Autumn was Beautiful

Autumn this year was the most beautiful Fall I've seen in a very long time. I didn't get nearly enough pictures of all the lovely trees around us before they all "got naked" as Rosie calls it. But I did get some around our house.

 Obadiah loves being out side. Especially in the perfect weather of Fall. 

Fall is my most favorite season of the whole year. I always feel so much more alive and active in the Fall.  So it was extra special that we had some baby goats born right as the weather and trees were changing.

Rosie is such a perfect little goat mama.  She checks on them and pets them and plays with them.  This batch was particularly fun since I got to help one of the mama goats give birth to breach twins and Rosie got to watch too.

She loves being out side with her goats and they love her too. Even the most unfriendly of or goats will let Rosie walk right up to her and pet her and talk to her.

This is a day old baby goat meeting our dog Molly for the first time. Molly does such a great job at protecting "her" goats... Rosie is included in "her" goats.

We've Been Keeping Busy

We've been keeping busy around her.  I feel like I haven't blogged all Autumn and now Winter is upon us. There's a lot to catch up on.

First of all, Rosie has grown up to be such a big little helper.  She really enjoys helping Daddy clean our the barn during the Autumn months when it's not too hot and not too cold.

Obadiah is growing fast and likes helping Mommy with the groceries. He's a very friendly and smiley baby and very very active.

  Obi is kind of crawling now and has been for about a month and a half. He does this adorable army crawl all over the house.  Apparently he's decided to forgo crawling on all fours and go straight to standing. He can pull him self up to the standing position, much to my chagrin and worry.

Rosie is a full grown little person now. It's hard to believe that just 3 days before Christmas LAST year (2011) she said her first complete sentence. "Nana gave me that." 
And now we're coming up to another Christmas and she's having complicated conversations with us and tells us the most imaginative things.

My babies are growing up much too fast.

Happy Thanksgiving Photo Drop

Here's a bunch of Pictures from Thanksgiving...With so many fun times and so many great looking people it was hard to decide which pictures to share.

Obi and Grampa Coleman really hit it off. They soon became best buddies and Obi would even ask Grampa to hold him.

Our Turkey had babies. William smoked some Cornish game hens as a special surprise for my dad.

I might have gotten a little carried away with the desserts... again. But they were yummy!

We did a puzzle this year, which was a very fun new tradition. I think we'll do it again. Grampa, Dad and Aunt Mae were very very good at finding hard to find pieces. Especially Aunt Mae, who could spot one just walking by!

Rosie got to put the very last piece in... Thanks Papa.

Obadiah and Jackson were super cute together.  It's going to be fun having a cousin just 4 months younger.

Rosie was very eager to decorate the Christmas tree. She did such a good job at it too!

Obi, Jackson and Papa lounging in bed.

Katie, Luke, and Jackson looking great together.

We all had fun watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade while we were cooking.

Happy Thanksgiving Every one! I hope you had a wonderful meal and good conversation. 

Me and my babies

Just a picture to show you how sweet my babies are.

Traveling Minnises

We took a trip. We had to go to a family wedding so off to Northern California we went.
My kids are the best travelers EVER.

It helps that we left really-freaking-early so they both slept most of our first flight. (yeah. we had two flights each way) And we talked about going on a plane, we played going on a plane (and practiced wearing our seat belts) and watched shows about flying on a plane. So our 3 year old was completely prepared for her big adventure and loved every minute of it.

And the baby was just perfect.

We went to the family wedding. Now all of our siblings are all married off!

Rosie was the cutest little flower girl ever and took her job very seriously.

She tossed leaves through the whole wedding ceremony

Obi was the handsomest guy there.

Rosie has the best smile.

Look at my two gorgeous guys!

All the Minnis Cousins got to hang out and play together. I'm not sure that Colton knows what to make of his who silly cousins.

My babies are very silly happy Babies.

They love each other very much. Rosie is such a good big sister.

I think this is drunk on too many cupcakes and not enough sleep.

My darling Rosie loves roses.

Sun set. This is where William and I grew up. Surrounded my mountains. Aren't they lovely?

