What I've Been Doing The Past Few Months

1.  I had a an awesome 30th birthday. You've had 3 months to read about that, so I won't go into it any more, rather than just to say that I felt so loved. And it didn't end with my surprise party, but instead with a joint birthday party with my mother in law in the beginning of September when we got together with Derek's whole family for the day at his parents house and we made pasta, and drank wine from Italy and played baseball in the front yard and generally just had a fantastic time.

2.  I got another birthday surprise over Labor Day weekend. We went on a church retreat where one of my bestest friends, Sarah, surprised me and came all the way from Chicago to spend the weekend with me, even though it was at a crappy camp on a church retreat for a church she doesn't go to. The retreat itself was awesome, as we got to spend time with our church family and grow new relationships, act ridiculously at a 90's dance party, play euchre, go swimming and just generally enjoy ourselves, but it was 10 times better because Sarah was there and we got to hang too.

3.  But then there was the aftermath of the retreat...bed bugs. That's right. A family found bed bugs the last night we stayed there. So when we got home I made sure to wash all of our bedding and clothes well, except that I put my unwashed duffle bag  under my bed, and woke up a week later with hundreds of tiny red bumps. I felt terrible, especially since Kevin, Kayla and Connor were living with us. Luckily no one ever got bit besides me. Even more luckily, a mom from our soccer team told me that I could forgo the $1000 fumigation and instead if I put diatomaceous earth (a safe, non-toxic, organic substance) around our room, it would dehydrate any bugs that remained and kill them.  It did the trick and we have yet to see another bed bug, and feel super thankful for that.

4.  Speaking of our soccer team, we coached our sweet 2nd and 3rd grade girls team this fall.  Their skills have improved so much as they've gotten older. Our team was undefeated, which the girls were so proud of.

5. Our good friend Charissa and Steven had their sweet little baby boy Lincoln. (I actually hosted a shower for Charissa and definitely need to do a post on that too!)

6. We took a sweet little trip to the apple orchard / pumpkin patch with friends (including little Lincoln).

7. Halloween came and went and Derek and I dressed up as zombie football players for a zombie Halloween party. I'm usually not that into scary costumes, but doing the zombie make up was lots of fun and I loved how it turned out.

8. Our church had a fall festival and we decorated our car for trunk or treat.

9. We got to go to the UK vs. Alabama football game, where we tailgated with friends and had ahhhhmazing seats.

10. Lots of general hanging out with friends, playing with our pup, visiting family, and just enjoying life and this beautiful time of year. Here are some random phone pics from the last few months.