Helping Hands

This last Saturday Riley and I had the opportunity to go help with the clean up effort in one of the fire zones. We spent the day clearing brush, trees, and other debris from a home that had burned completely down. It was dirty, messy, sweaty work with dust and ash flying (we had to wear masks to breathe), but it was also a very humbling experience.

Before the project started - still clean!

After - and we had already brushed most of the ash off so we wouldn't completely ruin the car on the ride home.

Fortunately we remembered gloves.

Treats only, please.

Here are some pictures of our trick-or-treaters...

Aarrgg! Avast!

What's left of our shrinking family. It used to be a big production to get the kids out on the road on halloween. Now they can almost go by themselves. You Thomas Dolby fans will recognize that Alicia went as "Europa" this year.

This is the official start of the holiday season. November 1st is when the thanksgiving decorations come out, and the day after Thanksgiving is "Decorate for Christmas" day. Luckily, we have an extra week of "Christmas Season" this year with the early Thanksgiving. We hope your holidays are fantastic!