Mother's Day

I know we are long past Mother's Day, but I wanted to share our adventure and I am sure you can imagine that it was a hard day and took some time before I was ready to share.

 I just wanted to get out of dodge! I did not want to talk to anyone or do any of the regular things we have done in the past. Thankfully I have this amazing, wonderful husband who understood and was completely supportive! So we got this crazy harebrained idea and took a day trip to Lassen Volcanic National Park! Yes it s a bit far for a day trip, but we enjoy car trips, we had time to kill, we had never been there, and we let the kids bring their kindles...

(And no Dan is not THAT tall! He is on the paved road and we are a step down in the dirt. But Riley is indeed THAT tall, he passed me up a month or so ago!)

The bubbling mud of death! You should look up Bumpass Hell...we did not get to hike there since it was still VERY snow packed up there but this was a small part of the geothermal mud pits they have there.

 My Mother's Day pictures with my kids!

 It was breathtaking!

It was a beautiful bright day to spend outdoors with my family, and any day for me spent in a volcano is always A+! I love volcanos and geothermal activity, I guess that means I live in the perfect spot! This part of the country is completely dotted with volcanos, both extinct and dormant and there are so many hot springs around here you need a book!

It was an amazingly beautiful drive, and the very small part of the park we were able to see (most roads and trails are still closed because of the hight of the snow) were well worth it! We will be back, hopefully next time for some camping!

On the way home we did stop by a Jack-in-the-Box and all had an order of my mom's favorite curly fries!

Nature Journal - May Day

April 30, 2016

3:30 pm

55 degrees

Fenno

It is a cool, wet, grey day. The breeze is chilly & the dark clouds promise more rain.

I smell the last of the lilacs while looking at the beginning of the poppies. I hear a hawk cry, the chickens squawk, a hammer somewhere distant and the leaves rustling.

Tomorrow is May Day. The first one.

Nature Journal - Dorostkar

March 10, 2016

1:30pm

60 degrees

Dorostkar

Warm sun, gusty breeze, old leaves rattling. rustling. Kids exploring, traffic racing, wind-chimes and spring awakening.

A rooster crows!

Yarn Along March

Another Month already! 

Ok! I finished my mittens and have had occasion to wear them this week as it has been pretty chilly on our walks, I then cast on and finished (except for buttons) for a Henry's Hat from Joanna Johnson's new book Henry's Hat! Then Fern and I had the SUPER fun opportunity to go to an early screening of Eddie the Eagle hosted by our LYS Jimmy Beans Wool. They gave us a kit to make our own Eddie Hat so I did that. Lastly I cast on a Moho in the limited edition Lorna's Laces color way Jamie's Kilt! I do love Outlander!

As for reading! I finished Jane Eyre with 3 days to spare before book club, I read Planted: Belief and Belonging in an Age of Doubt and started Mormon Feminism Essential Writings I should be reading the next book club book...but it's a newer book and therefore more expensive so I am waiting for the library's copy! I have so many book waiting here at the house it is so silly that I keep finding other books to read. But I guess that is the plight of many book lovers!

Joining Ginny!

Yarn Along February 2016

I think a good goal for me is to join Ginny and share my knitting and reading once a month. That feels doable. And so here we are 3 days into February and it has already been a "fly out of the shoots" start! Whew! And on top of the normal craziness in 8 days I will have a 15 year old (who needs a razor). I don't think I'm old enough to have a kid with facial hair!!

Oh well! Here we go!

I have one Waiting for Winter Mitten (Susan B. Anderson) done and the other about half way. I could have used these this week as we had a glorious Sunday two days ago where we were snowed in and only left the house for a walk in the open space across the street (snow boots would also be a good thing to add to my wardrobe)! This is a Madelinetosh limited dye called Nile that Dan picked out for me over at Jimmy Beans a little while back.

I (reluctantly) set aside Nikolas for a bit as I have a WHOPPER of a book club book this month; Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. It is oh so good! 

And to further tempt me my amazon order came today! I got Susan B. Anderson's new Kid's Knitting Workshop, it looks like a great reference book and has some projects Fern (and I!) are already thinking about. Next: Planted: Belief and Belonging in an Age of Doubt, I've heard some great things about this and listened to the podcast Mormon Matters when they interviewed the author. Looking forward to some helpful insights. Then Mormon Feminism Essential Writings, pretty self explanatory (Exponent II has a good bit of info on it if you're looking). And then the picture book Girls Who Choose God. There will most likely be an entire post about that one as it is FABULOUS!!! There are two this is the women in the bible volume. Seriously it's AWESOME. I am in love! 

*Sorry I got lazy and did not link to all the books and such. If you need more info I'm happy to supply it!

Texas!!

I got to go on an adventure last weekend!! 

