Gunner's 1st Birthday

Chad's cousin Jarren and his wife Brystle's son Gunner turned one in October.  Jarren used to work for Chad and so we were happy to be able to attend Gunner's 1st birthday party.  They had the party at a pumpkin patch in Monroe, NC, so there was a lot to do there.  Here are a few pictures from Gunner's 1st birthday party:

Jimmy Eat World Concert in Asheville, NC

We saw Jimmy Eat World in Charlotte in August as an early birthday present for me.  I had such a great time at that show that when I found out they would be back in NC in October I convinced Chad to go see them again.  He is such a great husband - he doesn't even really like Jimmy Eat World that much, but went to see them twice because he knew it meant a lot to me!  They were playing at the Orange Peel in Asheville, NC, which is where we saw them for the very first time 3 years ago.  They are such an amazing band and are so great live.  They really rock out and played for almost 2 hours!  Unfortunately my camera was kind of acting up and I didn't get very many good pictures.  But, the show was amazing and it was so great to get to see them for a second time this year!  Here are a few pictures I took at the show:

Patio Furniture Update

We wanted to get new patio furniture for our deck now that we are in our new house, but patio furniture is ridiculously expensive.  So, we decided to update the patio furniture we already had.  We painted the frames of our furniture and got new outdoor pillows that matched.  You can't tell as well in these pictures, but the pillows match so well and really make the whole set look even better.  Here are some pictures of our updated patio furniture - and I have to give Chad the credit he did all the painting!

October Mountain Trip

We decided to take a weekend mountain trip at the beginning of October.  We stayed in Crumpler, NC, which is just north of West Jefferson, NC.  We were hoping for some cooler weather and getting to see some fall color, but it was warmer than expected that weekend.  We did get to see a little fall color while we were there and overall it was a fun weekend.  We started off by visiting an apple orchard in Morganton, NC on the way to our cabin.  On Saturday we visited Blowing Rock, Boone, and West Jefferson.  Here are some pictures of our weekend mountain trip:


Here is our trip to the apple orchard:



Here is the cabin we rented:



Here are a few other pictures from our mountain trip weekend:

Coupon Savings in September

As you probably know already from this blog, I LOVE to use coupons and get the best deals I can.  Normally I post pictures of my great deals when one of the supermarkets does Super Doubles or Triple coupons.  At the end of September I got some great deals at Target and Harris Teeter by just combining sales and coupons.  Here is a picture of what I got that day, I got everything pictured for $18.59 and SAVED $27.59!

September Babies

We had 3 friends all have babies in September this year.  Our new neighbors, Matt and Hope, had their first child, Molly, on September 16th.  We visited them and took them a meal that weekend, but didn't get any pictures to share.

Chad's oldest friend Josh and his wife Kelley had their first child, Jack, on September 26.  Here is a picture of Josh and Chad holding baby Jack:

Our good friends Becca and Jason had their 3rd child, Ethan, on September 27.  Here are some pictures of us with baby Ethan:

And I didn't take this picture, but I HAD to include it.  It shows Becca & Jason's older 2 children Braden and Katie visiting baby Ethan in the hospital.  They are both wearing their "big brother" "big sister" shirts and are obviously VERY excited about Ethan:

Joel Salatin at Duke Divinity School

Joel Salatin is my hero.  He is one of the smartest, most articulate, and awesome people I've ever encountered.  I was SO excited to get to tour Polyface Farm last year for my birthday - it was honestly one of the best moments of my life getting to meet him!  So, when I found out via Polyface's Facebook page that Joel was speaking at Duke Divinity school I knew we had to try to go.  It was cool too that the weekend we saw him speak at Duke was the same weekend we visited Polyface last year!  And seeing how we are die-hard Carolina fans (Chad especially), it takes someone like Joel Salatin to get us onto the Duke campus!  Joel was at the Duke Divinity School as part of a faith and food conference called Summoned Toward Wholeness.  I really wish we could have attended the entire conference, but I had to work that weekend and Friday was my only day off.  Thankfully you could purchase tickets to just Joel's talk.  He is such a great speaker and I want to type up my notes from his talk, so when I do I'll add them to this post.  Here are some pictures from our visit to Duke:

Jessica's Birthday Weekend

For my birthday this year we decided to go on the Know Your Farms tour.  For the past few years it's been held on the weekend around my birthday and so we usually have other plans already, but this year I decided that was what I wanted to do for my birthday.  We were only able to visit 2 farms on Saturday, but it was a lot of fun and I  hope we can make this something we do every year.  We visited Thomas Bee Farm and Hoffner Organic Farm, which is in the Organic Valley co-op.  We are thinking of getting honeybees ourselves soon and it was really interesting to visit a local dairy too.  I love visiting local farms and supporting local farmers, so it was a lot of fun!  Here are pictures from our farm day visit:



And for my birthday Chad totally surprised me with a Kitchenaid mixer! I have been wanting one for years, but they are pretty expensive. I was so surprised and can't wait to use it!

September Garden Pictures

Now that it's September we are down to just okra and tomatoes in the garden.  Our okra definitely started growing more later in the summer and the tomato plants just keep getting bigger and bigger.  I'm SO glad the okra finally took off since it's my favorite thing we grow.  Here are some pictures of the September garden: