Thanksgiving Treats

 This week we have the opportunity to stay with Grammy & PawPaw for Thanksgiving.  We are enjoying spending time with our family, decorating for Christmas, and shopping.  Hopefully, we're not wearing out my mom & dad.  :)

Before we left, Ethan made this adorable stuffed turkey 

thanks to his Aunt Shellye giving him the supplies. 

 This week, we celebrated Aunt Ami's Birthday...

 And PawPaw's Birthday...

 And with the help of Ethan and two little girls at Grammy's daycare,
we made some edible acorns and edible pilgrim hats.

 Cute and Yummy!

OBU Homecoming

My sweet niece was in Ouachita Baptist University's Tiger Tunes during Homecoming last month.  As an OBU Alumni, to say I was quite proud is an understatement.  We loved the show & loved getting to see sweet Mauri!

Our friend, Ryan, was one of the Tiger Tunes hosts too!
Fabulous job! 

Campus Ministries were students & professors.

The EEE's were astronauts & aliens.

Mauri taught Ethan the official Tiger Tunes face!

Palo Duro Canyon (Fall Vacation Part 4)

Another highlight of our vacation was spending the night at Palo Duro Canyon.  We enjoyed learning about the canyon and hiking and learning how to Geocache.  (You can go here  to read my husband's chronicles of Geocaching...very FUN family outing!)

It was really hot when we got there that afternoon...95 degrees at the end of October!  But the next morning it was 45 degrees!  That's the way I like it!

The boys even got to earn a Junior Ranger Badge by learning about the history of the canyon.  We had such a great time together!  And the canyon was beautiful!  God is so creative with His creation!

Learning in the education center.

Daddy is pointing at Palo Duro Canyon & Ethan is pointing at Caprock Canyons (where we went the next day).

We stayed in the "Cow Camp Cabins" at the bottom of Palo Duro Canyon.  There are only 4 cabins that were built in 1933 by the Civilian Conservation Corp workers who initially developed road access into the canyon.  They were really rustic, and those of you who know me, will know that this was pushing my limits.  But surprisingly, I really liked them.  I didn't really like having to use the restroom down the street, but the little cabin was really neat!  It had this bunkbed, a little microwave, a mini-fridge, and a table with 2 chairs.  Because of the burn ban, we didn't get to have a fire or cook anything, but that's ok.

We began our Geocaching journey here on the Juniper Trail in Palo Duro Canyon.  We all had a wonderful time searching for little hidden treasures!

I love this picture of Daddy & our boys!

My husband got a little carried away trying to find one and never did.  He climbed up this HUGE steep hill.  Can you see Evan sitting about halfway down in the picture above?  He has a white t-shirt and an orange cap.  It was getting too steep for him, so he stopped & waited on Daddy to get back down.  He later thought the cache might be around the curve, but we didn't have time to search...it was getting dark!

Eating dinner in our little cabin.

Our cabin the next morning...cool & crisp & beautiful!

These beautiful trees were in the bottom of the canyon but not at the top.

Amarillo (Fall Family Vacation Part 3)

Another neat part about Amarillo is the painted horses at businesses around town.  They are painted to represent the business...we liked the Wal-mart one. :)

Since it was getting close to Halloween, there were several pumpkin patches around town.  Because I'm so camera happy, we just HAD to stop & take a bunch of pictures.  My E boys (INCLUDING my sweet husband) were LESS than thrilled, but they indulged me.  I got a few good ones.  I wish I knew how to do some special effects & blur out the busy town in the background.

We had fun going to some antique shops on Route 66.  We even found a MICHIGAN License plate from 1971 (when & where Eric was born), so we just HAD to get them.

We had the opportunity to tour Jacie's school too.  It was really nice!