Autum in Vermont

Once again, Vermont managed to produce an amazing fall. It's past it's peak now but I managed to get a few pictures of the leaves.



This lovely yellow tree is across the street from our house.



This is behind our house.



This is also across the street from our house. Also, many of the trees in this picture are technically in New Hampshire.

A week or two ago, my friend Amanda Ann and I drove out to a farm. We had heard tales of a fabulous yarn sale taking place there. It took us a little while to get there since we took the long way but it was totally worth it.



See how happy we are?



Also, it was a beautiful drive.



When we got there we thought we might be at the wrong place since there weren't any signs, just this house.



And this amazing barn. Pretty soon though, two ladies walked out of the house carrying big bundles of yarn and looking very happy and we knew we were in the right place.

My understanding (and I could be wrong) is that this family raises the sheep, then sends away the wool to be spun. Once a year they have a huge sale with piles of yarn in their living room, and for very good prices too.



Here are some of their sheep.



These pictures really aren't even close to showing how beautiful it was that day. It was perfect.



Here is a small portion of the yarn piled into their living room. The other great thing about this place is that when we got there, there was this music playing a really strange assortment of bad music. I realized after a little bit that there was a keyboard in the corner set to play all the demo songs it came with. It was hilarious.





Amanda Ann made out like a bandit. I got about half that much yarn but I'm still set for a while.

Susie Homemaker

I've been on a huge Susie Homemaker kick lately. I made applesauce with Amanda Ann. It's very good but I don't have much freezer space so I couldn't make as much as I would have liked.

Also...



I made Blueberry freezer jam, Raspberry freezer jam, Banana muffins and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip muffins.

Besides all this, I have started knitting again. I'd only made a couple of scarves but a few of my co-workers wanted to take a knitting class together and I decided to take it too. This is the pattern I am making. Right here

And here are a few pictures of my progress so far.







I'm pretty excited. It's going to be great. I've actually started the inside pocket since I took those pictures. It's the ivory thread in the pictures. I already have about four more projects lined up but the next one is something for my nephew who is due to arrive pretty close to my birthday. I can't wait to meet the little fella.

Actual recent stuff

Our garden is producing. All at once we have things to eat out of the garden. Just one at a time for now but soon we'll have tons of tomatoes and beans and carrots.



A while back we dug up this assortment of tiny onions and garlic. Amanda Ann's landlords who not only let us use the garden but also tilled it for us had transplanted them in the spring and they died before they got very big.



We also have these very happy Zinnias (Amanda Ann's favorites) and my Black-eyed Susans are promising to bloom any day now.



After a very hot day of weeding in the garden, we went for a swim and on our way back found this tiny little frog hopping along the path.



Good old Douglas recently got brand new Vermont tags which he sports in the front as well as the back. Although I think they are kinda ugly after the beautiful Kansas plate he used to wear with pride, he does look handsome. Also he's happy we were forced to repair him in order to pass inspection.

Kansas Vacation Part 3

While we were home we got to spend an evening with some good friends. I worked for this family while I was in high school when Levi was just 2 and the twins were 6 months old. We've stayed close to them ever since and Callie and Carson went to the preschool where Joseph taught.



Here's Callie being the adorable camera ham that she is.



The night we were there she was trying out riding without training wheels.



Levi supporting his favorite team. Thanks to 3 year old Levi, I know all the words to the Wildcat song, although the melody is a little fuzzy.



We sat on their porch as the sun went down and the kids climbed really high in a tree.



It was a beautiful evening and reinforced my beliefs that porches are awesome and everyone should have one. Somehow Carson managed to avoid the camera all night. We miss you guys.

While we were home we got to go to Thresher's Ice Cream. This is a tradition in my Dad's family that after the harvest and baling are over, we all get together with everyone who helps and the landlords that rent fields to us. Then we eat ice cream. Each of the farming families brings hand-cranked home made ice cream and each family has their specialty that they have perfected over the years. It's pretty awesome.



Papa and Joseph played bean bags, which has been their biggest source of bonding.





My Uncle Dwayne and brother in law Greg formed the opposing team.



Auntie Ruth in her natural habitat, not missing a shot.

I was pretty sad to leave Kansas but I had something at home to look forward to.



That's right. Harry Potter. Yes, I know I could have read it in Kansas too but this was my own pre-ordered copy I had been waiting for and I needed something to look forward to.



