Ahhhhh.... FALL!!!

I'm back from my quick trip to Utah and refreshed from my FALL fix! Me, Kristin and Krislin left Friday afternoon and had a great plane ride. I actually stayed awake and watched the view.. (this is QUITE unusual for me cuz I ALWAYS have to take dramamine and I sleep through the whole flying thing) But it was so cool seeing the earth from so far above and I had one of those PROFOUND moments where you realize how great creation is and we are a tiny little speck on this huge grand earth! So after we landed we immediately went to EAT... absolutely stuffed ourselves (my family eats a lot! I'm not mentioning any names, but it wasn't me or my brother who ate the most!)...so we HAD to go shopping to walk it all off! We went to a mall and to Shopko, where I bought some fuzzy gloves and a can of gourmet hot chocolate. Take note that I bought hot chocolate. My brother Dan was kind enough to provide lodging, food and chauffeur services!
The whole reason I went to Utah... to see fall! Not all the trees were fall colors yet, but it was still pretty.

Our first stop on Saturday was the Wood Connection. They were busy and out of a lot of stuff, but we still managed to buy a few things.... we certainly weren't going to leave empty handed!

Then on to Gardner village! Besides all the Church places in Utah, this is my favorite place to go!

This is part of the main building which has a great store and a wonderful restuarant.
Used to be a mill in the old days.

It was so much more fun cuz we met up with some of our great friends there! Jana and Andra met us at Wood Connection and then we all went on to Gardner village.

Here's the rest of the gang we met up with. My friend Bev and her daughter Sarah and her daughters Brooklyn and Amberly.

Here we are waiting for our yummy lunch. This place has VERY good food and cute decor. My favorite was the sourdough bread and the fried green tomatoes and avacados.... It was worth the hour wait.

There were fake witches everywhere..

and real witches too!

There are all kinds of little shops.... and LOTS of people

pumpkins EVERYWHERE

Fall decorations and MORE pumpkins

The girls got their eyes SPARKLED!

aren't they cute!

I LOVE hollyhocks... I think I need to try to grow some of these here.

My witchy friend!

more cool stores and MORE people!

even witches gotta go....

While we were all walking around checking out the cute stuff at Gardner village the girls kept telling us about this place.... Tai Pan Trading. Never heard of it. We had a little time before our flight so we checked it out. I didn't take my camera inside but this place was amazing! It's absolutely packed with home decor! It was more like home decor brain overload!

We bought a couple things and cookie jars... hoping that we still had enough room in our suitcases! We definitely HAVE to go back here.. I feel another trip to Utah coming up.... but we will have to bring BIGGER suitcases!

Time to catch our flight... Only two suitcases and SO much stuff!

As we cramed all our purchases in our bags... we jokingly talked about security viewing this on the x-ray machine.... BUT it was NO joke to them... They hesitated about the cookie jar cramed in Kristin's backpack... BUT they pulled MY suitcase off and said we have to check inside. They looked at all the wood and crafty stuff... did a swab test and pulled out the can of hot chocolate. After a little diliberation about the hot chocolate... they said it was OK and we went on our way!

Me and my brother at the airport. He always has his home and chaffuer services readily available to me and my fam and friends. What a great big brother!

The flight home was smooth... I slept through it... the dramamine...

AND while I was gone...

Mike was BUSY tiling the hard spots.... like the laundry room/closet...

and the appliance spots in the kitchen...

the appliances were scattered about, but I nuked Mike a nice dinner anyway!

Soooo... the trip was great, the tile is looking great and I am ready to take on the holidays!!! Life is good!

Decorating dilema!

Well... fall is officially here and the only thing decorating my house right now are the tubs of decorations from the attic. I managed to pull a few things out, but with the remodel goin on, I can't get in gear to transform my home into Halloween/fall amazement....

I've got some really cool new stuff to use this year... I got a million black leaves last year on clearance, a WHOLE bag full of fake pumpkins/gourds/squash from Goodwill, this cute witch I got at Real Deals, the sparkly cat I got at a garage sale and not to mention the darling woodcraft that I haven't finished yet.....

I guess I'm in decoration depression......

BUT....

I'm not gonna stay undecorated for long.... I have found a cure just waiting for me...

