The Blog of VirGINIa K.

Devils Punchbowl

2012-02-11T16:26:00.004-05:00

Last week I went with a few friends to a park nearby called Devils Punchbowl. There are huge stone boulders on every side and in the center of the park is a huge punchbowl-looking hole.

I was sure to take a lot of pictures! I realized that even though I am out in the middle of the desert, there is some beautiful scenery out here!

We took this picture after we reached the end of our hiking trail.

Leslie and I

Leslie, Lena and I

I had a wonderful time and am looking forward to going again. We've decided that we will go there once a month or so. :)

Other than that, I have been keeping busy with my projects and homework.

I am looking forward to going home for the summer! There are only 88 days left. :-)

Life in my second semester at WCBC

2012-02-07T15:51:00.003-05:00

Well, it's the beginning of a new semester!

I have two new roommates this semester, since two of my roommates from last year didn't return. We took room pictures the other day, but since Mackenzie, Beth Anne and I decided they look awful, Lydia said that we can take new ones.

These are the ones we took last week.

Handbell choir started up again yesterday evening! There are many new members this semester, so it will be fun getting to know all of them.

Today in my Christian School Music class, I had to teach a theory lesson. I was pretty scared because I don't like to get up in front of people, especially my peers. But it went fairly well with the exception of being a little short in length. I also had a Biblical Ethics quiz...I had antinomianism, situationism, and hierarchialism running through my brain all this morning as a result. :)
Well, other than my busy class schedule, not very much has been new here. Hopefully you all enjoyed a wonderful weekend and are ready for this week! :)

Eagle Scout

2012-02-05T17:46:00.003-05:00

Tabitha turned one year old on the day before I left to come back to college. We celebrated her birthday on the same night that we celebrated Oliver becoming an Eagle Scout!

It was a nice time and I was so happy to be able to be there for it.

I have been back in California now for two weeks. I feel like I've been here for months already! :) I miss home!

Christmas and Tabitha

2012-01-09T08:28:00.002-05:00

I've been really enjoying my Christmas break at home these past few weeks.

Christmas was a fun time and I took a few pictures from our get-together at Grandma and Grandpas. These pictures all have Tabitha in them! :) It was her first Christmas!

Tabitha and Uncle Oliver

Tabitha, Martha and Me

Me and Tabitha

Stuart, feeding Tabitha an apple

Tabitha with my mother

Have a belated Happy New Year! :)

Handbell Choir

2011-12-23T18:50:00.001-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0Vb_Dnm7bk&feature=channel_video_title

This video is from the Winter Orchestra Concert 2011. I am playing in the handbell choir.

The busyness of the Christmas season!

2011-12-10T17:17:00.002-05:00

Last Friday was the orchestras Winter Concert. It was fun preparing for and even more fun playing in it. I played the violin as well as playing in the bell choir.

Last week, my roommates and I went on a room date to In-N-Out. It was a nice time we could have together before this semester is over.

Amanda and Mackenzie

Cailey and I

All of us

I'm very excited because there are only 4 days left until I am home! :) I have taken six finals and I only have 3 more. YAY!

It's almost here, it's almost here!

2011-11-30T23:52:00.003-05:00

YES! We're getting down to the wire here! This is the schedule of projects that I have had this semester. All of the major ones at least.

I'm down to one left, and that one is due tomorrow at 12PM!

Two weeks from today, I will be at home. :)

I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!

Trip to see the LA Philharmonic

2011-11-25T14:11:00.009-05:00

My birthday was a few weeks ago, and then my friend Leslie had her birthday one week later. Then another friend, Rebekah, had her birthday the week after that. So, so celebrate all of our birthdays at the same time, we decided to make a trip to Los Angeles to see the LA Philharmonic perform Handel's Water Music.

The three of us and another friend made the trip last Saturday. It was performed in the Disney performance center.

Since we are college students, we were able to get our tickets at discount. Instead of paying $120 dollars for a ticket, we paid $20! Can't beat that!

Of course in the car, we took some crazy pictures...

We had a great time and it made our birthdays pretty special. :) It's good to have friends...

Only 18 days left until I go home for Christmas!

Santa Monica Pier

2011-10-30T17:29:00.002-04:00

It's strange to think that while my family back home is being inundated with snow, I am out here wearing t-shirts...
It gets cold in the mornings and evenings, but during the day it can get pretty hot.

The other week we had an activity to the Santa Monica Pier. I made sure to get a few pictures for my blog.

It was nice....and very relaxing out on the beach. I am looking forward to WINTER though and I can't wait to be home for Christmas break! Only 44 days left! :)

One mans trash is another mans treasure.

2011-10-28T18:14:00.002-04:00

One man's trash is another mans treasure.

The other day I was walking back to my dorm after late class and I noticed that the maintenance guys were cutting back the rose bushes. All of the white flowers were chopped off and in the trashcans. So I stopped and asked one of the guys if I could pick a flower out of the trash. They looked shocked and said "Sure." Then they helped me look through the trash for the nicest flowers.

I put them in water from a cut in half sprite bottle and now today (two days later), the buds are blooming! :)

Strange how something so little can totally make my day brighter... :)

MY HAIR IS CHANGING COLORS!!!!

2011-10-21T11:49:00.004-04:00

It's almost scary... I thought something seemed different about it, and when I compared these pictures I thought...maybe they put something in the water here.

This picture is from last fall at college.

And this fall at college:

Last fall:

This is a really random post, I just thought that was so weird...

haha... until later!

Martha and Daniel's wedding

2011-10-09T18:02:00.008-04:00

I was able to fly home last weekend for Martha and Daniel's wedding. I don't have a very long time before class, but I wanted to at least put up some pictures from the wedding.

The happy couple

Hungry hungry people.... haha!

Bridal party

I wasn't able to take many pictures since I was in the bridal party. It was a beautiful wedding and I was so happy I was able to go home for it!

Only 64 days left until Christmas break!

College Roommates

2011-10-05T18:32:00.003-04:00

A Luau in Lancaster

2011-09-23T18:34:00.003-04:00

Last week there was a big activity here at the college. It was a Luau, right here in Lancaster... :)

It was a fun activity to go to and the games were fun to watch even though I didn't play any of them.

This is a picture of my roommate Mackenzie on the left, me and Leslie.

Leslie and her boyfriend Jeff.

Leslie, Jeff, Mackenzie and Nick

Those are the only pictures I have from the Luau since my camera died on me. Until I have something new to post~!

The desert...and my college

2011-09-17T00:18:00.002-04:00

College food is great and everything, but sometimes, its nice to just go out. :) I went out to dinner the other day with some of my new friends. I was glad that Leslie and Kaley wanted to go out to eat, since the dining hall was serving burritos and I do not like those beans inside burritos. :)

Anyway, we had a ton of fun...

I was taking some random pictures of Leslie, navigating through roadwork...

I managed to get this blurry picture of the campus from a distance.

Yes, I am out in the middle of the desert.

It really is beautiful out here, even though it's not like home. In the evening when the sun sets, everything glows red/orange from the setting sun. Its quite a sight to see. Hopefully in the future I can catch a better shot of it.

College living...

2011-09-15T18:49:00.002-04:00

Since being in this part of California, I think I'm becoming more blond! How exciting...haha.