Obviously I was excited, and rightly so. Joseph and I read it out loud to each other in three days. We'd take turns reading while the other cooked or did dishes and stopped as little as possible. It was a good thing to come home to.

Kansas Vacation Part 2

This is Becca this time. I'm totally going to drag this out as much as possible and do at least one more post after this. So this one is about my family. I'm really terrible about taking pictures while I'm with my family because getting out the camera makes everyone self conscious and tends to ruin the conversation. I did manage to get at least one picture of almost everyone, though not quite.

I had a really really really really great time visiting with my family. I feel so comfortable with them it's almost easy to forget that we don't hang out all the time. I made sure I got one on one time with everyone which is always worth juggling schedules for.

We went home at the height of the gardening season there so I spent a lot of good quality time with my Mom putting up corn and green beans. The tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini were all just starting to really hit their season. We also picked up a box of apricots Mom ordered so she could freeze them.


Here is my Mom on what we thought was the last night(more on that later). I suddenly realized I had hardly taken any pictures at all so I took a few. This one is a little dark but it's the only one I got of Mom.

For my one on one time with my Dad, we went to my favorite local mexican restaurant. Then we drove to Wichita and reserved tickets for my whole family to go see the new Harry Potter movie together. When we got home he took me out to one of his fields near our house to show me the pond he put in. It's really beautiful. I didn't get to swim in it but it even has a beach. Dad took a couple buckets of sand out so you can walk in without the mud squishing in between your toes. It was great and I'm really happy Dad could get away for a whole afternoon even though he was in the middle of baling and getting ready to sell some hogs. I didn't manage to get a picture of Dad except one which goes with a different story so I guess you'll have to wait for that.

My favorite sister had me over to her house for lunch. We made a really amazing pasta dish with a bunch of fresh herbs and vegetables from her garden and we will probably never be able to duplicate it since we were making it up as we went along. It was great though. We also went with my Mom to visit my Great Grandmother and later we walked downtown to do a few errands.


Here is my sister. Why does she have that silly grin you might ask? It's because she's going to be a Mommy. That's right. I'm going to be Aunt Becca sometime around my next birthday. We're all really excited. So far as I've heard, the only two things that have made her nauseous are the two things that are most abundant in her garden right now. Tomatoes and squash. Luckily she hasn't had much trouble at all though.


And here is the proud father-to-be, relaxing while he still can. Greg has been keeping busy working in construction and consuming Harry Potter in both movie and book forms. Not to mention several home improvement projects in their new house.

My brother Ben and his lovely wife Andrea had Joseph and I over for lunch and as is our habit, we stayed all afternoon. While we were there Andrea was able to find some really great bargains at an auction next door and my Grandparents stopped by to fix the air conditioning and give away extra green beans from their garden. For the most part though, we sat around and relaxed together, drinking terere and eating some Fla-Vor-Ice (which we are addicted to now).


Here they are at my folks' house. Aren't they adorable? Someday guys, someday we won't live so far apart.

Ok, now it's Tim time. First off, Tim is super tall. He is fourteen and he is already 5' 10" tall. I'm 5' 3" so, yeah.


Here we are the first night we were there. See how tall he is? I can't get over it. He's not supposed to grow up while I'm gone.

Secondly, he found out shortly before we got there that he is allergic to wasps. Here's how.


He got stung. His hand looked like a balloon or a cartoon or something.

He was going to camp on our second-to-last day there so since it's a good ninety minute drive, we decided that I would take him to camp so we could hang out. It ended up being a bit of a fiasco. He is such a good sport though and I was just happy to have a little extra time with him so we viewed it an adventure and had fun.

We got going a little late to start out with and then we had to stop and get gas. Then we stopped at Sonic to get some limeades. So things are going pretty well, we're a little on the late side but we figure that just means we won't have to wait so long in the line to check in. Besides, we're drinking our limeades and listening to Sufjan Stevens and it's a beautiful day.


Here he is, things are going well.

Then, because of a small misunderstanding about the directions, we miss a turn. Ten miles later we are both 100% sure nothing looks familiar so we pull over and figure out where we were supposed to turn. So we head back, find the turn. We're laughing about things though. Now that we're on the right road, we're good to go.


Here he is again. Now we're cruising.

Then we hit a detour. Not a huge one but a few miles out of our way. By this point we're both a little giggly.

