confession

i'm developing an obsession for harry potter. i was way too cool for hp when the books came out and have been making fun of hogwarts and all things hp since then.

but over the last few weeks ricky and i (courtesy of georga and linda) have watched every single movie and i'm obsessed!!

i've never done the midnight showing thing...too many crowds and crazies and costumes, but you better believe this is on the agenda for thanksgiving week!

DNOW 2010

we survived DNOW 2010 and it was incredible!! 930ish middle and high school students spent their weekends playing, laughing, and learning about how LOVED they are by God and many lives were changed! so amazing. here's what the church service with students plus leaders, co-leaders, and host homes looked like:

i guess we've already outgrown our new space because there were tons of kids sitting on the floor! awesome sight. and my small group got to stay at alton brown's house, nbd. he wasn't there, but that was probably be good because i get really starstruck and awkward. but it was weird to look around and see his wedding pictures and stuff! my girls had a great time, aren't they so cute?!

i'm taking the day off because coordinating that many people is a lot of work and i'm pretty braindead and sleep deprived! a little dvr watching, jazzercising, doggy snuggling, cookbook searching, mama jo's hot chocolate, and finishing up some mentoring homework. what's better than a random weekday off?

and a little update on ricky...he woke up at 4am yesterday morning in a lot of pain. he twisted his ankle on saturday (story of his life) and was okay saturday but yesterday couldn't even walk. the doctor said it was a really bad sprain and if it doesn't feel better in about a week then we'll need to see a specialist because there might be ligament damage. hopefully it will heal just fine because ricky has had enough surgeries already!

happy birthday hunter!

today is hunter's 11th birthday! there is no one like the fat man! here are some of my favorite things about my sweet black lab:

-every morning he wakes up SO excited. might have something to do with eating...forget trying to let him outside, he refuses to do anything before he eats

-he is the best snuggler/little spoon ever, and super warm

exhibit A

-he makes awesome grunts and noises all the time. the best one is when he yawns.

-he loves to watch tv, even barked at it while we were watching the harry potter with the werewolves last night, so funny!

-he is REALLY good. never does anything he's not supposed to...wish that would rub off on penny!

-he plays with penny even though he'd rather just hang out on the couch

-when ricky had to move to georgia while i stayed in arizona for another month, hunter stayed with me. that's when he really became my dog, and they don't come more loyal than hunter.

-he "smiles" when he gets really excited...aka bears his crooked teeth and it's so cute/funny

-there will never be another dog that is this excited when we come home.

well, i'm officially a crazy dog lady, but hunter has that affect on people! happy birthday, sweet boy!

yard crashers

this post is primarily for my mom (gotta love Pam Bram!)...a couple of weeks ago we hired some people to get our yard back to neutral...a HUGE project since our house was not lived in for quite a while before we bought it. it was hard to find the motivation to start since it was so overwhelming, but maintenance sounds a lot more doable!



the front yard, the grass seeds are starting to sprout now



side yard, we can see the gate for the first time ever! and yes, our hydrangea is massive!



backyard, a major improvement! and hi penny!

slowly but surely we're getting there!

yum!

we had our friends Brooke and Jarrod over for dinner last weekend and I was excited to try one of the Pioneer Woman's newer recipes and oh. my. goodness. you have to try her stuffed shells! so easy if you have a little time on your hands and so good!

I also made the easiest cookies in the world! ready for this?

a 15oz can of pumpkin. a box of spice cake mix. a bag of chocolate chips. mix and bake at 375 for about 14 minutes.

okay, they're not the prettiest cookies, but I will pick easy and tasty over pretty any day!

on another note, our good friends Chris and Aubrey had sweet baby Sutton last week! he is just perfect and we are excited to watch him grow up!

I'm heading to the lake this weekend with my mentor/small group, looking forward to some refreshing Jesus time and girl time! Ricky will stay busy with our sweet pups, football, and possibly a Chinese buffet...

and i won't rub it in, but it felt so good to watch k-state win big!