pumpkin patch!!

One of our fall family traditions is to go to the pumpkin patch and pick our pumpkins!

Last year we went to Roca Berry Farms, but this year we opted for the free adminssion entry at Sunwest Farms not far from here. The weather turned out to be pretty decent and it wasn't very busy as it was during the Husker game! We went with the Mollo's and had such a fun time! Zeke picked his pumpkin right away and was quite excited about it (little Logan checking things out!)


Ezekiel also enjoyed the funny wooden characters... charlie brown & snoopy were his favorite!

Hayride out into the field to pick our pumpkins...

Bouncy house and carmel apples (Chris is enjoying hers!)

We ended the afternoon with Anna & Zeke sitting on top of the giant spider and another hayride before taking our 3 pumpkins home...

Our pumpkins now decorate our front step until later this week when we we'll carve them. Such fun with my boys!!

Love you monkeys!!

another chilly day...

I'm hoping for some warmer weather so we can go to the pumpkin patch!!

We need to pick some pumpkins and we are running out of time...it has been so cold here the past few weeks and i just need one warm day!!! Happy Saturday...Goooooooo HUSKERS!!!

a midwest fall...

Happy Wednesday everyone...or happy hump day as my mom said today! I thought i would share some fun pics from this fall. Even though we've been sick lots, we have managed to have some fun along the way as well. I love Zeke's face on this pic below taken Saturday at a youth hang out event. Zeke, Sam & Emma are happy as can be snuggled under the blanket.

Ezekiel & I had to take our last trip to the Zoo for the year and use up our train tickets. It was a chilly one that day!

Loving the hopscotch!

This was the evening of our Canadian Thanksgiving. We had lots of friends over for yummy dessert...

The kids had a dance party in Zeke's room with his little finger lights

OK these next 2 pics are bad because they are through Zeke's window..these are wild turkeys that have been hanging out in our back yard TWICE!! They give me the willies...yuck! Zeke & I scared them off the first day, but they came back so i had to take some pics to prove. They were even walking through Zeke's swingset!!

This is how i prefer to see turkeys!! This was my turkey for Thanksgiving 2 weeks ago, i forgot to get a cooked pic of it!

Here is a picture of the crazy snowfall we had 2 weeks ago, this is our deck:

This is Zeke ready to play in the snow (he was sooo excited this year!)

This is how much snow was actually left that we were playing in (there was a bit more in the back - we slid down the hill twice with our sled)

SO yes we are feeling better in our household and looking forard to dressing up for Boo at the Zoo next week and Trunk or Treat at church. I think Zeke is going to be a wolf (he just wants to scare people!) The leaves are turned and falling and we are preparing for winter (and looking forward to some more snow!!)

We are off to church tonight for Youth Group (for us) & Rainbows for Zeke!

Go Huskers!!!

Well it is probably high time that i do a blog about the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The Huskers are the College football team for UNL (University of Nebraska Lincoln)

When i first moved here in July 2003 i knew of the Huskers and had even watched a game with Shiloh (before we were married) the previous fall when i was here visiting. I had no idea how crazy Nebraskans (and my husband) were about Husker football.

One of the first signs of this craziness were the flags and outdoor home decor that many have on display here (especially the "Husker yard rock" which is a Lincoln favorite!). The next sign of the crazyiness is that people all over talk about Husker football as if it is the be all and end all of the world. When Shiloh and i were first married, i dreaded game day as my husband became a different person...stressed out about where he was going to watch the game, how they were going to do and then the outcome of the game directly affected his mood for the rest of the day. On game day in Lincoln, the entire city is geared up, wearing red and if you go anywhere, in any store, they are playing the game over the speakers (even the grocery store!) Forget trying to drive anywhere downtown the entire day they are playing...crazy. Somehow the Huskers are even meantioned at church on Sunday morning during the sermon.

Don't get me wrong, i do like football...I went to UWO (University of Western Ontario) football games with my Dad all the time and wore purple and cheered, the whole nine yards. I do have to say that College Football in the States is unlike anything i've ever experienced. Click here for an article by an ESPN Sports radio blogger that visited our state in September and his experience with Husker fans. Makes me feel proud to be a Husker fan!

