Leaves, leaves, and more leaves

I apologize in advance to those of you that live in cold climates...

In the South it is still 70 degrees everyday so the leaves have barely changed and are starting to fall off the trees. We have raked 8 large bags and several little bags of leaves.


This is all well and good except that my trees still look like this. Any ideas how many more bags that is? And that is just one of the three trees in our yard, not to mention the ones on the hiking trail. Why is it raking leaves was one of my favorite memories from when I was little?

At least we had some cute help.

Happy Thanksgiving!

When I was growing up we always had a tradition that we (all 20+ people we shared dinner with) had to say what they were thankful for before we ate. So this year I'm doing it a little late...

I am thankful for my family and the wonderful friends I have located all over this great country of ours. This Navy thing can get hard sometimes but it has given us the opportunity to live in some interesting places and meet people we wouldn't have otherwise. And I haven't lost touch with those we leave and that is important to me.

I hope you all had a wonderful day with family and friends! Here are some photos of our day.

Morgan and Uncle Don cooking dinner.

Nora and Daddy watching football.

Melvin and Sawyer playing.

Morgan and Mommy hanging out.

P.S. Thanks Aunt Carol for coming to dinner and for all the treats, including the mysterious rosemary bush on my porch :o)

We went to a movie!

Before Saturday I can't tell you the last movie Ben and I have seen in a theatre. Well it has been long enough that inflation hit the movies! The military discount scored us tickets for a mere $7.00 each! Then a medium, not a bucket, a medium popcorn cost us $5.00! I'm pretty sure the fact I notice this makes me old.

We saw Dan in Real Life at the recommendation of my friend Emily. It was a very cute movie. Very funny too. Ben's favorite line was "You are a murder of love!" I just wonder if there are really families out there that do these things? They seem to actually love being together even though they are all always crammed in the same room. And they do things like aerobics and put on talent shows together. Who does that?

Morgan's Hair Cut...the next day

I tried to dress her extra girly today. I'm sure it will be back in her face before we know it.

Morgan's First Haircut

Morgan's hair has been getting very long and she refuses to keep in a clip or ponytail. So today I took her to a salon next to a children's store I went to recently. I couldn't find the name of the salon in the phonebook so we just went there and caught someone on their way in. So it turns out the salon is also a boutique and the reason I couldn't find it in the phonebook is because they recently changed their name (at the request of all the Christian's around) from Simply Sexy to Attitudes. I didn't even notice until we were leaving that they had a few risque items for sale. Oops! But the stylist was awesome.

If anyone wasn't sure, Morgan is no longer a baby...

...and now she looks like a boy.

Here are my six things

Here are six things about me at the request of Miranda's tag. The only other person I know that blogs that hasn't been tagged would have to be Layne And I bet Layne has some funny stories!

1. I love to play tennis, especially when I win, even more when the loser is Ben. Not that I'm uber competitive or anything it's just that he wins at everything and this is the one thing I actually have a chance of beating him at...sometimes.

2. I love my girls. One of my favorite things is watching them play princesses together. It was also super cute today when Morgan and I picked Nora up from school and she was finishing her snack. Morgan walked over to her and Nora fed her some of her alpha bits cereal.

3. Baking is like therapy for me. It is very relaxing and extra fun when Nora helps. Problem is that I don't have Zach and Miranda around to eat all the cookies, cup cakes, and whatever else comes out of the kitchen and my waistline makes me stop baking for a while.

4. Football picks - Every Sunday Ben and I pick the winners of all the NFL games. This is something Ben and I started doing last year and he totally kicked my butt. This year I'm giving him a run for his money!

5. I love to travel. I love this for a few reasons. First, it gives me something to look forward to, for example, I'm planning a trip to St. George this Spring to play in a tennis tournament. Who knows if it will actually happen, but the thought of it keeps me going on those crazy days. Second, you get to see lots of cool things, relax, get crazy, spend time with your traveling companions, meet new people, and buy souvenirs.

6. I'm a t.v. junkie. The problem is that all the shows I watch get cancelled because they are so "lame" (well according to Ben). Ben bought me a DVR recently and I have to say this is something I should have done years ago! You can pause live t.v.!! This is especially wonderful when I'm watching a show and Nora keeps getting out of bed. I never have to miss a second! And I can play Little Einsteins whenever Nora wants!! Yippee!! So when is the American Idol premiere?

Tagged...

I guess there is this thing in blogger land that you can tag someone to tell 6 things about themselves. Well I have been tagged by Miranda, but I need to put some further thought into this. So here are some pictures of the girls to tide you over for this week.

Soooo much!

So much has happened since my last post! We have had company, a birthday party, and Halloween!

From the last post you know that Grandma Katie was visiting from Denver. We got to do lots of fun stuff while she was here and enjoyed visiting when we didn't have the stress of a holiday, move or birth of a new baby! I also appreciated all the help while she was here! With Ben working about 60 hours a week the company was nice too.

Grandpa Marty and Grandma Mary came into town from Michigan for the weekend of Nora's birthday. We got to eat a lot, visit the Market downtown, go to the beach, and enjoy Nora's party. They took Ben and I out for a fancy dinner at High Cotton when they were here which is a nice treat for us!

Nora had a fantastic princess birthday! She enjoyed everyone coming to share her day with her. The pizza surely wasn't as good as the Z Pizzeria we had last year!

Nora had a Halloween party and school where she loaded up on sugar. Then we went trick or treating to just four houses and still have way too much candy. It sure is different being an adult. Morgan wasn't feeling 100% on Halloween due to her immunizations and wasn't really up for wearing her costume so here are some pictures from the dress rehearsal. Hope everyone had a fun holiday!