Skiing fun in Utah

We had a long grueling flight to Utah . . . . didn't get to the car rental place until 10 minutes to closing, which was midnight!  The guys had planned to go skiing the next morning and got up early . . . . we thought it would be just our family skiing, but were surprised with a lot of the Stevens' men.  11 in all!

This is Marshall, Chancy and Lincoln on top of the world.

McKay  . . . .

Justin, McKay, Lincoln and Chancy . . . . all together again!

Halley and I shopped until we dropped while they skied.  She took pity on me . . . . we had great one on one mother daughter time.  Afterwards we went to Grandma Stevens' house for dinner.  Marshall and his family and all of our family was there.  GREAT times!

49th, WOW!

Happy 49th Anniversary Mom and Dad!!!

Be careful what you blog about . . . .

A little while ago,

I mentioned on my blog that I had offered

in the past to help my mother complete the Sunbonnet Sue quilts

she is making for her granddaughters.

She didn't take me seriously at that time!

I guess she was ready for the help,

because the next time I saw her she gave me

an embroidery square . . .

then another,

then another,

another,

Yes, and another,

another,

And finally the last one.

 You know?

I didn't realize I had done this many

until I just posted all these pictures.

If she had handed them all to me at once 

I would have looked at her bUg EyEd!!

"By an inch it's a cinch, by the yard it's hard!"

as the saying goes.

I really enjoyed doing these.
I hadn't embroidered for YEARS!

Mom loved the help, (competition)

and was able to complete this quilt

a year earlier than planned!

Gettysburg

I want to share some of our Gettysburg pictures.

There are several options for viewing the battlefield.

We chose to buy a CD and do an audio tour in our own car.

Much to the chagrin of the person who sold us the CD

we chose the one that was more "entertaining" than "informational."

A dramatized version of the battle.

We had a fifteen-year-old . . . . we felt it needed to be "entertaining!'

There are many statues and monuments and memorials

strewn throughout the battlefield.

MANY!

The uniforms on display in the museum were so small.

I don't even think I could get into some of them.

I think we breed a bigger American these days.

I have heard that foreign soldiers think Americans are big.

Maybe it is the plentiful food we eat today . . . .

(This man looks big enough!)

I loved these fences.

We made McKay take out his earbuds

before starting our audio tour.

We wanted him "present" and not in some ipod world.

Even though his listened to the audio tour

It was cold enough that

he didn't want to get out of the car.

I had to lure him out  for this picture.

I did not have to "lure" him out of the car for this tower however . . ..

I,  on the other hand, DID need to be lured.

I could have quite happily sat in the car.

BUT NO!

I made the climb and froze my tootsies up there in that wind.

The view was worth the climb.

This statue kept fooling me . . . . I thought it was an actual man standing there.

He is overlooking "Devil's Den" on top of "Little Round Top."

I thought,

What a great photo op!

and had McKay run up and stand by the statue.

OOPS!!!!  I'm glad I didn't see this before I had him hop on top the rock!

These rocks are partly how this area got the name

"Devil's Den."

(well, not THOSE particular rocks, just the rocky area in general!)

This was a quick photo clicked through the windshield.

Did you know that more men died in the Civil War

than BOTH World War I and II.

over 600,000 men?

Men who fought for the equality of all men regardless of their race or station in life.

I have a whole new appreciation for what this means

having lived in the area in which we live at present.

I wish everyone had the opportunity to visit the places where history has been made.

It helps a person see things in a whole new light.

POWERFUL!

Yondering

Louis L'Amour has a book called Yondering

 I wonder if the word yondering is a combination of

ponder, and wander.

Pondering and wandering is

what our family is currently doing.

Wandering . . . . sitting (actually laying)

in a hotel in Gettysburg, PA.

Pondering, because of our experiences of the day.

My hubby has a retirement he is attending tomorrow here.

He wanted us to come with him.

AND

we need to redo some of the things we've done before,

because the last time we "did Gettysburg" our son McKay was only 3.