I hopped a couple planes and ended up in Dallas, TX! First and foremost to see my hubby and secondly to go someplace I have always wanted to go.

ATHENS TEXAS!! 

Athens is where my Grandma M. grew up, and where her mom and sister stayed. 

The highlight besides just being there was finding their home! It is an office now and was unfortunately closed so I did not get to go in. But just being there, knowing that was were my grandma had played as a little girl and said good bye to her mama when she went off to the war as a nurse was oh so sweet!

This is my great-grandma in front of the house, this picture and the other two were pictures my grandma took with her to the Canal Zone that I found in an old wallet of hers.

After leaving the house we found the Methodist Church and talked with a couple parishioners who were familiar to the area, we were wondering where the old Methodist church was so I could see where my family had worshiped. Sadly it is gone, but my great-grandma and my aunt would have been there when they built the new one and would have worshiped there. 

We were also able to find out from them which of the cemeteries they would most likely be in. AND!! We found them!!

Tabitha is my great-great grandmother, Ann's mother.

Ann is my great-grandmother and name sake to my sister and my little Leili.

Dorothy is my great-aunt, she and my grandma were great friends, they often talked on the phone even though long distance was so expensive. I remember answering the phone at my grandma's house and chatting a little with aunt Dorothy and always being so amazed with how much she sounded like my grandma!

May was a mystery to me. But she was in the family plot and obviously carried our family name. I searched her out when I got home, she is Ann's half sister. Tabitha raised her after marrying my great-great grandfather after he was widowed. 

Sadly my trip was super short and the only Texas wildflowers I saw were on this beautiful mosaic in the airport. I am glad to have gone somewhere on my "bucket list" but this one is not crossed off! I am already plotting my trip back! 

It was so wonderful and I am so glad I got to do it with Dan!

Yarn Along!

Knitting and reading are two very different but essential things I use to make it through life! Knitting helps with keeping my hands busy and using up anxiety, where reading is an escape from life and anxiety!

I recently finished Into the Wild by John Krakauer for bookclub and then dove right into Nikolas and the Pantheon Trials written by a friend from college, Dallas Graham. Nikolas is turning out to be a great read! I highly recommend it!!!

And I just finished another Pebble Vest, this one for a friend's new baby boy! And then started on some mittens for me because its flippen cold!!! They are to wear over my gloves when I am outside. 

And that is the happenings for this weeks yarn along!

A Review...

 I have neglected this space this year, not consciously but just because this year was a whirl wind. A whirl wind that takes over and overshadows everything else. But I will try to be present in this space this year and so I will start with a quick review of last year in a few pictures I found on my computer! 

 Leili in January learning letters the yummy way!

 Girl Scouts is always a great (and yummy) part of the year!

 Jake my ever helpful boy/yarn swift in February!

 March was a little warmer and our outdoor adventures started.

 Mono Lake, one of my favorite places. Jake and I flew by when we helped my sister & family move in April.

Chickens and Riley hugs.

 Leili the lizard catcher with friends.

 A Tahoe getaway in May.

 Mother's Day on a boat!

Around the fire on the beach making smores at Tahoe.

 Riley roads the Tahoe Rim Trail again this June.

 Camping with friends at Pyramid Lake in July.

Celebrating the end of radiation with my mom in August with a hot pink mohawk!

 Saying a painful good bye in September.

 Making the best of traveling for services at Devils Post-pile near Mammoth in October...

 And Mono Lake...

 And Travertine Hot Springs near Bridgeport.

 And then November brought our much needed snow!

 Thanksgiving hike with friends!

Our Winter Solstice walk at sunset.

Christmas celebrated with Daddy here with us!

And we ended the year standing in line to see the new Star Wars!

There was much in-between, some was on instagram if you want to see more but now lets shake off the old and get into the new!

Happy 2016!

Yarn Along

Joining Ginny today for her Yarn Along!

For book club this month we chose a whopper! East of Eden, all 601 pages! But I like Steinbeck's writing style so it is easy to read and get engulfed in the storytelling (although I have already been surprised at some things I never would have guessed he'd write about...).

Knitting report: I finished one of my gnome baby hats and gave it away and have another cast on already, both in Cascade 220. When I went back to Jimmy Beans for more Cascade 220 the very nice (and enabling) gentleman invited me into the back room where they keep sale yarn and past limited edition colors...SO DANGEROUS! I splurged on this Madelintosh Chunky in Cove, the picture dose not do it justice!

Also pictured is the balaclava I am making for Riley. The whole thing has not been going great and now the shaping/decreasing is REALLY not going well at all. I am actually considering frogging the whole thing. I've already frogged back bits and pieces fixing things and really this is starting to seem like a lost cause. Maybe I can find a different pattern or have Riley pick a completely different something for this yarn.