Thankful

Our family has been incredibly blessed this year in many ways, and I am very thankful for these blessings. I am thankful for our new home, a good new job that helps support my family, great children that never cease to amaze me, and a husband that I couldn't imagine going through life without.....oh yeah, and Charlie. :) Unfortunately, we found out recently that Brandon will be deploying to Iraq for a year next March......maybe that's why I'm feeling so sappy! We ask for prayers as we work through this challenge and also prayers for Brandon's safety.
Kyla and Casey have been growing and changing in many ways this past year. They have stepped up to become more active members in decision making and taking care of the house. They are responsible and amazing. I am thankful beyond words for these two wonderful people.

Adding to the list of things I'm thankful for is my extended family. I have two wonderful parents and 3 brothers that I love dearly. My parents in-law are and have always been great friends to me. I am also thankful for the brother-in-law and 2 sisters-in-law that I consider my siblings. I am also blessed to be the aunt of 2 nephews and a niece.....I can't imagine life before they were here! Unfortunately, we don't get to see all of our family each holiday, as we are spread so far out, but we were able to spend some quality time with the Owens side of the family this week during Thanksgiving. Unfortunately I didn't take as many pictures as I should have, but here are few.

Brandon and his dad, Will. Two peas in a pod.

Despite the age gap, the kids always find a way to have fun together. This is Kyla, Casey, and Sophia dressing up.

We had a nice visit from Brandon's cousins, aunt & uncle, and grandma as well. Everyone brought a dog and Casey and Sophia kept charge of them. I think there were 5, but I lost count after 4.

Charlie and Maggie.....new best friends.

Fifteen

Kyla turned 15 this week, and I can barely believe how quickly the time has passed. We had cake and presents on her actual birthday, and went to St. Louis to celebrate further this past weekend.

Walking Charlie downtown St. Louis before the big night out.

This is a cool view of the arch from our hotel. Casey was a gorilla and Kyla was a Japanese anime character that she made up herself.

Outside of TGI Fridays where we had dinner.

We went to the St. Louis City Museum, and it was about the strangest and coolest place I've ever been.

This is an indoor skatepark, but there were no skateboards. Instead, you swung on ropes, explored tunnels under the ramps, and slid down them.

This place was a series of underground and above ground wire tunnels and tubes. This is Brandon squeezing through one of the tubes, and this was not the tightest one! Some of the tubes went high into the sky over the parking lot and others went down underground.

We had a wonderful weekend....thanks Kyla for picking a great place to spend your birthday!

This and That

Here is just a hodge-podge collection of pictures from our family over the last couple of weeks.
Me and my good friend, Steven Jackson, just hangin' out.

My mom made these awesome curtains for my classroom and I couldn't be happier! The picture doesn't do it justice....they have a cute gingham background in the pleats that you can't see from the pic. I've had so many compliments on them....thanks mom!!

Casey and I headed to school....GO TIGERS!

Chobie, bobie, puddin' pie.

I was tickled pink when my 14 and 11 year-olds agreed to ride the cows.....what good sports!

Kyla and daddy waiting for Casey to finish up in the haunted house. Kyla drew the line at a blow-up bouncy house.

Pumpkin decorating.

The baby.

Kyla and Casey made a chocolate cookie haunted house....and it was delicious!

Go Rams!

Brandon and I treated ourselves to a Rams game for an early anniversary present to each other. I can't think of a better way to spend time together with him...we were in heaven! For those that aren't football fans, you'll have to bear with me on this blog post.

We took our autograph ball hoping to meet one of the players, but they were a little busy.

From our seats on the 40 yard line.

The highlight of my day....Leonard Little. Love that guy!!!

The Rams Cheerleaders...well, a few of them.

Steven Jackson.....easily the toughest guy on the field, even in pink.

Coach Spagnulo giving Chris Long a pep talk.

Huddle

I hate to do this, but here's a picture of the enemy, Brett Favre (and Adrian Peterson in the background) practicing before the game. Even though they killed the Rams, it was still fun to see them too.

The Mendenhall Gang

Wow....what a great weekend I just had! I absolutely love getting together with my Mendenhall family because we always have such a good time. This is the best family shot we could muster....gotta love the Charlie profile and the blue "finger" that seemed to mysteriously make it into every shot.

I would not be complete without the relationships I have with these 3 boys. My brothers rock my socks off!

Here is a picture of us girls (we were horribly out-numbered). My mom is so very special to me and my sister-in-law fits right in to our group with ease. Congrats Jenny on baby #2!

No weekend would be complete without a moustache growing contest.

Grandma and the grandkids.....and yes, Charlie considers himself a grandchild.

I've never met such an easy going baby as my nephew, Jackson. He is so much fun and easily the life of the party. I love that little man!

Casey and Jack bonding.

Better Late Than Never!

To those that are loyal followers of our family blog, I apologize for not updating in such a long time! Things have been a little crazy around here since school started. These pictures are a couple of weeks old, but this is the first chance I've had to post them. The weekend before school started, we took the kids to St. Louis.

We love the St. Louis Zoo and spent most of our day there, enjoying the animals.
We stopped by the Science Center for a few hours, which is always a good time! It hadn't changed much since the kids were little and we enjoyed the familiar exhibits.

First day of school! Ok, so it was a couple of weeks ago, but better late than never!

Most of us were thrilled to be going back to school.

Kyla absolutely loves high school and the whole academic part of it. She's still not sure why people think they need to socialize while they are there, but she gets along fine when she has to. Yep, that's my girl on the first day of school, hiding behind the mailbox while waiting for the bus. She's over the hiding thing now and at least makes it to the same side of the street as the other kids. Both kids have made a lot of progress since the first day and both love their teachers and classes. We are blessed to have such great kids that adapt so well to new surroundings. Hopefully this will be the last move for them for a long time!