Over the years, the Huskers have grown on me. I finally made it to a game back in 2005 (i think) and it was pretty stinkin' awesome!! The energy in the stadium with 85,000 other fans was unbelieveable and nothing like i've experienced anywhere else:

So i have come to enjoy watching the Huskers myself and look forward to Husker parties, where i can talk with my friends about life AND watch football at the same time. It is 2:30pm and about time for the Huskers to kick off against Texas Tech this afternoon. And i'm here, wearing my Husker shirt (Zeke is too) and i've come to terms with how my husband turns into a crazy football, "where am i going to wacth the game" loving maniac....and know that at the end of the day, he'll be back, ready to talk about real life again and maybe even watch a chick flick with me....maybe

flu, colds and strep throat

Mmmmm like that title? That has pretty much been my life for the past almost 3 weeks. It started out with the flu, which turned into a cold. Then saturday afternoon i started getting a sore throat. I finally went to the doctor yesterday and found out i have strep throat which was a bummer, but i'm glad i at least know what i have. I'm on some meds and my throat is starting to feel a bit better. It has been hard being sick for so long as i'm usually a very positive person and i feel like i've been a downer lately to everyone i talk to. But i guess that is part of life...it just seems like there have been so many things over the past few weeks (which i will not blog about)that sometimes could make me want to just roll over and stay in bed all day. But i know that God is still good even on the difficult days and i have to stand on that. I keep being remined of the Casting Crowns song:

I’ll praise You in this storm

And I will lift my hands

For You are who You are

No matter where I am

Every tear I’ve cried

You hold in Your hand

You never left my side

And though my heart is torn

I will praise You in this storm

I know this is not the first time i've gone through something difficult and it won't be the last. God will not give me more than i can handle. So for anyone else who is stuggling right now...i'm with you...and my hope & prayer is for a sunny day soon...

A Canadian Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving today to all my Family & Friends up north!! I am excited today to be celebrating Thanksgiving with my little fam here in the States even though it isn't Thanksgiving here yet. Zeke and I are going to do some thanksgiving crafts and then get the turkey in the oven. I will have him help me make the cresent rolls later so he can feel like he helped with dinner. He LOVES to help me in the kitchen, so i'll take it while it lasts!

Here is the history behind Canadian Thanksgiving and why is is different from American Thanksgiving....

In Canada, Thanksgiving is more closly related to the traditions in Europe than the United States. Canadian Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October. Unlike the American tradition of remembering Pilgrims and settling in the New World, Canadians give thanks for a successful harvest. The harvest season falls earlier in Canada compared to the United States due to the simple fact that Canada is further north.

The history of Thanksgiving in Canada goes back to an English explorer, Martin Frobisher, who had been trying to find a northern passage to the Orient. He did not succeed but he did establish a settlement in Northern America. In the year 1578, he held a formal ceremony, in what is now called Newfoundland, to give thanks for surviving the long journey. This is considered the first Canadian Thanksgiving. Other settlers arrived and continued these ceremonies. He was later knighted and had an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean in northern Canada named after him - Frobisher Bay.

At the same time, French settlers, having crossed the ocean and arrived in Canada with explorer Samuel de Champlain, also held huge feasts of thanks. They even formed 'The Order of Good Cheer' and gladly shared their food with their Indian neighbours. After the Seven Year's War ended in 1763, the citizens of Halifax held a special day of Thanksgiving.

During the American Revolution, Americans who remained loyal to England moved to Canada where they brought the customs and practices of the American Thanksgiving to Canada. There are many similarities between the two Thanksgivings such as the cornucopia and the pumpkin pie. Eventually in 1879, Parliament declared November 6th a day of Thanksgiving and a national holiday. Over the years many dates were used for Thanksgiving, the most popular was the 3rd Monday in October.

Finally, on January 31st, 1957, Parliament proclaimed..."A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed ... to be observed on the 2nd Monday in October.

So today I thank you God for all you have blessed us with, may i be continuly reminded of your great faithfullness and give thanks to you alone for you are good!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

TGIF

I love Fridays! I might go as far to say they are my favorite day of the week. I consistently always have Fridays off, which i love. Zekey and i usually go to the Lincoln Children's Zoo because we have our annual pass to go there. We were thinking of going this morning and using up our last 2 free train ride tickets we have left, but it is a little chilly this morning. The cold never stops me, but i have to think about my little man since he gets cold a lot faster than me, plus he has had a bad cough yesterday & today so i think we will hibernate indoors today.

We do need to go out and get our turkey for Canadian Thanksgiving (which is on Monday). I hope we can find one! This will be the first year we have done a turkey for Thanksgiving (other than 2006 - when my parents were here for Canadian Thanksgiving and my mom cooked a turkey). I'm excited because i think it is important that Ezekiel celebrates Canadian holidays as well as American ones since half of the people we love most are in Canada! And of course I'm still Canadian too! SO i decided to take Monday off to celebrate and we are also having people over in the evening for pie & dessert.

