Throwback Thursday: Halloween Edition

Halloween fun through the years . . .

Little Ghost and Good Witch (ages 2 & 4 or 3 & 5)

Little Bo Peep and a girl from Mexico (with neighbor girl)

Sad clown and Raggedy Ann

GRHS Seniors were allowed to dress up in costumes on Halloween. I'm the firefighter on the right.

College days:  Fun w/ my roommate, Kristi Bunny

Fall Break Fun

I guess I should clarify that it was not my Fall Break, but that was my fault for not saving vacation days. I'm glad that we got to spend time together as a family over the past weekend while Daniel was home for his break (and it was also Erica and Mary Lane's break too).

Recycled sign with updated orange and white decorations.

I got to have lunch two days in a row w/ my college guy!

Happy cousin reunion!

Piggy rides!

The train ride at the pumpkin farm.

Going into the corn maze (every time we got to a turn, Erica asked Mary Lane which way she wanted to go)

Standard cousin pic

Sisters!

Feeding the goats

This scoop's for you!

Today would have been my Dad's 77th birthday here on earth. As I was doing my walk/jog this morning, I was thankful that even though Dad is not here with us, we can still celebrate his life and have hope and joy in the fact that he has eternal life in Christ. I don't know if there's ice cream in heaven, but if there is, I'm sure he's having a big bowl of it today! I lift my spoon in his memory with love!

A story worth telling

Last Saturday I drove with my mom to Memphis to be with my aunt (by marriage) and her side of the family at the funeral of her dad, Mr. Middleton (Jimmy).  Jimmy was eighty-eight years old and was in the later stages of Alzheimer's, so he was living with his younger daughter and her family, while his wife remained at the retirement community where they had lived together. He was a well-loved and respected business owner and was a World War II veteran.

One night Jimmy's son-in-law spent some time talking with him about God and about dying and about heaven and asked Jimmy what he thought about all of it. Even though Jimmy was suffering from the awful effects on his memory, that night he was lucid and was having a normal conversation. Rick asked Jimmy if he believed in God and if he would like pray to receive Christ. Jimmy said that he would, so they prayed together.

After he prayed with Rick, Jimmy said, "I don't know if Jackie (his wife) knows this. I want us to write this down so I can tell her tomorrow!" At the funeral home, on the table of other pictures and memorabilia at the funeral home, we had seen a page of handwritten prayers, and I had wondered what that was about. Apparently, those were the prayers that Rick wrote down for Jimmy to be able to remember to tell his wife about his salvation experience.

I had remembered my aunt's sister (Rick's wife) telling me a long time ago that she didn't think that her parents were saved, so when I heard that Jimmy had passed away, I was sad about that and wondered if that was still the case. You can imagine how joyful and peaceful it made me feel when I heard Rick tell that story at the funeral!

Praise God that He is able to get through to a man who's memory has faded and who was so close to death! I'm so thankful for the hope that we have in Christ and that even when we think a situation is hopeless, God gives us hope! As the minister who was presiding over the funeral said at the end:  It was Jimmy who preached the sermon today!

Friday Favorite: New Treat

 For dietary reasons, I don't eat dairy products very much any more, but I miss ice cream sometimes. I decided to try one of the non-dairy frozen treat options out there when I saw it on sale at Kroger.

Given the size of the container and the price being still higher than I need to spend on a regular basis, this will be an occasional splurge, but it was yummy! I added some semi-sweet chocolate chips as a topping and made it even more delicious!

I'm hoping that if I buy it with my Kroger card, the marketing spies will send me a coupon sometime!

Waiting for Fall

I love going to Radnor Lake any time of the year, but this is my favorite time. The leaves are just starting to show the slightest hint of changing colors, so I thought it might be fun to watch the progression. I took some photos from two different vantage points and plan to go back every week to see how things are changing. Be sure to stop back by here and if you're local to Nashville, go see for yourself why I love that place so much!

Friday Favorites: Hot Air Balloons

If you have known me since college days (or maybe before), you may remember that I love hot air balloons. I have moved past wanting to collect everything with hot air balloon images/motifs and have been up in a tethered balloon, but I still have a dream of being able to go on a hot air balloon flight someday.

When I was in East Tennessee last weekend, I was looking for something to do on Saturday evening and saw online that there was a balloon festival happening about an hour south of Knoxville. After much debate in my head, I decided to go on a solo adventure and go find the balloons.

Hiwassee College is down I-75, out in the middle of nowhere, but thankfully my Google Maps chick got me there. I was directed to park in a large field and there were lots of people around. As I walked over to where the festival was set up, I saw two balloons. That's right, only two! I tried to not be too disappointed, but my sense of adventure was deflating (pun intended, if my son ever reads this).

I got in line for some "fair food" and almost decided to leave, but after I overheard another woman say that there would be six or seven balloons, I thought it would be worth hanging around. I got my food, including a fried snickers bar (when in Rome . . . or Hiwassee), and sat down in my chair to people-watch until the sun went down.

Once the sun set and the other balloons were inflated, the real show began. I moved my chair to get a better vantage point, although with it being such a small show, there wasn't a bad place to sit and watch and get some pictures.

I have been to some much larger balloon festivals, but these balloons were so pretty and I had fun taking pictures and getting out of my comfort zone a little. I'm glad that I stuck it out on my little adventure.

Where Daniel spends his time

On Sunday before heading home to Nashville, Daniel gave us (his dad and family were there too) a tour of the Natalie Haslam Music Center, which just opened in August. It was great to get a look inside the place where Daniel spends the majority of his time, at least for classes and practicing.

Front of the building, facing Volunteer Boulevard

Hallway leading to practice rooms.

Main lobby and Recital Hall entrance

Large band room (marching band assembles/practices here)

Daniel's favorite drum set practice room

One of the smaller ensemble rooms where D and his friends play

Fall Family Weekend 2013

Last weekend I went to Knoxville to visit Daniel for Fall Family Weekend. It was fun to get to see him in his college life and to experience my first UT football game!

When I first arrived on campus, Daniel and I headed out to find something to eat and ended up at Firehouse Subs (someplace he's been to, but I hadn't). We had a good time catching up on things before heading to the amphitheater for the Johnnyswim concert.

On Saturday morning the Parents' Association had a tailgate party and we watched the Vol Walk parade before heading into Neyland Stadium for the game. It was a great day for a football game, but next time I need find a seat in the shade! The Vols beat South Alabama, 31-24, holding onto their winning streak at home this season.