The Shafferland Shuffle

* Last Sunday, Ryan and I went to Sunday School at our new church for the first time. We've been attending Sunday morning services since April, but hadn't yet taken the leap of looking for a class that we fit into...so we took our first step toward that! And then...it was football Sunday, which meant naps for this girl and football for that guy. :) And the return of the official dinner of Sunday evenings:

* Since Monday hit the 90's for pretty much the first time all year, we thought THAT would be a good time to take up running again. Ryan rocked it but I limped along, half-walking, half-running. I'm such a wimp. We may or may not have taken the liberty of recording an answering machine message for my parents for the new phone system all the kids got Mom for her birthday {hee hee hee} and we tried grilled okra for the first time. I was scared...but if you promise not to tell anyone I said so, I'll admit it wasn't bad.

* Tuesday evening...I got to go to Miss Ellie's baby shower! Ellie's mom, Jeri, is one of my co-workers, and we just now had the work shower for her. Food...cupcakes...baby presents...and I got to take all manner of pictures. Now THAT'S a good little evening. Came home and watched the first round of finals on America's Got Talent. Picked out my six that need to advance and called it a NIGHT.

* Wednesday evening, Ryan and I headed to my parents' house for a belated birthday party for my mom...and that is a whole blog post in and of itself...my parents CRACK ME UP! But until I can get to that, here's the birthday girl with her dessert. And in case you were wondering, only four of my chosen six made it through on AGT. I was not amused.

* Thursday was my first day to pull out jeans...after a summer of capris...I'd forgotten how confining skinny jeans are!! I guess it signifies the official beginning of fall. Wait. Didn't I just say that Monday was when summer finally arrived??? HELLO, INDIANA. Thursday evening, Ryan went to the gym, and I went out for Mexican food. HA! I had the chance to meet up with my friend Sheryl...loved catching up with her! {Sheryl, how did we not get a picture???}

 * Friday was absolutely GORGEOUS outside. It was chilly but amazing. Perfect sky!!! After being gone so many nights in a row, we decided that Friday night, we would stay home, eat pizza and spend the evening working on some dreaming for our future. I adore making lists - and dreaming for the future, so it was pretty near the perfect night!!!

 * Saturday, one of my former student workers and good friends, Jessica, stopped by the house to see me. We spent a few hours catching up on our lives - loved the chance to see her! Ryan and I had an at-home fire pit date with hot dogs and s'mores and then while we were grocery shopping, we got a call from his mom, inviting us to meet her at the IHOP. We went over there and enjoyed coffee and a sampling of pumpkin pancakes!