So it's October already- what's been going on???

It is October- and September has flown by over here.  My apologies (again!) for my lack of time spent on the blog- there have been some other priorities that have arisen that have taken almost every spare moment of my free time these past few weeks!  I have not forgotten about the story I'm telling, but I wanted to give you a little glimpse of what we've been up to the past month over here... 

Joe traveled to California for work for almost an entire week.  Yes, I was insanely jealous.  It was a great trip for him, and Lily and I had fun just the two of us, and being a single parent for those few days only deepened my respect for single parents everywhere! Not a lot of free time when you are the only one holding down the fort!

....of course there was a lot of business as usual- trips to the grocery store, laundry, Costco, errands, etc. you know, the exciting things in life- But actually, the great thing about having a toddler is that even the mundane things in life ARE exciting if you are paying attention and looking through their eyes.  I've been trying to remember to do that and I love that about being with Lily- everything is fun (most of the time)...even a trip to the grocery store- especially if you get the coveted pink car cart! (I just wish we didn't have to go every single week! But I digress...)  In addition to errands, we went to the park a lot, played with sidewalk chalk, started up all of our regular fall activities again and had several play dates too.

I had a little mini-reunion with these two lovely gals with whom I have been friends with since kindergarten! I'm serious- we sat at the same table in our kindergarten class and have been friends ever since.  By our calculations, its our 34th anniversary of being friends! It was such a fun evening and we closed the restaurant down with our talking and laughing!


Late in August, my Great Aunt Jean passed away at the age of 93 and we held her funeral a couple of weeks later, allowing for family from all across the country to travel to town.  She was an amazing woman and the matriarch of our family- the last of her generation to pass for us.  She was ill, very ready to go and passed quickly for which we were all thankful.  We spent a long weekend celebrating and honoring her life with lots of family get togethers, meals, football game watch parties and getting her apartment cleaned out.  Her funeral was in a beautiful old church and was followed by a family dinner and our family's traditional balloon release in her honor.  (KU colors to boot for our family's oldest Jayhawk!)  Everyone's spirits were high and we all enjoyed getting to see each other despite the circumstances.  This side of our family is spread out in Seattle, San Diego, Colorado, Kansas, Wisconsin, and DC, so having almost everyone together was a gift.  We will miss Aunt Jean terribly, but we cherish all of the legacy and love of family she has left behind.

Getting ready to release balloons up to heaven for Aunt Jean...

Balloons to heaven...

We love you, Aunt Jean!

This was taken right before I got married.  My grandmother is on the left (she passed a few years ago) and her sister, my Aunt Jean is on the right.  She was always like another grandmother to me.  I love this photo of the four of us. 

One of the family dinners...

Almost the whole crew- only a few are missing! 

The next weekend, we had some of our family friends visit from Oklahoma City for a long weekend.  My friend from college, Jen, and her beautiful family came and stayed with us.  It was a full house, but we had a great time just getting our two families together and hanging out.  They have a son who is about 2 weeks older than Lily and a little gal (seen above) who is about seven months old- and as an added bonus, the weekend they stayed with us, she started crawling!  Lily was in heaven having the two of them around to play with...

...we visited Deanna Rose of course...

...here is my beautiful friend, Jen.  I swear she has not aged a DAY in the 20+ years we have been friends! Being around her this weekend just made me realize how much I miss her! She is like a sister to me and I love seeing her so happy and getting to spend time with her beautiful family.

...there may or may not have been discussions of a future engagement for these two...we both may or may not have already given our blessings!  Ha ha  Seriously, they were SO CUTE together. It was so surreal and hilarious to see them doing the exact same things even though they had never met before...funny little toddler pals.

...a glimpse of the amazing men we married and our little babes- 

...As I mentioned, throughout the month there were countless visits to the park...Lily's all time favorite thing to do...here she is loving every minute during a park visit with the Jacksons.

...we even had an official kids table! It was a delightful weekend with lots of play, laughter, college football, side walk chalk, water tables, boutique shopping, stories, walks, Starbucks, parks, noise, naps, and good food.  We love the Jacksons and have officially started a campaign for them to move to KC!

A glimpse of my one of my favorite places on the planet!  

Another big event this month was the massive flooding that took place in Colorado.  My family's cabin was fortunately unharmed in the flooding, however the darling little mountain town where it is located was not so lucky.  We watched daily from afar as the incredible damage was revealed.  The big-picture impact of the flooding is tremendous.

Down the mountain a little ways from the cabin...almost into town... (Photo credit)

One of the main highways into town...gone.  (Photo Credit)

The other main highway into town... (Photo Credit)

It goes without saying that we were so fortunate to not have sustained any damage to our property, and we realize so many were not as fortunate and our hearts are heavy for them.  Among the damage, one of our favorite little ponds to visit went from looking like this: peaceful and serene full of clear mountain water...

Lily visiting in July

and

to this:

a gentle mountain "stream" became a rushing river...and now the pond is gone and where it used to be is now a giant pile of debris and silt...unreal. (Photo Credit: my dad)

Not only is the lake completely gone, but it looks like it was never even there! I know this is small potatoes compared to the damages incurred by so many people impacted by the flooding, but for us having just been there, seeing this photo among all of the others was shocking.  Our prayers have been with all of the people affected and we continue to follow closely the stories of rebuilding and community fellowship that have been birthed from this tragedy.  

Among everything else going on this month, we also discovered some beautiful fairy houses built by a secret "fairy" in the woods near our house.  They were an absolute hit to say the least....sheer delight and completely enchanting.

So yes, all of this stuff has been keeping us really busy, but perhaps what has been keeping us the busiest and taking up every spare moment we have is one of the things we have not yet shared here on the blog...something that had us taking photos like this one...

and this one...

Here is a hint...

More details to come!