How could a three year old remember this experience?

When I find, I don't even remember this experience?

Today we did the museum,

which was not in existence when McKay was 3.

The museum was new in 2008.

It is an awesome museum.

What I don't remember,

although it did exist when we were here before

was seeing the Cyclorama.

(which is a painting)

AMAZING.

(to say the least)

From wikipedia:

The painting is a cyclorama, a type of 360° cylindrical painting.

The intended effect is to immerse the viewer in the scene being depicted,

often with the addition of foreground models and life-sized replicas to enhance the illusion.

I wasn't very impressed,

(because with modern technology it takes a lot to impress a person)

until I realized that this painting

was painted in 1883!

This painting is 27 feet high and 359 feet long

and completely surrounds you.

(the 360 degree thing!!!)

I started to take notice . . . .

It is absolutely beautiful and tells an awe inspiring story.

Tomorrow we "do the battlefield."

We are on hallowed ground.

Thanksgiving

It's kind-fun to find pictures on your camera that you didn't take . . .

The wonderful months of fall . . . . .

and with fall, brings my most favorite holiday of all  . . . . .

with it's food . . . .

more food . . . and especially family. . . . .

though I and the rest of us felt the absence of some of our loved ones.
It would be nice if we could all be together again.

This is Ceci skyping with Baxter.

I've resisted skyping, but had an enjoyable time talking with Baxter.

Maybe it's time to go buy a camera . . . .

We made our (what is becoming) traditional "gingerbread" houses.

Mom actually made gingerbread this year!

I'm amazed at how much even the boys love to make the houses.

Trude got quite involved in the making of her house!

Mom and Dad . . . with dad working "outside" the box as normal!!!!

He made a combination gingerbread/cardboard house.

(and joined me in the use of a glue gun to bond the house together)

(which is cheating according to my nephews)

Here's my gorgeous man.

McKay's finished project . . . .

and mine . . . . . (Ceci's in the background)

and Lincoln's.

We can't end the day without Christmas carols!

McKay went and sequestered grandpa's guitar.

which must have fueled Grandpa's desire to save our ears (from McKay's playing)

and join in in the accompaniment.

It's been a few years since he's actually played along.

I loved hearing him play again!

Stevie was just itching to get involved in the piano playing!!! 

She did a good job I think.  She'll be taking my place in a few years! 

and . . .  as many times as I tell myself, "you can't flip videos"

I still make the mistake of taking them wrong . . . .

So you will need to "flip" your head to watch!

Trudy played for us too (I have a video) but I think she'd skin me alive if I posted it!!!

Happy Thanksgiving ALL!

The numbness is setting in

I did something kinda exciting last week , , , , ,

It all started out as "McKay taking guitar lessons" and is still that . . . .

BUT, swim season has started and McKay is very busy.

Too busy to take his guitar lessons.

Enter starving musician (the guitar teacher)

I can tell this kid (the age of my oldest son) needs the money.

and I hated to tell him McKay was going to quit for a while.

Enter wanna-be guitarist (me!)

Forget that I am 40 something very fastly approaching  50 something . . . .

I asked the starving musician if he'd mind teaching me while McKay does his "swim thing."

What's he to say?  NO? 

He asked me what "style" I'd like to learn . . . jazz maybe?

We decided on folk. 

 Poor guitar teacher!!

hey, he thought the song I brought to learn

"I am a child of God"

was pretty cool, at least he was being nice about it!

I have a goal.

The goal is to play said guitar at girl's camp coming up in June.

(you can feel sorry for the girls!)

I have visions of camp songs around a campfire.

(as long as they all those songs are in my repertoire which is currently ZERO)

I'm glad I have this goal, because . . .

the first lesson was really fun.

B.U.T, the first practice session wasn't very fun. . . .

my first words to my husband were

"I don't think I can do this"

I've practiced every day since.

My fingers hurt like the dickens and are becoming kind-a numb feeling.

