Anna Marie Island

We laid. We floated. We snorkeled. ALOT. 

We did what you do on a vacation.

Oh how nice it was.

I buried Lauren. 

She was in total bliss.

We headed south a bit to Longboat Key. 

A precious little beach town with awesome shopping and awesome beach.

You could walk and walk...it was very secluded. 

I was a beach walker for sure.

The shells were great. Josh found a perfect sand dollar shell and others here snorkeling.

You say we need to leave?

Uh. Uh.

Me don't wanna leave.

Ever.

On our last night, we tried to get some family pictures.

The sunsets were gorgeous.

The family love was there.

People probably thought we were a bit crazy.

Maybe we are.

Oh well. 

We have fun.

Pretty last dinner on the beach.

....sad face.

We will miss you, little island off of Florida.

Hope to be back again!

Halloween

I could not not post this picture of my dear friend Rachel.

She came over in her awesome costume!

\

Nana shared her creative little bat snacks.

(chocolate donuts!)

Lovely, right? Hannah and I were nerds. Lauren a lovely gypsie.

We went through my Mom's Halloween costume collection...and were free spirits this year!

So we headed to Steve's for the traditional Halloween chili. My mom started that tradition waaaay long ago when we were itty bitty kids. Steve has totally kept the tradition up!

Steve always coordinates the family. 

He does the costumes and shops all around town and loves it! 

This totally won the prize! Everyone dressed as characters from the movie "How to Train a Dragon".

The house with the warm fire on the driveway and good candy?

That was us.

And of course candy.

Gotta sort it and trade.

Lauren carved a messed up teeth pumpkin completely needing the aid of braces.

Josh did the braces.

Perfect.

PUMPKIN TIME

Pumpkin time! This was in a sweet old area downtown Denver with a friend.

I was asked to have of my art showcased in a gallery/yoga studio around there.

More on that later.

Art group! We went to Kim's and she bought these old chewy candy "Chimes" containers.

We had so much fun creating these adorable creatures!

Then we painted blocks that were abstract pumpkins to decorate with at Kerstin's.

And then painted Christmas trees to look like candy corn.

Creative cuteness indeed.

Someone in our house love love loves pumpkin seeds.

Someone in our house had an idea.

Totally awesome!

Josh wins the award for pumpkin of the year for sure.

Homecoming

And so the search for a dress. Homecoming was coming. That means dress, shoes, hair...all things that Daddy was having a bit of a moment with. He came home from shopping with her and said "I want her to be in OshKosh clothes with ribbons and bows and stuff still... "

(insert sad-frowny-timesgoestoofast-face)

Hannah went with some friends to find a dress, then to come to find out the PERFECT dress she loved...another friend got that wasn't with them.

Totally bummed. Totally had to take it back.

She ended up finding another gorgeous dress. 

She looked stunning and SO GROWN UP.

They all went out to dinner, danced the night away.... and had a total blast.

I had a Mama moment too. It seems like yesterday I was a freshman going to homecoming with Josh. Here is one of the necklaces that I wore for Josh's senior prom. I remembered feeling so pretty in a pink Cinderella poofy shoulder, drop waist poof dress. This is the necklace I wore with it. 

For some reason I kept it for ALL THESE YEARS.

I pulled it out and it looked just PERFECT with Hannah's dress.

And so she wore it.

And so I had a moment.

(insert sad-frowny-timesgoestoofast-face)

Grand Lake

We headed up north to camp at Grand Lake area with friends and family.

It rained. 

Again.

Didn't damper our spirits.

Nope.

We soon saw some blue skies!

And a cutie by a rock.

Do you see the girls on a kayak? It's them on the bottom right.

This was our view from the campsite we stayed at.

The little lake/mountain town was so precious to shop and eat.

It got coooold and rainy again.

Didn't damper our spirits!

(For real. Sweetest picture of Hannah and Tristan don't you think?)

We wandered and pondered.

And we will be back again, Mr. Grand Lake.

Chatfield Lake

Precious being back on my Dad's boat that we got last year in Texas.

Captain Josh was totally in control.

Wish Dad could've been there with us.

He was in spirit though.