Thanksgiving...

Even with all that's happened this year, the Finkbeiner family has a TON to be thankful for! We found out last week that I'm pregnant (barely!) :) I'm 5 weeks along and will be due the end of July. What a blessing! We are very excited, but very nervous at the same time. Through it all, we know God will be there guiding and comforting us the whole way. I hope everyone has as much to be thankful for this holiday season as we do. God bless!

Halloween

Holly was a butterfly this year for Halloween. She wasn't exactly thrilled about the whole "costume" idea until we had a few trick-or-treaters show up and she saw them in THEIR costumes. She then realized that it would be an alright thing to be a butterfly. We decided just to sit outside on our porch steps since we get some many trick-or-treaters that the door would be open the whole time anyway. We made a fire in the fireplace so the furnace wouldn't kick on and had hot apple cider on the stove. We saw many of our friends, handed out and ate lots of candy, and had a great time! One of my favorite things of the night were the "witches digits" that I made, which were kind of an almond shortbread cookie. All in all, it was a great night!

Pumpkins!

We carved pumpkins, and this year Holly was actually able to help! She had a great time, and so did we. Here are the results!



Apple Cake!

The other day I came across a recipe for this apple cake and thought it looked DELICOUS! So, after laying around feeling lazy today, I decided that I would get off my fanny and do something (you know, something healthy, like baking a cake and eating it!). After rummaging around in the kitchen, I came across this recipe that I'd printed out earlier in the week and thought it looked like something Holly and I could do together. After a few "tweeks" to the recipe, this is how it turned out!

We used the Golden Delicious apples from our trip last weekend to Aeneas Valley. I didn't even have to peel them, just diced them and threw them in! For those that are curious, here's the recipe, "tweeks" included. :)

Paula Deen's Fresh Apple Cake (with a few modifications!)

For coating pan: 3 tablespoos sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon, mixed. Preheat oven to 325 F and grease 10" tube pan. Coat pan with sugar mixture.

Ingredients:

3 cups sugar
3 tsp cinnamon
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
dash of cloves
1 1/2 cups applesauce
3 eggs
3 cups chopped apples (about 3 apples)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 can prepared frosting

1. Mix flour, soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves; set aside. Beat applesauce and sugar until blended. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and then stir in apples and vanilla. Add flour mixture until blended; stir in walnuts and raisins.

2. Transfer to pan and then drop and shake the pan to release bubbles.

3. Bake 1 1/2 hours to 1 3/4 hours until toothpick comes out clean. Cool on rack 15 minutes, then remove from pan and glaze top of cake with frosting.



Annual Evans Family Camping Trip!

This year's camping trip to Aeneas Valley, Wa. was great fun, as usual! We packed up the Finkbeiner family, with the addition of one very special Erin Garner, and headed West. The first stop, was Coulee City for the night. The next day we made the two and a half hour drive into about a three and a quarter hour drive due to a few stops but finally made it. Mom and Dad, our family, Kenneth and Adriane, Virginia, Paul, Michael, and friend Chance, and Harold and Shyla all made the trek this year. We carved pumpkins, solved the worlds problems around the fire, took a few hikes, and of course had the annual boat race. Aunt Virginia, the reigning camp, was quite confident. But alas, she was dethroned by Kenneth and his styrofoam boat. Lucy and Izzy wore each other out running around camp, and Holly enjoyed all the fresh air and attention. The temperature was a little chilly both mornings, being 23 and 22 degrees consecutively, but the wall tent and the stove, "Old Brute", kept us plenty warm! We had tons of fun and can't wait to go again next year!



Aeneas Valley bound!

The Finkbeiner family + Erin Garner are officially headed camping this weekend! We are in Coulee City tonight, then headed to Aeneas Valley tomorrow, the site of our official Evans family camping trip for the past however many years! I think I've only missed one in my lifetime! Anyway...the special camping site is on the road between Tonasket and Republic, for those of you that know northern Washington at all. Today we packed up the old air mattress, dusted off the sleeping bags, threw the two kids and the dog in the car and away we went. By Sunday, all of us should be completely exhausted after being in the fresh mountain air, but hopefully I'll be able to get some pictures up in the near future. :)

Whew!

Man, do you ever have one of those weeks where you feel like you don't take even a second to relax? This was one of those weeks for me! Monday night- marriage class at the church, Tuesday night- had to work late, Wednesday- worked until 5:30, Thursday night- hosted BUNCO for 12 ladies at my house, Friday night- Kieth announced the Homecoming football game for the radio,  and today- hosted a baby shower for a member of our CARE group at the church. Like I said, WHEW! Emotional and physically tired right now. Today was especially difficult I think. Baby things are not necessarily easy for me, but PRAISE GOD for our beautiful pastor's wife, Christy. Just to have someone acknowledge the emotional struggle I was going through today made me feel better! What a beautiful person, inside and out. Now to just sit for a while and relax before a wild game of Ticket To Ride tonight with some of Kieth's former students: two incredible Christian girls who will keep us laughing all night!