Jennifer's Adventures

New stuff

2012-01-29T07:48:00.000-06:00

As you know, I did a sprint triathlon last fall. Afterwards my schedule got crazy and I dropped off significantly on my workouts. But as the new year approached I decided to kick it into gear again. I did an indoor triathlon at the Y on Jan 15. I finished a little better than I expected, in 1:02. A friend did it with me and convinced me to do indoor tri's in Feb & March too. But my biggest goal for this spring is to run the 10K for the Easter Sun Run.
I spent a lot of money last weekend in pursuit of these goals. I had to get new running shoes and love my new Mizunos. So much lighter than my old shoes.

But the biggest and long contemplated purchase was a new bike. I trained last year on my 1983 Schwinn 10-speed. When we first moved to Kansas, Mom saved her first few paychecks and bought us each a bike. It has served me well over the years. I didn't want to buy a new bike until I was sure I was going to stick with this. But by the time my triathlon came along, the bike was pretty much worn out for anything but a leisurely ride. The gears started popping the week before the race. I had it serviced but in the middle of the race it started acting up again and I just prayed the chain would stay on for me to finish.
So as a friend was sharing research when he was looking for a new bike recently, I decided to go ahead and take the plunge. I invested in a new bike and it is so sweet! A 2011 Trek Lexa S. I took it for a ride and the gears are so smooth and effortless. I'm loving it.

Birthday

2012-01-16T18:16:00.000-06:00

My birthday was on Friday this year - Friday the 13th that is. Since it's a rare occasion, I couldn't let it go by so I threw a big party. I had a number of friends who helped and it was a great time. Cleared the furniture out, hired a band, a friend dj'd, and lots of friends came to hang out.

Christmas

2012-01-02T18:34:00.000-06:00

It was a bit of a different Christmas for me. My parents went to Hannah's in Tennessee, so I spent Christmas with Sharon & David at their house. JT was excited to have Diesel stay at his house. We spent 3 days there and their little dog Nacho was Diesel's shadow. D adjusted after a day.
Christmas Eve my roommate and I met up to go to the Chiefs game against the Raiders. Unfortunately the Chiefs lost, but it was a good game.

I had a lot of fun spending time with JT and Sam. I've said it a lot but I love my nephews!

JT loved the "hamster ball" he got from Grandma & Grandpa.

I am very blessed by my family. I got to spend a day with my parents when they came back. And I got to spend an afternoon snuggling with my best friend's baby boy. It was a good trip home. I've spent the rest of my week off working on house projects & deep cleaning. I realize I was so busy this fall that I have tried to squeeze 4 months of maintenance into 5 days. I'm exhausted and almost ready to go back to work. I was so blessed to spend New Year's Eve and New Year's Day with many friends.

May you be blessed in 2012!

End of semester

2011-12-19T16:30:00.000-06:00

There hasn't been that much to blog about recently. I've been busy with finishing up the semester. Project, paper, tests. Fun stuff, but I completed my first semester in the masters of public administration program. We'll see how successfully when grades come out. But I enjoyed learning new things and got to know some interesting classmates. Looking forward to what next semester holds.

I enjoyed my first weekend without homework hanging over my head. There is about a month between semesters. One thing I did this weekend was attend the Delano Chamber Orchestra's Christmas concert. A friend plays flute & piccolo in it. It was very enjoyable.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-27T20:17:00.000-06:00

Another Thanksgiving weekend has come and gone. We were all home for Thanksgiving this year. 7 adults, 4 kids, and 2 dogs made it a little chaotic at my parents' house but it was lots of fun. I got a lot of time with my nephews - always a good thing. We had family pictures taken on Friday morning. It was windy & cold but I am looking forward to seeing the proofs.
Nothing terribly much to report other than good family time. I am thoroughly in love with these 4 little boys.

Peru

2011-11-12T21:05:00.000-06:00

It has been awhile since I posted. October was very busy and it culminated in a mission trip to Peru. I was honored to be a part of a conference on international finance and economics at San Marcos University - the most left-leaning, socialist, communist university in all of Peru. It was as very different mission trip than I have been on before but we definitely saw God move. Americans are not usually allowed to speak at San Marcos. We had an all day conference with 200 students. Six of us spoke at it and we also spent time interacting with the students on breaks. As we spoke, we explained our views by speaking our of Christian faith and using bible verses. I spoke on Working in a Global Marketplace. At the end, a student leader I had particularly connected with spontaneously shared her testimony with the entire conference. My teared up as she was sharing knowing how bold she was being. She thanked me afterwards for as we shared that day she realized that her belief in God and what she was studying were not mutually exclusion but could go together and it gave her the boldness to share.

We were able to spend the rest of the trip learning more about Peru and it's culture. That Wednesday we flew from Lima to Cusco in the Andes. We had a city tour of the cathedral and an Incan temple that the Spanish turned into a Catholic church. As well as a bus tour into nearby Saqsaywaman archelogocial park to see three Incan ruins.

Thursday we took a tour of The Sacred Valley. We got to go to three Incan ruins and did a lot of hiking and stairs. There were amazing views. The Andes are different than any other mountains I have ever seen - very sheer.

The last day we took the train from Cusco to Machu Picchu. It was incredible. Never even imagined I would visit there. It hard to capture how tall and sheer the mountains are where it is situated. It was an amazing trip and a wonderful team to share it with!

Sad news

2011-10-17T19:56:00.000-05:00

I went to Chicago for the Society of Women Engineers National Conference. It was a good trip though tiring. I also got to go out to Oak Park to visit the Frank Lloyd Wright home and studio as well as do a walking tour of the neighborhood and see a number of houses he had a hand in.

The weekend ended with very sad news however. Grandma Ledford passed away unexpectedly Sunday morning. I am so thankful Mom and I got to visit her in August. She is much loved and missed. It is hard to believe she is gone.

Triathlon

2011-10-12T12:33:00.001-05:00

I competed in my first triathlon on Sunday. I finished and wasn't last! That was my goal. The swim didn't go as planned but I completed it and moved on. It was a sprint distance triathlon so 500 yard swim, 13.5 mile bike, and 3.4 mile run. I finished in 2:08:52 and was happy to accomplish it. I've been training towards this since last December when I started the Couch to 5k running program. I did it with 4 other friends. This triathlon was in Heber Springs, Arkansas.

The day before the triathlon we went hiking at Mt. Nebo near Russellville, Arkansas. It was a beautiful day. We took the 3.5 mile loop Rim Trail for some great views.

McPherson Scottish Festival

2011-09-27T16:47:00.000-05:00

One of the things on my Kansas bucket list is attending the McPherson Scottish Festival. I was finally able to this year. My roommate and I drove up for part of Saturday and enjoyed wandering around the festivities.
We watched some Highland games, a sheep dog demonstration, and Irish dancing. Listened to music, enjoyed some Scottish food, and talked to people in the clan booths. My clan was not represented by my roommate's was and we got invited to go with them in 2014 to Scotland and Ireland.

The midday ceremony was the Parade of Tartans and a massed pipe and drum band. I enjoyed talking to this little old man at his booth. His clan's slogan is "fierce when roused."

This man was in the booth next door and came over to give us a hard time too. Liz liked his pants. He pointed at us during the parade.

Baltimore

2011-09-15T18:48:00.000-05:00

I flew to Baltimore for the weekend to meet my honorary niece for the first time. Little Miss Chloe is 2 months old. She's the daughter of one of my friends from college. She's an adorable little tiny doll.

It was my first time to Maryland - another state! We went to Inner Harbor in downtown Baltimore on Saturday. Toured the USS Constellation.

It was a good trip even though I had a 12 hour delay getting home due to weather and missed connections. It was great to get to meet Chloe!

Kansas City Zoo

2011-09-08T18:56:00.000-05:00

I went home for Labor Day weekend. JT had wanted to go to the zoo all summer but it had just been too hot. So I had asked Sharon a few weeks ago if we could do it when I came up. It was a cooler day than we had been having (in the 90s) but it was still hot & humid. We had fun anyway.
Mom, Sharon, JT, Sam & I all went. It was Sam's first trip to the zoo.

Aunt Jennifer was instructed to take pictures of some of the animals like the tigers. JT's in the blue hat.

We also pet sheep and rode the carousel.