Rosie and Colton had a great time playing with Grandpa in the restaurant. They filled his shirt pocket with all the jams and jellies and butter packets.

WE WENT TO ROSIE'S CAFE!! This was my very favorite Restaurant when I was a kid. It was the very first resterant I ever went to on a "Mommy and me" date for my 5th Birthday. When I was about 6 or 7 it burned down and I cried. I name my doll that I got for Christmas that year "Rosie" after the restaurant.  Then after we moved away they rebuilt and I was so excited to be able to go back.  The food is still great. I got steak and eggs and grinned the whole time at all my fond memories of this place.

This is Lake Tahoe. I grew up very close to the view. It's still very close to my heart and I will always feel it is a part of me. I always feel like I'm coming home in a way when I'm in Tahoe City.

Rosie and William try to climb this very big tree.

I got to buy some candy and fudge from my favorite candy shop as a kid. We used to walk to town and play out side the post office or at McDonald's and sometimes my mom would bring us to the Tahoe City Candy Factory.

Rosie Enjoyed hotel living. (This is why we need a king size bed)

It was a very busy and exhausting week but it was fun traveling with our little ones.  I always like sharing adventures with them. It was also so fun to be able to walk around Tahoe City and relive some fond childhood memories.

Rosie Votes

Did you Vote today? We did!

Smells like home

We are currently traveling.
Of course I forgot my camera cable so I can't post any pictures yet, but hopefully I'll get around to that when we get home.
But until then, here are just a few thoughts and realizations:

In the one hour we spent in the Los Angeles airport I realized that LA smells like home.  When you've traveled as much as me and William you soon notice that every place has it's own unique smell. And the smell of LA as we got off the plane was so familiar and welcoming to me. I was actually really sad the whole time that we were there that we weren't going get to spend any time outside the airport. I hadn't realize how much I missed LA

Also, avocados taste SO much better in California!  I had a Cobb salad in the airport because people outside California just do not know how to make a proper Cobb.  And oh my the avacodo on it was worth the four hour flight to get to it.

The fruit in California is so big and sweet!  I don't think Californians realize how spoiled they are. Fruit does not taste the same in other parts of the country.

Another thing I rediscover is that Californians walk really fast!  Especially southern Californians. It's like they are always in a hurry!  They also dress funny. I've seen a lot of other peoples boxers and underwear in the two days I've been in California. (we are in northern Cali....or NorCal, as the cool kids call it).

Before we left some one jokingly asked us if we needed a passport to travel to California because it was such a different place from where we live now....in the country near a small town in a backwards county in Tennessee .  It's been so long since I've been back to California that I don't think I realized, or remembered just how different it is.  I don't think the average Californian realizes how different they are from the rest of the county. It is such a different place here. And as much as I love living in Tennessee , which I do, and no matter much I love the country life and that Rosie is growing up in on a farm in the countr, and evenno matter much my inner southern soul thrives and enjoys living in Tennessee ....California still smells like home.

Father Michael

This is just a picture I wanted to share because it's so cute.  Obadiah is just 2 months old in this picture and he and Rosie are wearing their "Thing 1" and "Thing 2" Dr. Seuss shirts.

Both my kids have always been so comfortable with Father Michael. He's such a sweet person and has the nicest smile. Don't tell him but he kind of reminds me of Santa. He's just that sweet.

The Apple Express

Not too long ago Rosie and Obi and I made the long drive by our selves to a neighboring city we'd never been to and went to the mall.  William and my mom were working all week and the kids and I needed to get out and do something fun.

After we ran the errands we were for we found that the mall had a train in it!

Rosie LOVES trains and she was very excited about it.  She was such a good girl and such a big help while shopping so I thought we all deserved a ride around the mall on the train.

The train took us all over the mall so we go to look at all the shops with out having to walk. But we kind of forgot to look at the shops because we were having so much fun IN the train. Rosie had the hugest grin the while ride.

It was a long drive all to get to this mall. But it was a drive well worth it for the train and one we'll probably take again just so we can ride the train.  Especially since it gave my little girl such a huge smile.