Thanks for Giving

Thanksgiving is always just incredibly wonderful. I feel so blessed to have family so close by and I indeed have so much to be grateful for-I am so blessed by my Heavenly Father. I am so grateful for my loving husband, family, employment, our home we make beautiful together, warm clothes, health, means to help others, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ and his infinite Atonement. I have this everyday and need to show more gratitude. I am grateful for the Holiday that helps me remember and put my life back into perspective.
This year we were lucky enough to get to have a Thanksgiving meal with both families-talk about turkey! Both meals were perfect and we were so happy to be there. I was pretty happy with the Lattice Berry Pie I made.

 

Halloween

Halloween this year we were Frankenstein and Bride. I gathered from existing and we bought Mr. Finch some Green Face paint that was much stickier that we expected. He was a trooper for a bit before it had to come off. Jaynes Family party is always fun with Grandpa Scary Story. Halloween Night we headed over to Stacy's home for delish eats and fun. 
Our pumpkins lit our family room and we enjoyed Brandon's Goulish Grin for All Hallows Eve. These are the only pictures I got but we had lots of cute, creative costumes, minions, and rock stars. Happy Haunting.

Fall

I had a lot of fun making this pallet board art piece for my Mother-in-law Cindy. Brandon helped me cut old pallets that my dad gave me from his warehouse. I created a stencil for the letters and the shape of the leaf. I used carpet tacks and embroidery thread for the string art. Very easy and excited to do some more!

Women's Conference

Brandon warned me that after our successful planning of the Ward 4th of July party I may be called on to help again. I replied "No, other people need to have the turn to help." Well I guess I had more helping to do. A call from my Relief society president to be on the decorations "committee" for an upcoming stake women's conference we were hosting had me planning again. "Committee" was kind of misleading. I thought of course I can be on a committee. I'll keep my mouth shut for the most part and volunteer to make the programs or something simple. Well welcome to my committee of one. Just me. So I started planning. I was informed that there was no budget and they planned on having hundreds attend. The key speaker, recently released General Young Women's President, Sister Elaine Dalton. Presidency members had been planning for months and envisioned a royal event for the attending women. I can do royal, I can do events, but usually at least a small budget is waiting for me to create and be resourceful with. Also a color scheme of Gold and Purple had already been selected. That made gathering a little more difficult. This event would NOT have happened without my mother. No Way, No How. Everything used for the event was collected from her home and mine. Also, enormous thanks to Mr. Finch. He put up with flowers everywhere, trucked trees around and was my constant support. He's a little event planner in training! Overall it was a lovely event- the most lovely part was of course the uplifting words from Sister Dalton and the classes that followed. 
Vases: I can't even remember how many I painted! At least 70. Paint swirled inside then drained. Then filled with silk flowers my mom had accumulated. 

 This really is not even 1/3 of the arrangements!

 The Display in the Chapel for Key Note: Sister Dalton

Cultural Hall for Lunch

Mustache Bash for the Birthday Boy

Brandon turned the Big 30 on October 10th. He was a little weary of the graduation into adulthood but hopefully having a fun mustache bash with family eased him into the next decade. I've wanted to do a mustache bash for so long! It may have taken some convincing on my part that "he" would enjoy it but after it's said and done it was a Stache Smash!
We started the day out rock climbing at Momentum Climbing in Sandy. I'm hooked! Although heights are not my thing I didn't seem to mind being stories in the air. Letting go to come down did cause some hesitation though. Here's the invites to the family get together and then our day! 

 Place Settings included guest picture with whiskers, 30 questions about the birthday boy and mustache tattoos for fingers and faces.

 Happy Birthday Brandon! Love you and Glad we got to celebrate you!

 

Last Rays of Summer

Summer has ended but i'm loving the change and optimistic for the remainder of the year. I've been longing for sweaters, boots, tea, rich colors and holidays. The air's crisp, cooler and there's been so many beautiful days. We made sure to squeeze every ounce of sunshine out of the summer. We drove up to Bear Lake with my family to the Pickleville Playhouse to see the closing show of Juanito Bandito. There was some very funny and clever parts in the play including a "harlem shake" that was so funny! We had to get a shake of course, Raspberry is famous but how can I resist a little chocolate:) Cookie Dough for me!

We also went down to the Riverwoods for the Chalk the Block Festival. There are some amazing artworks! There's a huge range from families and squiggly faces to works of art, well all are art! Watch out for the Mister and Me next year! We think we'll participate. If it were up to me we'd have just some stick figures but with the Mister I'm sure we'll turn up with something fun!
So long Summer, Hello Fall! I'm welcoming you with open arms!