Just thought I'd share a picture of my room. My camera has been acting really funny lately, so I haven't been taking many pictures at all. But this is half of my room. The top bunk is mine. :)

Lately, my classes have been going really well, and I've already passed four quizzes and done a bunch of homework.

I'm really excited about going home for my sisters wedding. It's coming up really soon (the 1st of October) and it's going to be GREAT!

Well, I am going to go do some studying for a quiz tomorrow and then go to dinner with some friends. :) Until later!

Any Similarities?

2011-09-08T11:52:00.000-04:00

Time flies...

California again...

2011-09-01T18:44:00.002-04:00

Well, I am officially in California again. This week of orientation has gone very slowly. The worst part about it is adjusting to a new school. This one is much bigger and it's more difficult to get used to. I'm sure as soon as classes start on Monday though, I'll be fine.

Last week my family came over for the last time before I left. It was a nice get-together and I especially enjoyed taking pictures of my adorable niece. :)

Martha and I took a picture too.

The weather here is a little different from where I was before in California. I am in the desert now, so it is very dry and hot. Oh my goodness, and the WIND!! :D I'm excited about this school year though. :)

Life in general

2011-08-23T05:12:00.003-04:00

Whew, it's good to be back on blog! Every now and then I take a long break from blogging, not on purpose but because I just don't have time for it.

I'm back though!

Lately, I've been thinking more about college. It is right around the corner again: I'm leaving next Monday and won't be back until Christmas break! :-( So I'm starting to pack boxes and my bags to take to California.

In the meantime however, I've been keeping busy with events and just normal living around my house.

We had a small bridal shower for Martha the other week. That was nice.

As it gets closer and closer to Autumn, I find myself working in the rain a lot more... :)

Before it started getting really chilly, every Sunday afternoon was "pool time at Martha's house." I think this picture is so funny!

And one Sunday afternoon, Katie drove over Martha's well... :-)

In the church nursery with my niece.

Tabitha

That's about it for now. I will keep updating my blog as it gets closer to my departure...

Until then!~

Growing season

2011-08-13T20:10:00.004-04:00

It's growing season here at Orchard Country Produce and we are feeling it!

Picking apples, peaches, pears, plums, EVERYTHING! It's just all coming in at the same time.

I finally got around to taking some pictures of all these fruits and vegetables.

Asian Pears

HUGE heirloom tomatoes. This particular one is a pink brandywine.

Getting ready to pick peaches.

Castleton plums

Whoooooooooo!

Some of these trees were so loaded that the branches were snapping...:(

My favorite alien-looking vegetable to pick: Kohlrabi

Lemon Cucumbers

That is pretty much what I have been up to! :-) I'll post more later.

RAIN!

2011-08-06T21:31:00.001-04:00

What a beautiful sight!!!

Dry as a bone...

2011-07-22T23:08:00.002-04:00

I don't know if it can be called a drought, but I know that the ground is dry as a bone and we are in desperate need of some rain.

We have been irrigating everything within reach of the wells. Our back yard though, has clearly gone down the tubes.

It's pretty obvious that we haven't been watering that! :D

We decided to put up this black shroud. It is meant for the greenhouse: it is used to drape over it and it is supposed to to deflect the sunlight. Since we don't use it in the greenhouse, my dad thought it might work over celery and lettuce which we just planted.

These poor beans...

On Thursday when I was at market, it was 116 degrees. Today it was 104. People around the area are calling it "the wave." Whatever it is, I hope it goes away soon so that our crops don't completely "bite the dust." :D

It's Summertime

2011-07-15T09:22:00.003-04:00

It's summertime for sure...

Tabitha!

2011-07-07T09:42:00.004-04:00

My niece is getting quite big now! :)

Here we are on the 4th of July. Together, we make quite a blend of patriotic colors.

With Aunt Martha

Holding "Uncle" Juice's hand

Aunt Lydia

I love this picture! haha!

She has so many RELATIVES!!!! :D

Happy Fathers Day!

2011-06-20T07:12:00.001-04:00

I LOVE you Daddy!

No worries!

2011-06-15T23:00:00.001-04:00

It's NOT blood!

It's just time to sort strawberries!

To market, to market...

2011-06-13T10:18:00.001-04:00

Heading to market in Maryland!

There's no doubt about it...

2011-06-09T10:14:00.002-04:00

There's NO doubt about it...

I live in ORCHARD COUNTRY!

Guess what time it is???

2011-06-07T22:11:00.003-04:00

That's right! When you walk into the garage and see this...

You KNOW that it is time for the CSA's to begin.

Times have changed...

2011-06-05T07:35:00.006-04:00

And I've changed with them!!!

I found these pictures the other day...

Me with my Dad in North Carolina at the sand dunes.

2009

Me with my Dad in the same Sand Dunes in North Carolina

2001

Times really HAVE changed...

Cleaning up a bit!

2011-06-03T04:02:00.004-04:00

On Tuesday I noticed what rough shape the flower bed seemed to be in...so I tried to clean it out a little bit. There's nothing I like better than to clean something up and see results!

This is what it looked like before started.

And this was when I ended....:)

and another picture after.

Behind the staircase its hard to see a difference in the two pictures, but before I started working here, weeds were the only form of habitation. I planted a lot of impatiens though, in their place. This summer the flowerbed should look great!

And after:

After a hard days work, there's nothing like one of my mom's strawberry milkshakes!! :D

Oh and I just had to show you all our new kittens! They were born under our back porch and they are VERY cute! :)

Until later!

You know it's getting to be summer...

2011-05-27T21:21:00.002-04:00

You KNOW that it is getting to be summer time when you decide to brush Homer and this is how much fur comes off. :-)

He has lost his winter fur now! Time to relax for the summer! :D

Our new property

2011-05-26T06:39:00.002-04:00

Hello!

There have been a couple of things that I just realized I never mentioned on my blog here! So I thought I'd let you in on the big news...

Well, last fall my family bought a new property. It's right down the road from where we live now, so it isn't a far drive or anything. It has 13 acres and a small stream running through the bottom of it. It also has a beautiful farm house with it, which we are currently renting out.

Here are just a few pictures of the "new place."

The pasture where we put 5 beef cows

It also has a railroad track running straight through it. :)

After crossing the tracks:

Our goats

And my favorite: the hogs. :)

It's a beautiful property and I'm really glad my parents bought it! We have already planted TONS of crops on it: Apples, cabbage, tomatoes, arugula, radishes, peanuts and parsnips.

It's going to be a great summer!

Asparagus

2011-05-16T09:03:00.002-04:00

It's THAT time of year again.... :) I'm back home now in PA and loving the farmwork so far. It is my job to pick the asparagus every other day.

I'm actually heading out to pick some right this minute.

I'm SO happy to be home and I think I will be keeping up with my blog a lot more now that I am home.

I won't stay away for so LONG next time! :)

I have the cutest niece EVER! :)

2011-04-29T18:08:00.003-04:00

I guess that COULD just be my own bias opinion, but...it's probably just true. :D
These pictures were taken on Easter Sunday last week.

I'm SO excited to come home and actually meet her in person! She's SO CUTE!!!!

