Travels

Over the past month we've been nation-wide travelers! Well, maybe that's a slight stretch. So we drove to Texas... ok, halfway across the nation anyway. =P  Though the occasion was a sad one {my great-aunt's funeral}, we really had a good time visiting with all the family we have there. We went to be an encouragement to them, and they were a blessing to us in return. 

Since Mom and Dad hadn't been to TX in twenty years, I had never met the majority of our family who lives there. It was really neat meeting our "long lost cousins", as Daniel put it. =D  The trip took about twenty-one hours, but it went well and our {short} stay was worth it.

  The added bonus was that we were able to spend time with Paul, Priscilla, and little Victor while we were there! That little guy is growing fast and is as cute as ever!

We were able to visit the Alamo while there, which was pretty neat. Priscilla and Victor went with us

{the famous line that Col. Travis drew in the sand}

{funny faces}

{at the River Walk in San Antonio}

Victor loves his grandpa!

...and his grandpa's hat!

Last week, Mom and Dad took a week off to go to Williamsburg for their {belated} anniversary trip. They came back with lots of cool stories and pictures. We're hoping to go there for a family vacation next year.

The Governor's Palace

Yes, those are pistols arched above the door and swords crossed
down the sides.  Dad had quite a few pictures of this sort of thing from
inside the Governor's Palace and all of them were different. Rifles and
swords decorated the walls and doorways all through the palace.
Quite an arsenal...

Shops are set up throughout the town of Williamsburg, and people act
as if it's still the eighteenth century!

"G'day to you, sir"

the tailor

The courthouse: Volunteers participated as the jury
{Dad is on the far right}

The stocks... looks quite comfy doesn't it?

courthouse

"James Madison" giving a speech

Recruiting for local militia

looks like they got some volunteers...
{Dad is fifth from the left}

the band

line up for inspection

"General Washington" himself reviews the troops

{marching on Yorktown}

{the printer}

{the blacksmith}

{the silversmith}

Speech by "Patrick Henry"

I love this picture =)

Of Canning and Cooking and Smells in the Kitchen

Last week we got apples and pears from a lady Nathan has worked for. We had to pick them, but they were free! There was a lot that had to be cut out of the fruit, and the pears were a little hard, but we made applesauce and canned some pears.

The applesauce turned out well, was nice and thick

some of the applesauce

pears

We didn't have quite enough apples for our needs: we use quite a bit of applesauce and Dad wanted to make some apple butter.  Come to find out, a lady in our church has nine apples trees! She invited us to pick our fill, and I think we got more than that! The apples were very nice; we hated to stop picking! =) We're going to make some more applesauce later this week. Today, we made apple pie filling

{Daniel wanted me to take a silly picture of him =) }

Apple Pie Filling
We're putting this in the freezer since we've about used every canning jar in the house! 

The house was an interesting mix of aromas: we had this apple pie filling on the stove as well as chili and spaghetti sauce, and granola in the oven! Bear kept coming around and sniffing the air as if she didn't know what to think! =)

An exciting piece of news.... {drum roll, please}

The quilt in finished!!

  Anna came over Friday afternoon and got us "into the mood." =)  We were so close to being done, practically stitching over each other.

  Saturday afternoon, we got it finished, the binding sewed and everything:

Cutting off the excess batting

Sewing the binding... Yes, we cheat on this part and use the machine =)

DONE!!