Pumpkin Time

 Here we are on this absolutely beautiful, gorgeous, warm fall day outside carving our pumpkins.  Its just easier to be messy outside, plus, the compost pile is just a few feet away for all the guts!

 Ben is scooping his guts out!

 Now, Ben is dumping them out on the compost heap (see all those leaves I was telling you about, the pile is huge).

Here are the faces of this year's pumpkins!  Can you guess which one is mine?

Then Ben did the honor and lit them up!

Hooray for Jack-o-Lanterns!

Hooray for Kindergarten Teachers!

Mrs. Bowman and Mrs. Littlefield on Halloween at school!  I was a TMNT and she was a cowgirl!  Hat, flannel, boots and all!  :)

Yard Work III

Above is a pile we refer to as the burn pile (it is all scrap wood).  I finally made a dent in it today!

We've been having quite a lot of bonfires (almost daily) to get through the burn pile.  The house we bought came with 2 big piles!  The fire has sometimes been taller than Ben!  Luckily there are no trees underneath!

Each time we have a fire, we rearrange the pit/cinder blocks.  I think we've finally got it the way we want.  This is my fire from today!  Don't worry, the hose is always right next to it "just in case."

Yard Work II

 Do you remember this picture:

... well, my face says it all, "Look at this huge pile of branches!!! What are we to do?"

And above is another picture of the 2nd huge pile of branches.  

Ben's job was to chip the branches.  Dont let its size fool you, oh wait, please do!  It does not work at all.  Ben gave it 5 minutes and was returning it to the rental place for the big one!

So, he came back with this:

 And boy, did it work well!  He even paused for a sec to give me a wave!

The pile is almost gone!  Behind the fence in the back you can still see the 2nd pile left to do!  My job was to drag branches over to him so he could continually feed them through.  I am covered head to toe in scratches and bruises.  Ouch, but totally worth it!  We are such a good team!  When I wasn't dragging branches, I was stacking fire wood that he had been cutting and left scattered all over the yard!

There is my green grass!  I found it again!

The successful wood chipper man!  Hooray for all that mulch!  Go Team Bowman!

Yard Work I

My job was to rake the leaves.  I did this and had fun!  I doubled the compost pile with my leaf contribution!

Ward Halloween Night

 This is Ben's costume all laid out and ready for the week of parties and events.  Now to put him in it!

Here we are at church.  How cute.  We didn't win any costume awards, but I think we rock!  On this day I was the purple turtle!  I even wore a purple TURTLE neck shirt under my shell shirt with purple skinny jeans and green shoes!

Ben was a bum promoting awareness for all the local charities and resources that can help the less fortunate.  There is a massive list of 20+ all just 3 miles from Temple Square.  Here is the sign up close:

As a joke, on the back of his sign he wrote, "Cash Only!"  Laugh out loud!

Day #44

Happy Halloween!

Today I was a part of the TMNT gang!  Wahoo!  Tara & I had fun today as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!  The students loved, loved, loved it!  And let's be honest, so did WE!!!

The school's Halloween parade was a blast!  I saw so many more original costumes this year than ever before.  There were the Globe Trotter Group, Rock/Paper/Scissors (3 little boys), The Pink Ladies, and a group of Oompa Loompas.  What a great day!

So that was my costume today.  I was the red turtle and wore the red mask and my red shoes.  I wore my TMNT shirt and green skinny jeans.  My hair is straight.  I have on my green heart ring, glow in the dark green bracelet, and green earrings!

PS.  We just had our first trick-or-treater to our house 2 minutes ago!  It was our cute little neighbor boy.  He hangs out and helps Ben in the back yard sometimes!  And I must say what a cute little pirate he made!

Day #43

 So in this picture I am wearing my pink skirt, brown t-shirt (for the warm weather today), with a brown sweater over (for the cold mornings and evenings-gotta love fall), and my pink shoes to match.