Visiting the Redwoods

2011-04-12T19:11:00.002-04:00

Whew its been awhile since I last wrote on here. As you can see from the photo, I was able to visit the famous redwoods! There was a college activity going there, so James and I went. I'm really glad we did too!

This picture was actually taken INSIDE one of the trees. It was CRAZY....the whole tree was hollow. Four of us stood inside it and we could have easily fit about 8 more people in....

I enjoyed my time exploring the Redwoods IMMENSELY! :)

Introducing Tabitha Isabela Keckler...

2011-02-24T15:15:00.003-05:00

I know that it has been forever since I last blogged on here. Whew, I'm back at college of course and I'm keeping pretty busy with my classes. I realized that the last post on here included pictures from the baby shower for Stuart and Tamara. In case anyone was wondering, YES Tamara had her baby! :D

I'm an AUNT! YAY!

This is my new niece, Tabitha Isabela Keckler. :) I am REALLY looking forward to meeting her in May!

I think this is my favorite picture of her! She looks so cute and tiny...and the way she rolls up in a ball reminds me of a little porcupine. :D

The happy family!

I am looking forward to May so much!!!!!!!!!! (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) :D

Baby shower!!!!!

2011-01-13T15:41:00.004-05:00

We had a Baby shower for Stuart and Tamara two weeks ago. I'm finally getting around to putting up some pictures from it. :)

These cakes were decorated by Mark...:)

Stuart and Tamara

Opening presents...

My table

James and I being a little weird...

Not sure what was happening here...it looks like Mark was stealing Dan's food though...

Sarah and Mark

Daddy and Uncle John

YUM!

Congrats to Stuart and Tamara!!!!

I'm really excited to be an Aunt! I'll be keeping everyone posted when the baby is born! :)

Christmas Break

2010-12-29T15:51:00.006-05:00

I'm offically on Christmas break until the 18th of January! Hooray! So far, I've been having a blast here at home! Christmas was great and the ice skating at Laurel lake is pretty great too.

Daddy and I on Christmas Day

Katie and I

Daddy and Sarah

Sarah, Katie and daddy

Daddy and Lydia

College Happenings...

2010-11-05T19:30:00.003-04:00

Wow! I hate that I havent written on here in such a long time! Lets see... Life has been pretty normal here lately...

Midterms were last week and today we had off school for a work day around campus. I spent my morning scraping gum off of the sidewalks. It was actually fun, and it was really nice to be able to get outside and spend some time in the sun!

My classes are going well and my grades are all keeping steady.

My private piano lessons are going well too! I am now playing Christmas songs...getting ready for the Christmas spirit. I always used to get upset when people would start with all of the Christmas decorating and Christmas music before Thanksgiving. However, now that I am not going to be home for Thanksgiving, I look forward to Christmas. Only 44 days until Christmas break! :)

College Life and Cleaning dorms

2010-10-12T12:17:00.003-04:00

So its been a long time since I last wrote on here! I feel like I need to catch up on some stuff...

All of my classes have started and so far I enjoy them a lot! I've had a few tests and quizzes and midterms are creeping up on me.

I was moved rooms from 113 to 115. I have two AWESOME roommates! :)

The other day we had a cleaning day on our floor so I had someone snap this picture of us.

That's basically it for now. Next time something interesting happens, I'll put it on here.

If there are still people reading my blog here, I'd love to hear your feedback! :)

College Life

2010-09-11T00:48:00.003-04:00

Yes, I'm at college in CA...

and its been forever since I've written on here. I missed my blogging!

Anyway, I'm at Golden State Baptist College officially now. Its okay, and I'm sure I'll grow to like it, but I'm pretty homesick right now.

Anyway, I have a few pictures:

This is the day before I left. My parents, Oliver and I played scrabble. :)

On my third day at college after kind of settling in, I went to a baseball game. Me...and baseball...it was almost the end of the world. :) It was the A's against the Angels. The A's won by a landslide...

On Monday, there was a Labor Day picnic at the park. I pretty much ate the whole time. I went walking on the trail and fell in a gopher hole...:) That was exciting...
and of course, where would we be without the Jungle Gym? :)

Me, in sunny CA

at the picnic

Then on Tuesday the college girls went on a trip to San Francisco to Pier 39. This is me, with Alcatraz in the background.

I saw quite a few sea lions there...

Alcatraz

and, that's it for now!

I promise I will try to keep up a little more on here! Today was the first day of class, so I need to STUDY too. :)

Going away party

2010-08-29T21:14:00.006-04:00

My mom has been planning a "going away" party for me for a few weeks now. :D That was today. By a "little party" I was thinking maybe a few marshmallows, hot dogs, and maybe some ice cream.

But as usual, my mom went above and beyond and had my sisters and brothers bring dishes. We had this HUGE meal...and there were BALLOONS...:D

Anyway, I managed to get a few shots.

Everyone getting ready to eat

My mom wanted pictures taken with all of my siblings before I leave.

This is me with Daniel and Martha.

All of "the girls" , Sarah, Lydia, Martha, me and Katie. Don't mind the weird faces Katie and I are making...:D

Oliver and I. and Yes, he meant to do that. :)

me with Ryan and Katie. :)

with Stuart and Tamara,

With Mark and Lydia,

The one of just me and Sarah was taken on Mark's camera, so I didn't have that one.

And the best: :)

me with my parents. <3

Tamara and I

Lydia and I

awwww, Mark and Lydia.

All of that food must've made Stuart and Oliver tired...:)

I had a great time and my family definitely went really big on the party for me. :D But I loved it.

I'll be leaving for college on the 1st of September.

Please keep in touch! Love you all!

Music Camp videos

2010-08-20T20:03:00.006-04:00

Some videos from Camp. Compliments of Daniel Smith. Thanks Daniel!!!!:-)

Summer Music Academy 2010

2010-08-15T23:40:00.005-04:00

I mentioned in one of my previous posts that I went to Music camp in Pensacola FL again this year. Well, I thought I'd post some pictures from that. :D

I had a great time as always (this was my third year) and I learned a LOT. I think this year was by far the best so far.

This is a picture I took and thought was funny because (from the left) Caleb, Joshua and Shiloh are all looking in the same direction. :D

Joshua and Daniel. And Wesley and Jami in the background. :D

We we laughing about SOMETHING at lunch. :D Joshua and Caleb

Joshua, Caleb, me, Alyssa and one of our couselors Kirsten. (She was AWESOME!)

There was an event called Waky Olympics on Thursday night. Basically it was a game to try to get EVERYONE soaking wet. I made it almost the whole way through the night and then THIS guy, Justin....haha, his cousin Kevin and another friend named Abe DUNKED me with a bucket full of water. ARRRRRGH!:)

Me bowling with Robert

Jesse was a WONDERFUL violinist!

My little brother, Michael. I was borrowing his hat.

This is Caleb, Jami and the OTHER Caleb:)

and to the left, Jami and I ice skating

Ice Skating with Catherine

Michael and I trying to kill each other....:)

This is a goofy pic...

This is me, Daniel and KT holding Daniel still until the pic took. :D (Daniel didnt want in the picture I don't think...:D

Joshua, Kirsten, Francis, Hannah, Caleb me and another counselor Meghan. I'm holding up the prize I got for being "Best all around camper"....How that happened I have NO CLUE!!!

