Swings

We've been twice and I've said the same thing both times, "Want to know what's fun but completely insane-The Barn Swings in Ozark!"
Last year I attemped to swing from one, albeit the small one, but this year I was smarter, I stayed on the ground the entire time and took pictures.

Keep Shining!

Happy Pumpkins

Halloween is such a fun time of year. Devony and I had
a good time drawing our Jack-O-Lantern faces. She took a
picture of them and sent it to all her friends along with the
message, Vote For Your Favorite Pumpkin. Hers won. (it's the big one)
I can't wait to cut them out this weekend.


Be happy, Shine and smile big like our pumpkins.
(I know- that was really cheesy)

An a-'MAIZE'-ing Fun Time

Have you ever been to the Verona Corn Maize? Yes?Well, that's what I figured. Almost everyone has been to this place but us. And after visiting it this weekend, we know why. It's a blast!

We took the kids and my parents (Doug says my parents are like American Express: We never leave home without them) to the maze Saturday night. That place really draws a crowd. There were people lined up to get in the whole time.

$$$ Doug and my dad are already talking about how they can plant a corn maze in my back yard and convert our home into a haunted house for next year ;)

On the way down there, Doug and my mom devised a plan to help us find each other should we get lost. They decided to use bird calls. Doug would yell out "Ca-Caww! Ca-Caww!" and my mother would reply "Hoo-Hoo-Hoooo! Hoo-Hoo-Hooo!". So lost or not, we and everyone else in the maze got to hear that allllll through the corn. At one point even the workers joined in. One of them hollered out, "Hey, why don't you guys come up here on the bridge, you can hoot all want up here." Once my mom got up there she lost her balance and fell into one of the guys almost knocking him off the platform. Fortunately they thought she was adorable (my mother looks, sounds and acts just like Betty White) and found it funny and commented, They didn't need him anyway, and the guy she almost killed said he thought she was trying to grab his knee and flirt with him.

We went through the second half of the maze after dark. I warned my mom not to go because it's spooked after dark. My mother has never been through a haunted house in her life so she had no idea what she was in for. Halfway through she got so scared that the 'corn cops' radioed ahead and described our group and told them not to scare us. They even walked with us til we got out. Probably so they wouldn't have to deal with us anymore.

Then on the way home we stopped at Braum's, and just as my mom took a drink of her hot chocolate Doug said something funny and my mother spewed it all over me, my white coat and my ice cream cone. I swear, I can't take that woman anywhere!

I am so grateful for my family. Together we Shine.

We're Batty

October in my opinion is the most beautiful month out of the entire year. Changes start happening so fast it's hard to keep up with them. One day the leaves are green, the next they're yellow, then orange, then red. One day it's hot and the next day it's not. And the hours of daylight become fewer and fewer.

   

I'm starting to get a little spoiled to all the warm weather we keep having this autumn, and decided today better be the day we spend outside having fun and putting up some Halloween decorations, (I just had to make those bats flying up the side of the house like I see every year in all the October magazines) and taking wacky pictures.  It could very well be our last warm weekend of the season. But I assure you, it will not be our last weekend of wacky fun.

 Have fun and Shine no matter what!

Darn it! I just realized we forgot the spiderwebs.

A New Day

Do you ever have those days where you wake up and realize how wonderful it is. ('It' being everything) One of those days when you feel like you can take on the world and succeed in changing it in a positive spirit-filled way. Today's that day.
Rejoicing in my life and my God.

Shine the way you're meant to.