Then the accelerator stopped working. I pressed on the gas, nothing. I floored it, nothing. I pulled over as it starts to shake. We pop the hood but neither of us knows what we're looking for and nothing is smoking so we get back in and start it up again. The accelerator works a tiny bit but then it starts shaking more, making strange noises and the "service engine soon" light comes on. We pull over again and start walking towards the nearest farmhouse about a half a mile away. Halfway there a farmer pulls over and asks if we need help and offers to let me borrow his cell phone. While I'm on the phone with my parents, another farmer pulls up behind him. It turns out the second farmer owns the house we were walking to and he offers to let us sit in the air conditioning there while we wait for my parents to come and get us since they are at least an hour away. He was very friendly and we made awkward conversation and sat on his couch for a while. The doorbell rang and we thought it was my Dad but it was actually some friends of my parents. I guess they had been dropping their son off at camp too and my Mom had managed to get them on their cell phone so they picked us up and took us to the camp. We were even in time for Tim to swim.


Here he is right before I had to say goodbye.

So I sat around for a bit and then my Dad showed up with the pick up. The plan was to take back roads and if the van wouldn't drive it, he would tow it with the truck.



Here is the van, gathering it's strength for the return trip.


Here is my Dad, figuring out the best route to take home.

The van seemed to be driving alright when my Dad got there so my Dad decided to drive the van while I followed in the truck. The truck is kinda fun to drive simply because it's huge. It doesn't however have any air conditioner.


Here I am preparing to drive the huge hot pickup back home.

It ended up not being bad at all. The van drove perfectly fine. That is of course, until we were about 10 minutes from home. It pulled the same routine. This time though, there was a big parking lot to park it in, and a truck to take us the rest of the way home.

So that was my adventure with Tim.

I got to spend some good time with Wes in the afternoon when he was home and we also visited him once but I failed to get a picture of him. He is also being disobedient and growing up while I'm gone though.

The next day my parents took us to the airport and we found out that our flight home actually no longer operates so we'd have to go home the next day instead. This ended up working out alright and gave us the chance to say goodbye to a few people we would have missed if we left as scheduled. It also meant I was able to help load some hogs.

A year or so ago my Dad switched over to selling his hogs to Neiman Ranch. I hope I'm spelling that right. Anyway, they are raised outdoors without any growth hormones or antibiotics. Also, a semi comes and picks up our hogs instead of us hauling them ourselves. This has been something Dad has been working to make easier and while it's still somewhat challenging, he has a pretty good system. My brother Ben works for my Dad so he was there to help. Also my sister-in-law Andrea rode her bike out to help because she's just that nice.


Here we are, all suited up and ready to go.

Turns out we are a pretty good team and things went pretty smoothly. It might also have had something to do with the fact that we were loading all the hogs on to the lowest level of the semi trailer but I don't know about that.

Ok, this is probably my longest post ever and I still have more to post about. I'll quit for now though. Obviously I had a really good visit.

Kansas Vacation Part 1

Here are some of the photos I took while we were away in our hometown.


Adam plays the drums.


So does Josh. He also takes pictures of people taking pictures.


All of our hands lined up. Which hand belongs to which brother?


The family dog, James (Jamie) Brown.


Hi Kathleen.


Hey Khanh.


While Kathleen drove me and Bec and Khanh around we saw a van with this sign on the side of it. Which was really convenient because I was looking for some wireless service and Kathleen was looking for some fragrance products. It really worked out perfectly.


Josh thinned my hair a bit. Afterwards I trimmed his and we both felt refreshed and light headed.


Right before I took this picture (we were at a drive-thru restaurant), a kid rode by on his bike and called out to his friends, "Let's ride around and look for change! I just found a penny!"


When I got home I went to eat a bowl of cereal and was blown away by the super size of this freaking bag! By the way: 'Scooters' are small o's, similar to Cheerios.


My aunt and uncle recently (like a month ago) had this baby, Emma. Bec and I got to spend some time with it. She was amazing and adorable, and pretty quiet for a baby. She pooped in her pants when it was my turn to hold her. She was all red and squirmy, but she never cried, just stuck her tongue out and made faces.






Adam's band played at Borders while we were in town so we went to watch. They were pretty great, and surprisingly loud for a bookstore crowd, which was nice.


Tubbs keeping it steady.



Becca will post more pictures of the trip later.