Me, Clarissa, Elizabeth, Alyssa, Melody, Catherine and Colleen. We were all kinda like roomates. :D

This was after the wacky olympics. :D

Jed, Ken, Patrick, Micah, Joshua and Johnny trying to be body guards

The Choir

The last day: Caleb, Caleb, me and Stephen

Stephen and Ken

I love this pic! :D Kathleen, adina and Jillian. :D

Wesley, Irineu, Kathleen, Adina, Jillian, Fernando, Leonardo

me with Fernando

Meghan and I

Kirsten with the Brazilian group!

Elisa, Wes and Jami wading in the fountain...:D

Joshua and I

blurry group picture!

The graduating seniors, Shiloh, Melody, me and Wes

Miriam came to pick up her two siblings so we got to hang out for a bit!!!!:D

Arm wrestling going on between Josh B. and Michael. :) This is what happens when I tell them to make funny faces.

Josh, Joseph and I having one of our many unsmiling contests. KT should've been in this pic...he was the king of not smiling. :D

Getting ready to leave...:'( Esther, Miriam and I

As always, it was SO much fun! I'm sad that I won't be able to go back next year. But I guess its time for me to move on to college....YES. I MUST! :D I need to just keep on telling myself that. :)

Until later folks!

Wonderful Grace of Jesus Quartet

2010-08-09T06:44:00.002-04:00

Katie, Kate, Kelsey and I playing Wonderful Grace of Jesus.

4th of July at My House

2010-07-26T21:14:00.003-04:00

WOW! What can I say? I'm finally getting around to catching up on my blog. I feel like I haven't written in a long time...hmm, now that's funny.

But seriously, I've been keeping VERY busy with work and then a two week music camp in FL. I'll post pictures from that later.

The 4th of July:

It was awesome at my house! All of my siblings and siblings-in-law (haha!) came over for the afternoon, and we ate...and ate...and set off some sparklers late at night.

It was a nice relaxing time for everyone I think.

This is Ryan, the designated grill operator. :D

Daniel and Mark were supposed to be watching the deep fryer...but Mark was gonna take a swim in the rain barrel instead. :D

This is what happens when I say "Do something funny guys!"

Daniel, you gonna leave some for the rest of us???

Yummmmm, we had way to much food! It was delicious though.

Lydia, Katie and I. What a pretty picture!

umm, yeah....:D

Tamara, Lydia, Katie, me, Martha and Sarah.

GROUP PICTURE!

So that was my 4th of July. It was one of the best 4th of July's ever I think!

Well, I'll post again soon, I PROMISE!!!!! :)

News news news!!!

2010-06-21T07:03:00.002-04:00

Wow, so I'm sure all those of you who just started visiting my blog or haven't known me long are probably like, "What is UP with this girl??? She never POSTS anything!!!"

Well, this is "the way it is" in the summertime. :D

This is just a quick update...

I'm still alive, I'm keeping VERY busy around the house with all of the farm work.

Last week my church had VBS and that was exciting! I'll post some pictures from that later.

We are on our 4th week of CSA's...ONLY 3 MORE IN THIS SESSION!

The Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, apricots and cherries are coming in heavily and its a race just to catch them before the birds do, or before they mold.

The vegetables are also doing wonderful this year. I won't post ANY pictures of the gardens anymore... The weeds have officially taken over.

That's about it for now.

Oh, one more little piece of news.. I bought my plane tickets for college! California here I come!

Welcome to our Garage

2010-06-07T11:30:00.003-04:00

ahh, welcome to the garage/work building of Orchard Country Produce. :D Just thought I'd put up these before and after photos...BEFORE cleaning and AFTER cleaning. ;D

Yes, Oliver and I took on the enormous task of cleaning the garage for the first time in a year.

and what a task it was!

the Second and Third bay's before:

2nd and 3rd bay's AFTER...:D

1st bay before:

1st bay after.

:D Sorry this is such a short post, but since our CSA's started last week, I need to go start washing some coolers out for them! :D

'til later!

Mark and Lydia's wedding!!

2010-05-24T22:05:00.010-04:00

Okay everyone, hold tight because this is gonna be a loooong post! :D

The wedding on Saturday was beautiful and everything went well!

It started raining a bit at the end of the reception, but it was just light rain. :D

These first pictures are from the rehearsal dinner and rehearsal.

Ryan and Katie

The Happy Couple!

Katie, what a beautiful pose!:D

Mr. Myers, Mark, Nic, Daniel, Stuart and Oliver getting ready to head up to the front

We had a few technical difficulties with the carpet. :D

Kelsey and Katie

On Saturday morning, Katie, Stuart, Tamara, Martha, Daniel, Mommy and I decorated the tents where the reception was to be held.

The Two Mile House, where the reception was held

The two tents

A picture of me...I was annoyed because the napkins wouldnt stop falling over. :D

The Cake, minus the top...

Getting ready for the REAL thing!!!:)

Katie and Sarah. sarah is wearing one of Lydia's hoops over her dress...:D

I love this picture! Lydia and Sarah being goofy...

Martha

I started getting scared that I would forget the words in the song I was singing...so i wrote them down on a cheat sheet. I ended up not using it though. :D

Trevor, escorting Mrs. and Mr. Wooten

Ryan escorting my mother

Mr. Myers, Mark and the groomsmen

Me, singing "Lord, Make Us One"

Mark and Lydia had a little bit of trouble getting the rings on...:-)

Oliver and Katie singing "Together"

awwww!

Presenting Mr. and Mrs. Mark Wooten

at the Two Mile House

Stuart and Tamara

Martha and Daniel (the NEXT ones to get married!!!!)

Oliver and Sarah

Martha and I

Oliver was proud of his white socks! :D

Lydia and Mark with the Wootens

Oliver and Ryan

I love this picture!!! Katie thought I should take a picture of her and Ryan looking solemn. Like in the Old Days. :D Ryan isnt doing too good of a job at that...

Nic, Kate, Lydia, Mark, Trevor, and Ryan

The musicians during the reception. BEAUTIFUL!

Our Photographers, Enoch and Amanda. :-)

Right before they drove away. :-) The shaving cream originally said "Just Married", but it got washed off by the rain...:-(

I had a wonderful time! I love weddings, and can't wait until the NEXT one!!!:D

A day on the farm :-)

2010-05-18T21:38:00.003-04:00

Hey there! Wow...this is a busy busy week so far. Its the week of the wedding and we're keeping up with markets too.

This is a picture Lydia and I took after trying out some hairdos for her wedding.

eggs, eggs, eggs coming out our EARS! :-)

Mark, working with the greens

Oliver, Lydia and Mark. THEY look happy!:-D

This is what we look like after using the transplanter in the mud all day. :D

I figure, if I'm gonna put up a nasty picture or Oliver, I need to put one up of me...:-)

This is me, on Sunday afternoon

Well, 3 more days until the BIG DAY! ahhh, I'm getting excited!

Mothers Day

2010-05-12T22:20:00.002-04:00

I know I'm late but Happy MOTHERS DAY! On Mothers Day Lydia, Martha and I planned a small get-together at the house. We invited Katie and Ryan and Stuart and Tamara over.

