Rather than have ten separate posts for the month of October I've now entered that point in blogging where it's just easier to dump all the random photos I've taken during month into one giant post. It's a photo lovers dream! October was busy, busy, busy and lots of fun! I love October because it's my birthday month, it's balloon festival month, the weather usually starts to cool down, and there are a lot of fun activities we get to do around town. Here is some of the fun we had during October.
Our balloon festival weekend didn't go as I had originally planned. Hot air balloons are so dependent on good weather and this year it was just way too windy. It made me kind of sad because I really do look forward to this weekend as soon as October arrives. I did get a great birthday surprise in the form of balloons though. Josh and Eli got me brand new rocking chairs for our front porch and Eli remembered that I wanted twirling hot air balloons as well. I literally squealed when I saw my balloons hanging and my chairs. It was such a great birthday present!
Eli and I enjoying the new chairs one afternoon.
My chairs before and after I stained them. I love how they turned out!
The first night of the balloon festival is the balloon glow. This year some friends invited us to watch the glow with them on the bluff overlooking the river. It was a spectacular view! Eli found some friends from school to play with so he ran around the entire time with them. It was a very small area so he was very safe and I didn't worry at all (well, maybe just a tad because I'm slightly overprotective). The bridge at night was beautiful and we had the perfect seats for the fireworks show. Even though I only got to see one balloon the entire weekend we still had lots of fun.
Our picture before the balloon glow.
The bridge at dusk.
The bridge at night.
The only balloon I saw all weekend because of the strong winds.
Maybe we'll have better luck next year!
Since we didn't get to see balloons that weekend, Eli and I planned other fun events instead. We rode our bikes to Sonic for a delicious happy hour snack. You can tell from the picture how strong the wind was that day.
October is also a fun month for us in the garden because we get to dig up our sweet potatoes. This year we weren't even sure if we'd have sweet potato crop because we didn't get the potato slips planted until really late in the summer. It ended up working out though and we harvested a good crop to get us through the year.
Sarah and I took our fourth graders on the first field trip of the year. It was a beautiful day at the Indian Village and the kids had a blast! This trip was also good because it gave me the idea to have Eli's 7th birthday party here :) I love when things work out like that!
Josh sent me this picture one day from work. A couple of his employees were rocking high waist belts and Josh felt left out so he did this to make fun of them. He's such a goober but his employees love that about him.
Our school had their annual Fall Festival. Each class auctions off a piece of art during the festival and it's usually done by a room mom. For some strange reason no one volunteered from my class so I ended up doing it myself. I had my students paint their hands and then I cut them out, mod-podged them to a canvas, and wrote this quote in the middle. I think for a quick project it turned out really sweet.
Eli was super excited one day to come home to a present from his daddy. He got a brand new youth basketball so he can play basketball this winter. He's been practicing with it ever since. We can't wait for basketball season!
Our family's super exciting news is that I'm getting another sister-in-law! My youngest brother, Caleb, popped the question to his girlfriend of 5 years, Kailey. We're so excited! Their wedding is in January and Eli is the ring bearer. We can't wait to celebrate with them :)
My birthday finally arrived and the present I gave myself showed up at my doorstep. I love The Pioneer Woman and all of her recipes.
My gift from my parents also came in the mail that day and I'm now on the adult coloring book band wagon. I have to admit it is very relaxing at night and I love the beautiful pictures I get to create :)
When I got to school that day I saw that a couple of my students' moms had decorated my door and my classroom with Happy Birthday banners and balloons. They made me feel really special that day!
Josh took me out for sushi (my choice) for my birthday dinner and on our way back home we rode down the hill to look at the river. The sky that night was simply breathtaking and I made Josh stop so I could take a picture. This is it, completely raw and no filter. What a beautiful sight created by our great God!
In other news, I'm now a bread baking machine! A lady at work gave me a bread starter that I keep in my refrigerator and now every 7-10 days I'm baking homemade fresh bread. It's so wonderful to eat, especially straight from the oven with honey and butter. Josh and I are addicted! A few of our friends and neighbors have lucked out as well with a couple of fresh loaves.
That was our October, full of wonderful memories, an engagement, a great 34th birthday, and yummy baked goods.
