Harvest Party 2010

I think that this year’s Harvest Party was the best one yet! It started out slow (and I always start to get nervous that no one’s coming) but it picked up fast!

This year’s theme was Psalm 56:3 “When I am afraid, I will trust in you.” Praise the Lord that He is our refuge and our strength and has promised that He will always be with us!

We had lots of whole families come this year, which was awesome! It is our heart’s desire to reach out to entire families with Christ’s love and God gave us that opportunity tonight. We will be praying for all the contacts we made and that God would use them for His glory!

I am so thankful for every one of the families who came and had a fantastic time!

I am thankful that God held off the little bit of rain that we had until we were done trunk r treating!

But most of all I am thankful for all of our generous and enthusiastic volunteers who gave of themselves and worked hard to make this night possible! Thank you!!!

   

Pumpkin Carving

This year some of tried a new technique in pumpkin carving… scraping. You don’t really cut into the pumpkin you just scrape off all the orange part.

I think they turned out pretty well…

  Chris got the idea first and then everyone else followed…

Andy’s is ready for the Sore Acres Pumpkin Bash

 

Will’s is ???

Mine is a bit of both techniques.

Well, all of us except for Zack. He went with the tried and true method…

He has always liked wolves!

I also carved the pumpkin for the candle shoot-out game at the Harvest Party tomorrow night. I thought the face was perfect for getting shot at! :o)

Can’t wait to see them all lit up tomorrow night!!! I wonder who will win the contest this year???

  Afterwards, the boys helped clean up and sorted out some seeds for making pumpkin pie seeds. Yummy!

Uber Wal Mart

Well, I feel like I have hit a new low… I’m blogging about our trip to Wal Mart.

The new Wal Mart in town opened today and while we were not part of the eager masses to be in the crowded parking lot before the store even opened, we did want to go on opening day. So we bided our time and waited until 9:45pm to head out to the used-to-be-a-run-down-trailer-park-turned-Wal Mart and check it out.

The first thing you notice is that it is BIG! The store is big, the aisles are big (Yes, you can have more than one cart in it at a time!)

See I can’t touch the sides of the aisle!

They even have big jars of mayonnaise and pickles!

Next I noticed that everything seems to be very color coordinated. (Notice the display behind me in the picture above.)

The Christmas aisle.

 

The all-blue Seahawks aisle.

The lavender Christmas tree. Not color coordinated, but what’s up with that???

 

And apparently everything at Wal Mart must be the signature bright blue. Even the Redbox is blue!

I found it amusing that in less than 24 hours, the blue vending machine is already out of order. :o)

Lastly we noticed that everything is just nicer and newer and fancier at the new Supercenter.

The outdoor garden section is nicer and warmer!

 

The end caps have little televisions with ads playing on them to entice you to buy the stuff on the end cap.

There’s a real bakery with VERY fresh French bread!

There’s a whole lot more to see at the new Super Wal Mart, but I didn’t want to ruin it for all of you locals who haven’t been yet (and my kids were super embarrassed by their mom taking pictures like a tourist on the bus tour).

Now I can’t wait until the Wal Mart down the hill becomes a Supercenter next year!!!

Mt St Helens

My parents went up to Centralia to the antique stores this week and decided to see Mt St Helens before heading home. They invited us to come along and we accepted. After all the weather was GORGEOUS and the Zack and Andy needed to go there for their WA state history class… Bonus!

We drove up to Seaquest State Park after Kung Fu and then headed up to Johnston Ridge Visitors Center.

We made a few stops at viewpoints on the way, too…

It seemed so strange to have absolutely NO snow on the mountain.

When looking through the telescope you realize just how fast the river is flowing!

  

I really want to know how to get to that road!

Mt St Helens from our favorite viewpoint!

The view from the top of Johnston Ridge is amazing!

The trees haven’t grown back everywhere…

  

We also saw some wildlife while we were there.

This was a pretty cool model of the eruption and how far it spread.

This poor old tree was 9 miles from the mountain. It actually did pretty well! (The blast zone was 17 miles!)

Reading the stories of survivors of the blast.

Following the movie, they raise the curtain and you see this!

This is quite the fancy fish cleaning station for a practically deserted lake! Now that my parents have a pass, maybe we should go up there???

Spider Man is scaling that wall! Oh wait, that’s Andy!

checking out the boat ramp

Coldwater Lake did not exist before the eruption.

In only two years the water was clear…

In only 5 years it contained the same life that all lakes contain.

Mt St Helens from the lake.

Me and the boys

We just had to stop on the way down to take a picture of the moon! (It looks like AZ)

Love the way the mist settled in the crater!

The sunset was beautiful!

Castle Lake in the distance. Another lake made by the eruption.

God is our refuge and strength,
       an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
       and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam
       and the mountains quake with their surging.

Psalm 46:1-3

May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
       may the Lord rejoice in His works-

He who looks at the earth, and it trembles, 
       Who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

I will sing to the Lord all my life;
       I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

Psalm 104:31-33