It was fun.

Here are just three pretty lame pictures from then.

From the left: My Mom, Ryan, Katie, my Dad and Lydia (who'd just gotten off of night shift...)

Stuart and Tamara

Martha and I.

That's about it...
I'll write more as soon as I have something EXCITING to write about! :-)
Only 9 days until the wedding!!!

Gardens, Markets, and news

2010-05-10T07:17:00.003-04:00

Hmm..seems like its been awhile. Well, markets have started, we've gone to each one except Westminster which doesn't start until June. As far as picking produce goes, we keep fairly busy picking the Rhubarb, spring onions, asparagus, and lettuce mixes (IE lettuce, arugula, collards, kale, and some other weird greens. :-))

These two pictures were taken the other day. Lydia and I were goofing around...:-)

Mark actually took this picture the other week while we were sitting on the deck and he was SUPPOSED to be writing thank-you cards with Lydia for wedding presents. :-D

This (quite obviously) is the orchard/gardens. I think that's Oliver out getting ready to water the upper garden...and in the back you can see my Dad spraying the orchard...

ack, this picture is SO environmentally friendly...NOT REALLY. :D

The Garden and red raspberries in the back

Annnnnnnd, that's it for now! We're all doing pretty good for the first week of markets. NOW, to start the SECOND! :-)

Oh, and the countdown is going, 11 DAYS UNTIL LYDIA AND MARK'S WEDDING!!!!

YAY!!!

Graduation Video

2010-05-05T14:19:00.007-04:00

This is a song my siblings and brothers in law made for me for my graduation party. I lOVED it! :-D

Its Graduation Time!

2010-04-29T17:25:00.004-04:00

Last Saturday I had my Graduation celebration. I had a really fun time preparing for it.

I had a mini-recital and played a few pieces on the piano.

My mom gave me these white roses after I finished.:-)

Eating!!!

A picture of me with Desirae, Lisa and Laura C.

Mark and Lydia cutting the cake. Mark actually made the cake. :-) He really wanted to make his own wedding cake, but my mom said he should just do my graduation cake instead. :-) It turned out really well!:-)

Chatting

Elizabeth S. and Ryan just DON'T get along! :-) hahahaha, seriously...this wasn't posed!:-D

*ahem*

Me with my Great Uncle Jim

What was left of the cake.

Presents

Me with my "Aunt" Ginny. She's not really my aunt...I just call her that. ;-)

Chatting again

My friend Jamey came to stay for three days.

But anyway, that was my graduation party in a nutshell. :)

Now onto MARKETS! :-) Market starts Saturday at Cedar Lane in Bethesda. WHooooo!!!!

Central Pennsylvania Homeschool Orchestra Ensemble

2010-04-27T08:16:00.003-04:00

I had my orchestra concert last Thursday and it went well. Just thought I'd put up a few pictures here that our administrator took for us.

We're a very small orchestra (as you can see) made up of some pretty young students. Most of them are homeschoolers, however this year we had some from public, private and cyber schools as well.

And of course, the group picture last! :-)

This is my last year in orchestra....:-( boo hoo, I'll miss it! :-(

But, I suppose I'm moving on...to COLLEGE now!:-)

WOW, Look what showed up!!!!

2010-04-20T22:04:00.003-04:00

At long last, the day we've been WAITING FOR!!!!!!!

Take a good look folks! Our box truck here has been in the garage for 9 months!

We were starting to be scared it wasn't going to show up in time to go to market...

Whew...we can rest easy now! :-) The Ole' girl's back in her parking place at bay No. 1. :-D

Welcome home Box truck! :-)WHOOOO!

hahaha!

Mixture of Randomness

2010-04-15T07:25:00.004-04:00

I happened to get up a little earlier than normal today, so I thought I'd post this in my spare time since I finished my regular things early.

I realized that I never posted any pictures of the deck! Or, I don't think I did at any rate. :-)

So I just took these pics. Its beautiful, and I love sitting out on it!

That's Oliver standing on the deck in this picture. :-D

Spring Onions. They're getting big already...soon it'll be time to PICK them. The other day Oliver, Daddy and I planted about 800 plugs of lettuce. It was fun. :-)

Me sitting on the swing in the back

Its so hard to believe that its Apple Blossom time already! Time flies...That's me under the Apple tree by the way. :-D

And the other day we (Oliver, Daddy, Mommy and myself) went out to ice cream. That's a rare occasion around here so I thought it was worthy of taking a picture. :-) Oliver looks a bit like he's had TOO MUCH ice cream, but oh well. :-D

That's all I have for now. I'm sure I'll have something new to post later this week, as we've gotten onions in the mail and are making an onion-planting day of it on Friday. YAY! So, 'til later!

Having fun with my sisters

2010-04-10T07:34:00.002-04:00

Having a blast practicing with my sisters. :-)

Lydia's Bridal shower!!!!

2010-04-09T09:09:00.005-04:00

WOW!!!! It seems like awhile!

I've been slacking...

and keeping very very busy! Planting is here, and Wedding time is coming upon us!:-)

These past few weeks I've been planning a bridal shower for my sister Lydia.

I've got some pictures here from it...

This is just a random pic of me

The Bride to be!!

Kate and Katie

The beautiful cake Mrs. Wooten bought!

The decorations

food YUMMY!

FOOD!

Lots and lots of presents!!!

We had a hat making contest! :-) This is Tammy, the model for her team

Tamara

Elizabeth

Kelsey

Kelsey, Emily, Elizabeth and I

We had all of the guests wear hats. :-D

So that was my exciting day!!!:-)

Now onto bigger things! ahem....planting LETTUCE!!!!:-D

Until Later!!!!!

Bell Choir Performing

2010-04-03T07:34:00.003-04:00

OH MY WORD, its been SO LONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW...

I'm back now.:-)

I've been keeping really busy with Apple sorting, pruning, and planting. Plus today is the big day for my sister Lydia's Bridal Shower. Since I'm her Maid of Honor I'm heading that up too.

I just thought I'd post this to let you know I'm still alive.

Also, this is a video of The Bell Choir's first "Performance"...I thought we did fairly well. :-)

We're doing one again tomorrow.

Well there you go, enjoy! After today's over, I'll have an interesting post to put up. So, 'til later!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yb6_hsMmxU

A BIRD!!!!

2010-03-16T21:31:00.002-04:00

We've had this visitor at our house the past few days.

My dad says he's called a Flicker (hopefully I'm spelling that right).

For some odd reason he loves pecking on our chimney! So we can hear his greeting all through the house!

It's really cute!

Harrisburg State Museum

2010-03-11T22:43:00.002-05:00

Last Saturday my mom and I went to the Harrisburg State Museum.

I've been there before, but its been at least 6 years since my last visit there.

Just some of the stuff we saw...

and Me

It was a fun time! :-)

Piano Song

2010-03-05T18:05:00.001-05:00

Ryan and Katie's place

2010-02-28T16:15:00.003-05:00

On Friday night, Daniel, Martha, Mark, Lydia, Stuart, Tamara and I went over to Ryan and Katie's house for dinner and some games.

We played Balderdash all evening! :-)

Mark kept on doing this with the pens...

