Morning Splendor

This was the image I was greeted with as I pulled out of my driveway a couple mornings ago. It was so gorgeous that I had to run back in and grab my camera. It's simple moments like this that remind me that God is watching and that I am blessed!

Enjoying Mother Nature

A couple of weekends ago, we ventured out to the Portage Nature Preserve to soak up some of the beautiful fall sunshine. What a great way to spend the day. Sadie even got to tag along and enjoyed exploring the local terrain. By the time we got home, she was one pooped out pup! By the way, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. There are 3 children in the picture. Stephen's buddy Chase went with us. Even though most of the leaves had already dropped from the trees, it was still lovely to wander in and out of the many trails taking in some of Mother Nature's beauty.

Some of the local wildlife.

Love this and love him!!!!!!

OOOH, LA, LA !!!! ;0)

Wilderness men in training.

BEST BUDDIES!!!!!!!

2 of the 3 loves of my life!

STEADY.......

TA-DA!

Halloween Fun

Ok, ok, I know that I am way late on posting Halloween pictures, but life has been pretty busy. Besides, haven't you heard the saying "Better late than never"? I'm starting to think that it needs to be my life motto! Enjoy the pictures!!!!! :0)

This was my attempt to channel Martha Stewart.

CHEEEEEESE!

Luke...I'm your father!

Stephen decided to use his costume from last year and change it up a bit. The result..... gangster zombie. The scariest part of his costume is that he looks about 15 years old! YIKES!!!!

This picture cracks me up! I love the look on both of their faces. By the way, the one in the middle is Michael after his Lithotripsy procedure on the Friday before. JUST KIDDING!!!!

"Trick or Treat, smell my feet..." Wait, I probably shouldn't teach them that.

Stephen's pumpkin which he pretty much carved all on his own. Gotta love the pumpkin stencils!

Matthew's pumpkin is supposed to be Yoda. We think something happened in the translation. Matthew liked it though and that's all that matters!

Fall Beauty

The ones that DIDN'T get away

In August, Stephen went camping at the Ludington State Park with his best friend. While there, his friend's dad took the boys out fishing on his boat. Upon Stephen's return home, he proudly announced that he caught a couple of fish and boy did he! Here are the pictures of his 13 pound King Salmon and 9 inch Rock Bass. The fillets are currently in our freezer waiting to be consumed. This should make Uncle Jeff proud!!!

Applesauce -- YUM!!!!

We discovered that after our trip to Gull Meadow Farms, we had picked way too many apples. Soooo, Matthew and I decided to try our hand at making applesauce. Stephen and Michael were at Stephen's soccer practice, so Matthew and I had the kitchen all to ourselves. The end result was incredibly yummy in spite of the fact that my little chef refused to eat it.

TA-DA!!!!!

Apple Pickin' Time

Today was such a beautiful, crisp fall day that we decided to take the boys to Gull Meadow Farms. All 4 of us enjoyed a day of apple picking, walking through the pumpkin patch, strolling down Pumpkin Lane to see all of the pumpkin displays, winding our way through the 1/2 acre corn maze and bumping around on a wagon ride. As always, family fun time is always the best time!

Pumpkin Lane has all sorts of interactive displays, as well as pumpkin displays depicting well known characters (Elmo, Barney, Charlie Brown, etc). The boys thought the giant rocking chair was a riot!

The challenge with this maze was to complete it making only right turns.

Yes, Matthew has a powdered doughnut in his hand. I think he got more sugar on him than in him!

Still working on that doughnut!

Here are the boys making their way through the corn maze.

This is an aerial view of what the corn maze looks like. It's amazing. If you go to the Gull Meadow Farms website, you can see pictures of the corn mazes from the last few years. I thought they had said that the maze was 1/2 an acre.

Here are my guys picking some Golden Delicious apples to take home. Stephen is behind the branch. You can just see him peeking through the leaves.

JACKPOT!!!!!

Stephen felt that the best ones were closer to the top of the tree. I think he was just looking for an excuse to climb one!

Mmmmmmmm! APPLES!

We wandered through the actual pumpkin patch, but it was pretty picked over. So, we made our way over to the Pumpkin Corral and found a couple of just right pumpkins to take home.

Stephen is having a hard time choosing.

Mission accomplished! Perfect pumpkin found!

Apple pickin' is exhausting work!