Leaf Piles Galore!

Well, it's that time of year, and last Saturday was full of LEAVES! We had our youth service day, in the form of the GREAT LEAF PILE '09! We've turned our typical leaf raking service day into a really fun event that includes service... we bring all of the leaves out to Mom & Dad's and dump them all in one giant pile. Then, it's all about the gymnastics and flips and dives and practically swimming in leaves!! Last year I didn't get to go, so I was pretty amazed at all of the leaves this year!

We started off small, though, with just Josh raking our own leaves, so we could bag them up and add them to the pile! Before Josh bagged them, though, we decided to let Laney play in her first real leaf pile! The first introduction... well, she wasn't so pleased!

Laney did eventually warm to the fun of a leaf pile, and happily jumped in... as long as she was jumping herself in! Not so much on the being tossed!

Always fun if Daddy's hanging out with you!

Such a big girl!!

Buried in the leaves...

After we got all of our leaves raked, bagged, and loaded into the van (and by "we" I mean Josh...) it was time to head to church to meet the youth! We had a good turnout, and split up into three separate groups to go and rake leaves. Our group was full of really good workers, and we got our house raked and bagged pretty quick!

Here's our group with all the bags! We ended up with 20 bags or so... amazing how fast those bags fill up!

When all the houses were raked, we headed out to Mom & Dad's, where there was a massive campfire, hot dogs to roast, marshmallows, and, of course, a GIANT leaf pile! Everyone ate and hung out by the fire, and then the jumping began! Obviously pictures weren't so great, it was pretty dark. But I did manage to capture a few!

Josh, mid back-flip!

Laney was not so sure about the giant leaf pile. But eventually Papa tossed her in it, and she loved it! Then we couldn't keep her OUT of it!

Playing in the leaves with her friend Clara!

And, by the end of the night she didn't want to go home! But she clearly needed a bath!!

It really was a lot of fun, and a great chance for us to help out some members of the Midway community! And, to leave you with a smile... Laney's rendition of "Twinkle, Twinkle." It's her new favorite song to sing, and is actually hilarious because she does it similar to "The Song That Never Ends." After every chorus, she just starts right back with the second line. Pretty hilarious, and pretty off tune... but fun anyway!! :)