:-)

Stuart and Tamara

they teamed up in Balderdash

Daniel...um..being weird.

Ryan writing down his answers

Martha and Daniel

Mark and Lydia...making funny faces at each other.

It was fun and the food was really good too. It's always a blast hanging out with the siblings!

:-D

The Bells

2010-02-24T05:12:00.007-05:00

Sorry you can't see anything in the video. I couldnt play and video tape at the same time. If you could'nt tell, that was "Holy, Holy, Holy"
:-) It might have been hard to guess because I set the camera down away from the bells with the melody.
:-) It's so much fun!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFB_bouI2ZQ

Bell Choir

2010-02-21T22:02:00.002-05:00

My church recently bought a three-octave bell set, so we now have a bell choir! So we've been meeting every Saturday evening now for the past few weeks. It's a LOT of fun!!!:-)

Just some pictures from practice.

Daniel, Tamara, and Mitchell

Oliver and Ryan

Marking our music...

Daniel, Ryan, Oliver, Katie, Martha and my Mom

Right now we're playing "Holy Holy Holy"...I'll upload it when I can!

:-)

Sledding

2010-02-18T20:38:00.002-05:00

On Saturday night my church had an event for the teens and youth. We went sledding. It was awesome! I havent had that much fun sledding for years! :-)

Of course, I caught it all on photo too!

Kelsey and I posing with the cracked purple Toboggan

Britney, Kelsey and I
I was a little hungry...:-)

Elizabeth and I

Martha, Logan and Eric eating cookies

Katie, blowing up Zach's snow tube

It was great fun! We went again on Sunday night after church. I think we're even gonna go again on Saturday. :-)

The Blizzard of 2010

2010-02-13T12:39:00.004-05:00

THE SNOWSTORM OF 2010! :-D

On Friday night of last week, we got hit with about 2 feet of snow. :-) It was a blast! Then on Tuesday afternoon we started getting another dumping. By Wednesday evening we had another 2 feet. :-) I made sure to get plenty of pictures!

This is the biggest snow (I think) since 1993...

:-) Certainly the first BIG one that I remember.

Martha and Oliver shoveling

Me eating icicles...:-D

Homer

This is after the first snow

After the second snow. :-D

We're supposed to get a few more inches on Monday...we'll see...:-)

I'm a skeptic until I see it landing.

Tonight I'm going with Oliver to a Youth day at my church, so I'm sure I'll have pictures to put up from there later.

Until later!

Video

2010-02-05T20:26:00.002-05:00

The PA State Farm Show

2010-01-19T19:34:00.002-05:00

I decided to go to the PA State Farm Show last Friday night. It had been running since the 10th and was going to end on Saturday.

It was fun, besides pushing through the crowd...:-)

This is the famous Butter Sculpture. :-)

It's 1,000 pounds of pure butter.

:-D

Oliver and I went to the Amtrak stand and picked up free Amtrak hats.

It was fun! We probably shouldn't have gone on the same night as the Rodeo, since we missed seeing all the Horses and Bulls. But it was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to next year's!

:-)

My Monthly Field Trip

2010-01-19T19:21:00.002-05:00

For this month, my mother and Lancaster and visited The Landisvalley Museum and the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum.

I really wasn't expecting much out of the Railroad Museum since I'm not into machinery, but I was pleasantly surprised! I actually enjoyed myself! :-)

Here I am holding the hand of a famous railroad dude.

It was a load of fun. I had a really great time talking to the man at Landisvalley Museum. I wasn't able to take any pictures there, as my camera batteries were dead...:-(

My Sister's and I

2010-01-15T22:42:00.008-05:00

To those out there reading this: YES, I am alive! The Holiday's took a tole on me and it took a shaking to get back into the normal swing of things! :-)

I decided to do this post for(and dedicate it to) my four lovely sisters.

This photo was taken at Katie's wedding. Me, Katie's sister-in-law (another Katie), Martha, Lydia, Katie and Sarah

My oldest sister Katie. She's always been my motivation in life to be the best pianist I can be: and now that she's teaching me how to play Congregational's and key changes, maybe I will be!!!:-) I love you Katie!

My twin sisters: Sarah and Martha.
Sarah, notice I put your name first in order of age!!:-)
Sarah has always been the sister I can go to when I've got a problem. You'll always stick up for me and I love you for it!
Martha has always been roommate! haha, but she's also the one I go to when I need something. You're the best roommate anyone could ask for (and you put up with my slovenly messes). I'll love you always!

My sister Lydia:

Lydia was always my playmate as a child, and to this day we still do things together as much as possible. I love you Lydia!

A sappy post, I know. But I've wanted to post this for a year now. It's long overdue!

Katie, Sarah, Martha, Lydia,

I love you guys:

You're the best sisters anyone could ever have!!!

New Years

2010-01-06T12:00:00.003-05:00

Christmas was great this year as always! We had our family Christmas on New Years Day, as tradition is. We had our scavenger hunt for our presents as well!:-) Although Daddy says this is the last year...:-(

On December 28th, 29th, and 30th, Daddy and Mommy went to Lancaster for a little vacation of they're own. So we went shopping and had a blast making our yearly Candy House. This year we decided to make a candy market instead. We fashioned it to look like the DOT market in DC. :-)

Oliver

Sarah looks mildly annoyed...:-)

On New Years the family started showing up around 12.

Stuart and Tamara's dogs, Sebastian is the big one, Sabina is the puppy

Christmas dinner

Katie, doing Grandma's hair. :-)

Ryan

Oliver was the last one to finish the scavenger hunt. Here he is with his last clue, and Mark!:-)

My parents got Daniel a tree stand for Christmas. We had such a time trying to keep it a secret! :-) Martha and Oliver picked it out a Bass Pro Shops while I kept Daniel occupied looking at fishing reels. :-)

My Mom, Stuart, and Tamara

Martha and Daniel. Martha's holding the purse that Daniel got her. HE was having a terrible time keeping it a secret from HER!!! It was so funny!!

Ryan and Katie

Lydia and Mark

and that was my Christmas in pictures! :-)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!~!~!~!~!~!~!

Christmas at Grandma's

2009-12-28T13:15:00.006-05:00

On Christmas Day we had a short Church service early and then went to my Grandparents house. As usual, there was TONS of food! ;-)

This is my Uncle John and Martha. Uncle John doesn't like pictures, but oh well. :-)

Daniel's siblings, Laura and Nathan came over for Christmas too. From left to right, Laura, Daniel, Nathan and Oliver
Ryan washing dishes. :-)

Sarah and Katie in deep discussion while eating crackers and cheese.

Katie and I

My Cousin, Jonathan

Stuart and Tamara

Katie and Ryan

Laura

My three brothers (or soon to be): Mark, Ryan and Daniel

Ryan, Mark, Oliver and I made a giant snowman

It was Mark's idea to put antlers on it...:-)

I had a wonderful time this Christmas, spending time with my family and friends.

I hope it was the same for you all!

