ward halloween fun

To be honest, I haven't celebrated Halloween in a long time. But something changes once you have a kid and start imaging all the cute costumes you can put him in! As you may remember, L outgrew his original costume back in August, so we had to improvise. We found a new one at a garage sale, and it was worth the $5! I wanted to be all cute with a family theme (someday ...), but Ryan said no to wings. Instead, Ry chose to dress up as a good friend of ours. A little friendly imitation never hurts, right? :)
Here's Ryan and his idol
This is our theme - although I must say that my costume did not turn out near as good as I had wanted it to. My fly eyes took too long to figure out, so I couldn't shape them to my head - so they look goofy. They kept falling off, and L loved reaching for them, so I took them off after like 10 minutes. Oh well. The wings were the best part anyway - and I am proud of those (although you can't really see them). As you can see, I have a long ways to go before I can be one of the "cool" moms with homemade costumes!
I convinced a good friend of mine to enter the pie-eating contest with me. I'm sure our complexions suffered from the whipping cream! But it was fun! Thanks Kristina!
Our little speckled frog got pretty tired ...
Happy Halloween!!

my dad

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

My favorite things about my dad:

• He was incredibly handsome when he married my mom, and he still is to this day!
• He lives and breathes hard work. Whenever there's a job to be done, he does it to the best of his ability. There's no half-way with him. It's either done well, or not done at all.
  
• He takes his time - to work, to play, to love, to teach, to learn, to laugh, to live
• He knows everything! I'm not even kidding. Ask him anything, and he'll give you the answer.
• His whole purpose in life is to do things for and with his family. He works so hard to give his family the resources that we need. If he could have it his way, I'm sure every job in or outside the house would be done with the entire family chipping in.
  
• He's living proof that you're never too old to learn something new.
  
• He looks regal in his military uniform, handsome in a tux, and just about perfect in his Sunday suit (which belonged to my mother's dad).

• He instilled patriotism in us kids, and we are all proud to be Americans.
  
• He loves meeting new people, and can relate to anyone.
• His testimony is solid. I have never ever had a reason to doubt his faith.
• He was older than my best friend's grandpa when I was growing up. I guess he still is!
  
• He loves to be outdoors and has taught me to feel the same. My favorite family vacations were when we would go camping, hiking, fishing, skiing, backpacking or anything else outside.

• He's completely able to be in front of the group when we're hiking or skiing or backpacking, but yet he chooses to bring up the rear, making sure everyone makes it. I'm sure it's his quiet way of being supportive to every family member, no matter what the circumstances.
  
• He often is being teased, and has developed a good sense of humor about it. (e.g. In Heaven, I'm sure he will have a beautiful singing voice ... so we'll have to wait to hear it.)
• He is a professional dutch-oven cooker. I'm not kidding - he's that good.
• He can fix anything in the house. Growing up I never knew that there were men who got paid to go to houses and fix electrical problems, or holes in the wall created by the kids roller-blading in the house, or leaks in the roof, or remodeling the kitchen, adding on another garage, doubling the square footage of a house, or even building a house from the ground-up by himself.
  
• He draws up the plans himself, and can create whatever he wants.
  
• He is a great dancer.
• He's a loving Grandfather to five incredible grandkids who are all very lucky.
• I love him! Happy Birthday Dad!

a bend in the road

"My future seemed to stretch out before me like a straight road. I thought I could see along it for many a milestone. Now there is a bend in it. I don't know what lies around the bend, but I'm going to believe that the best does. It has a fascination of its own, that bend, Marilla. I wonder how the road beyond it goes--what there is of green glory and soft, checkered light and shadows--what new landscapes--what new beauties--what curves and hills and valleys further on."

-Anne Shirley, Anne of Green Gables

I read this book recently, and started thinking about the bends in the road that I have experienced. As a teenager, I had my entire life mapped out. I knew exactly what I would be doing and where. I knew who I was going to marry, where I would serve a mission (if I would serve a mission was not an option), what I would graduate from college in, and what my career would be. To be honest, I feel like I had the answers to most of the questions long before I was a teenager! I prided myself in being the one in control, and was stubborn enough to argue with anyone who mentioned alternative options.

