Amish Country

Tuesday (May 11) SM and I took our family a couple hours south to Amish Country. The day was full of rain but every time we got out of the van, the rain stopped and we were able to really enjoy being tourists. Above is a picture of a quilt. I absolutely love handmade quilts and loved wandering in different quilt shops.

And here is a silly photo but a very cute guy!

Here is a fun stained-glass window. I am always drawn to art. Amish country is like taking a step back to a simpler time. The Amish people have chosen to have a simplified life without some of the modern conveniences that we have.

While driving down different roads, you have to be aware of the buggies. And we found that the Amish youth are very friendly...that they'd wave a short wave as you passed them on the road.

What a great family!!

Lake Erie

Here's a photo of my mother-in-law and sister-in-law taking pictures. Let's just say that we all love to document our events with photos.

After visiting Kirtland we had the opportunity to drive to Lake Erie...and it's huge. It's one of those lakes that looks like the ocean since you can't see to the other side nor around the edges. The weather was a bit cold but almost everyone had fun throwing rocks into the lake.

Here's me...cold but happy!

What a beautiful lake! And how wonderful to have visited it the first time with our family!

Church History Site - Kirtland!!!

With our visitors in town, we had to go to Kirtland and take in the Spirit of Kirtland.

I just had to throw in this picture of Brigitta. Don't I have a beautiful niece?

And here is SM...hanging out at the wood mill.

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gathered and lived in Kirtland Ohio from 1830 to 1838. During this time, the prophet Joseph Smith received many revelations and blessing from our Heavenly Father. Kirtland was the first headquarters of the Church. The first temple was built in Kirtland. There were so many firsts revealed here...such as the first Stake was formed, the first Bishop's Store House, the first Missionary Training Center, the first bishop called, the first patriarch called, and many other firsts.

In the memo, we were told to wear light blue...just kidding. Everyone just matched...well, almost everyone. Look how happy we all were, we had great sister missionaries giving us a tour of the Kirtland Visitors Center. One sister missionary was from Lehi and the other was from Louisiana. I just wish I had thought to take a picture of them.

And here we are! What a great group! If I knew how to crop I would crop a lot of this picture. I guess that's motivation to learn how to use Photoshop.

A creative landscape photo. Beautiful stream and house.

Inside the N.K. Whitney Store listening to the sister missionaries talk about what Bro. Whitney sold at the store and how he provided for people who couldn't pay him for items. The more I learn about Bro. Whitney the more I'm impressed with the way he cared for people.

Gracie was a big tease and SM was a great facilitator. But we love her so much that we'd do a whole lot for that little girl.

I love this photo of Ben. At this table behind Ben is where Joseph Smith received the Word of Wisdom. This is the health code that members of the church follow which includes, but is not limited to, no smoking, no drinking alcohol and no coffee.

Mother's Day 2010

If I could figure out how to move these top two photos, I would. So you will just have to imagine these two photos at the bottom of this post and you can start reading this post from the third photo down. And here is the gift! Mother's Day was full of visitor's this year. SM's parents, sister & her family came to visit from Utah. SM helped make a special breakfast of whole wheat waffles, strawberries and whipped cream. Yummy! What a great way to celebrate mothers!

That afternoon, SM's mom got to open her Mother's Day gift from her children with two of her children, two of her grandchildren and two of her in-laws. As you can see, Gracie wanted to be helpful and really help grandma open her present.

"Need some more help, Grandma?" asks Gracie as she reaches her hand in to help open the gift. And my MIL loved her gift from everyone!

And we all looked on in eager anticipation to see what we had got her...dressed in our comfy clothes because it was Sunday afternoon, a day of rest.

I live in a small town

Above: A stained glass window located in the library. I find myself drawn to this window every time I go to the library. Isn't it beautiful? I wish I didn't have the glare from the camera. Maybe one day I'll go back and try taking the picture again.

I live in a small town in Ohio. The middle of town has a town square where sits a town gazebo. During the summer time, on Friday evenings, groups of people gather at the square to be together and listen to a band play in the gazebo. Since I have yet to experience this event, I'll leave the imagery to that and tell you more about it when I've been to a Friday night at the square.

The square is lined with small buildings and shops. The red building is where a fire station used to be housed. It no longer houses firetrucks but it's still a really cool building for my picture.

Kitty-corner from the square is this tall, beautiful church. I love looking at it when I'm driving by and luckily, I have to drive past it frequently. I live is such a beautiful, small-ish town.

Baby Blanket

I love this view from my back deck. Look at all those colors! Unfortunately the pink is already gone but was replaced with a dark maroon leaves so I still have color, just not that brilliant color. I love the beauty God has placed on this earth!

I'm still plugging away at crocheted edges on baby blankets and burp clothes. I really liked the eyes of the turtles in this blanket. They are so happy and alive! Perfect for a baby's blanket.

I did three kinds of edging. The very top one (on the right) is called a triangle edge, and then I did a block edge and the bottom one is a small rainbow edge.

Took a small trip to see the country

SM and I went to see the Ohio countryside on Saturday afternoon. The weather was overcast and nice (we were supposed to have lots of rain) and the drive was very relaxing. We went to several towns that have lots of Amish tourist spots. What a fun Saturday activity!

The only pictures I took were these from the car. I'll try to get some better pictures next week but no promises....it looks like rain again in the weather forecast.

I love the countryside. SM says that he'd like to live near the countryside but not actually there. I think it would be nice but it would be a lot of work unless we only had a small piece of land...but then why live in the country? So, we'll just continue growing our small garden's where ever we can and enjoy the journey of our lives.