Christmas Caroling 2009

2009-12-28T12:53:00.002-05:00

Every year I look forward to going Christmas Caroling with my church. This year we split about 50 people up into 6 groups. Usually we pass around a sheet at church and people write down names and addresses of people they know who would enjoy being caroled to. This year we decided to do something different. Each group had 16 fruit baskets, and we were designated an area, and we were supposed to give out the baskets. We weren't allowed to go to ANYONE we knew. :-) It was interesting. We were designated the Biglerville area, so we got back the fastest. After getting back to the church, we caroled to Mrs. Maust, who was making hot chocolate for all the carolers.

Mr. and Mrs. Maust

Britney and I. We were in a group together, so we were goofing off a bit. :-)

Mrs. Shreve, Kelsey, and Mr. Shreve

It was loads of fun, as always! Caroling has always been one of the highlights of Christmas for me. :-)

More later!

Christmas Open house

2009-12-28T12:31:00.002-05:00

WOW! It has been SO LONG since my last post! I'm still alive, I just wasn't able to find time to post anything.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! I know I did!

We got a little over a foot of snow last week and I managed to snap a few shots of that.

Also, on the 20th, we had a Open House for everyone at our church. Since it had JUST stopped snowing, we didn't have as many people come as in previous years, but we had lots of fun together!

Playing Apples to Apples

And just talking and eating

I'll put more posts up about the other things we've been keeping busy with!

I hope your all doing well!

Potts Grove and The Ephrata Cloister

2009-12-12T19:21:00.005-05:00

Last weekend, my Mom and I went on our monthly field trip. We went east again to The Potts Grove Manor and The Ephrata Cloister.

Me in one of the Cloister's homes.

The town of Ephrata was founded by Conrad Beissel who came to the United States in 1760. In Conestoga, PA, he became affiliated with the Brethren Church. He was appointed leader but ended up resigning. He moved west and settled by the Cocalico Creek east of Lancaster, PA with the intention of being a hermit the rest of his life. He was soon followed by many who saw him as a charismatic leader. Together they formed their own denomination. They had theology pulled from nearly every group Conrad Beissel was a member of or was influenced by: the Catholic Church, Lutheran Church, the Mystics, Pietists, Brethren, and he had his own ideas as well. He believed that when he died he was going to go to heaven and literally MARRY God. So, he thought, "Why get married on earth?" He demanded that the members of his Cloister remain celibate and never marry.

This building is the "Saar" or the Home of the Sisterhood: AKA The Women's Dormitory. The Brotherhood was burnt down.

I REALLY enjoyed visiting the cloister and learning the History of the place! It was absolutely FASCINATING!!!!

Basically the people who lived here slept for 4 hours a day and Prayed for about 10 hours a day, and worked the rest of the time. They ate only one meal a day and that only consisted of vegetables. They believed that eating meat would make you carnal and have wicked desires.

This picture is really blurry, but I was only allowed to take pictures without the flash. This is one of the "sisters" bedrooms. That "Bed" is made out of a board, and for a pillow, they used a wooden block, so that they wouldn't be TOO comfortable when they slept. They believed that the more comfort you had, the more dreams you had when you slept, and dreaming was a form of Satanic oppression...

After Conrad Beissel died, the whole cloister went downhill. Peter Miller tried to keep it going, but not to many people were interested in living that sort of lifestyle...(I wonder why?????)

Not to mention the fact that they were all dying off since they didn't believe in getting married and having children.

This is Peter Miller's gravestone. As you can see, it was snowing that day!!! :-D

I really enjoyed going there, because its such a STRANGE place! Sorry about the huge History lesson, but the whole place makes no sense without some background first...

Not that it eve makes sense now...:-)

This is John Pott's home. He was a fairly normal guy in the 1700's. We just went to look at the house. I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside though....

So there you have it! That's what I've been up to!

Oh, and the Christmas decorations are up!:-D

Well, I hopefully didn't bore you to bad! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Bride and Bridesmaid dress patterns!:-D

2009-12-08T19:37:00.004-05:00

WOW! It's been awhile! It's hard to believe that its December already! Time flies... We just had our first snow of about two inches. :-D

Well, I'm really behind in my news and pictures, but I don't want to pitch it all into one HUGE post, so I'll space it out. :-D

The other Sunday (when Sarah was home for Thanksgiving break) we took some cheesy "sister" pictures. It was fun! An afterwards we had a party cutting out the patterns for Lydia's wedding dress, and all of our bridesmaid dresses.

Holding Sarah, since she's the smallest! :-D

A goofy picture of us all holding hands...

Mark and Daniel cutting out patterns

While we cut, Ryan made us grilled cheese sandwiches in the kitchen...:-D

So there's ONE post! :-D

It might take me a bit to get to the next one, as I'm putting up Christmas decorations at the same time I'm posting. :-D

YAY, Christmas is almost here!!!!!!

Thanksgiving Day

2009-11-30T21:28:00.002-05:00

Well, I didn't take any pictures of our Thanksgiving meal, but if I had...:-D

Thanksgiving is always a blast at my house, and this year was no different. We had quite a few people over, so we had to set up another dinner table in the family room. The meal was delicious, and I had a great time afterwards talking and playing some games with my family.

Here are just a few random pictures from our day.

Tamara and I

During Apples to Apples. :-DI LOVE that game!

Our family tradition every year is to sit down (after the meal and games) and watch "A Christmas Carol." The version with George C. Scott. Its a fun tradition and something I look forward to every year.

I thank God for so many things! I truly owe everything in my life to him alone!

The Ocean

2009-11-27T23:10:00.002-05:00

Our Vacation to Outer Banks, NC

2009-11-27T21:39:00.007-05:00

Hello Everyone! Well, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I know I did! I'll post pictures from Thanksgiving later.

This is a post from our vacation in Outer Banks, NC.

This is the room I stayed in.

The Living room
The Kitchen

On Sunday we visited a church which just happened to be having a dinner that night. We weren't going to stay, but the Pastor and the people there said that we just HAD to! :-D It was very nice!

This is Katie, at church.

On Monday, Oliver went with Katie and Ryan on a ferry ride. I went with my parents to Jockeys State Park, which is basically a lot of sand dunes!:-D

My Parents

The Ocean

Me on the Sand Dunes

Me and my Mother

Monday night Katie, Ryan, Oliver and I went wave Jumping. It was SO much fun! Some of those waves were HUGE!:-D

Katie and I

Monday morning we had set an empty pizza box out on our porch and that night when we were sitting in the living room, we heard some noises. Daddy went out and found this opossum in the pizza box. It was actually my first time seeing one. I thought it was a rat!!!

Ugh, it was SO disgusting! :-D

The last day, saying goodbye to the beach. :-(

I had a WONDERFUL time, and I love the ocean!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Ever After

2009-11-20T21:13:00.003-05:00

A friend of mine recently loaned me one of her many books. She had been absolutely RAVING over this book for months and telling me that I was going to LOVE it!

After opening the package and seeing the book, I was a little let down. By looking at the front cover and reading the back cover, I had the preconceived idea that this book was nothing more than another sappy love story. My friend had given me two other books as well, so I read those within the next two days. Finally, I picked up the book that was so highly praised by my friend. It was a little hard to get into, but after awhile, I could understand what she meant.
About ¾ of way through the book I found myself crying so much that I had to get a tissue. Let me just say that I haven’t cried over a book since I was about 9 and reading about how Crazy Horse was killed by General Custer. This book actually made me cry! I sat the book down about three times because I had to do something else, but each time I picked it back up, I began crying all over again. I’ve come to the conclusion that there are two possible answers to this.