Sam was such a good boy. He had to be so hot but he didn't fuss at all.

We saw Grandma's favorite - elephants.

JT and I rode the new sky ride (think ski lift) over the African animals. At first he was a little scared but by the middle he said the ride was going to be too short.

Sam and his mommy at home again. Such a cute boy!

Seattle & beyond

2011-08-25T20:07:00.000-05:00

Mom and I took a trip to Seattle to visit Grandma and do some exploring. We had amazing weather the whole time we were there. Wednesday afternoon we went to downtown Seattle. Had lunch at Pike Place Market.

And went up to the top of the Space Needle.

Thursday we drove north and took the ferry to Whidbey Island for a little exploring and wine tasting.

We spent the whole day with Grandma on Friday. Saturday we drove to the north end of the Olympic Peninsula to go to Hurricane Ridge. I had never been ther. It was amazing!

We did a hike on the Hurricane Ridge trail. Incredible views!

Some pictures with Grandma before we headed back home. It was a great trip!

Clearwater Beach

2011-08-16T19:50:00.000-05:00

Gayle and Shaun's wedding was this weekend in Clearwater Beach, Florida. Twelve of our Pathways church group traveled with the bride & groom to the wedding. We made special t-shirts to surprise them and got lots of looks & comments along the journey. They said "We're going to the J wedding...and honeymoon!" with a goofy picture of them on it.

It was a great trip and a wonderful wedding. The bride & groom were so happy and enjoyed their moment. I'm 2nd from the left. God gave us amazing sunsets each night, saving the best for the wedding!

It's been awhile

2011-08-08T19:46:00.000-05:00

Life has been busy lately. The washing machine malfunctioned and flooded half the basement. Took about 2 weeks for the professional cleanup to be completed. I have barely started putting things back in place. My goal is to not put anything back with out going through it first. I already have a pile of craft supplies to give away.
Then we had a big storm move in last week. We haven't had rain in a really long time. 60 mile an hour winds and 2 inches of rain overnight. Our power was out for about 12 hours. I found this in the front yard the next morning. Sigh. Thankfully it didn't land on anything and my tree guy took care of it and cleaning up the tree. It's been a rough home-owner summer for me.

Some fun busy-ness has been preparing for the wedding I'm in this weekend in Florida. I made these cookies for her bachelorette party and Wichita wedding reception.

The Black Hills

2011-07-24T10:58:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I went on a roadtrip with 2 girlfriends. None of us had been to Mt. Rushmore before so that is where we headed. It's about a 12 hour drive from here. We had a great trip. Crammed a lot into our 2.5 days there. Learned that there is a lot to do & see in the Black Hills. The trip started with the amazing sunrise above. Our first stop was in The Badlands. Amazing...and hot.

Mt. Rushmore was first on Saturday's agenda. Magestic, yet it is hard to wrap your mind around how large the scupture really are.

Crazy Horse Monument. Still in progress. This is 50 years worth of work.

Sunday was a lot of driving thru incredible scenery. I did the driving that day. This was the first tunnel carved through rock that we drove through. It is on Needles Highway. It is barely one lane wide.

This spot was my favorite of the day. We took a gravel road a few miles off the main highway and had these amazing sweeping views in Wind Cave National Park.

We saw a herd of wild donkeys, 2 elk, and scads of prairie dogs but by the time we were close to the end of Custer State Park and Wind Cave National Park all we had seen were 3 lone bison. But then we came across a herd of over 100 bison right on the road. We even saw these two fighting it out.

It was a great trip! I would love to go back and do some hiking in the area and see more of all there is up there.

Sicky McSickerson

2011-07-10T11:32:00.000-05:00

I woke up a week and a half ago feeling miserable. Thought it was just a summer cold but after a week of not getting much better, I went to the doctor. It's a sinus infection that's also in my chest. Yippee. I am on 5 different medications to kick this thing. I am getting better now but not full recovered.

Diesel has been taking a little advantage of my not feeling so well. I'll let him on the bed in the morning so I can get a little bit more sleep. It cracks me up when he sprawls out like this with his head on the pillow. I don't know why my mom thinks he's spoiled.

My sweet friend Gayle is getting married. I am one of her bridesmaids. The bridesmaids hosted a bridal shower for her on Saturday which went well.

I made baked blueberry french toast and Amish breakfast casserole for the shower. Both turned out well.

I laughed when I saw the bear wearing shorts & going shirtless this morning. He's also trying to deal with our 100+ degree heat.

A/C and the bear

2011-07-04T09:10:00.000-05:00

The biggest news of the week is that my new air conditioner and furnace were installed. It's not the most exciting picture ever but I am happy to have the new & shiny equipment in. I also had them install a programmable thermostat. It's nice to have a more efficient a/c in this 100 degree heat, and one that won't freeze up and stop working.

I drove by the bear and smiled to see him decked out in his 4th of July regalia.

Little House and little men

2011-06-27T19:58:00.000-05:00

On Friday, Janel, Gayle & I drove to near Independence, KS to visit the Little House on the Prairie historic site. We were giddy girls just to be on the same land that the Ingalls family used to live on. That is a replica cabin of what the family lived in.

I then went to Lawrence for the weekend for a little family time. Got to spend some time with JT and Sam. Sam is almost 5 months old. He's an adorable little guy. JT is a precocious 6 year old.

Not so fun news

2011-06-19T19:30:00.000-05:00

After last Saturday's run, my left foot hurt badly. I'd had tweaks for a month or so but just thought it was a tendon I pulled last year. However, this was different and kept hurting. I was able to get a doctor's appointment on Tuesday afternoon. That was when I learned I had a stress fracture. I have to lay off running & biking for two weeks. The foot is feeling better but still hurts a little in the spot. I have been obeying doctor's orders. I was also told I needed to get new running shoes. I went to First Gear and got fitted for some schmancy running shoes. I like the grey & yellow color and offset laces. And as always, I got Asics.

More not fun news this week was that I have to replace this old beast. New air conditioner and furnace will be installed in 2 weeks and my savings account will take a hit.

But one nice thing is the daisies started blooming.

Nephew time!

2011-06-16T17:16:00.000-05:00

I had internet issues for over a week so I'm just now able to get to last week's blog post. I took a trip to Tennessee to visit two of my precious nephews. We had lots of play time and enjoyed hanging out. They are growing up. I love getting time with them. I even took them to the store by myself and drove back from town with them in my car

"I always dress like my daddy!"

River Festing

2011-06-05T22:19:00.000-05:00

I admit I love the Wichita River Festival. It's celebrating it's 40th year. I spent some time RiverFesting on the big opening weekend. I met a friend from biblestudy at the Sundown Parade on Friday night. I had never been to the parade and it was kind of lame but the Windwagon made it's appearance with Admiral Windwagon Smith aboard (the Festival Grand Marshal).

The Wichita Fire Department debuted their pink firetruck during the parade.

Lyndi and I hung out on the river bank waiting for the fireworks. We listened to the Wichita Symphony's pops concert and watched the sun set over Exploration Place and The Keeper of the Plains.

Just before the pops concert started, a KC-135R refueling tanker from McConnell Air Force Base did a flyover with the refueling boom down. The flyovers were cooler when the B-1 Bombers were at McConnell, but we're still proud of the Refueling Wing that is stationed there.

And the last big event for the evening was the fireworks show. A great evening!

Saturday morning I was excited to participate in the River Run for the first time. I ran the 2 mile - there was also a 10K race. I was lucky enough to see a lady from church who had just run the 10K and was doing the 2 mile as well. She is training for a marathon. We ran the 2 mile together and having her there helped push me to run a little faster. It was hot for 9:30 AM. I was pleased with my time of 19:27. I don't claim to be fast, but I'll finish. There were ~2400 runners in the 2 mile. We were closer to the front but we still had a lot of people to weave in & out of through out the race.

Sunday I decided to take Diesel to explore a park we'd never been to before. It's an awesome park. Very wooded paths. It was a sniffer's paradise (i.e. D loved it). We will definitely be going there again.

Retreat

2011-05-30T20:58:00.000-05:00

The Pathways Retreat was this weekend at Camp Horizon near Arkansas City. The scenery is amazing there. And we had a great speaker and fellowship time.

