Turkey Bowl at FBC Prosper

Today, as part of my church search, I decided to venture up to FBC Prosper. I thought it would be fun to see Wayne and Amy, and to remind myself that churches other than Wedgwood do experience true worship. I knew with Wayne leading, it would be good, and I was right.

When I emailed Amy yesterday to ask if I could come visit today, she said that today was going to be an unusual day - abbreviated worship service, lunch with turkey and all the fixings, and a flag football tournament. She invited me to join them for all of it, and drafted me for her team. So after lunch we hit the field for some football. Our team ended up with a 1-2 record, but the two we lost were close games, lost in overtime. I played defense for all three games, and even had one good play when filling in on offense - the ball bounced out of the hands of one of my teammates and right into mine, so I took off running til someone grabbed one of my flags.
Thanks, Wayne and Amy, and FBC Prosper, for letting me join in on the Turkey Bowl! It was a really fun day, even though I'm sure I'll be sore tomorrow after playing so much football.

"Faces"

Responding to a challenge by The Pioneer Woman, I created this photobook of "Faces" on Shutterfly. I love creative projects like this!

Click here to view this photo book larger

A Not-So-Ghouly Halloween

For Halloween, the Wedgwood's Singles and Young Married classes got together for a wrestling-themed costume party at Dana and Dave's house. Not very many of the costumes went with the theme however. Then again, they weren't very scary either. The party was a lot of fun, with lots of food, friends, and fellowship, a fire pit outside, Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin and Nacho Libre showing on a large screen out in the crisp fall night, and several really creative costumes. I dressed as a mime, and spent nearly 2 hours at the party without saying a word! It became a game to see who could get the mime to speak. I only broke my silence because Solana (Dia and Egbert's 3-year-old) was acting really scared of me, so I tried to convince her that it was just me. It was a really great evening, made even better because I got to stay the night with Amy and Amanda and go to Wedgwood the next morning.

Me and three of my favorite peopleAmy, the bag of jelly beans Rachel as Hermione from Harry Potter Amanda and her mom as Thing 1 and Thing 2 Dana and Dave and Swine Flu and her Dr. Pepper Kristen the "Happy Meal" got over her fear of people with painted faces. I found my frog prince!

The "Royal Hoods," complete with drama queen Solana :) Josh as Magnum P.I.
me with Ashlen, the cutest dragonfly ever!
Even Zack dressed up (though not for the right holiday)

Dallas Arboretum

I spent a brilliant Halloween morning exploring the Dallas Arboretum's Great Pumpkin Festival with friends Katie, Trent, their son L, and Trent's parents. We could not have asked for a more gorgeous day, even though it meant the arboretum was quite crowded with people trick or treating and taking family photos.

True to its name, the Pumpkin Festival featured a large number and wide variety of pumpkins. I never knew that pumpkins came in so many shapes and colors - green, gray, warted, turbanned. There were some very STRANGE looking pumpkins there. They also had a pumpkin house which you could walk through, and pumpkins were even floating in the fountain! So cool!

In addition to pumpkins, the arboretum was full of flowers! They had mums in every color imaginable, and even some of the roses were in bloom.

The Dallas Arboretum is a beautiful spot for picnics, exploring, and enjoying God's creation. But I think I'll still frequent the Ft. Worth Botanical Gardens more often than not, because the Arboretum is definitely not free!

A Katherine Holmes Original

This weekend I was finally able to pick up my new painting, a Katherine Holmes original! I have been anxiously awaiting this painting ever since we talked about it and I gave her the canvas. Isn't it fabulous?!
This is the photo that the painting is based on - taken by my friend Amy Harless (I have to give credit to the photographer too).
The painting looks SO good in my bedroom! I got this red quilt on clearance at Kohl's, and I am very pleased with the whole effect. Yay!
I highly recommend Katherine to any of you who need or want one-of-a kind, original artwork. But I'll warn you, she doesn't come cheap. :)
Thanks, Katherine, for my amazing painting! I will cherish it always!