1: I’m getting sappy myself as I get older

2: The book was simply a GREAT story and was written VERY well!

I tend to lean toward the second answer.

So, this is just a short book report to let you all know that if your looking for a beautiful and sad (in some parts) book, read Ever After by Karen Kingsbury.

I certainly enjoyed this book even though it wasn't what I would consider my "first choice" kind of book.

Hope you all enjoy it!

By the way, I won't be posting for a few days as I'm going on vacation for five days! So I'll talk to you all later!

A FIELD TRIP!!!!:-D

2009-11-14T21:23:00.004-05:00

A few Tuesdays ago my Mom took me on a field trip! It was exciting for me, since my family never really DID field trips to much.

We went to two Historical sites: The home of William Penn (Pennsbury Manor) and Washington's Crossing on the Delaware River.

I got as many pictures as I could, but thought I'd better not try posting them all...:-D As it is, this post will be kinda lengthy: sorry!!!!

Pennsbury Manor. Most of this site was reconstructed in the 1940's since it had long been dilapidated.

Inside the Manor. Our tour guide told me that was allowed to take pictures, but that I couldn't use the flash. So that's why they're kinda blurry...

This was supposed to be William Penn's bed.

I only posted three pictures from the inside, because all of the rooms KIND OF look the same after awhile...:-D

I asked my Mom to take a picture of me in front of the Manor, and she had the zoom on by accident. It actually turned out kind of nice though, with the leaves in the background :-D

There were about four Peacocks walking around. The tour guide told me they were tame, but whenever I walked up to one, it ran away...

After we were finished at Pennsbury, we drove to Washington's Crossing.

I got this picture of the original painting.

Our tour guide told us that this piece of the river was where George Washington crossed with his 2,500 men.

This is the Tavern where George Washington stayed when he layed out the plans for the crossing. The inside was SO AWESOME!!!!!!!!! ALL of the furniture was REAL and whenever one of our group would accidentally lay they're hand on a chair, our tour guide was like, "NOOOOOOOO!!!! That's ANTIQUE!!!!"

He told me I wasn't allowed to take any pictures of the inside. :-( But I guess I can understand, since ALL of the stuff in there was very old and valuable!

After finishing our tour of the Crossing, We drove up to Bowman's Tower and got a beautiful view of the Delaware.

My Mother

And that's it for my field trip post.

One thing that I found VERY interesting, is that Washington's Crossing is closing down. As it is now they're only open about three days a week, since they don't have the funds to hire workers, and volunteers are hard to come by. The lady at the ticket counter told us that Washington's Crossing had attempted to become part of the State Historical Society, but that they were not accepted since they were small. I thought that was SO sad! My state, Pennsylvania, is paying for BRAND new Football Stadiums (or whatever it is they're spending money on), while Pennsylvania Historical Sites are closing because of lack of advertisement and state funding.

Anyway, I'll get off my rant for now. If you haven't been able to tell by now, I'm a History FANATIC!!!!!:-D

Hay Ride

2009-11-14T21:13:00.002-05:00

A few months ago Oliver and I went to a Hay ride/farm day at my sisters in-laws house. I've been meaning to put these pictures up, but just never got around to it until now. So, enjoy!

This is Mr. Shreve and my brother Oliver

Me, sitting with Kylee on the wagon.

Laken and I

Ryan, my brother-in-law.

Birthday!

2009-11-11T14:20:00.002-05:00

Wow, its been awhile since I've posted anything on here! I'm behind in my news. And pictures. But here are just a few pictures from my birthday. These were taken on Sunday.

A LOT more has been going on since that, but at the moment, I'm feeling kinda sick. Not sure if its just a cold (I don't think it is) or if its Flu.

:-(

Post more later!

I've been tagged!

2009-11-06T21:57:00.003-05:00

Well, my blog has been tagged by The Hartley Family Blog

so here goes...

Random Questions Tag
What kind of car would you like when you're older?
Hmm...when I was about 12 I LOVED Eclipses and wanted one. But now I'll settle for anything that won't let me sit by the side of the road. :-)

Where would you want to live when you're older?

In a house...:-)

Do you want to go to college?
Yes

How many siblings do you have?
Six!

Are you Random?
Yes, very random

How many children would you like to have when you're married?
As many as I can!:-)

Boys or girls?
Both are great!

This or That:

City or Country girl?
um, I would hate to think of myself as a city girl, but I don't like the sound of "Country girl". But I AM a girl, and I DO live in the country. ;-) and LOVE it!

Gourmet meals or steak with a big salad?
Steak with a big salad. Gourmet makes me feel like a hog when I go back for seconds. :-)

Flying or driving?
I love BOTH!

Bike riding or swimming?
hmm, I guess Swimming.

Sports or no sports?
No Sports, unless its dodge ball or Red Rover....Wait, are they SPORTS????

:-)

Books or movies?
Books AND movies!

Outside or inside?
both

School or chores?
I guess school...

Wednesday or Sunday?
Sunday

Friends or Family?
(I'm copying Laurens answer cuz its so good!!!:-)

My family is crazy but my friends are crazier... I love them both!

This or that?

Fried or scrambled eggs?
Scrambled

Pancakes or cereal?
Pancakes

Big meal or something small?
Am I trying to lose weight or not????

Movie or TV show?
movie

Favorites:
What is your favorite thing to do outside?
Hike
What is your favorite meal?
FOOD!!!!:-)

What is your favorite pass-time?
Writing letters to pen pals.

Where is your favorite place to read a good book?
my bedroom
What is your favorite vegetable?
String beans

I think I'll tag:
Cora Beth

Elizabeth

Jessica

Elsa

Ana

and Miriam
Sorry it took me so LONG to do! :-) Enjoy you guys!

Just a few pictures!

2009-11-03T06:27:00.002-05:00

These were taken on Sunday: The 15th anniversary of my church.

My gorgeous sister Katie and her handsome husband, Ryan

Four of the five sisters were there, so we took a few goofy pictures! (WE MISSED YOU SARAH!!!!!!) :-(

That's it for now! This is a sister-post!:-) I Love all of my big sisters IMMENSELY, and I don't know what I'd do without them!

I Love you guys!

Thine be the Glory

2009-11-02T23:32:00.001-05:00

Kelsey and I playing "Thine Be the Glory" after my church's evening service. :-)

Cradle Song by Schumann

2009-11-01T23:23:00.003-05:00

Me Playing Cradle Song

Youth Hike

2009-11-01T22:11:00.004-05:00

On Friday my church had a Youth Hike. Oliver and I went, and I managed to take a few pictures!

This is the view from the top.

Our whole group

Katie and Ryan Tuckey

Oliver, Coltin, Zach and Mitchell

Katie, on the way up.

Unfortunately, we had missed most of the leaves. All that's left now are mostly Oak leaves, and they're brown.

But we had fun, and hopefully we'll be able to do it again soon!:-)

2009-10-31T16:36:00.002-04:00

AS you can probably tell, I've been doodling with my templates and am trying a different style. :-)

Don't forget to check out my poll on the right and cast your vote!

Much love to you all!