Playing Duets

10 months old and rakin' leaves!

It was a beautiful fall day so Stefan and I decided to go outside and rake some leaves to surprise Daddy. It is supposed to be turning cold again in the next day or two so we were taking advantage of the nice weather. Not sure how much we got accomplished as far as the yard is concerned, but we had a great time doing it!

In this picture he was having quite a lively discussion with this leaf. Too bad I didn't video it. Oh well, maybe next time I'll catch it!

Fall Family Outing

Today we enjoyed an outing with our church family. We went through a corn maze--did not get lost at all-- and then a hayride. We finished the afternoon off with a warm potluck dinner at the church. We had a really nice time and Stefan enjoyed himself immensely!

Ordination Council

Brian's Ordination Council went really well on Saturday. There were 8 men on the council and about 20 other men from our church attended. Brian did a great job answering the questions (atleast I thought so!). His ordination service will be on November 2. We are looking forward to that.

a new toy

Stefan got a new toy on Sunday from Mrs. Beals. He has been having a great time hammering away!

With Chris and Lydia

We had a great time visiting with my cousin, Chris and Lydia Bixby.
Thanks so much for having us, Chris and Lydia--we'll be back!

In Burlington, Vermont.

An afternoon drive...

Our Weekend in Vermont

These pictures do not do justice to the beautiful foliage we saw this weekend. It was definitely peak season, the weather was gorgeous, and we marveled at the beautiful variety of God's creation.

This is the site of the cabin we stayed in before heading up to Chris and Lydia's. We are thankful for Sarah Beals' parents who let us stay in their vacation cabin by this pond. It was beautiful and we had a relaxing weekend.

The end of an era...and on to better things!

It is hard to believe, but today Brian went to work at UPS for the very last time. Yes, you read that correctly! The LAST time. Needless to say, we are pretty excited around our house! For two years now, Brian has faithfully gone to work before 4am each weekday morning. I am so thankful for a husband who is willing to do that for his family. We are thankful for God's provision through UPS. We will probably always think of Stefan as our "UPS baby!", but we are grateful to be able to end and move on to a better job. This job has been a physical drain on Brian and we are both going to enjoy getting full nights sleep!
For those of you who are not aware Brian is now on the piano faculty of the South Shore Conservatory. The Lord has graciously opened up a job that is not only better hours and pay but also one in which Brian can utilize his degrees. He currently has 20 students in his studio. God is good! Click here to see his bio.

Visiting Cranberry Bogs

Today we got to see how cranberries are harvested. Sarah Beals' father is a cranberry farmer. If you like Ocean Spray's cranberry juice you might be drinking from his harvest! Anyway, it was so beautiful. We had never seen this and it was interesting to see the process. This was what they call wet picking. These cranberries will be used for juice and sauce and things rather than fresh fruit. They flood the bog then these machines go through the water to rake the cranberries off the vines. The cranberries have little holes in them so they automatically float to the top of the water and then they gather them. It was very cold outside, but we enjoyed it and had a good time with Peter and Sarah as well.

How cute is that little teddy bear?!?

Stefan and his girlfriends! Stefan always is well entertained when we are with them! These are Peter and Sarah's 4 girls. Matt, their only son, is in the gray hoody in the background. As soon as we got there he was in the bogs helping!

Snapshots of the bogs.

I wanna be like Daddy!

Stefan's playmate

Last Friday night we had Bill, Michelle, and Brooke over for dinner. Brooke is only 5 months older than Stefan and the two of them had such a great time chasing each other around the house. The stairs were the favorite attraction of the evening!