I feel horrible that I haven't blogged in awhile...like always, time gets away from me and then before I know it I'm behind. Extra stuff has been going on this month so the past two weeks have gone really fast for me and of course this week is Thanksgiving so it's another busy but fun week since we're going to be heading down to my family's place tomorrow! That also means I have some "sweet" baking to do, but I'm excited about that because I love to bake...the bad thing is limiting myself to a few things and not trying to convince myself of making "just one more dessert"! :) The desserts right now are: two Chocolate Cream Pies, mini Oreo Cheesecakes and some cherry ones, and Peanut Blossoms. I'm really tempted to make Pumpkin Cream Trifle though...I just found the recipe last night (after I went to the store) or else I'd probably be making it. I keep telling myself I don't need to make anything else, especially since I already went to the store and I shouldn't go again....it is sooo tempting though!

Ok, moving on to less tempting thoughts....ummm, yeah, now I'm completely lost and forgot what else I was going to write about......never mind I will show you all some pictures till I gather my thoughts. :)They love their daddy! Jacob did shave off his beard and mustache not long after I took this picture(he did it just for me...I suppose I do prefer the clean shaven look a little bit better, but I do love him no matter what :) ) so when Abigail looked at this picture she started asking about where his beard and mustache went to!
Abigail and I were having fun taking pictures......Bethany, not so much. :) Here they are waiting to head out the door again. A week and a half ago Jacob's granddad died, so last week was pretty hectic with the visitation and funeral. Jacob was also a pallbearer so we had to make a late night run to Kohl's and get him a suit (thank goodness for holiday shopping hours!) and something for me to wear. I don't know what you can really say about a funeral...you can't really say "it was a good funeral", since that doesn't really fit the occasion, but the guy in charge from the funeral home said he had never seen so many people come to the funeral service at the church and then come all the way out to the cemetery. So, it was impressive how all the family and so many people connected to him came together.

We also got to spend another weekend down with my family, so three weekends in a row coming up this week! I love it! My brother Nathan was home from college for his week long break, so it was awesome to see him again and I can't wait till tomorrow to see everyone again! We had some fun game times too, which hopefully we'll continue tomorrow! :)
Abigail was pretty happy to see Nathan since she's been talking about going to college with him ever since he left....I should be happy she isn't anywhere near college age or I wouldn't be able to keep her from going! It's pretty neat how close she is to all her aunts and uncles...one of the benefits of having spent 6 months with them while Jacob was deployed. I hope she and Bethany are always close them...it's pretty special.

Well, since I know I won't be blogging till after thanksgiving......

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Veterans Day

We don't always realize how important this day is and how much we have because of the millions of men and woman that have and still are fighting to keep us safe and protect our freedom. So many have lost their lives giving us things that we (often times) take for granted; but you can bet their families don't ever forget....they all sacrifice so much. Even in a military job that doesn't really have a meaning, you are at the mercy of those in authority over you and if they tell you to jump you jump and all you can do is pray that you make it. Jacob had to leave for his 6 month deployment last year when Abigail was 9 months old and I was almost 6 months pregnant. I can't even describe how difficult that was for all of us, but we made it through and Jacob came back to meet Bethany!She doesn't seem to notice that anything out of the ordinary is going on, but this was in the airport the day Jacob got back!Abigail getting reacquainted with her daddy in the airport! I'm so glad that we don't have to worry about anymore deployments, but we still need to remember all of those that are deploying or still deployed and their families....so a big thank you to all that have served and are still serving in any area of the U.S. Military!

I love you so much Jacob!

Friends and Stuff

We're having an amazingly warm week considering it's November, but I'm not complaining....I'm loving it! It's good to be able to get out and run with the girls and not worry about it being to cold to have them outside....I'm trying to figure out what I can do this winter to keep running even when it's too cold outside for the girls. I want to be more prepared for when I start training in February, for the half marathon in June, so I want to be running this winter and be running at least 5 miles by the time I start my training program. I know, big goals for having two girls to work around, but I think I can manage it! And actually, any running that I can do between now and February will be more than I did at the beginning of this year. :) I told myself today I couldn't believe that just a few months ago I was running 13+ miles....at least I know since I did it once I should be able to do it again!My friend Emily took this picture of the girls all ready to go out to the bonfire last Friday! They were sooo excited and it was sooooo cold out there so I had to get them bundled up pretty good...of course, I'd get one all zipped up and get to work on the other one just to turn around and have to repeat it all again since they couldn't seem to keep from trying to peel out of everything as soon as I wasn't looking! We had a wonderful time cooking hot dogs and s'mores even though it was cold and the kids didn't seem to want to sit around the fire like all the adults were doing. Then we came inside where it was warm and had homemade hot chocolate with homemde whipped cream while we played team Skip-Bo and talked and laughed till about 11PM! It was A LOT of fun and we're definitely going to do it again sometime!Here we are with our friends Nick and Emily from our church, with the catch of the day. :) We have become really good friend with this couple and we try to hang out together every chance we get and we always have a blast! I really enjoy having Emily for a friend; I never really had any friends outside of my family, so to finally be making friends and having someone to share with and encourage and get encouragement from is a real blessing and a new experience for me! Of course, Jacob is still my very best friend (no doubt about that!), but it is nice to have friends to talk to and share experiences with during the day when our menfolk are at work. :)

It's November....

Time seems to be going by fast. Of course, it doesn't always feel that way during the day, but the months are going by so quickly...I can't hardly believe that it's less then two months till the end of the year....crazy. In some ways it feels like it was just Thanksgiving and Christmas and here we are coming up on them again. A lot has certainly happen during this last year though, so that helps to put it in perspective. The last couple of months have been fun times for us....we're making so many new friends at our church and it's been amazing! I mean, we're constantly getting invites for bonfires, game nights and different events involving our friends from church and that's totally different for us compared to last year! It's been so encouraging too....Jacob and I have never had that the entire time we've been married (almost 4 years now!) so it's nice to finally be making friends that are alike in beliefs and at the same stage in life. We're actually going to be having a bonfire tomorrow night with two other couples from church...it was kind of a last minute idea so not everyone could come, but the smaller the group the more we get to visit one on one with everyone and one of the couples we haven't spent much time with so it will be nice to get to know them better. Of course, it is suppose to be the coldest day/night of the week, so we probably won't be spending too much time outside other then to cook our hot dogs and s'mores and then we'll be running in to have hot chocolate! :)

I think Jacob is home from his long fishing trip....so I'll be back another time!