Los Angeles

2011-05-19T18:31:00.000-05:00

I had the opportunity to spend a long weekend in Los Angeles. I have been there a few times but have never done a lot of the tourist stuff. My friend Hillary lives there now and offered to be my tour guide. It was a great weekend and I got to see a lot of LA.
On Friday, I went straight from the airport to Disneyland. I hadn't been there since 1980 when we went with Grandma and Grandpa Marshall. It was crowded but we got to ride everything I wanted to and saw the fireworks show.

On Saturday we started out by going to Griffith Park. Went to the observatory where you can see the Hollywood sign.

Then down to Hollywood Boulevard at the Chinese Mann Theatre and the Walk of Fame.

Lunch was In-N-Out Burgers. Yum!

Then on to Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive where we saw a Bucati hanging on.

Then to the Santa Monica Pier.

After dinner in Little Ethiopia, we went by the La Brea Tar Pits and the art museum which has this cool lamp post installation outside.

On Sunday I went to Huntington Gardens. Beautiful! The Japanese Garden, the Rose Garden, and the Cactus Garden.

I got to have a Sunday dinner with Aunt Sharon & Uncle Ted as well as some cousins & their kids.

Then Hillary and I went to downtown LA for a little more sight seeing before I left. We rode Angels Flight - the world's shortest railway - up the hill. It was a great, full weekend!

5K and flowers

2011-05-11T17:33:00.000-05:00

I have been waiting for an opportunity to make this dessert in my Domestic Goddess cookbook - Torta alla Gianduia or chocolate hazelnut torte. I had a dessert with our senior pastor to attend at a friend's home and offered to bring it. It was yummy!

Saturday I ran a 5K. I didn't do as well as I wanted to but I ran the entire time and bettered my training time. My time was 31:57. I am confident I can get to 30:00 by my sprint triathlon in August. The interesting thing about this race was it was for women only put on by Girls On The Run. It started & ended at The Boathouse downtown.

This week the irises and clematis bloomed.

And Sunday while I was doing yardwork, Diesel found a baby bluejay that had fallen out of it's nest. He was very protective of it which kind of surprised me. Wildlife Services told me to leave it where I found it and hope the mama would come back for it. Sadly, that did not happen.

LOVE Wichita

2011-05-02T20:03:00.000-05:00

Our biblestudy had a surprise engagement party for Gayle (center) who got engaged over the weekend. We are so excited for her & Shaun!

I made some special wedding cake shaped sugar cookies for her.

Friday night, my roommate and I ate at Tanya's Soup Kitchen. It had been an Wichita institution but I never ate there. It ws closed for several years and recently reopened. We went to check it out.

Liz had the tomato basil and I had a pesto minestrone. Delicious! Definitely going again.

LOVE Wichita was this Saturday. It is a once a year day of service that the churches get together to love on our community. This year 40 churches and 4000 people participated. Pathways had a project to ourselves. We scraped and painted this house and did some landscape clean up.

The finished product. It was a long day but well worth it. The homeowner was so blessed.

Holy Week

2011-04-24T15:35:00.000-05:00

I've enjoyed focusing on and celebrating Holy Week this year as we lead up to Resurrection Sunday to celebrate what Jesus did for us on the cross. My biblestudy went to a Messianic Passover seder on Tuesday night. It is great to participate in the seder and see how Jesus was the Passover lamb. The Pathways life groups got together on Friday night tour the Stations of the Cross that our church has set up to walk through Jesus' final hours and contemplate his death, burial and resurrection.

On Saturday, I ran the 2 mile race in the Easter Sun Run. It is a huge local race (also a 10K and 2 mile walk) that is a fundraiser for Youth Horizons which is a local ministry of mentors to fatherless children. I am training for a sprint triathlon later this summer and plan to run a few races as part of my training. This was my first race since running cross country in high school. I did better than my goal. I was happy with my performance. And it was fun to run into friends from church, work, and 2 girls I went to high school with - one of whom I ran CC with.

I didn't go home for Easter this year. It would have been too hectic of a schedule. But I was invited to have lunch with Janel's family - and enjoyed it very much. I have been waiting for an occasion to make this dessert that I've been eyeing the photo of in one of Nigella's cookbooks: gooey chocolate stack. It was definitely chocolate and gooey.

Thrift Store Prom

2011-04-18T21:33:00.000-05:00

This week we had Thrift Store Prom. I found a gaudy sequined dress that reminded me of peacock feathers, so I brought some for my hair. It was a lot of fun. There were some great outfits that people found.

Spring is Sprung

2011-04-12T21:03:00.000-05:00

I finally got around to cleaning out the flowerbeds. In removing the leaves & sticks, I found that several of the hostas had started coming up.

Diesel loves to get sprayed with the hose. He needed a bath, so made sure to soak him thoroughly. And then he proceeded to go roll in the dirt and make mud. He was SO dirty. He was not happy when I cleaned him off before allowing him in the house.

The redbud trees are in full bloom.

the newest one

2011-04-04T21:14:00.000-05:00

I went to Lawrence for the weekend. On Saturday morning I took Mom's bike out for a spin. I took a bike path that runs along some fields on the edge of town. On the way back I scared a coyote off the path. He ran into a field before I got too close. I couldn't get my phone out quick enough to get a picture. But I got pictures of other great views.

Sunday was my parents' 40th anniversary. Sharon & David took us all out for dinner after church. JT was being his goofy 6 year old self. It was incredibly windy when he climbed the tree outside of church.

Sam is a cute chunk of a 2 month old. Grandpa already has him eating out of his hand. Sam responds and "talks" to Grandpa more than he does with anyone else. It was adorable to watch.

Spring

2011-03-27T13:01:00.000-06:00

We had some amazing spring days this week, even made it up to 80 degrees. The Bradford pear trees have burst into bloom. And after a few nice days, Mother Nature decided we'd had enough and it's been cold & cloudy for the last few days.

I bought some new pants this week. I broke out the sewing machine to hem a few of them. It makes me thankful to my mom and the other ladies on the farm who taught me so sew when I was a kid. It has saved me a lot of money. I am also thankful to have the sewing machine my parents bought for my sisters & I in junior high.

I went with a group of friends to the Wichita Grand Opera's 10th Anniversary Gala Concert on Saturday night. It was a lot of fun. And the soprano, Joyce DiDonato, was amazing.

cookbooks

2011-03-20T12:31:00.000-06:00

One of our Borders stores is closing. Books were finally 40-50% off this week. I have been waiting for that and hoping the cookbooks I wanted would still be around. I ended up getting two Nigella Lawson cookbooks and two Ina Garten. I'm excited. I'll have lots of cooking to do!

Abandon Kansas, Drool Fest and more

2011-03-13T19:41:00.000-06:00

It was a full week. I am glad I made it through. Tuesday night I went to a concert of the band "Abandon Kansas". A guy I grew up going to church with joined the band last year as their bass player. They played at a church 2 blocks from my house. Chet did a great job. The concert was loud, but good.

Friday night I hosted another Drool Fest. It's a chick flick movie night where we choose a drool-worthy actor and watch a few of his movies. It was a lot of fun. It also happened to be Annette's birthday, so I made a cake for her. Chocolate, coffee, strawberries and raspberries can't go wrong.

I changed my bedding from the heavy winter comforter to my summer bedding today. But it's not quite warm enough for just the summer quilt so I get to add my favorite blanket. This has been on my bed since I was a little girl. It was one of my parents' wedding gifts. The happy 1970s daisies always make me smile.

Order of the Engineer

2011-03-07T19:37:00.000-06:00

This weekend I went to the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) region i conference in Golden, CO. We were stuck in the conference the entire weekend so I didn't get to see anything of Golden other than a bit of the Colorado School of Mines campus. I had the opportunity to do The Order of the Engineer ceremony and get my ring. The Order of the Engineer oath basically says you'll use your engineering abilities for the betterment of society. We received a a stainless steel ring to wear on the pinky finger of our working hand to remind us of the oath.

Pots

2011-02-27T12:20:00.000-06:00

My biggest excitment was being able to buy a set of pots I have been saving up for awhile now- All-Clad stainless steel. They were an investment, but I love to cook and they will last a lifetime.

It was an extremely foggy morning today. Only about 200 ft of visibility on my trip to the grocery store.

They had roses on their last few days for sale, so I bought a dozen. A nice little pick me up for a day or two.