Each day, I'm able to play a new chord.

AND

I'm praying calluses develop soon.

PLEASE!

 Yes, I am CrAzY!!!

Fun to do . . . . to do . . . to do . . . to do

My dad had this saying he loved to quote to us kids:

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy"

This is very good advice for those who work hard.

(which my father did do)

I didn't find out until I just googled it that the proverb has another sentence.

"All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy"

I know some people who fall under this category!

(including us sometimes!)

Our family had chosen to have a weekend full of play this weekend . . . .

It may have happened except for this . . . .  

Our trees decided to let go of their leaves last week.

This is what greeted me one morning when I drove up from seminary:

A carpet of leaves

 . . . . if I hadn't known there was a driveway in our yard

I wouldn't have known!!!!

So instead of taking our weekend away.

We decided to stay home and not be a mere toy.

The work didn't seem as hard this fall.

Thanks to hurricane Irene that took about a 1/3 of our work away.

or at least 1/3 of the work was done at a different time!

Working outside made me thankful for many things . . .

The beauty of fall . . . . .

I was thankful . . . .

that I could experience plants that

For me . . .

had only existed in books before we moved here . . . 

plants with names that were so romantic and now just roll off my tongue

like I've lived around them a lifetime . . . . . .

Dogwood, magnolia, holly (badly pictured below) hosta, camellia, rhododendron and azalea's.

I don't know that a weekend of play could have been

more exhilarating

than our day of work was.

Pretty interesting egh???

Caving In

Four or five years ago, we updated our kitchen appliances.

Almost immediately our new refrigerator's ice machine stopped working.

I should say . . . . right after the warranty expired the ice machine stopped working.

For a few weeks we bought ice and poured it in our ice machine.

RIDICULOUSNESS.

to say the least.

We called the repairman and he installed a new ice maker.

Now I joke that we have the world's most expensive ice,

it was so pricey to make the repair!

Recently I caved into peer pressure (from my card club ladies)

and bought one of these . . . .
 

WHY did I buy one of these?

I have debated with myself several times about it,

and I had decided I wasn't going to do it.

WELL . . . .

I've been making homemade Christmas cards the last few years.

I really wanted to make something simple this year.

I THOUGHT I had designed a simpler card

but realized once I got into the process . . .

that I'd be cutting out

several hundred letters by cranking die cuts through my Cuttlebug.

Oh, WHAT A CHORE!

(for smaller projects, I love my Cuttlebug!)

Thus the purchase . . . . a Cricut . . . die cutting machine.

I was showing my sister my new purchase and explaining this all to her.

"You mean, you bought this just so you could cut out the word "JOY"?"

She asked with unbelief in her voice . . . .

Yep!!!

. . . . . the world's most expensive Christmas Cards will be coming

to some of you shortly.

Boy has life changed for us the last few years for me to even consider

making this silly but fun purchase!

P.S. If you want to be on my Christmas card list . . . .

even though my card isn't that great . . . . .

and promise to send me one back . . . .

e-mail me at tcys@comcast.net

or if you feel comfortable . . . .

leave your address in the comment box.

FA LA LA LA LAAAaaaaaa, LA, LA, La, Laaaaaaa.

Going Ape

This weekend we went to a rather unique celebration of our friend Kiersten's 40th birthday.  There is a place in Rockville, Maryland called Go Ape.  We'd never heard of it before and were game to give it a try.  We spent at least two hours in the tree tops going through different rope obstacles.  It made us feel like kids again!

Here's Lincoln . . . .

And me with my visiting teaching companion and her husband . . . . I know this doesn't look like we are up in the trees, but we were!!!

The caribiner safety clip-ins gave me courage!

This was the worst for me . . . . .climbing the ladders . . . . .

Lincoln on the "Tarzan Swing" which was most definitely the hardest one to make yourself do . . .

The birthday girl . . . . Thanks Kiersten for letting us share your day with you!  We all wore a little purple her honor . . . .



McKay would LOVE this!