Is This Heaven?

I have to keep asking myself if I am in heaven several times a day.  I have only experienced fall in New England twice, but I have to say that this year beats last year and I thought it was gorgeous then.  The colors, the mild weather, the sunlight are all beyond description.  Even the pictures I have tried to take do not do the beauty justice.  I invite you all to come here immediately to delight in the loveliness that surrounds us here.  If you can't come tomorrow, you will have to try to be satisfied with my weak attempts at capturing what I can with my camera.  Here are some photos of the house and yard:
 

I have to pinch myself to realize that I am not dreaming and this is really right outside my front door!

The scenery makes an excellent background for portraits as well.  Here are some pictures I snapped of all of us earlier today:

Even though this was a hard week for Alice and me (she had a high fever and was in pain due to a virus the entire week), I am so grateful for all of my many, many blessings.  The biggest one is that my sweet baby is feeling much better now.  I also am grateful for the opportunity I had to give a talk in a special meeting for adults in my church on Saturday night.  I felt the Spirit strongly as I worked on my talk and I shared certain things with my children and husband as I prepared that I would not have otherwise done.  It stretched me and helped me to grow.  How grateful I am, too, for the input my mother and my mother-in-law gave me when I asked them to help me edit my talk.  They are amazing women and I love learning from them! It was challenging preparing, but I would do it all over again in an instant because I gained so much.  

Now, I am looking forward to a new week.  Hope it's a good one for one and all!