Exploring

2011-02-22T19:13:00.000-06:00

Sharon has been recovering at my parents since she was released from the hospital. Thank God she is coming along well. JT was off school for several days and Grandma needed a little help keeping him occupied since she had her hands full with his mom and baby brother. Aunt Jen to the rescue. I went up for the weekend to lend a hand. On Saturday JT and I went on an adventure - we went exploring around Clinton Lake and had a grand old time despite the cold, blustery day.

We had lots of adventure and JT proudly showed off all the treasure we collected - nuts, shells, pinecones, rocks, bark, leaves, feathers, pods, and "Jennifer" berries (juniper).

I was also able to get a little snuggle time with Sam. He's a precious little one. JT was so excited to show him off at church on Sunday. He had Grandma & Sam come to his Sunday school class so he could show everyone his baby brother.

More snow

2011-02-13T12:08:00.000-06:00

We got another 7 inches of snow this week.

After a few more ordeals, Sharon was released from the hospital on Friday. She still has healing to do but is improving and will spend a little while at my parents recouperating. Sam is an angel baby. My parents are taking care of him and will have a hard time letting him go home when it's time.

I worked on a little project over last year in my picture a day project. I took pictures of my favorite spot in Sedgwick County Park in each season and I finally have them all together.

Sam's Arrival

2011-02-06T11:23:00.000-06:00

It was a crazy week. Diesel was super excited to get to go on a ride. He climbed in the car and wouldn't budge while I finished loading up the car to head up to Lawrence on Monday.

We were going up in order to be there when Sharon had her baby. Everyone was at my parents' house on Monday night minus Hannah's husband. Sharon & David came so that they could get to the hospital easily despite the winter storm predicted. They left early Tuesday morning for her c-section.
Samuel Thomas was born at 8:22 AM. 8 lb 1 oz, 19 inches long.

While the blizzard started outside, Aunt Jennifer got to spend a lot of play time with JT, Marshall and Jack.

CHEESE!

After lunch we braved the blizzard to go up to the hospital to meet baby Sam.

Sam is absolutely adorable. JT was instantly in love with his baby brother. "He's the most perfect baby ever! I love him!" Then we all got a chance to hold him, except for Jack. He's a precious little baby!

I returned home after 2 days of chaos -and fun- at my parents with all the boys and dogs. Sharon was sick after the c-section. She was better on Wednesday but then got worse. Ends up she has systemic strep and is still in the hospital. She is starting to do better. Sam is doing fine. Hannah got an eye infection while at my parents. Mom had a stomach virus. Then I got sick when I was home Thursday night. Crazy week for the family. When Mom told Marshall that I got sick, he asked if Diesel was taking care of me. So cute. Yes, Diesel stayed by my side the whole day Friday when I was on the couch. He's a good puppy.

A wide range of weather

2011-01-30T11:33:00.000-06:00

I am reminded of my childhood on the farm when I crave things like fresh green beans as I did this week.

Which makes me think about going pea picking in August because the 1st frost was coming. I remember Kay Garriott explaining the 7 layers of clothes she had on to us kids. Funny how the brain synapsis work.

Apparently there is a Pittsburgh Steelers fan in my neighborhood. Friday a dozen different pro-Steelers signs showed up on our streets. We've never had such adamant Super Bowl team fans.

Diesel gets a few liberties on weekends, like snoozing in bed with me when I don't want to get up as early as him. It cracks me up when he sleeps with his head on the pillow. (I don't know why my mom thinks he's spoiled.)

We've had a variety of weather this week. It started with some snow still on the ground and ended with spring-like weather. Friday & Saturday were shirtsleeve weather. It is a little clouded over, but my patio thermometer read 67 degrees Saturday afternoon. D & I took a long walk and then I went on a bike ride and read out on the back patio. Ridiculous weather for the end of January. But no worries, we won't get used to it - freezing rain and 30s are predicted for Monday.

I finally got to use one of my birthday presents - the beater blade! It's got spatula type edges so it scrapes the bowl - an amazing little invention that makes me love my Kitchen Aid mixer even more. Thanks Heather G!

Ready

2011-01-23T20:35:00.000-06:00

This week didn't seem to have much to take picture of. I have to admit I wasn't looking for them much either. It has been kind of rough trying to build a new routine since the start of the year. One thing I have kept in the routine is my weekend cooking time. I choose a meal to make for lunch and a meal to make for dinner for the week. Then I portion them out so they're ready to go. It keeps me from buying fast food when a day gets long or I just don't feel like cooking that night. So the sight of this in the fridge at the beginning of the week makes me feel happy and somewhat ready to tackle the week.

In case you were wondering, this week's menu was vegetarian chili with sweet potatoes (on the left) and Tunisian vegetable stew with mini meatballs over couscous.

First snow

2011-01-16T14:42:00.000-06:00

On Monday, we had 4.5 inches of snow. It was our first snow of the season and quite fluffy. Diesel was hesitant at first, but he loves rubbing his face in it.

He is also in love with his new kitty. It took him about 9 months to shred his first kitty. He was almost willing to forgo a walk to play with the new kitty when it arrived in the mail. He has constantly wanted to play with it this week. He'll drop it at my feet and then look up pathetically begging to me to throw it.

He does pathetic puppy dog eyes really well. Friday night he was so cute begging for my snack as I settled in for a night chilling on the couch.

My birthday was this week. Saturday was my birthday present to myself. I went with a group of friends to Lawrence to see KU play Nebraska in Allen Field House. It was a tight game, but the Jayhawks pulled it out. It was an incredible atmosphere. A great day!

Memebers of the 1952 National Championship team were honored during the game.

Rock Chalk Jayhawk KU!!

A New Year

2011-01-09T15:28:00.000-06:00

I finished the year plus of daily pictures that I set out to do. It was a very fun, enlighting project. I sometimes had to think to find something to photograph for that day, some I knew well in advance, and others were happy surprises. But there was always something to celebrate about each day. It was good to take time to recognize even the little things that make up my daily life. God has certainly blessed me. We need to be sure to keep our eyes open for those moments each day to see His hand leading.
While I don't intend to do daily pictures this year, I will post at least one photo each week. I still find myself finding moment that I think, "that would be today's picture!" It is great to recognize little moments, like a beautiful shot of the sun settling along the golf course with wispy clouds in the sky. Even if you don't take pictures, take time to breathe in those moments.

This week I had the opportunity to attend Wichita State's men's basketball game with Ellen. It was fun. I haven't been to a game in a long time. We were surrounded by die-hard season ticket holders, and while the first half was ugly, the Shockers ended up winning.

Week 52

2011-01-03T20:05:00.000-06:00

Dec 27: I did a bit of touch up painting in my soon-to-be nephew's room. I had a very eager helper in his big brother. We had to rig a chair & step stool up in order for him to be able to reach the ceiling. He proudly helped do half the room and Aunt Jen did the other half.

Dec 28: Diesel was pretty worn out from our time in Lawrence and happy to be on the ride home.

Dec 29: I started tackling my big planned project - removing the popcorn ceiling from the kitchen/dining room. It took half the day to prep for the messy job, including emptying the cabinets. The house was quite discombobulated as I stacked stuff in part of the living room.

Dec 30: The work has begun after the room is wrapped in drop clothes to try to contain the mess.

Dec 31: Taking a break from the work & mess at home, I celebrated New Year's with my Pathways friends with a semi-formal dinner & dance at Exploration Place.

Jan 1: Our beloved Singles & Outreach pastor, Doug Barker, is retiring. This weekend was he preached his farewell sermon. I can't imagine a mission trip without Doug.

Jan 2: I attended friends' baby dedication this morning.

And then a friend helped me put up the new kitchen light fixture. I'm so excited - I've been scoping out a new kitchen light for over a year and with the ceiling done it's the perfect time! Please notice the nice smooth, non-popcorn ceiling.

Week 51

2010-12-26T21:35:00.000-06:00

Dec 20: My neighborhood is full of homespun Christmas light displays.

Dec 21: Due to the forecast and a concerned call from my parents, I spent the evening packing to head home a day earlier than planned. Diesel usually gets sad when he sees a suitcase, but he was excited to hear he got to go see Barkley.

