[monday awesomeness]

On Mondays my mom takes the younger kids to school about two hours away. Today she even took Levi, the 3 year old. And my dad was on a business trip. So Samantha and I spent most of the day together just the two of us, cleaning, studying and watching some tv together. Oh, and taking a walk and braiding hair and drinking coffee and sitting by the fire... all that jazz :) It was really fun!! I made up this braid in Sam's hair the other day but didn't take pictures so I had to do it again today :) What do you think?
Later on AC, UD, and J came to spend Halloween away from the trickortreaters, so the five of us cooked and ate dinner together :) My mom was having some pretty serious Lyme related issues today, please pray for her.

At the end of our walk :)

[new glasses]

Lil bro Joe got some glasses this week! He looks so grown up and handsome with them.. so I had to take some pictures. After taking some of him, since the light was so nice, I asked my other siblings if they wanted some pictures taken of them, and Sylvia (of course) and Levi both opted for a mini shoot :)

It's been freezing at nights these days. Cold weather certainly does bring some beautiful things along with it.

Silly boy :)

So handsome :)

Haha oh my Weider :)

They are sooo cute! *dies*

Gahh!! His witty teef are sooo adorable, yes?

....such a beauty already.

[some photos i forgot were on my camer from two weeks ago]

....and I think that might have been the longest title to a blog post I've ever done. Whoopie. I have several ideas for a blog post that may come to pass...someday..in the not so near future ;) You never know.

Aaaaalsooo.... This is my favorite song now.. hehe. The first two minutes are just him talking about random/mostly irrelevant stuff... so skip to two minutes if you don't want to see that, haha. And let it sink in :)

Da guys picking pears :)

Hahahahehehehehoooooho.

[time turns flames to embers]

Time turns flames to embers, you'll have new Septembers
Everyone of us has messed up too
Minds change like the weather, I hope you remember
Today is never too late to be brand new

It's alright, just wait and see
Your string of lights is still bright to me
Oh, who you are is not where you've been
You're still an innocent

~Taylor Swift

[aurora borealis]

I never thought I'd see the Northern Lights in KS!!!! What an amazing sight. Thanks to Grandma for letting me use her camera :)

[ben+cassie-engaged!]

Ben and Cassie were such a fun couple to shoot!! I love their chemistry; fun and teasing but tender at the same time. It is obvious that theirs is a Christ centered relationship, not a Ben/Cassie centered relationship, and that is such an amazing thing to see.

Ben picked an exquisite ring for Cassie; not flashy and fairly simple but incredibly beautiful!

[awesome weekend]

Kitty kitty has big eyes :)

The weekend was so amazing. But sooo short. Seriously, it seemed even shorter than usual.
As usual, the pictures explain much of what went on for me. But there *are* a few things I didn't photograph :) Like the moonlight walks, talks, and giggles. The hayrack ride we rode on and sang almost the entire time. It made. my. day. that Karie knew the Hide Em in Your Heart songs... some of the parents did as well, and Nathaniel kind of knew them.. but we sang so many of them, haha... it was soo encouraging and refreshing. We sang hymns, veggie tales, random songs like The Happy Working Song, (my fave, haha) and Be Prepared from Hoodwinked, lol. We rode horses and took walks through the pastures.. we girls laid underneath the stars on an empty haywagon... and Preston and Robbie decided to crash our girl party and listen to our random silliness. We took lots of pictures.. we squished into beds together.. we watched videos and listened to songs.. we looked at pictures.. we made memories. As we always do :)

Shaina

I realize this is kind of random thoughts strung together.. oh well :)

Jumping on the haybales!!

The guys racing....

...Justin won :)

Hehe... I love Sam's face.

Again...

Faceplant, haha.

My friend. Isn't she beautiful?

Bre, Sam, Alyssa, Karie, me. I love these girls. And am SO grateful for their extraordinary friendship.

We gave ourselves all Indian names. Mine is Princess Shining Feather :)

Group shot! Haha... LtoR Chief Little Mouse, Josiah, Howling Coyote, Curious Cub, Rising Moon, Scout Laughing Squirrel, Dancing Doe, Soaring Eagle, Running Deer, Hungry Bear, and... Sly Fox is in the bottom right corner being sly.

And one with me in it! Thanks to Howling Coyote for the photo :)

...don't ask...

Yeah, they set up the highline :) It scares me to watch them, haha.

We went exploring.. and found lots of cool stuff.

*coughjustincough* This one's going in the next scrapbook ;)

Scout Laughing Squirrel found a place to spend the winter :D

We found these amazing leaves... they were like lace!! Aren't they awesome?

Success!! (This took them forever, so you'd better be impressed)

Shooting a cocklebur at the photographer... naughty.

The guys found my dad's tie stash... yeah. ;) Justin looks so proud of himself, haha.

Karie asked me to take a few photos of her and Justin. That was a great idea, but Sam, Bre, Robbie, Gabe, and Nathaniel all decided to come along. It wasn't awkward at all. ;)

planking.

Sam and Bre whispering to each other.. as always ;)

Haha :)

Beautiful girlies :)

LOL I love Robbie's face, and Gabe is hilarious.. Everyone is actually :)

Fierce. ;)

Karie goofin off, naturally ;)

Haha, Nathaniel.

Candid.

These shadows make me happy :)

Hahaha, I didn't see that Robbie was doing that until I looked at the photos.. they totally should have done that!

:)