Quote

This quote from the song "flesh and bone" by Matt Maher has been running through my head since I heard it earlier today. I had a conversation with a co-worker yesterday. It came up that I am a "pastors wife". She asked me if I felt a lot of pressure to be "perfect". My answer was that I certainly feel like I'm held to a higher standard, and I'm conscious of that. But, shouldn't all Christians be? I also try very hard to simply be myself and let others know that God has to work on and in me as well. Matt seemed to sum it up pretty well.

"I'm dying to believe, I'm trying just to show, that we're less than perfect, more than flesh and bone."

new...

So, Aaron and I never watched American Idol for like the first four or five seasons. Then, one year I was home sick while they were doing all the auditions. To kill time, we watched all the auditions, then, well, we were hooked. The first season we really got into was the David's battle. Archie vs. Cook. This past year, we were really pulling for Kris Allen. I liked him from about halfway through the season. Every week his talent surprised me. Now, I'm not knocking Adam Lambert's talent in any way. The boy can sing. But, his style was very not me. Plus, Kris was something of an underdog. I always felt like he didn't get enough credit, so I was super glad when he won. Not to mention, I had a tiny crush on him. :) What can I say. I like the dark haired, guitar playing type. Especially this guy...

Anyway, the one thing I don't always like so much about idol is that you have to wait what seems like forever for the winners to release their albums. Today Kris's album was released! Yeah! New music to listen to while driving for the holidays! Pretty good. It even helped make cleaning the bathroom today a little less dismal.

Into the woods...

Okay, so I've been checking my "fall list" off one by one. This past weekend Aaron and I finally got to go camping. We went for the first time back in college with a great, albeit varied, group of friends.

Aaron has been back several times since then, but I haven't been able to. This weekend we braved the cold...and it was a COLD Friday night, for a beautiful saturday in the woods. We could not have asked for better weather on Saturday, and the break from the day to day grind and time away was something we both desperately needed. There is something about nature that just points my soul back to God and reminds me of everything truly worth something in life. Here are some pictures from our weekend...

As you can tell, there were some steep climbs. But the ending views were totally worth it.

It took yours truly a little while to warm up!

We went home happier, refreshed and ready to face the week!

Wonderful Weekend

It has been a wonderful weekend! We started off with a quiet Friday night, and the new Smallville episode was quite good. Saturday, we had friends over for Halloween. I don't know about you, but to me, Halloween is one of those holidays that is just no fun without kids. Our neighborhood is just what I always imagined trick-or-treating would be. Tons of kids, running house to house, people having parties, there was even a golf cart pulling a trailer full of hay bales with kids jumping on and off at different houses. So, using that as a lure, we invited our friends April and Doug and their kids and my our friends Michelle and Kenny. Michelle brought her daughter Julie along too. We had a great time carving pumpkins, trick-or-treating and generally hanging out. There were plans to roast marshmallows and make s'mores, but sadly the generally damp weather literally put a wet blanket on those plans!

Carving pumpkins.

Pumpkin carnage.

The finished products.

My little guy is on the left. Funny, I cleaned out three large pumpkins, but only ended up getting to carve one of the little guys. Oh well!

Aaron's masterpiece. He had to go show everyone up!

Julie and little Gabe.

Gabe keeping an eye on the grilling outside for us. Poor Doug grilled hamburgers and hot dogs in the drizzle while Aaron finished his masterpiece of a pumpkin. Thanks Doug!

My homemade pretzels. They are yummy! I just discovered this little goody a few weeks ago. For the recipe, go here.

We have here Annie, Woody (minus his hat) and Buzz from the lovely Toy Story. Preparing for the great trick-or-treating or as Grant (Buzz) thought, "going to get halloween".

To further emphasize my point that we get tons of trick-or-treaters, this is what we started with. I bought the big tootsie roll mix bag and the hershey's mix bag with reeses, kitkat, hershey bars and whoppers. I always buy candy I really like because in my experience, there is always a lot left...usually. Not here ladies and gents. We were out of this before 8:00pm. I went trick-or-treating with Doug, April and the kids. Aaron stayed home and passed out candy with Kenny and Michelle. There was apparently one little guy who did not have the appropriate trick-or-treating etiquette for Aaron. The kid banged and banged on the door, then didn't even say "trick-or-treat" or anything just stuck his bag up in the air. Then he saw a Reeses cup in the bowl and said "Oohh, Reeses! And went to grab it." Aaron pulled the bowl back and said, "Excuse me, but I give you the candy." To his credit he gave him two Reeses, but followed it up with "See, that's what happens when you ask." Life lessons from trick-or-treating at the Hill house. Just trying to make the world a better place folks...

April and me. Horrible picture of me.

Our crew at a house. We had to coach Grant on his trick-or-treating etiquette. At first he was banging on the door until it opened, and then he wanted to go in the house. After telling him to just knock once, wait for the door to open, and then say "trick-or-treat!" he did really good though.

Gabe wasn't too sure what it was all about. He knew one thing though, he wasn't going to let go of his bucket of candy!

Grant did really well, but got tired after a little while. April and I rotated between who would carry him for the last two blocks. He wanted his "cup". Poor worn out Buzz...

Me and my buddy Grant at the end of the night. I think I was more worn out than he was!

So, Halloween was a hit. Today was great as well. We got an "extra" hour of sleep, and I really enjoyed Sunday School and church this morning. I got a good nap this afternoon. The sun came out today and finally dried things off a bit, and with it getting dark earlier, Aaron and I decided to put the fire pit to good use. So, we ended the day roasting marshmallows, and talking over the fire outside. Here's hoping this is the start of an equally great week!