I Love Me Some Fall

There's nothing too much to report, just giving a quick update! First of all, I can't believe we're nearing the end of October and we are into the second quarter at school. Before we know it the holidays will be here and that's slightly scary! Guess I better start doing some Christmas shopping! Ha! Despite the fact that Christmas is coming much quicker than I'd like, there's a really good chance we will be celebrating Christmas in a different house this year! I'm not going to go into much more detail than that right now, but we're staying hopeful everything will work out! Speaking of house shopping, it's ridiculous how much it costs just to get to the point to where you can actually have a mortgage...crazy! I'm sure all you homeowners are probably getting a good chuckle at that, but seriously, there is so much that I never knew went into it as a first-timer! I probably should have invested into one of those "House Hunting for Dummies" books..Haha!

On Friday evening, we attended a surprise party for Mason's dad, David for the big 5-0! He seemed genuinely surprised and it seemed like he and everyone else had a good time. There was a lot of good food and even better company. Yesterday, Mason spent the majority of the day working on putting a new roof on the garage here at this house. He is actually out there as I write this, hammering away. He seems to be making quite a bit of progress, which is good, but he was still able to sneak out for awhile to take a quick trip to the pumpkin patch with Tabitha, Greg, and Carson. We went to Pete's Pumpkin Patch in Rolla, and it was great to hang out with the three of them! I can't believe how big Carson is getting, and how CUTE!! Of course, we're biased, but seriously..adorable! He's already going to be 7 months old in November. Time sure flies!!

Don't you just want to kiss and squeeze those cheeks!!

Between enjoying this wonderful weather, running back and forth to school, and attempting to take care of this house-buying stuff, we stay quite busy. However, I've decided to forfeit any and all grading this weekend. Yes, I have at least four assignments that really need to be graded, but the way I see it, it will all get done at some point. School has been slightly stressful lately so I am enjoying this low-key weekend!

I'm going to go lose myself in a book now, but hopefully I'll have some more definite house news here in a couple of weeks..maybe sooner!! : ) Have a happy fall day!!

Running, Running, Running...

Last weekend Mason and I went down to Branson. Mason's mom Shelly and step-dad Eric were supposed to come with us, but Shelly ended up getting sick so they had to stay home. Despite that, we still had a great time and even participated in a 5K to help raise money for the cancer foundation down in whatever county Branson is in. : ) When we initially signed up for the 5K we were really excited about it because we were running a lot and were in pretty good shape. However, school started again for both of us, and that kind of kicked our butts! So our main goal was to finish in under 30 minutes. And luckily, we did! Mason came in 74th place and I came in 76th. We figured there were approximately 300 people running, give or take, so we were happy with those places!

Mason even got second place in his age group, which was super exciting until we found out there were only two people in his age group! : ) We both had a good laugh over that one, but he still got his medal for placing!

After surviving the 5K we went back to our hotel to get ready to head to Silver Dollar City. Since we bought season passes for the year we wanted to get at least one more visit in. It was the Fall Harvest Festival, and it was just beautiful! They had so much fun stuff set up, and we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day!

The weekend before we went to Branson we were in Iowa again for my cousin Amy's wedding. We actually took the day off Friday and got into town a little early because we wanted to visit a couple people and run some errands before we headed off to Dunkerton for the homecoming game. It was definitely fun to go back because I can't remember the last time I was at the homecoming game. Plus we got to see a lot of family and friends. My sister Laura was in the band, my other sister Leeann was in color guard and she was also on hospitality court (I believe), my cousin Madison was cheering, and my brother was doing his thing with the football team. Sorry if I left someone out! From the game we spent some time at the OP because Mason was adamant that he would get some taco pizza from there before he came home! So we had our taco pizza!

The next day (Saturday) we headed down to Cedar Rapids for Amy and Cody's big day! It was definitely a beautiful day for them and it seems they both had a great time! And Mason and I had a great time also...a Steffen get-together is never boring! But all good things must come to an end and we had to head back Sunday morning; not before we fixed the blinker in Mason's car. Since he is on probation we didn't think it'd probably be a good idea to drive 7 hours without any turn signal. So after a massive breakfast at IHOP with my brother we fixed the car and made our way back home.

The happy bride and groom! And now that Amy and I are both married we had to get our official ring picture. The last time we took a picture like this neither of us had a ring! So we had to make it official! : )

Aside from our travels, everything has been going great. Mason has been enjoying his new job. It has definitely been an eye-opener for him because he is in a special education room for children with autism. Even though it has its challenges, he is learning a lot and is enjoying himself. I, on the other hand, feel like I'm running around like a chicken with its head cut off! We had a half-day on Friday and I finally feel like I'm starting to get caught up with everything I need to do at school. Aside from the craziness of the year, I have a wonderful group of kids and I'm really enjoying having them!

We have also been looking at several houses in Rolla which has been fun! The process, so far, has been very smooth. Much smoother than I expected in fact. So hopefully before too long we will be homeowners, so keep your fingers crossed that everything continues to breeze along like it has been! : )

I also celebrated my birthday at the end of September (the 28th), but Mason was nice and gave me my birthday presents a few days early. He bought my the movie Bridesmaids and a nook, which I love!! We celebrated by going to look at a couple of houses. Since Mason has class three nights a week, that limits the amount of time we can spend looking, so we didn't have a lot of options. But we did go to Jimmy Johns (absolutely love that place) and then to Central Dairy for some ice cream. Tonight we are officially celebrating by going out to eat at Matt's Steakhouse in Rolla, which is also a fabulous place to eat!

We're having a lazy Saturday today which is way overdue, but I suppose if we're going to go eat relatively soon I better get my butt in gear and get ready! Enjoy what's left of this amazing weekend! : )