Dec 22: It may be a little hard to see but Big D is covered in bits of grass & leaves. He loves bringing the outdoors in and I find myself sounding like my mom complaining about him messing up my clean floors. (Sorry but I'm too tired to mess with trying to get this picture to rotate properly.)

Dec 23: Janel & I were finally able to get together so I could give her her birthday present - a kickboxing necklace inspired by her. I have a friend who makes hand-stamp
ed jewelry who ended making this for her line because I asked about one. Check out sportygirljewelry.com and hipmomjewelry.com.

Dec 24: The Christmas Eve service at my home church is one of my favorites of the year. The college group started with an a cappella chorus of Christmas carols.

Dec 25: A Christmas still life.

JT and I took about 20 silly self-portraits. I won't force you to see all of them, though they are pretty funny all together. He's a nut.

Dec 26: JT lost his first tooth today. He was brave and pulled it out himself. Mom, Dad & I happened to be in KC so we could swing by and see his big news in person.

Week 50

2010-12-20T19:38:00.000-06:00

Dec 13: I was given a wall plaque recently and it made me think about my favorite wall plaque that has been gracing my bedroom wall since I was a little girl. It was given to me by one of my preschool teachers on the farm.

Dec 14: We've gone 30+ days without a drop of precipitation. It's been a dry and clear winter so far.

Dec 15: A few the Pathways life groups got together to go caroling at some nursing homes tonight. Matt accidently set off the life-size singing Santa mid-carol and we had to compete with Santa to finish the song.

Dec 16: Diesel & I hadn't been to the park for a walk in awhile. It was a beautiful clear day. The pampras grass looked awesome against the sky and it was so clear & still the lake had a perfect reflection.

Dec 17: My new roommate had a Christmas card display tree. I am loving it as it collects cards & photos.

Dec 18: A baking mood has hit me. I knocked out 5 Nigella recipes this weekend.

Dec 19: It was Pathways candlelit Christmas service tonight. It was one of the best ones I've been too.

Week 49

2010-12-12T14:10:00.000-06:00

Dec 6: This week is all about my friends' wedding on Friday night. I am doing the flowers for them. Tonight I obliterated a Christmas tree to make the 30 swags for the pews.

Dec 7: Allen & Shaun had a little party tonight to help decorate their "tree". They asked us to bring tacky ornaments. I won the prize. I found these hideous shiny, glittery horses heads with a 6" feathers. They were cheap enough I got one for each of the guys - one in pink and one in green.

Dec 8: Today I almost forgot to pick up the leaves & grasses for the wedding bouquets.

Dec 9: Rehearsal and decorating the chapel.

Dec 10: Janel & Phil's wedding day! It took all day, but I got the flowers done and she was very happy with the way they turned out. Whew!

It was a beautiful, God-honoring ceremony.

Dec 11: And thus we've come full circle in a year of Bear.

Dec 12: So, last week Big Mean Kitty died. Kitty had a full, loved life. I am not sure how quickly Diesel will recover but we're trying out a new toy. The fox was a gift from Shaun's mom. D spent 2 weeks at Allen & Shaun's this summer when I was traveling and was well taken care of.

Week 48

2010-12-05T17:35:00.000-06:00

Nov 29: Elizabeth moved in today. So there's a second pair of eyes watching me when I eat. The boys seem to get along just fine.

Nov 30: It has been very windy the last few days. The wind graciously raked the last of the leaves into a big pile by the front door. It made it very easy to bag them up.

Dec 1: Our women's biblestudy is doing a great study on Ruth by Kelly Minter. I highly recommend it. And Amanda made us lemon poppy seed bread to enjoy along with our discussion tonight.

Dec 2: Tanya and I were finally able to do a movie night to watch "Eat Pray Love". We had both read the book and promised to see the movie together.

Dec 3: Caught napping. Diesel isn't allowed to sleep on my bed at night, but he does take his naps there during the day.

Dec 4: Cookie Day at Heather's. It's a fun time and LOTS of cookies and candies get made.

Dec 5: Elizabeth helped me rearrange and get the tree decorated today. It looks great!

Week 47

2010-11-29T19:47:00.000-06:00

Nov 22: I'm so happy about my freshly raked yard. I hired Sara to do it this year and it was totally worth it!

Nov 23: Yeah! Bear is finally in his Pilgrim costume for Thanksgiving! I was wondering if he was going to don it this year. We've come full circle in the year of Bear.

Nov 24: I went to my parents for Thanksgiving. Diesel and Barkley both know that Dad shares his cookies. They were very attentive.

Nov 25: Our great spread for Thanksgiving dinner.

JT and I made a blanket together for his baby brother.

Nov 26: Diesel sleeps under my raised bed at home. He cracked me up when he tried to get under a normal bed at my parents - only his head would fit. Didn't bother him, he slept that way anyway.

Nov 27: Mom and I went to a fair trade craft fair on KU's campus and got a view of iconic Fraser Hall as the sun set.

Nov 28: My parents cannot be accused of dated house decor, but there are somethings that don't change and that's comforting. I love to snuggle under the afghans made by my grandmas. This one was made by Grandma Connie in the 1980s as a present for us. Downstairs there are 2 made by Grandma Ledford.

Week 46

2010-11-21T21:10:00.000-06:00

Nov 15: Tonight I, once again, used the cutting board I got in Costa Rica on a mission trip. I love this little board and always think of my friends in CR when I use it.

Nov 16: Society of Women Engineers went on a tour of the local National Weather Service office. It was very interesting of find out how they do their jobs.

Nov 17: I took Diesel to get his nails trimmed today since he won't let me do it. Apparently, manicure = torture. But he'll stand there calmly for them to pluck hair out of his ears. Go figure.

Nov 18: I agreed to join a steering committee for a group at work that does events for women in engineering & technology at our company. We had our planning meeting at a wine bar downtown. I think I might like this group.

Nov 19: Jeremy, Rachel & I met for lunch at Usuluteco. It was her first time there. She was a happy camper with pupusas and a Kolashampan.

Nov 20: It was a very full day ending with 2 events back to back. Lights of Love is a tree lighting ceremony of the biggest tree in Wichitar. It is also a fundraising event for Ronald McDonald House. So I was asked to help out with the festivities. I was a "photo helper". After a cozy picture with Santa beside the lake, I helped get the photos ready for pick up.

When I was done with that, I walked over to Bella Luna to join the girls for dinner as part of Janel's bachlorette party. It was a fun time.

Nov 21: Another full day today, including Janel's bridal shower, was started by making a turkey for Pathways' Thanksgiving dinner tonight. I was pretty impressed with how great my bird turned out.

Week 45

2010-11-14T21:45:00.000-06:00

Nov 8: Daylight Savings Time ended and it's wreaked a little havoc on my Monday routine. Diesel gets his walk late on Mondays. We took a walk at 6:30 tonight and it was already totally dark. Even with the street lights and my flashlight, I was a little creeped out despite knowing my neighborhood well. Monday's routine will be changed because that will not be happening again.

Nov 9: We took a ride to the park for our walk today. D looks so cute with his head hanging out the window. (Hannah, please note that the car was not moving when I took this picture.)

Nov 10: I made dinner for our women's biblestudy tonight: fresh tomato pasta, parmesan bread, and lime pie. I got to use my serving dishes and actually set the table! We are having a great time doing a new study on the book of Ruth.

Nov 11: I introduced two co-workers to the deliciousness of Usuluteco at lunch today - the Salvadoran restaurant. I tried something besides pupusas this time, the chicken & rice was yummy.

Nov 12: My baking mood has not passed yet. Too many recipes, not enough occasions. I made a pumpkin spice cake to take to a friend's gathering tonight.

Nov 13: I got to eat at La Galette for the first time today. It's a French bakery & cafe in the Delano District. Amber & I went for brunch. The pastry display case is filled with amazing creations.

Tonight Andy & Christina got married at Prairie Rose Ranch. They were brave to have an outdoor ceremony in November, but despite being a little chilly, it was beautiful and we all enjoyed celebrating with them.

Nov 14: I am likely getting a roommate. Today the men in our lives were introduced to each other. They got along pretty well after a lot of introductory sniffing. Chico is a pug.

Week 44

2010-11-07T19:30:00.000-06:00

November 1: Diesel is just so darn cute when he's chewing away on his towel (security blanket).

November 2: The annual Thanksgiving cookie baking night with the Cantrell girls. We had a lot of fun & made a big mess.

