Hello!

Well, this last week sure has been a different one. With all the rain that we got, Martin has been home the entire week - working maybe only 2 days at Bargen. The rest of the time he's been working here at home on finishing the inside of the house (which is a never ending battle). His latest venture was re-painting the dining room. I always liked the oregano color we had in there, but he decided to paint it a little darker than the living room - so I call it "hot chocolate". Looks really nice, just hard to get used too. It blends in better with the living room and actually makes the dining/living room area look so much bigger. He even finished painting the staircase wall instead of having it be 1/2 sheetrocked, taped and mudded and the other 1/2 is painted. So the house looks much better now. Now we just need to change the curtains in the dining room to match the brown better.

We're getting more excited about going to Vegas next month. We are waiting to hear if my Mother in law, Josie, and sister in law, Liz and her boyfriend Julio can go with us. They would be down there from Mon - Wed. We also found out that my cousin, Cindi, her husband, Jeff and some friends of theirs will also be there at the same time as us. How ironic is that? They booked their trip a couple weeks before we did - they arrive on Sunday a little later than we do and fly in to Mpls, on Wed. as well just on a later flight. How crazy! So we have made plans to get together while we're there. They are staying at Planet Hollywood. It'll be so much fun to meet up with them there too and like Cindi said - how strange it would have been to see each other down there when we only live about 2 1/2 hours from each other here in MN! The trip will be great and much needed. And even if Martin's family can't make it there, we'll still have fun!

Otherwise there isn't much happening around here. I need to get my behind in gear and make the chocolate chip pumpkin cookies I've been wanting to make for a couple weeks already. The recipe is a great one and I've made them the last couple years. They are great being frozen and when the holidays come, and we're watching the Santa clause movies, we get the cookies out and eat them with hot chocolate just like in the movie. Its a tradition that I really love to do. The cookies are wonderful, watching those movies are some of my favorite holiday movies and the boys enjoy it as much as I do!

Must get going. Hope the fall is going well for everyone! I can't wait for cooler temperatures and dressing in sweaters and jeans is always fun! The boys are doing well and growing up so terribly fast that its unbelievable. Isaac is up to my shoulders already and Josiah is up to Isaac's shoulders.

Have a great night - again, hope all is going well for you!
love,
Michelle