wedding and carving

hello, all!

well, last weekend was fun-filled for us! My cousin, Jim, married his beautiful bride, Megan. so here are some family pics from the event!









B.Y.O.P. [bring your own pumpkin] was saturday night! We were at the Ballenthin's with some friends enjoying good pizza and a kitchen covered in pumpkin guts.







today we handed candy to the little tricksters. a few problems:
1. Some arrived in cars; trick-or-treating is a walking sport.
2. Some were costumeless, or sported a shirt reading "this is my costume"
3. Few actually said, "trick-or-treat" [exception: the two-year-old]
4. Hardly any said, "thank-you" [exception: the two-year-old]

The children of 2009 need a reform.

Los Colores

Here are a few pictures from dad's 50 miler! The day went so well...he has now recovered and is feeling pretty good.





Looking out the front window and seeing these beautiful colors just makes a rainy fall day so much brighter! Oh, and Happy Wedding Day, Jim and Megan!

The Happenings of Fall

In celebration of this season that seems to be so quickly escaping us, John and I made s'mores! Over the fire? NOPE. Inside over the camping stove. It was the best we could do. This photo was just after John's mallow flamed up.

Last Saturday we picked our pumpkins from the patch at Butterprint Farm. After the corn maze successfully tricked us, we found our orange beauties! John specifically chose his pumpkin for the curly-cue on the stem...to his dismay, a sharp turn in the car left it "deSTEMitated."

Us on the hayride!



We then continued our journey to Indiana for a family get-together with the Staal's at Uncle Larry and Aunt Ruth's house. I admittedly brought my stethoscope and subjected everyone to a heart-listening. Thanks, family!

Well, I am nearing the half-way point of my first year of PA school! Just 5 more exams and I'm off for a WHOLE WEEK! I'm living for that week right now...

AH + JS = LOVE

My little brother is engaged! I guess that means he's not so little anymore.

CONGRATS AARON AND JODY!!!!

Race for the Cure

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month! My friends and I ran the race for the cure downtown Chicago last weekend. We had a great time. I ran the 10k...I hadn't run more than 4 miles since last year's marathon, so the 6.2 miles was a challenge!

Mis Amigas

Meet Chelsea, Angela, Katie, Laura, and Sara. We spend far more hours together than we do apart. On this occasion, we made mini pita pizzas, watched Madagascar, and played Apples to Apples. :)

John and Doug [Ang's husband] really loved it.

Just a Wednesday

Had a lovely morning today. Didn't start class until 9am, so I had the luxury of taking the "late" train at 7:48. I got up early with John, as he had to get to work for the morning shift. I can rarely manage to make this happen, but I LOVE being able to relax for a bit in the morning before the day's events begin to unfold. And so I did. I watched the news, disturbed after the first 4 stories concerned murders. I enjoyed my cereal and grapefruit as Channel 5 shared more light-hearted news: the Dalai Lama learning to fist pound and a baby dancing to Beyonce's music video. Enlightening? Maybe not, but better than murder. I left the house early enough to grab a cider at the Bucks and delve into the RedEye crossword for a bit before catching the train.

Toby is coming to visit today! We're excited to have had so many visitors. Should be a fun weekend!

Well, lunch break is over! Off to class...