November 3: This morning I spoke to Janel's English classes at Newton High School about how I use writing & grammar in my job. It was a fun experience.

November 4: A hard freeze was forecasted so I cut what was still growing of the basil and some of the oregano to dry.

November 5: Hannah was visiting my parents with the boys for a few days. I went up today to spend some time with my sweet nephews. Jack is so precious.

Sharon & JT came over for dinner too. Marshall & JT both love to "read" the Grandpa's "train books". (model train catalogs)

They have a few other family traits in common too...

And they were happy to help celebrate Grandpa's birthday.

November 6: Mom & I took Jack & Marshall to a sand pile to play. Jack preferred crawling all over the road. While he scoots, he giggles and makes little noises. It's adorable.

Marshall loved sliding & rolling down the sand pile...and continually losing his boots.

I made it back to Wichita in time for Jimmy's 40th birthday party. He was very excited about this birthday and we all had fun celebrating with him.

November 7: There are some large leaf piles at the curbs around the neighborhood. Diesel loves trouncing through them and digging his head in to find new smells. It's hilarious to watch. And I always think of a college friend saying that one of the most satisfying sounds in the world is leaves crunching under foot. I believe she was right.

Week 43

2010-10-31T20:34:00.000-06:00

October 25: I started working on my costume for Halloween... dark purple/navy nails.

October 26: Advance voting polling places opened today in Sedgwick County. I love being able to skip lines on election day.

Then Diesel and I got a spectacular view on our walk thru the park.

October 27: After meeting at the bookstore to choose a new study for our biblestudy, we hung out at Starbucks and I brought scones to share.

October 28: I did an old fashioned on-hands-and-knees scrubbing of the kitchen & dining room tile floor. It hasn't been this clean since I got the dog.

October 29: A coworker's girlfriend had an art show that was part of Final Friday. It was fun...and good art!

October 30: This morning Janel, Gayle & I went on a trolley tour of Wichita. It was an item on the Wichita Bucket List. Saw parts of town I'd never been in and learned a lot about the history of town.

On the tour we passed The Patriot Guard. It was a goose-bump inducing to see them guarding the funeral service of a young soldier from Wichita who died in Afganistan.

Tonight I hosted a costume party. It was great and there were some very inventive costumes. I was Kat Von D from the show LA Ink.

October 31: This was my party centerpiece that I get to enjoy for awhile. The idea was a deconstructed bouquet - bought one bouquet at the store and then broke it up into multiple smaller vases.

Week 42

2010-10-24T13:13:00.000-05:00

October 18: The 30 pew bows for Janel & Phil's December wedding are ready to be fluffed and put in place.

October 19: This is what golf ball sized hail will do to your roof. And this is why I have insurance.

October 20: I have been charmed lately by the Delano District. It is small area just west of downtown with some cute shops and restaurants. It is also the only place in town with a luggage repair shop - which fixed my suitcase with a broken wheel. Yea!

October 21: I love watching this tree change colors, it's the only red tree in my neighborhood.

October 22: Pathway's annual fall barn dance is always a fun time.

October 23: I joined some friends for a bike ride this morning. I did about 11 miles. This is a view of downtown from underneath Kellogg.

And a great picturesque spot along the river. These views are not ones you can get from a car - you have to get out and explore.

October 24: Fall has made it into my cooking. Today I made cranberry scones - amazing! - and roasted squash soup.

Washington DC

2010-10-18T20:26:00.001-05:00

I visited Washington DC for the first time. It was amazing. I met up with Christy, Michael, and his mom for a few days of sight-seeing. We walked all over downtown DC. It is a great town to be a tourist in. We saw so much but there’s still a ton left to see. I definitely want to go back someday.

The Friendship Gate

The Musuem of American History had lots of interesting artifacts. Like Julia Child's kitchen,

Judy Garland's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz, Kermit, George Washington's uniform.

Walked The National Mall - The Washington Monument

The World War II Memorial

The Vietnam War Memorial - This is my favorite picture that I took on the trip. Just as the sun was setting, making the granite wall look like glass.

The Korean War Memorial

We got to the Lincoln Memorial after the sunset. This was my favorite monument. So majestic.

The White House

The National Air and Space Museum

Toured the US Capitol Building. The Rotunda is incredible.

The National Archives - got to see originals of the US Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and The Bill of Rights.

The National Gallery of Art - there was an awesome special exhibit of French impressionists, most of my favorite artists.

Our last stop was Ford's Theatre where President Lincoln was shot. While it is still a working theatre, they keep the booth set up the way it was that fateful night. It was very interesting to hear all the facts of that day.

Week 41

2010-10-17T21:32:00.000-05:00

October 11: We did a tour of the Capitol Building this morning. The rotunda is amazing.

October 12: My last tourist attraction on this trip was Ford’s Theatre where President Lincoln was shot. We got to walk thru the museum in the basement and listen to a Park Ranger talk about that fateful night’s events in the theatre. It is a working theatre but they don’t use the boxes any more. The box is set up the same way it was the night Lincoln was shot.

October 13: The sun glinting thru the leaves on our daily walk.

October 14: Some trees are bursting out in these beautiful orange berries.

October 15: Diesel is making my house filthy. He rolls in the leaves and they stick to his long fur until he comes inside. Then he rubs his drool soaked snout in the dirt until it is nice and muddy. Sigh.

October 16: Our church partnered with Hospitals of Hope to sponsor the building of a Clinic in a Can. These are retrofitted shipping containers that are converted to a self-contained clinic that can be transported to anywhere in the world. This one is going to Haiti to be manned by Mission of Hope.

October 17: A beautiful sight as we got to the park for a Sunday morning walk.

An autumnal path.

Week 40

2010-10-13T18:06:00.000-05:00

October 4: Cal Thomas, a conservative political writer, did a question/answer session moderated by my pastor tonight. It was interesting though I don't agree with all his views. It's always good to be informed.

October 5: Juniper berries are covering the tree in the backyard.

October 6: This little guy froze as Diesel and I headed out the door for our daily walk. I was surprised he stayed there to let me get his picture. And surprised Diesel didn't take off after him. "Squirrel!"

October 7: I pulled out the treat bag for our walk today for the first time in about a month. He was very aware and attentive, begging for treats before we even left the porch.

October 8: This is what it looks like for me first thing every morning. I sit on the floor and he flops on top of me for a few minutes of snuggle time.

October 9: I took a 4 day trip to Washington DC. It was my first time there. I will do a separate post with many more pictures soon. I loved it. We walked the National Mall from the Washington Monument down to the Lincoln Monument.

October 10: We got a far off glimpse of The White House and could clearly see snipers pacing on the roof. (The black things on the right side of the roof.)

Week 39

2010-10-03T21:23:00.000-05:00

Sept 27: The Ronald McDonald statue is back up. He's a cheery greeting to the families who stay at the house.

Sept 28: "How did you hurt you foot?" "Playing a game of spoons." I think I may be the only person to get a foot injury from a card game. I injured it at a Pathways game night months & months ago. Originally the doctor thought it was just bruised but it never fully healed & it's been hurting a lot lately. Another doctor's visit today and and x-ray to determine if there was a stress fracture, found out I have a pulled tendon in my foot (I rolled it). So heat & ibuprofen for a few weeks and resting it as much as possible.

Sept 29: I attended a Society of Women Engineer's event tonight. Dondi Scumaci is a leadership speaker & writer and it is always great to hear what she has to say. This is the 3rd year in a row she's spoken at a SWE event.

Sept 30: So I went shopping for a pair of sunglasses and black flats tonight and ended up with an amazing deal on a pair of Sofft brown suede Mary Janes and some navy platform pumps. I couldn't resist!

Oct 1: (How is it October already??!!) It's time to break out what few fall decorations I have. The front door gets a new swag.

Oct 2: I finally got around to trimming the out of control juniper bush. The clippings filled a 35 gallon trash barrel.

Oct 3: First Sunday of the month, we eat at Jason's Deli after Pathways. It was busy in there tonight, we had to split into 2 tables.

Week 38

2010-09-26T15:21:00.000-05:00

Sept 20: Another day in Colorado Springs hanging out with the Ross family. I had a blast with their kids: Taite, Trinity, Jaden, Jace & Jessa.

