Busy Times

These last couple of weeks have been pretty busy for the Walters household. First I wanted to show you a really funny picture. Our dog Boston usually does not bother anything he shouldn't...usually. We had left a bowl of caramel candy corn on the coffee table one night we were out, and we came home to this sight:

We don't know how he did this, but I guess he didn't like the candy corn since all this was left over!!

So a couple of weeks ago Wes got asked to sing at a benefit event. The benefit was for an organization that helps to provide clean water wells in Sierra Leone, Africa. The organization is called Let Them LOL (www.ltlol.com) and it was really neat to be able to be a part of this. Wes coerced me into singing "I Run To You" by Lady Antebellum with him that night, and someone got a shot of it.

Then of course there was the Auburn vs. Alabama game. Sad day. Let's not talk about it. But we had to get a picture to remember the day by, and unfortunately it looks just like the picture from last year's game.

I got to work at Target the whole weekend after Thanksgiving, including Black Friday at 4:45 a.m. (CRAZY!), so while I worked, Wes painted the nursery! The room before was a yellowish color, including the ceiling. Here is Wes painting the ceiling white and the before pictures of the room:

We decided on a color called "toast" that matches the bedding we picked out at Target. I think it looks great and he did a fabulous job! He even spiffied up the closet door.

We pulled out all the Christmas decor and decorated the tree that same weekend. It is always fun and exciting to do that! I was wearing a shirt that says "full of awesome" and Wes thought it was funny considering I am literally full of an awesome baby, so he wanted to take this picture:

Here is our pretty tree:

This past weekend was our annual Christmas Shopping Extravaganza! We decided to make it a road trip this year to Erie, Pennsylvania. Erie is only about 1.5 hours from Buffalo, they have a big mall, a Target, and most importantly, a Chick-fil-A!! (This of course is the main reason we decided to go to Erie for our Extravaganza.) It was glorious and totally worth it.

We had so much fun and all our Christmas shopping is done! Now I just need to finish the wrapping.

Just for the heck of it, here is a super cute picture of Boston with his huge rawhide cigar:

And finally here is my 29 week picture, taken December 6th, 2009. I really feel like I have grown a lot in the last couple of weeks, don't you?!

What's been goin' on

It's been a little while since I blogged. I have started working part time at Target for the holiday season, so I've been pretty busy! Wes and I have had a good month and have gotten to do some cool stuff. One of the coolest things we did this past Sunday. A big group from our church went to serve and help out with a thing called "Boxes of Love". It was started by a church in Buffalo 10 years ago, and they helped 5 families with Christmas dinner and gifts. It has grown so much over the last 10 years and now many churches and organizations are involved each year. Last year Boxes of Love assisted 2,500 families!!

We helped out on the very first day of preparation for this year's Boxes of Love. Places all over Buffalo donate all kinds of items for this each year, so there were hundreds of boxes that had to be sorted through and organized, which is what we did. We sorted and separated everything into categories of food, medical supplies, personal/toiletry items, diapers, gifts, and household items. We did all this in a big warehouse space that gets donated to them every year. Here are some shots of everyone in action.

It was really fun and neat to be a part of this awesome ministry to the city of Buffalo. It's so wonderful to think of all the families that will be receiving food, gifts, and all kinds of necessities this year, and hopefully they will get a glimpse of Jesus' love for them through this. And it's always amazing to me what a blessing it is and how much joy you receive in serving others!

On a different note, I had a fabulous girls' night out last weekend. A bunch of us from church went to dinner at PF Chang's and then went to see "New Moon"! If you don't know what that is - but surely you do - it's the sequel to "Twilight". We had been waiting for this for months and it was awesome! Here we are at PF Chang's before the movie:

It was mahem and craziness at the theater because we went on opening night. Even though we had pre-purchased our tickets, we still had to wait in line for a while before we could get in. Here are Ashley and Amy in their Twilight t-shirts:

They say "Edward prefers brunettes" and "If you don't sparkle, I'm not interested" Ha!!

And finally, here I am growing, growing, growing! This is at 27 weeks (November 23, 2009). I only wish I had remembered to take this picture BEFORE I got in the shower and washed off all my makeup. Oh well.

Halloween Fun

Here we are on Halloween - Can you guess what we are??

We are The Black Eyed Peas!!

Restoration Church had a picnic on Halloween, and it was a lot of fun. It was not the best day outside - cold, very windy, and raining on and off - so we had the picnic inside the community center. Lots of people came, and it was a great time for our church family to just chat, eat, and have fun.

Here is the wife and kids of Alex, one of the pastors. Jennifer is the zoo keeper, Amelia was her lion, and Josie was her little caterpillar. So cute!

Here is our friend Shelly and her little pumpkin Carley:

We had an awesome spread of food! This was the main and side dish table:

And this table was just sweets, so it was my favorite of course! I made apple cider cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese icing, YUM!

There was a serious game of flag football going on outside, despite the sprinkling rain and mud.

Here is Dan, our pastor, after the game:

And the whole muddy team:

Here was the inside of the community center where we ate and hung out:

And the set up outside where some guys were frying turkeys! They were so good.

And here is another belly shot! This is at 24 weeks and a couple of days (taken November 4, 2009). She's in there alright, and kicking away!

Fall Festivities

We've had another really beautiful fall up here so far. (Side note: I cannot believe Wes and I have been in Buffalo for just over a year now and that this is our second fall here!!) The leaves all of a sudden started turning and it happened really fast over the last couple of weeks.

This past week we have had a couple of fun days going to new places we've never been. The Trippie family, Wes, and I went to a little village called Niagara On The Lake. It is actually in Canada, but it's only about 40 minutes from our house. It is a very charming place with lots of little shops, restaurants, and bed and breakfasts. We only spent a few hours there, but Wes and I definitely want to go back for maybe an overnight stay sometime. Here are just a few shots of Niagara On The Lake and the beautiful scenery. (I wish the pictures did it more justice, but you'll just have to come visit and we will take you there!)

This is Fort Niagara:

Lake Ontario:

Wes and Dan walking down the street:

And just one of the many gorgeous hotels there with a horse and carriage out front:

Yesterday Wes and I had a fun day going to The Great Pumpkin Farm! Here we are being goofy:

Giant pumpkins that weigh over 1,000 pounds!

Notice me there on the left, and you can see how crazy tall this thing was:

We got to feed these cute llamas!

And these guys were really cute and sweet too.

Oh my goodness, the cutest of all:

Fun times! I will be posting soon about our fun Halloween day we had today, and what we dressed up as, so check back soon!