Halloween is Over!

Well, halloween is officially over!  (ok I know this post is a little late.....)

Anyways, it is now time to move into the HOLIDAYS!! Yesss!!!! Not Christmas quite yet....come on people...haha....

But when I think of Christmas I think of cheerfulness and joy.  I think these are very wonderful qualities to cultimate in oneself.   There is a proverb that my grandma had on her wall that said "A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance."  When I think about it, some of my favorite people in my life have been those who have been full of cheer. They buey me up and give me strength to enjoy my life!  My sister Courtney is one example of a cheerful person.  My Grandma June.  My mom at times.  Some of my best friends.  :) 

Where does cheer come from?  Well, from the mouth of Shayna, it seems like cheer comes from someone who actively seeks the good around them.  They are full of gratitude and humility and see things from an optimistic perspective. They think, "How can I make someone's life great today??!"  They see the good in everyone around them. (or at least they try to...) It exudes in their very countenance.  It comes from several personal decisions to think of good things. When I meet the Lord face to face, I would like to think that He will be a cheerful person. 

Anyways, that is my thought for the day! Let us be cheerful! :)

So...ready, set, SMILE!

Yay the Troops are Coming Back!

I saw this article in the Washington Post this morning:

http://apps.washingtonpost.com/national/fallen/

It shows each individual soldier that has fallen in the Iraq/Afghanistan war that has been going for so many years

I was moved deeply when looking at this list, because many of my brother's close buddies are on it.  These are real guys with real lives!  Thank you each for your sacrifice, and may we all make choices to keep our lives free and happy!

Stewart Falls and Cornbellys

Cornbelly's...Actually its just one picture lol. I didn't like the way the others turned out...

And..dun dun dun...Stewart Falls..Wow talk about a beautiful hike! I was so invigorated by all those beautiful colors...I LOVE being in Heavenly Father's creations.  

 Peter:  Now look MAD!!

Peter got some pretty good shots from the car...this is up towards Aspen grove in case anyone is wondering :) 

Fall is in the Air!

So Peter asks me what kinds of things I want to do.....I had this huge list of Fall activities that I thought would be fun...and a lot of them included Apples!  So....we made caramel apples, CANNED applesauce (I've never canned anything before so Peter showed me how...)...and soon we will also make an apple pie. Yes! Yumm!!

OHOP with Christian!  (Yes, you heard that right!  Original House of Pancakes in SLC. It wasn't bad!)

And my favorite....Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies! Yessss!!! We made this batch that ended up giving us about 40 cookies! Yikes! It was great though, we just delivered them to a bunch of people!