One of the biggest bends in the road that I ever experienced was when I met Ryan. Up until that point, almost everything in my life had happened according to plan - I could still see what lied ahead for me. When our relationship got to the point where we openly discussed marriage, I could almost literally see my life's path turning from everything that I had previously known. So many choices, decisions, and outcomes changed. I realized that by making the decision to marry Ryan, I was consciously choosing the path that would require more faith than I had ever had because I could not see past the bend in the road.

It's only been three and a half years since then, but I must say they are the best I have ever experienced. I realize now that we are constantly faced with bends in the road - and it is our choice to be grateful for them and enjoy them to the fullest. Marriage, becoming parents, starting medical school, moving across the country, deciding on a residency, raising our family, living every-day life - all of these things throw surprises at us. But the sweetest blessings are found in the moments when you recognize Heavenly Father's direction in your life, and how He knows better than you do. I am so grateful for the choices I have made - with His help - that have led me to where I am today.

There are still many bends ahead, and it's a little scary sometimes thinking about what the future holds for me and my family. But I also love the possibilities that we can choose from. I wonder how the road goes beyond the next bend ...

rose garden

Monday was so incredibly beautiful!! After I took all those fun pictures of L hanging out in the crib, we decided that the weather was perfect and necessitated additional pictures. We picked Ry up from class in the afternoon and went to a park on the way home. It's the Columbus Park of Roses - and honestly ... it's October. I knew that quite a few roses stayed in bloom well into September and October, but I didn't think that we would see that many!! It was absolutely beautiful! And the minute you walk into this area of the park, the smell just hits you like a wall and it's heaven on earth. At BYU I worked as a TA for a floral design class for spring term, and I got so spoiled working with roses and other flowers every single day. It was awesome! I had way too much fun taking hundreds of pictures ... but I like so many of them that I want to share a lot! Since they're small, just double click 'em to make 'em big. Hope you enjoy!

On top of the view point where you could see thousands of roses!

As I was taking pictures ... I noticed two little guys in the background being ever so patient! Cute, huh?

I loved these colors!

Although taking pictures of the roses were fun, I think this subject is much more cute!

This one was called "Singing in the Rain" - cute, huh? :)

just hanging out

Monday morning I was kind of cleaning up L's room a bit, so he was just chilling in his crib watching me. He LOVES being able to sit up now and see what's going on (in fact - last night during his bath, he would literally scream as loud as he could the second I started to lay him down. He would only stop if I brought him back up to a sitting position. Ugh ... he squirms a lot more like that ... but oh well!). He was so dang cute that I had to run and grab the camera!

Here's him sitting - he can barely see over the top of the rails. That will definitely change soon - because he's starting to pull on things to help him sit up, and I don't want him to suddenly pull himself up to standing without me realizing it! But for now at least, it's dang cute!

So we started rolling around ...

And look at how big he is! Sadness ... I loved it when we used to lay him this way to sleep. It's happening way to fast!

This picture makes me laugh - as if he's just sitting there singing to himself or something.

His eyebrows kill me. He's so expressive!

I made him kneel right next to the railing and put his hands up on it - I think he was a little nervous about this.
Especially when his knees would slowing start slipping out from underneath him! haha
And this is one of him standing ... kind of. See? I think it's time to lower his crib mattress ...

fall fun

This past week we had a lot of fun! L and I went to the famous Pumpkin Show in Circleville, OH (about 45 min. south of us) with some friends, and we had a blast! We tried all sorts of yummy treats - pumpkin burgers, pumpkin chili, pumpkin doughnuts (by far the best!), pumkin cheesecake fudge, pumpkin butter, pumpkin-you-name-it! It was sooo good! 

Then on Saturday Ry, L, and I went to a little farm to pick out pumpkins.  It was an activity hosted by the med school, so we ran into some friends there and had a grand ol' time (although it was freezing!!).  This picture might just be my favorite of L lately. I had a lot of fun taking pictures of him with pumpkins!! 

Here's a few of the friends we met up with on the hay-ride. So cute!

I have to defend the bloated appearance of my son in this picture.  Even though he is still larger than the average 6-month old, we definitely had multiple layers on him this day! I think he wore three shirts under those overalls ... so please do not laugh at my baby. :) 

I love family pictures - especially with old rustic barns and trucks. 

random cuteness

Since I'm playing catch-up with my posts, I figured I could add these in.  These are just some of my favorites from random things ... 

L in his overalls

L watching Daddy play ultimate frisbee down on campus.