Chew Drag

We don't let him chew every box in the house, only this one. It's his favorite toy.

Still no name

No name yet.

This is Joe. Yesterday Bec and I went to Springfield, VT to choose a puppy.



This is our pick. He's a Pug/Rat Terrier mix.




More photos on my Flickr page.

No, it's not the rapture

This weekend is the Walnut Valley Bluegrass Festival down in Winfield Kansas. My family goes every year and camps out. This is the fourth year in a row I have missed it and the fifth time I've missed it since I was born. I feel a little like I'm away from home on the holidays.

When I was a kid, I was in Sunday School with my cousin Greg that my Aunt Donna (his mom) was teaching. They are the only ones in our family who don't go to Winfield, which Greg wasn't happy about. Donna was talking about the rapture which some Mennonites believe in and some don't. She told us that sometimes she tries to call several people and no one is home and she wonders to herself if the rapture happened and she was left behind. Greg added that really, everyone is just at Winfield. Greg told us later that he didn't get any dessert that day.

I hope everyone is having a great year at Winfield and staying dry. I love you guys and miss you. Somebody better eat a Navajo taco for me.

I know, I know

So obviously my blogging is in bad shape when I go from one Kansas visit to the next between posts. What can I say? It's actually nice outside!

I was lucky enough to be able to go to Kansas for a week to see my friend/cousin get married and to visit my family. Joseph didn't come this time but that made it easier to come home, even though the visit was too short. I put a ton of pictures on my flickr account so you can go look at those by clicking on any of the ones I post, but I'm not posting all of them.



Tim just keeps growing! He is now six feet tall.




While I was there he bought a new bass that he has been saving up for. It's pretty sweet and he got a good deal too.




My amazing sister and my favorite nephew.




My sister and I at the reception. The wedding was really beautiful and I'm so happy for Mark and Amanda! I didn't take any pictures though because I just wanted to enjoy it.




Greg and Luke after Luke woke up from a nap with crazy hair.




Ben tried to comb it.




Luke loves being outside and fell asleep while my Dad was carrying him around the porch.




He is soooo cute!




My parents and me on my last day in Kansas.




Me and my best friend Kristen. This visit was the first time we'd seen each other in a year and a half and we didn't have nearly enough time. It was great to see her though.




I was sad to leave Kansas but it's nice to be back with my sweetie again.

Kansas Visit

So I'm finally getting around to putting up a few pictures from our trip to Kansas. Basically all of them include my amazingly adorable and incredibly awesome nephew. His name is Luke. I adore him immensely. I'm very happy for his proud parents and extremely jealous of all the family that gets to hang out with him regularly. It's been at least a month since these pictures were taken and he has grown like crazy and started smiling and Laura (his mom) said that he laughed for the first time the other day. Obviously, I am smitten.

Aside from meeting Luke, I also got to spend a lot of time with some of my favorite people. It was an amazing visit. On to the pictures.


Here he is, so so sooooo cute. But of course you can see that.






Grandma Bev


Grandpa Chuck and Luke size each other up


Uncle Ben gets a turn.


Here he is awake.


My Grandparents, Luke's Great Grandparents.


Ok, so this is hardly a great photo of any of us, but I'm posting it anyway. The reason being that this is my entire family. This visit home was the first time that all of us had been in one place at one time in nearly three years. Soooo, in case anyone who doesn't already know who is who and actually cares, back row left to right is Ron, James, Tim and Ben. Middle row is Greg, Chuck (Dad), Bev (Mom) and Andrea. Front row is Laura, Luke, Wes, me and Joseph. I realize that I have a big family. I know when I tell people that I am third out of seven kids that they will be surprised. I know that since we are now thirteen people, that seems like a lot to most people. Most of the time though, it doesn't really seem like we're that big of a family. When I see this picture though, I know that we are.


It was a really great visit and I am hoping to make it back this summer. In the mean time, spring has finally decided to come to Vermont and there are lots of other things to look forward to here. I love the summers in Vermont, swimming in the river and getting ice cream cones, gardening with my friends, just being able to be out in the sunshine again. I'm getting new glasses, which I am excited about. Joseph graduates in a few weeks. This is a little bittersweet but we are happy that some of our friends are sticking around. Right after that, we are moving down the street to a slightly bigger apartment. Things I'm looking forward to about that are: two small closets instead of one, a full sized stove, more space in general, and most of all, a bedroom.

Let the count down begin!

We will be in Kansas in a mere 16 days.




Yay!!!

I got a haircut, but not a scare cut

I love John McCutcheon. I grew up on his music and I truly am quite fond of him. But seriously, that song... I get that stupid song in my head every time I get a haircut, or talk about haircuts, or think about haircuts. I really did get a haircut though. But first, one last knitting project.



This is a scarf I knit for Kristen with some fat yarn I got from that farm I visited last fall. Originally I was trying to knit with some wooden spoons but my knitting teacher loaned me some big knitting needles so it wouldn't take me a year to make one little scarf.








Also, we found this amazing chair for really really cheap at a local used furniture store. It's perfect. It has springs in it so it rocks but unlike many rocking chairs, it's not to tall to rock comfortably. It's squishy but not too squishy. It's perfect for reading, knitting, or watching movies. I love it.





Before








After! Yay!







I cut most of it myself and Joseph helped me get the back right. I was inspired by Amanda Ann's awesome new haircut she got when she visited home. Mine isn't quite as drastic but I still like it.

Knitting like mad

I keep meaning to update this thing but then there is just one more thing I want to take a picture of before I do. So I'm just going to have to go for it.

Here in Vermont we have had a lot of snow. Basically since a day or two before Thanksgiving, the ground has been covered and most of the time, quite thickly. Sidewalks have snow walls a foot or two high and it's tough to see around corners because of the mountains of snow. Here's a few pictures of the snow.









It may interest you to know that these pictures were taken from our rental car after we dropped our car off at the shop. Why was it in the shop? Because I was in a small fender bender which I blame almost entirely on this beautiful snow. The fact that our car doesn't have snow tires might have had a small part in things too though. In any case, this was all about a month ago and everyone is completely fine, including our trusty little car, Douglas.

I hate being cold so I've been spending almost all my time indoors lately. To keep me busy and to help me feel a little more productive than just playing video games all day, I knit. I've been knitting a lot lately and I love it. I'm very into small projects that go quickly enough that I don't get bored or discouraged. I am planning on making a sweater soon though. Anyway, since I knit my purse, I have knit two scarves, one turtle, one elephant and one convertible glove (the other one is on it's way). I'm feeling very productive. So, here are the ones I have photographed so far.



Here is the turtle. I made him for my nephew, who is due two months from yesterday. Can you tell I'm excited to be an Auntie?





His shell comes off!











After I finished the turtle, my friend Jake started knitting an elephant. When I saw the pattern I couldn't resist so nephew-to-be is getting two toys. One for Christmas and one for his birthday.











Joseph asked if I could knit something like this for him. So this was his Christmas present, though it was late, and not much of a surprise since I made him try it on every couple of rows.





Here he is, my handsome husband, showing off his new convertible glove with the top back.

More pictures to come soon. Really. I'm so serious.