Sept 21: I spent this morning wandering around Garden of the Gods. It was a gorgeous day and I enjoyed seeing parts of the park I hadn't before.

Sept 22: The last few blooms of summer, a few petunias and daises are still hanging on.

Sept 23: It's a Christmas Miracle. The K-Mart house's yard is finished and back to normal minus grass.

Sept 24: I bought a bike helmet. Apparently I have a big head because the "ladies" size was too small. I had to go with the "adult" size.

Sept 25: It was a full Saturday. Started off with a long bike ride with some friends along the Arkansas River. I only managed about 10 miles, the rest of them went 20.

Then, because it was Museum Day, I took advantage of free admission and went to a few of the local participating museums. I started with Botanica. So beautiful sometimes I forgot I was in downtown Wichita.

This sculpture in the butterfly garden makes me think of me & my two sisters when we were little.

Then I went to Old Cowtown Museum.

And I ended with the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum. What a find! It was great.

The day was finished out with an event I was very excited about. The Sound of Music Sing-A-Long at The Orpheum Theater. What a blast! We sang our hearts out and laughed a lot. A raucous fun time.

There was even a costume contest.

Sept 26: This is a prime example of the amazing friends God has placed in my life. Amber's car died and 6 of us traipsed out to the parking lot after church to make sure she was taken care of. I had someone recently tell me they didn't feel connected at our large church. I do not feel that way, God has blessed me with a great circle of friends.

Week 37

2010-09-21T08:19:00.000-05:00

Sept 13: I squeezed in mowing the yard before it was supposed to rain. Oops, I mowed over Diesel’s ball. It went flying. Good thing I had new tennis balls in the garage. That’s his favorite outside toy. Then I mowed over a garter snake. I’m surprised my scream as it tried to slither off didn’t alert my neighbors. Ugh!

Sept 14 – I received a watermelon from my neighbor’s garden. Delicious.

Sept 15 – We had some severe weather tonight. Heavy wind, rain & up to golf ball size hail at my house. There was even a tornado spotted in near Derby.

Sept 16 – The picture didn’t turn out well, but it was a great evening. Janel, Gayle and I went to see “An Improbable Pride and Prejudice” at The Kechi Playhouse in, um, Kechi. It is a converted church. This particular play was a take on Pride & Prejudice and was a great show. Well worth the $9.

Sept 17 – Pupusas!!! I was ridiculously excited to meet a friend and try out a Salvadoran restaurant near work for lunch. The pupusas were excellent! The tamales were good too. And the sweetest people run the place. I’m definitely going back there.

Sept 18 – I flew to Colorado Springs for a few days to visit friends. Trinity is now 8 and today she was my shadow. She graciously is letting me stay in her room.

Sept 19 – Church at Springs Calvary this morning. Almost everywhere has amazing views of the mountains.

Week 36

2010-09-13T18:52:00.000-05:00

Sept 6: A couple for friends got together for a Labor Day cookout and volleyball at East Lake in Newton.

Sept 7: I have a few friends who are training for a triathalon. Talking with them this weekend, I was inspired to dig my bike out of the cobwebs. Mom bought us Schwinn 10-speeds circa 1983, I had it worked over a few years ago and it's still going strong. I am by no means a graceful rider.

Sept 8: An eventful day ended with a small gathering of neighbors for Una's birthday celebration. She's such a special lady and a blessing to me & Diesel!

Sept 9: What, you don't drill holes to fix your Salvadorian coconut earrings that you broke when you put in your pocket on a windy Kauai night? Don't look too closely at the finished product, there might be an extra hole.

Sept 10: The clouds were gorgeously illuminated by the setting sun. I am so glad I had to make a run to the grocery store and got to see it! (Hannah - relax, I pulled over at the park to take the picture.)

Sept 11: Opening weekend of the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson. There was a mass of humanity there, but it was a good time.

Last year I discovered fried cheese curds. Yum!

My friends, The Emily Judson Band, were playing and we listened to few songs. Great job, guys!

I had never seen the butter sculpture before. Impressive.

The piglets in the birthing center were so cute.

Sept 12: I have been craving mussels and indulged for lunch today.

Week 35

2010-09-06T20:29:00.000-05:00

August 30: I finally opened this bottle of Bordeaux that I brought back from France. I really like French reds.

August 31: I worked on removing the popcorn ceiling in the main bathroom and hallway this week. I primed & painted tonight. I like to paint barefoot, but I'm a bit of a messy painter as you can see.

September 1: The bathroom is finished and put back together!

September 2: Una left 2 green peppers from their garden on my kitchen counter today when she let Diesel out today. I love my fantastic neighbors even though I do freak a little when I first see random produce in my house that I know I didn't place there.

September 3: Since I stayed in town for Labor Day weekend, I decided to make it a Wichita Bucket List Blitz weekend and knock a lot things off the bucket list. Tonight I got a group of friends together to go to Shakespeare in the Park's production of Macbeth. It was very enjoyable!
Macbeth:

The director decided to cast the hags as sci-fi characters. Odd...

September 4: The blitz day started with donuts from The Donut Whole. Maple bacon donuts are delicious! Then the Wichita Art Museum. Dale Chiluly's chandelier is always impressive.

The grounds at the Mid-American All-Indian Center has fantastic grounds that lead out to the Keeper of the Plains statue...

And a great view of Wichtia downtown.

Some shopping in Old Town and lunch at Caffe Moderne. And an afternoon at Tanganyika Wildlife Park out in Goddard where you can get up close and personal with the animals. The giraffe posed for me.

This kangaroo was thoroughly enjoying his afternoon snooze in the shade.

And the penguins are always a hit with me.

August 5: Ulrich Art Museum on WSU's campus... It has a giant Miro mural on the facade. It made me remenisce about touring the Miro Museum in Barcelona.

Week 34

2010-08-30T21:38:00.000-05:00

August 23: These flowers are in bloom all over the neighborhood. Pretty, but I have no idea what they are.

August 24: I love the time of year when co-workers bring in the excess from their gardens. Fresh eggplant and tomatoes - why yes I will and grill them up with some chicken for dinner.

August 25: S'mores Fest at biblestudy tonight. Yum!

And later I noticed one of the girls added to my shopping list on the fridge. See anything out of the ordinary? Janel fessed up to it. It made me laugh.

August 26: I took Diesel on a walk in the park for the first time in months since it wasn't blazing hot.

August 27: Jesus Prom is a party my church puts on once a year for those with special needs in our community. Rachel got herself a dancer this year. They spent the entire night dancing to the band, Three Ring Circus. It was a fun night.

August 28: I typically eat my meals on the couch and Diesel usually keeps a very close watch with his pathetic puppy face. I rarely give in.

August 29: I love that good food doesn't have to be complicated. I had 3 plums about to go bad, so I made this plum tart: a sheet of puff pastry dough, 3 sliced plums, sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of sugar and bake at 375 F for 30-35 minutes. Voila! Delicious!

Week 33

2010-08-23T20:22:00.000-05:00

August 16: There was a beautiful purple sunrise this morning. Though I am a little sad the days are getting shorter, I am enjoying the amazing sunrises I get to see on the drive to work.

August 17: I attended Ginger's birthday party. She always makes sure birthdays are celebrated within our group of friends, so it was nice to celebrate hers this time.

August 18: We finished "Forgotten God" by Francis Chan in biblestudy this week.

August 19: We had some weird weather this summer and the trees are showing a little distress. It looks like fall in some places with all the fallen leaves.

August 20: Heather & Terry's wedding reception was in Lawrence tonight. I got to help serve cake. She also had lots of cupcakes from The Pink Box Bakery for everyone to take home. It was a great evening and an awesome time to talk with people I hadn't seen in a very long time.

August 21: This what Saturday nights are made for. I got to babysit JT while his parents went out to dinner for Sharon's birthday. We had lots of fun playing with the gravel in the driveway, riding his bike without the training wheels, swinging until it got dark, and eating cupcakes. He's growing up too fast! He started kindergarten this week. He looks more and more like his mommy every day.

August 22: At my parents after church, "Aunt Jennifer, want me to show you how to make card houses?"

Week 32

2010-08-15T16:07:00.000-05:00

August 9: The K-Mart house was nicknamed such by my first roommate Tanya. It had all blue lights that at Christmas, so the “blue light special” turned into the “the K-Mart house.” The K-Mart house has had its yard torn up like this for oh, nigh on 2 years. Recently they seem to be continuing whatever work was originally started.

