Carving pumpkins and Halloween

                      Getting ready to carve some pumpkins!

                      Mitch takes his pumpkin carving very seriously.

                           Being silly....

                             Mitch is ALWAYS thinking sports!  D-backs!


          

 For some reason our children decided to do head stands in between pumpkin carving...

 Our pumpkins lit up......

    We are still Cardinal fans...even though they have only won one.

 I baked a pumpkin (a small one) to make homemade pumpkin puree....it was easy.

 I also toasted some pumkin seeds....i burnt the batch last year and they were horrible, these came out much better.  They may look dark, but it's the seasonings i put on them.

      A very scary Scream character and Cookie Monster  :)

                    I don't think Cookie Monster got enough candy........

                         He couldn't wait to get home and crash on the couch...

    Mac wanted to get down to business...eating candy!

Family time and family fun!

 Tonight we were just goofing around.  It was boys vs. girls in a game of bowling on the wii. The boys named their team the Bulls...we were nameless. And the boys won... Also, if you look really close at Marcus' mouth you can tell he is missing a top tooth.  He pulled it out himself earlier this week.

 Clowning around and showing off some muscles she's getting from gymnastics :)

Getting ready to play the wii

 Still not sure what she's up too...being completely silly and cute all at once :)

 Copper wanted to pose for a picture too.

 She wouldn't hold still so I had to help her...she just kept wanting to kiss me

 A future Charlie's Angel......

 I think Mac had the camera for this pose...i don't remember taking this one.

 Our now 5 month old puppy...who weighed in at 25 pounds at her vet appt today

 Gee, who needs a dishwasher when you have the family dog....

 Mac and Caitie hanging out....

 Mackenzie had a project on Native American tribes and their dwellings...she worked on it over her fall break.

 She turned it in early and got an A++    :)

    Midwestern University has their big gala event "Bright Lights  Shining Stars", every October.  I got a few photo's but then the batteries went dead in the camera before I could get someone to take a picture of Mitch and I...

  You can barely make out the Midwestern logo lit up on the building....it was a fun time, as always.

Fall weekend

 Temperatures really cooled off this past week and it finally felt like fall.  So I started getting out my Halloween decorations.  Unfortunately, temps will heat back up to the high 90's this week :(

 I couldn't wait to use my new dutch oven this week and what great timing with the cooler weather.  I made a beef stew and some bread...it was so good.  The beef stew was a combination of 2 recipes from Ina Garten and Paula Deen.

 We take Copper on lots of walks on the weekends and she was pooped...taking a little nappy in the afternoon.

 This morning I fried some potatoes and onions in the dutch oven and then added a bunch of goodies; bacon, sausage, eggs and cheese...we piled it into a tortilla....

 and had a breakfast burrito...

Madisen, a little girl who lives on our street was over and she was watching Marcus play the wii and Copper was cleaning her feet.  Sorry I don't have more photos to put in; Marcus is tired of me taking his picture and told me to quit taking pictures of food all the time :)

D-back Playoff Game

 What a night!!!!  Mitch got us tickets to the playoff game last night and what a night it was...

 We were in the all you can eat seats, we ate a lot of popcorn, peanuts and hotdogs!!

         

 It was a sell out crowd and the noise level was electric!!!  They gave everyone a cheer pom so we could cheer on our team!

    

 Ok...this was taken in the 5th inning when we were up to bat with the bases loaded...everyone was chanting "Let's go D-backs!!"  Everyone was on their feet.....

 PANDAMONIUM!!!!  A GRAND SLAM!!!!!!!!  The stadium was rocking!!!!!!!

               It was so much fun!  We are all a little tired today, but it was worth it!

Birthday weekend

 What a great weekend!  Very busy, but it was all fun!  Im going to go backwards since my pics posted that way...today Heather and I went for a hike.  We do a 4 mile route that is a great workout..therefore that justifies our going out for mexican for lunch! :)  And this is what she gave me for my birthday!  A dutch oven, a super cool spatula she says I can't live without and a book of short stories on dogs!  Im so excited to try out all of them!  Thanks Heather!

 My mom sent me some wonderful mixes for dips, breads and a salsa as well as a chai...can't wait to try the herb chopper....thanks mom and dad!

 On Saturday Mitch and I went to a wine tasting hosted by some friends of ours at a local wine store.  It was fun and we ended up buying these 3 wines 2 of each :)  After the wine tasting my hubby took me to a nice dinner and even a little more shopping after that!  Am I spoiled or what?!  Thanks to everyone for all the gifts, calls, cards, texts and emails!  The kids added to my Keurig coffee station by getting me more k-cups!  What a birthday!  :)