JOY TO THE WORLD!

quick trip

i surprised pat for his birthday with tickets to NYC and the army/air force game at west point. we had the best weekend! thanks to my mom for staying in colorado with laurel. they had a ball, too, i'm sure!

my sweet friend frances graciously let us stay with her. so good to spend time with her and catch up. wish hadn't been such a whirlwind!

so so so good to hang out with old friends! leslie (kennedy) atanasova and andy and caroline (blackwell) schofield joined us for the bus ride to west point. it was a beautiful *brisk* day - perfect for football. we loved watching the air force academy win the commander-in-chief trophy. GO FALCONS!

once again, i failed to take pictures. my mom was here for 12 days, helping me organize every closet, cabinet, and drawer in this house. my dad came, too, for the weekend and, as usual, accomplished a pretty extensive to-do list. thank you abbi and pops!

here's one picture - getting the baby's room ready. can't believe how close we are!

got a picture of this visitor, thankfully. tom stopped to spend the night on his drive across country. we love you t stilly!

giving thanks in texas!

pre-trip. apache got a good bath at wag-n-wash. very convenient and pretty necessary when it's freezing outside.
we split the trip up into two 5.5 hour drives. laurel and apache are incredible travelers. the brutal part was the sleepless night in the hotel room in amarillo due to an unexpected ear infection. grrrrr!

happy trails.

we spent 4 wonderful days at kissy and buddy's house. laurel LOVES her grandparents and her cousins. the visits are never long enough! she and warner were inseparable. look how big jackson has gotten! so precious.

lots of cooking and eating going on. hopefully i'll be able to participate a LOT more next year!

annual milk punch toast. they're pretty cute, aren't they?

we have so much fun together. pretty blessed!

dig in!

silly face

great picture

on friday, buddy and kissy took us to the charlie brown ice show at the gaylord texan. it was really impressive.

which one is sleepier?

laurel was NOT happy about the big blue parka

and you can see why - she could barely move and she looked like E.T. haha!

precious

the best one. a potential Christmas card gone awry. oh well!

on saturday, the egg bowl. the one day of the year i do not cheer for my husband's favorite team.

a house divided

and not very evenly, as you can see. poor little gibson!

nothing but love, when it's all said and done. :)

thank you buddy and kissy for a wonderful visit. thank you Lord for our wonderful family!

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

laurel went to see her first movie, tangled, on saturday.

she loved it! she did such a good job wearing her 3D glasses and staying quiet. mommy and daddy enjoyed it, too!

meme sent a snow globe. laurel is obsessed with it. she's also pretty into the baby's crib and cradle.

this makes me so very happy. tis the season!!!

first ... the rest of october

pat presented a paper at a conference at USM in hattiesburg. laurel and i got to tag along and had so much fun! the trip started with a flight from denver to new orleans.

looks like laurel loves a nice hotel room and new orleans as much as her mommy and daddy!

a morning at cafe du monde ...

and in jackson square.

while pat was attending the conference, laurel and i got to sneak away and see our brookhaven friends.

fran, maggie, gracey, and robert. what a treat!

pat participated in a panel discussing the church's response to the civil rights movement. also on the panel -

bobby griffith, sean lucas, and otis pickett

bo morgan, top right, introduced the panelists and made the closing remarks. everybody did such an incredible job!


so proud of our scholar! he's a natural!

sweet friends - wes and marion curry and adam pennebaker came to listen and support pat. patty and B and mamaw also got to come.

raylawni branch - a true hero from the civil rights movement.

we got to spend a little time with the pennebakers and currys on saturday afternoon. look how big burn and payne have gotten!

laurel playing hard to get. atta girl!

and harris! isn't she beautiful?! she was such a little baby when we left hattiesburg. hard to believe...

a few other local heroes - peggy connor and ellie dahmer with her son, harold.

we got to spend time with our friends erin and blair and hayes riley in hattiesburg. i wish i had pictures! we also had some special time in laurel with meme, B and mamaw, and will and julie. where was my camera???
back to new orleans on sunday. we love that city!

we thoroughly enjoyed our jazz brunch at arnaud's. classic.

love these new orleans street shots. (i was 29 weeks pregnant.)

okay, back to colorado. time for halloween. laurel, i mean ARIEL, loved getting to celebrate early at gymboree.

yeah, i was some sort of cowboy?

snow white was there! and if you look closely you can see daddy in the background...
isn't that red wig hilarious???

"punkwin" carving. one for daddy, one for mommy, one for laurel, and one for baby.

pat was so proud of his handiwork!

woody, ariel, and a cowboy with a beer belly. ha! i just wanted to wear a fake mustache...

trick or treat!

marjorie and her boys came over and we all went to trick or treat on the platings' street.

andre and pat as woody. i love it!

fourie as a cowboy, pat as woody with john plating as a viking (or laurel said he was king triton, ha!), and joel as a duck.

a fake mustache is so much fun!



the kiddos with kitty cat paula plating. what a fun night!