new bathroom! :-) I love it! It's so BIG and it is going to connect with my parents room with a pocket door and where I'm standing to take the picture is an awesome shower (with good pressure)!!

Great Room.....

Inside the garage, right where mom is you can go into the kitchen!

This is the little nook between the great room and garage that you can see out the kitchen window!

The back porch! What a great place to sit, talk, and relax!

This used to be my room now it is OUR room and looks so much more mature! :-) 

I love all the changes and tried to help mom a little bit on Saturday morning! Kirbster was able to come with us and this was his first encounter with MoMo....

This was how Kirbster tried to help grandma sweep. He isn't a very good helper needless to say. :-)

Thanks mom and dad for a great Friday night and Saturday! We can't wait to see you next month! :-)