I also have on my pearl earrings, pink lipstick, and my pink heart ring.  For my necklaces I tried the layered look again.  I have on my shiny heart, my heart locket, and my crystal heart.  I think I did well today.  And for my hair, I tried to tame the wild wave!  I half blow dried my hair last night after my bubble bath and put it up in a big messy bun, then when I took it out this morning it went poof and curl and wave all over.

Hooray for crazy hair cause tomorrow is Halloween, so it is okay to be a little crazy this week.  I mean, we're all buzzed on sugar right now, right?!?

Day #42

Gray shirt, black undershirt, floral skirt, orange & pink necklace, and gray boots.  Crazy wild hair and gray hoop earrings.

Our Trees Before & After

Before:

 After:

5 Trees down here and 2 below!  Lots more open space!

Here's the pile of branches about my height tall!

Our new amazing wood pile that my hot working man has been doing!

And here he is in action! THANK YOU BEN!

Day #41

I dressed with 2 thoughts in my head: its cold outside and its picture day!  So I put on my white tights and brown boots.  Then I put on my animal print skirt.  It matched my new brown top and I paired it with my green undershirt and my new green necklace (I have on my matching green earrings).  Then I put on my brown belt with the buckle on the side for accent.  My hair is half up and half down in a barrett.  And picture day turned out great!

Day #40

So when I woke up it was snowing outside (it continued all day-till around 3) so I wanted to wear a longer skirt and tights.  I wore my twirly gray/black/purple-pink skirt, my black tights, black shoes, my purple turtle neck from Victoria's Secret Tee's collection, a purple flower from Polka-Dotty Place, I have on my purple bracelet and my snow flake looking earrings!

I love the first day of snow!  The kids were all excited and happy about it too!  I listened to Christmas music in the car to and from work today too!  :)

Day #39

Wow.  Another day.  Are you sick of me yet?  LOL!  Here I am:

Yes, here's another pattern day.  I have until Friday, then a NEW UNIT!  Hooray!  So today I decided on my brown with gold polka-dotted tights, the tights matched my brown, gold leaf patterned skirt, then I matched them to my brown and pink shoes.  Last I needed a shirt to match the pink in the shoes, so I chose this long sleeved one.  I put on a brown bracelet, a pink heart shaped ring, a pink necklace, and pink earrings.  Today's weather was rainy, cold and overcast, so I decided poofy big hair was acceptable.

Can't Get Enough Fall!

This was taken outside my front window, therefore the blurry weird spots.  But I love the red/orange tips at the ends.

 These pictures are of today.  I guess it is time to bundle up and start raking.  My family will appreciate this, "There's an old Melissa saying, "Raking one's leaves is... never ending.""

I love FALL!

Day #38

No patterns for me today.  I'm patterned out!  Haha!  So today I went with my new colored skinny jeans (bought at Forever XXI for $15.80). I love them!  They are purple! (I bought lots of other colors too.)  It reminds me of my sister, Olivia's post on her red skinny jeans!  I have on dangly fake coin earrings.  And, on my feet are my black boots.

 I also am wearing a gray shirt with a black tank top over it.  I love this new tank top too.  It has ties at the waste to cinch it around my waist (you can see the strings hanging down) and the back is lace.  Sooo pretty for only $5 at Papaya (Orem University Mall).

 Also above is my hair.  Twisted from right ear to left.  With a bow clipped above the pony tail.  I put my hair to the side today so the back of my shirt was more exposed too!

From one of my friends blogs, Polka-Dotty Place, wrote a post about necklaces and so I gave it a try.  I couldn't find a 3rd or 4th necklace to add to it this morning, but this is what I came up with.  I like the trend/style, so I'm going to give it some more tries!  The one necklace is huge and I looped it together.  The other is a heart locket from my sweetheart with our pictures in it!

Anyone out there have some suggestions besides more necklaces for the added on/layered look?  Does anyone have a pic of some cool ones?

Day #37

 I wore my new striped tank top over a dark blue long sleeved shirt.  I have on my light blue skirt from DI.  On my feet are gray flats.  I have on a white heart ring, and below you can see my bow and pearl earrings.  My hair was blow dried straight so it has some volume today!