Thank you Brooke!

Thanks to my friend Brooke who is FAR more computer savy than I am, for fixing my blog and making it cute again!

AHHH!

I've done something to my blog and it's so ugly right now! Eek! Hopefully I'll get it figured out tomorrow, I gotta hit the hay for now...

Random Cute-ness

My friend Tina made this turkey costume for her kids, but we thought it would be funny to put Mia in it for Turkey Day!
Mia in a hay bale... ouch! pokey! We were taking pictures of her in an outfit that I wore when I was a baby. It's lookin' a little old, but I think it's cute that my mom kept some of my outfits :)

This is when Mia first learned to sit up, and rockin' the little pony tail :)

Ernest and Maria's Visit!

Joel's dad, Ernest, and his wife, Maria finally got to come see us and meet Mia for the first time over Halloween weekend. We went out to one of our favorite places called Mear's Bluffs and took some neat photos.

We had a great time visiting with them and we only wish the weekend would have lasted longer!

Mia LOVES being outside, as you can tell from her big grin over daddy's shoulder :)

The wind was a little rough on keeping her bangs out of her face!
I love this picture of Joel and his dad and Mia. SO cute!!!

Halloween Party

At our restaurant, we hosted a Halloween party for our little town. We sent out formal invitations and the whole bit. Yellville isn't used to such a thing, and we weren't sure how it would go over. Our goal is to spice up this town a little and have them cut loose and enjoy life a little more. I think we were successful this night! We probably had 40 people come through during the night, which is great for Yellville. Since the party, we've heard many people say that they wished they would have come, so hopefully next year will be even better. We had a live band who did a spectacular job, we did an all you can eat taco bar, and had all sorts of snacks and random desserts. Here are a few of our closest friends:

Sonja and Tonya displaying their pumpkin (we had a decorating contest where teams could only use the random stuff we put in a bag to decorate the pumpkin with. They didnt win, but their costumes are adorable. hee hee)Mr. President Obama... my cousin Giancarlo, and Hillary Clinton, his girlfriend Daisha.My dear friend Tina (who also works for us), and her husband Josh. She drug that ball around all night and almost tripped SEVERAL times on it...Nathan and Kaci Rogers... how cute!A really neat family, also my cousins, Michael, Hali, and Darcy.A member of Joel's collegiate class, an employee, and friend of ours, Kortnie!Another part of my family, Tim and Lacey. They are Clara's parents from the last post... Only in Yellville will a costume include a real gun!!!My little cousin Cora is all grown up now... Yikes!There's always one... Braden. Good part is, he is a fantastic MMA fighter so he really can represent the Ninja outfit!

Brian (who also works for us on occassion), Sadie, and Kortnie. He and Obama almost had a throw-down!!! Good thing the Ninja is his son!An awesome Christian couple, Leslie and Keith. My newest friend, Ashley, and her husband of only like a month, Jason!

And of course, Zorro and his wife Elena... US!!!

Hay Ride

My dad and a relative of his planned a hay ride for a bunch of the kids in the area a few weeks ago (yes I'm a little behind on my postings...oops). It was a chilly October night, but we had a ton of kids show up, a big selection of warm chili to warm our bellies, and of course a lot of fun with family and friends.

To my friends in Alaska who, like me, don't have a clue what a hay ride is, or why on earth that would be a fun idea because it's always below zero in October in Alaska, I'll explain what went on... Dad lined a big flat bed trailer with bales of hay, and sprinkled it all over the floor of the trailer too. We sat along the bales in a big square while he pulled the huge trailer around with his truck. We sang some songs (I pity anyone who was listening...), enjoyed the fall air, and drove down to a cemetery. All of a sudden, there were screams and a white sheet shape running through the cemetery. That pretty much freaked the kids out. THEN... on the other side of the trailer, a guy came running out of the woods with a chainsaw. Yikes. That scared me too. Didn't know Dad was so into the whole halloween-scary bit. Anyways, it was entertaining to say the least. Mia slept through it....

A tad cross-eyed...

This is her before the hayride all bundled up.

This is her cousin Clara. They were born exactly a week apart. I don't think either one is too thrilled with the other!

Has it REALLY been this long!?!

Oh my. Where do I begin!?! So we've been open for business at the new restaurant for almost 2 months and things are going GREAT! Here's a picture of us three at the restaurant in it's early stages.

We are no longer working close to 80 hours, we're down to 60 or 70 a week (but that's an AWESOME improvement). We have some great employees who are very reliable and smart, and we're able to leave them alone from time to time to run the place. Thank the LORD!!! We prayed very hard that the employees we got would be a blessing TO us, and receive blessings FROM us. SO far that seems to be the case! It's awesome to be in the position to hire people who you know are honest and hard working and just want to support their families. Especially when everyone is losing jobs left and right. Once again, praise God! There are more pictures of the restaurant somewhere, but they're escaping me right now... I'll find them and post them soon-ish.

Next up. Our dear friends who we hardly ever get to see, but who remain very dear to our hearts, David and Brooke Cibik asked Joel to officiate their wedding over labor day weekend. What an honor!!! Joel was so excited, humbled, and as I said, honored, to do their wedding. It was probably the most incredible wedding I've ever been to. From the welcome gift bags they gave us upon arrival at the hotel, to the welcome dinner complete with more gifts and a photo booth (such a fun idea!), to the AMAZING location of the wedding (Riverwood Mansion in Nashville, TN), to the handsome groom and probably the most beautiful bride I've ever seen, to the fun and heartfelt reception with the BEST, most thoughtful song choices I've ever heard at a wedding. It was incredible. The whole thing. Check out Brooke's blog to the right for more pics, I will just post these 3 to give you a taste:

Now on to our "exciting" lives... if you have kids, you'll understand this, if you don't, you will one day. Mia is now starting to eat food, and it has been a fun journey. I make her baby food from scratch (it's really very easy, cheap, and at least I know what I'm really feeding my child) and she's a little food mongrel. These first pictures are of her grandpa feeding her rice cereal for the first time. She had never used a spoon before but apparently had been watching and learning because she had NO doubt what that thing was for, and how to get it in her mouth. She would attack the spoon when dad got it within a few inches of her face. Crazy!

And yes, she is wearing camo. Her grandpa bought it for her, but she has a green bow in her hair, so that's ok.

This is her and grandma reading a magazine...

And now back to the food thing. So after about a month of eating rice cereal, we decided it was time for the veggies. They recommend veggies first so that babies don't get the sweet taste of fruit first and then refuse the less sweet veggies. SO... we began with the peas for a week. Day one, not a big fan as you can see from her face: But we stuck with the peas for a week and by day 7 she was actually enjoying them! Now we're on to squash, and she seems to like that a lot more.

A few weeks ago we fell into an awesome deal! A friend of a friend needed to get rid of a piano, for FREE!!! So I got an upright Baldwin piano for nothing! Woo hoo!!! I played piano for 14 years growing up, and quit the day I graduated high school. I was a little bitter at the whole deal for a few reasons, but 8 years later I'm over it and VERY glad to be back playing the piano. It's amazing how fingers remember what they're supposed to do. The best part is, I have a little sidekick who sits in my lap and plays with me. She gets pretty excited about it.

Hmmm.... what should I play now....dum dum dum DUM..... very dramatic....

And lastly, a cute little photo of her in her ducky pajamas with her rubber ducky!!! She may look sweet, but right now she's clawing my arm with her fingernails and wailing in my ear. I should post pictures like THAT. She definitely has a temper! Wonder where she got that.... Hmmm.... Well, I'll leave you with this picture and hopefully it won't be so long before I update again!