Happy Thankgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with our family! It's tricky for me to prepare food because of all of our travels between Auburn, Cullman, and Birmingham. But I did manage to make one of my specialties, Hershey Bar Cake!! I am thrilled to have Momaw's cake keeper (I can only imagine how many yummy cakes it held over her years of baking!), and I used it in her honor. Thanksgiving was always her favorite!

We had lots of fun family time and of course LOTS of good food!
Here is Livi at the Isbell dinner table.

Isbell Thanksgiving 2012

We didn't snap a Dill family pic, so here are a few of my favorites from our trip to Lazenby Farm to pick out a pumpkin. We had the best time, and the weather was perfect!

On the hay ride with Pop and Nan

Driving the tractors

Petting the animals

Riding the pony (a first!)

And brushing them too!

And picking out our pumpkin!

Weagle, Weagle

We love football Saturdays!

Our favorite cheerleader!

Checking out the "princess"

Watching the planes come in on game day with sweet friends

Celebrating Will's birthday! Special buddies!

Downtown fun

My date for the game :)

War Eagle!

Progress!

Lately I find myself re-routing my errands so that I can drive passed the Highlands Auburn construction site. I love seeing the progress! Everytime, it puts a smile on my face. But, you know, sometimes I am just completely overwhelmed. In the natural, it's just a building and a parking lot (both of which we desperately need). But truly all I see are the thousands of lives that will be changed...right there on the corner of Sanford and Glenn! Thank you, Lord, for allowing our family to be a small part of Your work here in this most special place, The Loveliest Village on the Plains!

Concrete being poured on a beautiful morning-- June 15th

The first walls going up-- August 10th

Starting to take shape just days later-- August 16th

An aerial view of the property-- August 27th

 The campus pastors come for a tour-- October 10th

Our very first meeting in the new building with our leadership team-- October 26th

Old Baker Farm

My pledge sisters and I kept our tradition of taking the kids to a pumpkin patch. This year we went to the Old Baker Farm, and we had so much fun. It was a beautiful day, and we practically had the place to ourselves.

They loved the petting zoo, especially this calf, 

the hayride,

looking for "baby pumpkins,"

and riding the horses. We had promised the girls a horseback ride but didn't know that they didn't offer them during the week. These horse tire swings saved us...whew! :)

Our pumpkins!

Home Sweet Home

We are so thankful that tomorrow is CLOSING DAY on our new home in Auburn! We are also BEYOND thankful for our amazing friends, the Bartletts, for welcoming us into their home during the (longer than we hoped and expected) gap between the end of our lease on our townhouse and now. Their love, encouragement, and guidance has meant so much in our lives. And it's going to hit Livi hard when she realizes that she won't be spoiled by "Grandude" and "Nana Janet" everyday!! 

Here are a few pictures of the progress on our home. Eastbrook Homes did an amazing job giving us some customized things on our wish list, like an open floor plan (small group anyone?!) and a double-sided fireplace! We are also thrilled with the backyard for our Livi Lou. Some of my favorites are the kitchen, mudroom, and NO stairs!!

*I have to remember this: This was Livi's "stage" that she enjoyed performing on during our visits. She was so confused when it was gone! :)

HOME SWEET HOME at last!