Beware: Dead Deer Pictures

Apparently November wasn't too eventful for us. Lara and I have mostly just been working, shopping, and trying to get in the occasional hike. The big news from the month is that the Fiscus's (Lara's Sister Jenny, husband Jed, and 4.5 kids) are leaving us in State College and moving to Brookville. As I believe that Lara already mentioned, they will be dearly missed.

Well as most of you probably know, it is right in the heart of deer season. The Laws have had a pretty good year so far. My dad shot a buck (9pt) and a doe in archery, Jason shot a buck (8pt) with his new Knight inline muzzleloader, and today I shot a buck with my tried and true Winchester 30-30. I hunted the first day and saw 39 deer, 6 of which were buck. I tried my luck at being a trophy hunter, I figured it must be in my blood, so I passed up all the deer I saw. Today, for some reason, I just couldn't let this little 7 point get by. Possibly more entertaining than the hunt was my beautiful wife's reaction to the kill. I called her on the telephone and said, "Did you get my message? I shot a buck this morning?" Her reply, "Yea, how big was he?" "Oh" I said, "he was just a little sev......... "No", she interrupts, "how big, how much meat?!" Gotta love a country girl!!! Don't worry sweetheart, I still have a doe tag.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

We had the kids Thursday night and everyone had a ball carving our humongous pumpkin we got this year. Check out the finished product...love it!!!! Thanks girls for such a fun night. Sure will miss you guys when your not right down the road.

Matt, this is for you

We think it's the best time of the year to hike so Jeff and I are trying to get out as much as we can. I thought maybe these pics would bring back some good PA memories for you. I'm sure Florida has a lot to offer but doesn't it make you miss it just a little??!!

Congratulations Angelina and Brad!

After Nate's party we got in the car and headed for Altoona. It was now time to celebrate Angelina (friend from work) and Brad's wedding. Your reception was beautiful guys!!

Nate turns 1!!

Nathan (my brother's son) had his first birthday party on Saturday. Lisa's monkey theme party was adorable. Thanks for such a great party guys!!

I'm pretty sure he enjoyed his cake!

Benezette, PA

Jeff and I had a busy, yet wonderful weekend. It started off with a detour to Benezette on the way home for Nathans 1st birthday party. It was a perfect fall day to make the trip. The leaves were beautiful and we were lucky enough to see some elk as well. It was only the 2nd time Jeff had been there and last time he didn't see anything. We were in for a treat when we rounded the bend off the main road and cars were pulled over everywhere. Here's what was right there.

The overview had a little of both elk and whitetail.

A work in progress

Our latest house project was getting shutters for the windows downstairs and painting the shutters on the second floor. We were pretty pleased with how everything turned out!

My how our little girl has grown!!

Just thought we would share a then and now of Luna. I can't believe how much she has grown and changed (especially those ears!!). She turned 1 year old on the 26th. She is quite the outdoor enthusiast so we celebrated by going to one of her favorite places to hike. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

Today's my 28th birthday! Jenny and the girls came out yesterday for a little celebration. In other news, our neighbors returned from the beach this weekend and cut the tree off of their car. They were very pleasant about the situation and were not concerned about any of the scratches or small dents.

Here is a pic of the cake that Lara and our nieces decorated for me. It was originally very cute but an unfortunate series of events led to its destruction. I was making chicken wings on the grill and for some reason they were taking forever to cook. I came to realize that was because we were running out of propane. So, we pre-heated the oven to finish cooking the wings. The only problem with that was we failed to remember the cake had been placed in there earlier. If candles hadn't already been on the cake we would have been okay but they gave the cake a nice wax coating.

A quick trip to the supermarket rescued the day!

82!!! My the years have flown by!

Thanks girls for helping blow out the candles. We got'em all!

Thanks Jen for coming over and having a little birthday "party". Thank you Emma, Anna, and Ella for the cards you made, decorating the cake, and most of all for coming over to celebrate.

Lily Comes For a Visit!!! (and Jon & Carolyn!)

Lara and I had a great weekend with the Farrell's. It's amazing how big Lily has gotten since we last saw her. She seemed to enjoy being in our little "zoo" where cats, dogs, and fish abound. Lily was amazingly quiet and appeared to be content the whole weekend. We really enjoyed having them and can't wait for our next get together. Jon and Carolyn, thanks so much for coming and sharing your weekend with us!

Welcome Home Neighbors!!!

Here's the view our neighbors will get when they pull in this weekend after a nice week at the beach! Apparently Ike still packed a little bit of a punch even after travelling over 1200 miles of land. I knew we were in trouble when I looked out and the little red swing was being blown horizontal. About 10 seconds later we lost half our tree. Hopefully everything gets taken care of without anybody getting too upset.