No It's Not Halloween yet!

No...that's not grey hair...well maybe just a couple are, (shh...we won't mention that to Randie)

A few weeks ago the Relief Society had "Fabulous Friday", it's basically the same as "Super Saturday", or "Wonderful Wednesday"... anyway all the women in the ward get together for a Huge blowout Craft night, of chatting, and treats. Since Randie is the Coordinator of all that, she spent quite a bit of time putting it all together. I must say I was impressed with how she dealt with all the logistics. It's not an easy task putting together something that large for 60-80 women.

One of the Crafts was "Picture Blocks" where you take 3 large blocks and put pictures on all 6 sides of each Block then stack them strategically somewhere in your house for people to ooh and aah over. (They really do turn out pretty nice.)

The person who was going to cut out and sand all the blocks fell through, so Randie and I (and a couple other women) ended up doing 200+ blocks ourselves.

Can I just say my wife is amazing...(Even when she looks like she just walked out of a sandstorm)

HomeComing

Yes, Justin went to Homecoming this year, (His first Semi-Formal Date). He asked Jenny Miller if she would go with him, and of course she said yes. He ended up opting for the Teddy Bear/Note on the porch approach, and since it was also her birthday threw in some roses as well. She answered with the classic hidden message in the cupcake, and it was all good.



They ended up doing a Group date with 3 other couples, and had planned on going miniature golfing, but the weather didn't want to cooperate, so they changed horses mid stream, and decided to come over to our house to play games, but one of the couples ended up being 1/2 hour late, so they pretty much just hung out and chatted until it was time to go to dinner at one of the other parents homes, were they were waited on by siblings.

After dinner they were going to come back over to our house and make cookies, but it got to late to fast, and they ended up just going to the dance.

The dances at the school are just not good...I could be more detailed but don't want to offend any ones sensibilities... The guys had previously decorated another parents basement and then joined up with another 4 couples and had the dance there....that way they had control over the music, refreshments, atmosphere etc.

Justin had a great time...and I'm sure we will be seeing Jenny again.

Papers are In

After getting all his paperwork done and sent in it is pretty much a waiting game now to find out where he will be going. He met with the Bishop on Sunday, and will be meeting with the Stake President sometime this week. The Bishop said that he will most likely get his mission call sometime between October 20th-31st and will probably be leaving before Christmas.

The minor health issues he was having seem to be working themselves out. The doctor put him on a mild antibiotic and gave him a nasal spray to counter act the allergy problems he's been having...I think once he gets away from all the grass cutting at the golf course that he will be fine. The doctor gave him a clean bill of health, so I don't think it will impact where he is called. He still wants to go on a foreign mission, so we'll see what happens. Will keep you all posted as we get more information.

Balloon Fest

Another indication that 1 more year has flown by....Every year we try and make it out to Memorial Park for the Colorado Springs Balloon Festival, it's pretty much a tradition now. It is always fun to stand and watch all the multi-colored balloons launch into the sky, and you can never have enouph pictures of hot air balloons...at least thats what it would seem if you went back and compiled all the pictures I've taken over the last few years...Good times where had by all, and of course you always have to get a funnel cake or it's just not a Balloon Festival.

Pikes Peak

Ok... so we have lived here for 7+ years now and have never taken the time to go to the top of Pikes Peak (14,000 ft) so on Saturday we loaded up the van, and headed up the mountain, It's about a 3 hour round trip up and back, and I have to admit that I got a little nervous after we got to about 12,000 ft. the drop off from the road was a LONG way down.




Once we go to the top you could definitely tell that the air was a LOT thinner, even for us who are used to breathing at 6,500 feet. The brochure that they gave us said that at that altitude you were breathing 1/2 the oxygen that you get at sea level.




The view was spectacular, It was kind of disconcerting to see some of the clouds floating below you... the were also some amazing cloud formations, that looked totally different from where we were at.




There is a gift shop at the top (of course there is) we learned that they get over 500,000 visitors a year, and since it was a Holiday weekend there was probably 100+ people there, we got some doughnuts and fudge, as a reward for making the trip.






I took some pictures but they don't do any justice to the magnitude and grandeur of the view.



If you get out this way, it's definitely worth the trip, we plan on going back in October to see the Autumn leaves on the way up... to bad we've missed it all these years.