Well i hope you all enjoy your Friday (especially all the Husker fans after last nights game against Mizzou!) Yeah long week-end, here we come!!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today is my Dad's 59th birthday, so this post is all about him! (This picture is from August when we went on the "Maid of the Mist" boat ride in Niagara Falls where we went right up to the falls - it was amazing, my parents tried to go and take me when i was 2 and a threw a fit and wouldn't let them, they never went back until this summer, so this picture is extra special!)

I love my Dad and miss him very much. I love living in Nebraska, but i really miss him... i miss being around to hear his funny jokes, watching baseball playoffs & Survivor with him, going shopping with him (he loves that part!) and sneaking ice cream from Baskin Robins before dinner!! I can always count on a good laugh from my Daddy and he has always encouraged me in everything i do. Most importantly, he loves Jesus and has been praying for me my whole life. Pretty cool, eh?!? I'm glad that we are able to webcam (even though it's not the same) so he can watch Zekey be crazy and so he can see me going crazy with a 3 year old as well - i think he enjoys that! Here are a few pics from this summer:

I love you Dad and hope that you have a awesome night tonight eating Fish & Chips!! Enjoy the quiet because next year we are going to partttttty for your 6-0!!

We love you!!!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Dress Story

I have to share this super fun thing that happened to me today! My friend Maddie will be getting married in January and she asked me to be a bridesmaid! So fun and i feel super honored to be asked. Maddie is awesome and is taking over leading the youth drama team this year which I'm really excited to pass along to her! Anyways...back to the cool thing...so I'm excited to be in Maddie & Derek's wedding, except $$ has been a little (or lot) tight lately. So i was kind of stressing about paying for a dress. Maddie was looking on craigslist and found a dress from the same store, same color (truffle) and close to my size. So i messaged the girl and she brought the dress by my work today and i tried it on and bought it for about 1/4 of the price of it new!

This was totally a God thing and i love that. He cares about the smallest things in our lives and i'm so thankful that He loves me enough to keep showing me that! Rock on - i will have to post pics of me in the dress after i get it altered.

Connect Groups!

Yesterday our church launched "Connect Groups" which is our new small group ministry. Last night we started a new Group and it was awesome! It was so fun to be in group again as we didn't meet with a small group at all last year. The group we joined is for Young Adults so Shiloh said he feels like the old man of the group! I told him "Someone has to be the oldest!" It was amazing to meet so many new people that we have never even seen at church. One of the girls in the group we knew (other than our leaders Jeff & Ciana + James & Melissa) as she was a student on the AIM (Youth missions) trip we took back in July 2005 so that was really fun to reconnect.

I'm excited to hear other stories from people's groups that meet this week. I feel like we as a staff (at church) have put so much work (sweat & tears!!) into this minstry it is great to see it launch. And we want feedback!! If you are in the Lincoln area and haven't joined a group yet, get plugged in!!

Happy Monday - looking forward to a better, sick free week :)

We're back and it's Fall 2009! I wanted to begin blogging again and needed a cute, new fresh look so here it is - hope you like it!! Here are a few pics from our busy, travelling summer! We took a family reunion trip with Shiloh's family up in the mountains in Colorado for a few days. It was beautiful & cool - and we had an awesome time.

We also road tripped up to Canada to visit my family. It was a loooooooooong trip, but we loved it!

Grammy, Papa & Zekey

We went for a hike on my Grandpa's land to show Shiloh & Zeke where he used to make maple syrup.

Lots of swimming!!

My brothers & Zeke

Day trip to Niagara Falls Ontario

Same spot Shiloh & I were engaged Feb 2003

Family Pic (Jordan & Bryan, Mikey & Kayla, Papa & Grammy, Shiloh, Zeke & I)

Back home at the Lincoln Zoo - lots of fun times with Daddy!

Digging for dinosaur bones...

Trip to Naponee Nebraska with friends (our annual trip!) Out on the pond with Val & the kids

Duck-Duck-Goose in the dirt

Shiloh's HUGE 12 lb catfish he caught one night

Zeke's little fish he caught

SO that was just a few pics of the awesome Summer we had. We have been back home and getting into the swing of Fall with church activities (Zeke is now in Rainbows on wed night) and we are starting out new small group (or Connect Group) tonight! We are excited to meet some new people and to be challenged in our walk with God. We have had a rough last couple of weeks with several things including coming down with the dreaded H1N1 flu...but we are on our way to feeling better and enjoying the beautiful fall weather. Stay tuned for more posts!!