Boo!

Did I scare you? Hope not. The only way I have readers is if they are conscious.... :o)

I want to wish everyone a very Happy, safe Halloween! I don't have a picture of anyone in costume yet, so hopefully this will suffice until the party tonight:

Beware of Chester the Bear Squisher!

I Spy...

13 Spiders!

Decorating at work is always more fun when you get creative. A coworker made a giant spider by blowing up several balloons and stuffing them into a garbage bag. She then balanced it on the edge of the cubicles and then hung black streamers around to make the legs.

So I decided to make baby spiders! Pom poms, pipe cleaners, and little eyes create a great and fun way to spend the evening!

Cary and I were able to make 13 spiders total (1 as a tiny spider) and I couldn't help but put some around the apartment to give us additional Halloween deco!

We even gave some of them names:

Octo (for the tiny one)

Dancer

Gimpy

Slimy

No-neck

Cross-eyed

Oh what a great way to end a Monday!

Staycation Day 7

Oh my, oh my! This day (Friday) was the most busy by far! Cary's job has a walking challenge in October, and with a pedometer attached, we found that we walked over 16,600 steps today!

But what an amazing day it has been. So amazing, I think I might have to use my 'picture speaks a thousand words' method for this post.

First, the Ft. Worth Botanical Gardens:

The Rose Gardens:

And then, one of my favorite places to visit, the Japanese Gardens:

Our next stop was lunch at Quiznos:

After that, we went to the Ft. Worth Zoo!!!!

Warning: there are quite a few pictures here of animals. We all know how I ADORE animals, so I tried to just get in the best, or funniest and not overwhelm everyone with too many.

Also, one of the pictures may not be for the faint of heart (Brad)...

The great finale of the night (and week):

After dinner at Boston's, Cary drove us out to Carrollton/Plano area, where we caught a Lewisville Fighting Farmers football game!!!!!! I have not been to one in 12 years!

Though the Farmers did not do very well (52-7 for the final), I loved being in the atmosphere again, listening to the band and watching them march. It brought back so many memories of when I was marching, all of my best friends were at the games, my cousin was in the drill team...

The uniforms have changed, the marching style has changed, the band directors have changed...but my goodness, it was still my old high school and everything I knew and loved about being in the band...

Words can't describe how much fun this day was. I am sad that staycation is winding down and I go back to work on Monday, but I am so eternally grateful to Cary for making it the best experience we could have in the circumstances we were given.

And I am also so grateful to our Heavenly Father for making it one of the best vacations ever, even though I miss Cary's parents a lot, and was eager to see New England in the Fall. But because of Him, I got a great time with my parents, a magical time with my husband, and memories that I will be able to share with our children in the future. Get ready, Brylee...there is a lot for us to share with you!

Staycation Day 6

Looking back during this week of our stay-at-home vacation, it was so amazing, and unfortunately time flew by too quickly!

On Thursday, Cary and I had lunch with my parents and friend, Dawn. We ate at Palios--an incredible pizza place if anyone ever gets a chance to try it. My favorite!

After lunch, Cary and I drove out to Forney, where he introduced me to the antique shops. Unfortunately there were only 2 open shops with antiques, but it did keep us entertained for a long time!

The first shop was literally filled with antiques....and things I would not really want in my house. Things like life-sized chefs, clowns (the creepy ones), chickens...in fact, the idea of working at this antique store creeped me out because the thoughts of them coming to life...(shudder)...

The second shop we went into was full old things that people really didn't want anymore...including lots and lots of Barbie dolls!!! Of course knowing now that we are having a little girl makes me excited because we can play with something that I loved playing with as a kid. And of course I wanted to buy her the first barbie doll...which ended up being a Native American barbie--something I have always wanted in my collection!

After a long debate of which doll I was going to get, decided to get the 2 I couldn't decide between, and then a credit card machine error that limited me to only one that I paid for in cash (the credit card machine was not connected properly and the lady could not figure out how to get it to work again--not of my doing!), Cary and I left with (my) new toy and drove out further and further into the country, enjoying the small amount of fall foliage there was.

He showed me little towns that he used to go through, and we ended up at Lake Quitman, where we took a short walk and he pointed out the significant points of this place (where he and his family used to go for picnics, and the general area where Brad and Faith got married). The area was flooded from the rain the day before (and maybe more), but it was still very calm and peaceful out there.

Cary had the intention of staying out there until dark and looking at the stars, but it was only 5:00, and we still would have 2 hours to kill before dark. And then we started thinking about Chester...who had been in his reserved area for almost 7 hours without a break...so we left.

It took us 2 hours to get home, but it was still a wonderful trip, listening to music (the Monkees!) and talking about travel. And we saw an incredible sunset. One of the greatest parts--when we got home, we found that Chester didn't make a mess! What a great dog!!