Whistlin'

Look at what Sam can do now!

Silly

Sam is all about making funny faces lately. I was especially impressed with this one, with exception to the food in his mouth. :)

Go Sam!

Here's a video of Sam going down the big inflatable slide at our church carnival last month. I didnt realize at the time how many people were there cheering him on! Go Sam!

Busy, busy, busy

Busy. That pretty much describes our life this past month and a half. Between church stuff, family stuff, working, and traveling, our days have been full. So, here's a few highlights of this past month.
Walter's Pumpkin Patch - This was our first time at the Pumpkin Patch and we had so much fun... especially Sam. He's a little bit too small to do some of the fun stuff they had for kids, but there was still loads for him to do.


Wedding in Tulsa/Tulsa Run - Mark's cousin Spencer got married the end of October. The wedding was beautiful and the reception was lots of fun. They had a live big band style orchestra which was awesome. Mark also participated in the Tulsa Run with some other fam, including the groom. He was super sore afterwards because he didn't train at all beforehand, but still did really well.







Halloween - Sam dressed up as a very cute dragon this year and we are still working through his cookie jar full of Trick or Treat candy.


My birthday/Pastor's Retreat in Estes Park - In the beginning of November (on my 29th birthday), Mark and I headed to Estes Park, CO with our pastor and his wife for a few days of relaxation and renewal. The speaker there was excellent and the views of the Rockies were beautiful. We took a quick picture on our way out of Estes.... unfortunately, we never really had any time to enjoy the mountains up close.


Building Hope Carnival - To end our church's building fund campaign, we had a big carnival to celebrate. It's so great to see what God is doing in people's lives at Hope!



Well, that's our lives right now in a nutshell. Next week, my sister is coming to visit and then we're heading up to Clay for the big Habluetzel Thanksgiving get together. I can't wait!

Oh... and Conan is still flipping upside down and still alive. :)

Conan

Conan is our goldfish - I won him a year ago at the State Fair. I used to win fish all the time at the fair when I was a kid (throwing ping pong balls into the fish bowls) and wanted to see if I could still do it. I won Conan on my last throw. Well, yesterday Mark and I were talking in the dining room with Sam and I glance over at Conan's tank and Conan is just floating on the top of the water clearly looking dead. So I ask Mark, "Is... Conan.... dead?!??" We watched him for another ten seconds and we agreed he was definitely dead.
Now, I never thought I would get emotional over a fish, but the next thing I know, I start crying and have to leave the room. I always wondered how I would feel when Conan died, but I didn't think I would get THAT emotional. Well, about 20 seconds pass and then all of sudden Mark says "He's okay! He's okay!". I rush into the kitchen and there's Conan swimming around like nothing ever happened.
Is this normal? Are fish known to play dead like dogs do? Are fish known to come back to life? Do fish sleep upside down on the top of the water? Was Conan trying to liven up his mundane day by playing a trick on us?
We may never know.
(And yes, Conan is doing just fine and I'm very happy he's still with us.) :)

He's gonna be a rockstar!

Samuel is getting pretty good at playing the drums.... and he's only two!

Nebraska/Colorado pt 1

Here's a few pics from before (and during) our visit to see Mark's brother Adam. We totally slacked on pictures in Alliance, but Mark took plenty of Colorado pics that he'll be blogging about soon.
Here's Samuel singing/doing the motions along with the Wiggles. He's starting to sing a lot more now... it's so cute!

We took THREE pictures on our Nebraska trip... how pathetic. :(
I think this is on our way to Alliance. Sam was very excited to see Uncle Adam, who he affectionately calls "Crazy Adam".

While in Alliance, Mark and Adam played disc golf...as always. Sam liked following Mark around and picking up the discs for him.

Alliance has a really big, pretty park. Sam was having fun looking out on the lake and watching the ducks.


We had lots of fun at Adam's. Hopefully, Mark will blog about his guy's camping trip in Colorado soon. I guess one of the guys is putting everyone's pictures together onto one CD, so it'll be fun to see all the pictures we get!