AIRPLANE RIDE!!!! (thanks to my cute personal travel agent, Kristin) I'M GONNA GO SEE FALL!!!! Nothing cures decorating depression like a quick trip to Utah and a few hours at Gardner Village. Leave tomorrow and come back Saturday fresh and ready to tackle fall decorating. Of course there will be pictures... Can't wait to go breathe, eat and see REAL fall! I just know I will come back inspired! TTFN!

from Brazil...

Here's the latest from our missionary:

oí família,This week was very good because we got to watch conference. I watched it in portuguese on saturday. They didn´t record the preisthood session so we didn´t get to watch that. On sunday too, they forgot to record the first session. And i watched the second session in english. I thought conference was really powerful this time. I was also in division most of this week too. Divisions are not very fun. Our zone leader is going home this next transfer so we are seeing if any one in our zone can take his place. It´s been raining agian this week. Anything new going on at home? The tile is looking good. I liked grouting, it´s fast and easy. I passed my 11 month birthday last week. Good you guys showed casey pete´s. That place is soooo good. My comp´s mom sent him some maple extract this week and we made syrup and pancakes that were oh so delicious. I also got the little package with payday´s and insole´s. I heard trent is fixing up the truck, good job. Does anyone want anything from brazil for christmas? I have to plan ahead. Well, that´s about it if i remember right. I´ll see you all later. Elder Lewis

great weekend...

When 4 o'clock on Friday comes... I say"YAHOOYAY!!!" and immediately start my weekend! So since then I have gone shopping, did laundry, cooked, cleaned, watched TV, organized, visited with some of the fam... and I gave Mike refreshing drinks while ...
he and Steve grouted the tile we have down so far... Steve's the grouter and Mike's the wiper.

I think it turned out GREAT! I can't wait til it's ALL finished... Thanks Steve......

I also crawled through the attic and got down the fall decorations. I love fall! It was such a great cool...fall morning... I got early and went garage sale-ing... watched conference and THEN...

I made these... the FIRST official FALL treat at our house... carmel apples ... AND... what is fall without candy corn!!! MMMMMMM YUMMY!!!

So the second session of conference is over... it's not even 4 yet ... so I have PLENTY of time to do some more fun stuff! "YAHOOYAY!!!"

from Brazil...

And here is the latest from Brazil!


Oí família

This week we baptized again!We baptized sabrina and jackson. They are brother and sister and sabrina used to be a jehova´s witness. We would baptize their grandma too but she left to tocantins today. She was just visiting this week. Yes, we get to watch general conference. I´ve been here in anapolis for a long time, i was here for the april conference too! Tell casey hi! Thats cool she visited you guys. Her sisters should get home about the same time i get back home. Time sure does fly by fast. For some reason it seems to always be raining when i´m emailing you guys. It rained a few times this week nothing exciting. I can´t wait for conference, it´s always fun to watch conference. Pretty much the only thing exciting this week was the baptism. And finding the giant hole. ... And I am tall here in brazil. Everyone here is short so it makes me look tall. Anyone have questions? See you all later.

The torn up road is from the rain.

A huge hole we found that was caused by the rain.

Lunch at the park...

Before Casey had to leave, some of the fam met for lunch (yep... family=food!) at a park near my work.

Everyone sittin, eatin and chattin...

Ooohhhhh.... LOOK what's on the menu today... Pete's... Casey had never had Pete's and it has always been one of the fam's fav's!

The boys had fun watching the ducks and geese...The geese look pretty mellow out in the water...But I've gotten phone calls at work about the "attack geese" ... we stayed away from this guy! Ty had fun chasing the pigeons... can ya see the bird in flight?!? what an action shot! Ty also wanted to give the pigeons a french fry...

ALL this over ONE french fry! Crazy pigeons! (notice the birds in flight action... cool huh!)

It's always fun to go to a park and it's always fun to get together and have family visit! Great times! My only wish now is that the weather gets a LITTLE cooler... it's almost October!!!

Rubios...

Tonight some of the fam got together and went to Rubios.... YUM! I really LIKE Rubios... anyway... the occassion was that Casey was in town! I haven't seen her for a few years,,, she's all growd up and cute! Cute cousins!

All of us sittin and chattin


It was fun eatin and relaxin and reminiscin. Thanks for stoppin to see us!!!