down & dirty camping trip 08:]

so, last weekend me and 20 of the young adults at my church went camping. We left on thursday and drove 7 HOURS and ended in tiftonia/chattanooga, tennessee!!! After we got there we set up the campsight and tents and later we went hiking while we cut down trees to make walking sticks and spears...[fyi: while we were doing this we were marinating & cooking steaks] After we got back to the campsite we just ate and hung around the fire...the next morning we woke up around 9am and cooked breakfast, biscuits, bacon, and eggs..it was good. When we got done eating we tried to thaw out a little so we could be semi warm on our long hiking day we had ahead of us. We left around 10 and hiked from about 10:30 to 2:00. It was so much fun, other than the fact the wind was blowing, it was 40 degrees and pouring down rain. So, as you all can imagine it was . . . interesting but totally a blast!! When we got back to the site we took showers and melted the ice-sicles off our noses. After that we made chili and played games and hung out around the campfire...It rained all throught the night so it was FREEZING the whole night but since we had alot of clothes on we kept warm. The next morning we woke up at 8am, ate breakfast and got dressed for our 4 hour WILD CAVE TOUR. i thought it would be pretty interesting and hard but i never thought it would've been as intense as it was. It lasted 4 hours and the tallest part was about 20 feet tall. We did everything from 100 yard belly-crawls to straddling a 100 ft down crevace while leaning and keeping our balance on the wall across from us to sideways walking a 1ft wide shelf and hugging the side of a cliff only to look down into a black hole!!! It was the scariest thing i have ever done....ha. but as you can see I made it out alive and I had the time of my life..it was so much fun and i'm so glad that i went. anyways i'm posting pictures and i'll explain them as i go...love and miss you all.!.!.! can't wait to see ya'll on turkey day:]

PICTURES from the CAMPING TRIP

CONTINUED POST....PICTURES:]

the girls at the end of the 4 hours...we were so dirty

our group outside the cave

our group inside the cave[this was pitch black]

[this was the SHALLOW part of the crevace we had to lean over]

me, bellycrawling about 100 yards!!

this was a neat part we rested at

walking through

before we started

relaxing in the field

me & cat in the leaves

on a big rock we climbed

around the canpfire

Brrrr - Snowmen?

Since Terri is working out of town for a few weeks I celebrated Girl's Night Out all by myself - so I suppose it was GIRL Night Out! (I miss my friend!) There are always other ladies who come by themselves, so it always ends up that you might meet someone new. Here's my picture. I painted it to hang on the back porch during the winter months. I think they are cute!

Tonite was the Fall Festival at church. Here are a few pictures of some familiar faces!

This is Owen! (Herb & Connie's baby)



Here's Miss Valerie. By the way - SHE IS smiling. I said - smile Miss Valerie - and she said - I am smiling!)

Jeff & Ricki (dressed from the mod 70' s??)


Harley - with her painted face. She always wants "Aubrun" (as she says it) painted on her face!

Nice Surprise!

Wade & Megan came up last week and spent a couple of days at Nonna's. We went and ate one night at Carpenetti's and I took some pictures and thought you might like to see them! Brett & Bethany, they said tell you "hello and they were sorry that they didn't get to see you". Aunt Bonnie invited all of us to the farm for Thanksgiving, so we might just have to think about doing that this year?????

Wade, Kaylor & Megan

Jaizy & Harley

Harley & Hunter

Jaizy & Ryder

Who's ready for fall weather?!

I know Brett and I sure are. This weekend was alumni weekend at rural studio, so I went up and visited Brett in Greensboro. The thesis kids threw a "wedding party" which was really fun...Grant and Brooke met us there to join in on the fun. Sadly, we forgot to take any pictures. However, here are a few pics from a couple weekends ago when Brett came to Auburn. We had fall activities which included great food, games, and pumpkin carving. It was fun.

But mostly, I am just excited for cooler weather! Has anyone else been enjoying the weather lately? Or have any fun fall plans in the next few weeks?