Quilting is Back!

  We finished piecing a quilt this week, and this one is for Mom. Anyone surprised that it's mainly blue? =D She finally decided that maybe she wanted some red/maroon in there too, and she really is in love with the result:

Quiltings coming up!

Charleston

A couple weeks ago, I went on a four-day trip to Charleston with my very good friend, Amber, her mom, aunt, and grandma, for Amber's senior trip. We were a crazy bunch and had a blast! The weather was perfect, not too hot.
**I must say, there's a lot of scenery pictures here, and not many people pictures, for which my mother chastised me.**  =)

{ROAD TRIP}

When we arrived the first evening, we strolled around Waterfront Park and Patriot's Point, watched the blue waves and the beautiful sunset:

{the USS Yorktown}

{at the War Memorial at Patriot's Point}

{if you look really close, you might find the tip of the dolphin fin that I caught
in this picture. Unfortunately it was the only dolphin was saw.... maybe cause we
were a bit noisy....? LOL...some stories are better left untold!}

There were big swings on the pier so we sat and watched the sunset. There is nothing like a sunset on the ocean!

We toured Boone Hall Plantation:

We couldn't take any inside pictures because the house is privately owned.

There were nine of the original slave houses left, and in each were displays of the slaves' day-to-day lives

We watched a "Gullah Presentation", about the language
the slaves used to communicate with each other. Some examples
of negro spirituals were performed as well. It was, um... interesting

We took a carriage tour through part of historic Charleston, which was very neat.

We took a ferry ride out to Fort Sumpter the last day we were there. It was quite windy, but the boat ride was fun, and seeing the old fort was really cool. Once inside the fort, we were given the history story behind it, then walked around the fortifications and cannon, and visited the museum and gift shop.

We also went to see "Angel Oak", a 300-400 year old Virginia Live Oak, 25 ft. in circumference, with branches covering half an acre. A rather large tree:

Tree hugger!! LOL

And we stopped at the beach for a few minutes to play in the waves and sand! =D

In between everything was a lot of shopping, a lot of eating, and a whole lot of fun! 

Doughnut Day

Making doughnuts used to be an annual tradition from Dad's side of the family. We hadn't made them in two years, but decided to get back into it this spring. We had several families from the church over and made a fun day of it on Monday.  Mom mixed up the dough to rise earlier that morning so that it was all ready to cut out when people arrived.

We even got the boys in on some of the fun! And of course, they showed up when it was time to taste test as well! =D

We had lunch while the doughnuts rose, then got busy frying, filling, and glazing!

We had regular icing for filling and cream cheese icing for some of the spiced doughnuts. Can anyone else say, "Yum!" ?

We even had sprinkles for some of the glazed donuts

 And, voila!

{I apologize for this blurry picture!}

The final product was approximately 280 doughnuts of different varieties including: Regular w/Glaze; Spiced w/ Glaze; Regular w/ Filling; Spiced w/ Filling; Spiced w/ Cream Cheese Filling; Regular w/ Filling and Chocolate Icing. And sprinkles! =D  All in all, a lot of delicious doughnuts!