What's Up?

This is my favorite tree this time of the year.
Everyday I stop and admire it.
Soon it will loose it's leaves.
I'll have to wait until next year for it's beauty.

Both of our kids and their families got together to

enjoyed a weekend together.

Our son Todd 

Our daughter Kimmy 

And their kids.....

Scarlett, Silas, Ila May, Huxley,

 Lulu, Trey, Levi, Nathan and Isaac.

This is all of them!

(Hi Mark and Stephanie)

 God has blessed us more then I

ever knew He would!

Just one more picture!

Ahhhhh.....

🌻🍁🌻🍂🌻🍁🍂🌻🍁🍂

Our church has a Harvest Festival each year.

There are so many activities to participate in.

Relay races, tug of war, horse rides, make your own caramel apple,

hay rides. 

This year the younger kids had

Pumpkin Play Dough.

Each could make a tiny pie out of the play dough and take it home.

Kimmy was in charge of this activity.

Every family had a chance to get photo taken.

So fun!

 For the Foodies in our church,

we have two contests.

A Chili contest and

 the most popular, the

PIE CONTEST!

This year there were over 25 pies entered!!

Tom has been a Pie Judge for the 3rd year in a row.

A highly coveted position!

  

Angie and I were in charge of this event.

 A lot of stress!

Boys, girls, women and men all hovering over 

the pies, debating which looks the best.

Or wondering if theirs won!

When the Judges were done, the winner is announced.

Plates and forks came out and everyone digs in.

Whew!! Our job is done!

Ila May made  her 1st Apple Pie and entered it.

No ribbon but it was delicious.

Here she is showing off her pie and

 her play dough pie, too.

📜📢📜📢

Every year we gather around in a huge circle 

and listen to someone's testimony

 before we bless the food and eat.

This year Tom told his story.

It was wonderful!

This is Tom with a microphone.

Tom wanted me to stand next to him, which was an honor to stand shoulder to shoulder with him.

Until next Harvest Festival...



~~~~****~~~~

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it."

Matthew 7:13-14

All Things Pumpkin 🎃

They are everywhere!

Stores, gardens, decorations, and sometimes in ovens!

I'm sure you find pumpkins for any occasion

or style of decoration.

Our Bible Study 

has started up and I signed up for snacks.

 I dug out my delicious,

Pumpkin Spice Cookie recipe.

Pumpkin Spice Cookies recipe

They are a cake type cookie and I always add lots of frosting.

Soft and gooey, just the way I like them.

Oh, and the smell of these cookies... so yummy!

Even I have a few pumpkins for decorations

I went to Walmart the other day.

Around these parts,

you see tractors everywhere!

Walmart used this tractor for their seasonal decoration.

And not just an ordinary tractor but

a huge, shiny, brand new, 

 John Deer Tractor!!

 While I was in Walmart, I couldn't resist the 

cutest, pumpkin kitchen towel. 

It is perfect for my kitchen!

Curious...

How much do pumpkins cost per pound at your 

neighborhood grocery store?

Here are some fun facts I found out about Pumpkins.

★ Deal of the season! Costco charges $5.99 for a huge pie and you can freeze them!

★The name pumpkin comes from the Greek word, 'Pepon', which mean large melon

★Pumpkins plants features both male and female flowers, with bees typically being involved in pollination 

★Scientifically speaking, pumpkins are a fruit (they contain seeds). When is comes to cooking they are often refereed to as vegetables.

~~~~****~~~~

Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. Who ever come to me will never go hungry, and whoever believe in me will never be thirsty,"

John 6:35

Double Decker Bus in the Parade

For those of you who are new to my blog,

this is the Double Decker Espresso Bus!

It's a mobile coffee shop, that our friends own.

Today we "caught" the bus, to be in the 

Parade America,

honoring ALL who have served our nation.

This is Nampa's 52nd year of celebrating.

The owners:
Driver Dustin and hostess Angie

First, we lined up in the staging area.

Our son-in-law, Mark is explaining 

to our grandchildren, Silas and Ila May,

what they are looking at.

Isaac wasn't to sure about the loud music.

Thousands of candy pieces were ready to be handed out.

Lulu, Silas and Ila May have their pails 

full of candy, and headed out the door.

The bus was serving coffee for us.

Looks like Kimmy and Nathan are ready.

This is the view from the door.
looking down the street.

Here I am, walking beside the bus to

 make sure that kids didn't run 

in front of this huge bus.

The bus came all the way from England.

 So, the driver's

seat is on the other side.

Papa Tom and Nathan rode

on the top of the bus.

This is the coffee shop area.

Hi !! up there!

Mark and Kimmy did a great job
waving to the crowd.
Isaac is now a pro at this waving stuff, too.

View from up top during the parade.

This picture is a snap shot from the TV station

that televised the parade.

There were thousands and thousands of people!

End of the line!
Parade is over,
Someone is tired.
Hey Silas, me too!

~~~~~*****~~~~~


"Let the word of Christ richly dwell in you, with all wisdom, teaching, admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God,"
Collisions 3:16



Out takes:

Watermelon

This is an acre of dirt, soon to be an

acre of vines and watermelons.

I have a friend who asked for help 

planting  watermelon seeds, 

on this acre of dirt.

We each got several rows and 

a cup full of watermelon seeds.

We were to poke a one inch hole in the dirt with our finger.

Insert three seeds.

Cover  the seeds.

Count out four feet and

do it again.

Getting our instructions

These were my rows.

And these were my seeds.

Now I know, 

I'm not in Redmond anymore,

I'm in Nampa...farm country!

Everyone had their own style of 

planting and pace.

There were mothers with young children.

Teenagers racing each other.

And then there was me...

I had so much fun being apart of this 

gathering and planting.

The watering process is called,

 flooding irrigation.

A long, large tube runs the width of the field

and then the "shoots" open up, every foot or so

and the water runs out.

The water then runs down the rows, 

until the field is

flooded or soaked.

Water running down the rows of  just

planted watermelon seeds.

Harvesting will be in 85 days.