Some of the dirt got moved across the street to this house’s yard. Most of the time I love living in a home-owner-association-free neighborhood, but there are times it would come in handy.

August 10: Raining through the sunshine.

August 11: What a 100+ degree Kansas day looks like. We’ve had a lot of them recently.

August 12: Diesel loves when I water the flowers. He begs for me to turn the sprayer on him. Then he leaps around in the spray trying to get a drink and drenching himself in the process.

August 13: Some of the blooming trumpet vine in my neighborhood.

August 14: Not peaches and cream, but nectarines and crème fraiche will do nicely.

August 15: Um, so maybe I should take some time to organize my scrapbook table. I was inspired to sort through things and straight it up.

Week 31

2010-08-09T19:15:00.000-05:00

August 2: A large group of us went kayaking up the river about 2.5 miles and then hiked 1 mile in to a waterfall which we got to swim in. It was awesome.

August 3: Four of us girls got up early to go hiking on the Na'pali Coast on the north shore of Kauai. We had amazing views up the coast. We hiked 6 miles round trip.

August 4: I hung out on the beach by the condo for a little while in the morning before having to head to the airport and back to reality.

August 5: Ah, my own bed.

August 6: I picked up Diesel from my friend Allen who took care of him while I was gone. He was happy to see me but we have to work on some of those obedience training things again.

August 7: A goodbye party for Dan - a friend from work and church, he was a part of our 2nd mission trip to Costa Rica too.

August 8: I've been putting my new laptop to good use. I am very happy to replace my 7 year old computer. And this picture shows me that I really need to clean my desk...

Week 30

2010-08-08T08:07:00.000-05:00

July 26: We did our first two kids' day (half-day) sessions at Elohim. It was great getting to see some of the kids we hung out with last year. We had about 250 kids over the course of the day.

July 27: We went to Sinai church in the morning for a kids' session. We had about 80 kids.

In the afternoon we went to Las Cruces. Both churches today are pastored by Santiago Sr. This is the newest church plant and they do not have a facility. So we were in an open field and halfway thru it started raining on us. But they wanted us to keep going, so we did. And praise the Lord, 50 kids and 1 adult came forward to accept Christ at the end.

July 28: This morning we did a kids' session at Sion, pastored by Wally. We had about 100 kids and even the adults joined in on our activities.

In the afternoon, we got to go to Lake Coatepeque. It is a lake in a volcano crater. It is huge, amazing, beautiful. Took a boat around the island in the lake and got out at a hot springs. So awesome!

At church tonight, we got to see a lot of our Elohim friends. Belen was my little sweetheart. Pastor Eduardo is an awesome brother in Christ.

July 29: We did a kids' session at Jerusalem, pastored by Luis. We had about 100 kids. In the afternoon, a few of us hung out at Elohim before our good-bye party. Pastor Eduardo told us 129 kids and 3 adults accepted Christ over the course of the week! It was awesome to see God move.

July 30: I flew to Kauai for my friend's wedding. We got to stay at this awesome condo.

July 31: Heather & Terry's wedding

August 1: I drove to the south side of the island in the morning to Waimea Canyon - Hawaii's Grand Canyon. It was pretty incredible though somewhat socked in by the clouds.

In the afternoon most of the wedding guests went snorkeling & swimming at Tunnels Beach on the north side of the island. I snorkeled with 2 sea turtles!

Week 29

2010-08-07T12:59:00.000-05:00

July 19: The black eyed susans and shasta daisies are blooming like crazy in my backyard.

July 20: On my way to dinner with Janel in Newton, I saw three 737's sitting on railcars waiting to be shipped to Seattle. I see them leaving our factory all the time, but it was cool to see them actually in transit.

July 21: Annie was the 4th show of the summer music theatre season. A lot of fun!

July 22: I went to the Rascal Flatts concert with newly engaged Janel & Phil.

July 22: My neighbors have some watermelon growing thru our connecting fence. I'm told any melons on my side of the fence, I can have!

July 24: Left for El Salvador on a mission trip. Back to see our friends in Santa Ana. We stopped on our way to eat Pollo Campero - the best fried chicken ever! And for dinner the ladies at Elohim made us papusas! Yum.

July 26: We spent Sunday site seeing before church that evening. They took us up into the mountains. We stopped at a botanical garden. Then hiked a short distance to a double waterfall. And then had a spectacular view of the valley on our drive back to Santa Ana.

Don't fret...

2010-07-23T07:47:00.000-05:00

I will not be posting for the next two weeks but I will inundate you when I return. Please be praying for our mission trip to El Salvador.

Week 28

2010-07-20T07:24:00.000-05:00

July 12: I stopped by to pick up fresh sweet corn from a Gaeddert Farm stand so I could make sweet corn ice cream. Yum!

July 13: Diesel graduated from obedience training. And I got a new toy - my first smart phone!

July 14: Sorting through some of the supplies for the missions trip. There's a lot to take with 6 kids day sessions to do.

July 15: We practiced face painting at our team meeting. Adam made Lindsay into a pirate.

July 16: Bollywood night with the Pathways ladies. Part of the fun was henna tattoos. A close up of mine after it dried.

July 17: Easy Almond Cake for a bbq at a friends - it was easy and delicious!

July 18: We put Pathways to work helping us assemble salvation bead bracelet bags and candy & sticker bags. It took an hour but we whipped out 1200 of each. So thankful for their help. It would have taken the team forever to do it on our own.

Road Trippin'

2010-07-11T22:13:00.009-05:00

Buckle up, this a long post. I headed out of Wichita on Thurs, July 1 on a 5 day road trip that took me through 5 states - Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee. I had beautiful weather the entire time and some fantastic scenery. Roadside flowers and lots and lots of corn fields.

I decided to check out RoadsideAmerica.com before I left to find out if there were any quirky attractions along my route to make a more interesting trip. My first 5 mile detour was near West Mineral, Kansas to see Big Brutus - the world's second largest electric shovel.

On my way to Springfield, Missouri, I drove through Webb City and happened upon this set of praying hands. Not as large as the ones at Oral Roberts University campus in Tulsa, but they do stand out on the side of the road.

I spent the first evening in Springfield with Joy & Alan. We were friends in college many moons ago and hadn't seen each other in years, but reconnected about 2 years ago on Facebook. It was awesome to spend time with them and their four kids, but I am remiss that I didn't take a picture of them.

Friday I started out again east across Missouri. I made a quick stop in Rolla (my college town) at A Slice of Pie. It is a little hole in the wall place but has The Best Pie Ever. I bought two pies to distribute at my next destinations - an American apple pie and a Dutch apple pie.

Another roadside attraction - a small replica of Stonehenge on UMR's campus.

I love the drive between Rolla and Marquand. Two lane, twisty highways with little traffic and great scenery.

Spent the afternoon at Aunt Marilyn & Uncle Tom's. It had been about 2 years since I had seen them and it was great to visit. I wish I had had a longer time to stay. They are such a blessing.

I made it to the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers at sunset. This is a scenic lookout near Wickcliffe, Kentucky called Fort Jefferson Cross at the Confluence. You can look back at Missouri and Illinois and the rivers and bridges that you just travelled over.

I made it to Hannah & Jonathan's in Tennessee that night. Saturday I got to spend some good time with my sweet nephews. Jack is growing up so fast. He is so sweet and laid-back. So adorable. I can't chose just one picture, I have to share them all.

And his big brother, Marshall. Silly, precocious, a bundle of energy and words. He kept asking if I could sleep with him (which I did every night) and if I could stay a long, long time.

I had a great time getting "aunt time" with them.

How can you resist that face??!!

Hannah and her boys

It is very hard to get a good picture with both boys. It took 5 tries, but we got one that's pretty good of me with them.

Jack's adorable baby pudge.

Marshall and his "favorite dog", Pepper. (They only have one dog.)

Hanging out in the birthday chairs Grandma got them.

Alas, I had to leave Tennessee and head home on Monday. I stopped at Laura Ingalls Wilder's historic home in Mansfield, Missouri. I was giddy as a school girl to be at the place where she wrote her books. There was a small museum that was packed with artifacts. Pa's fiddle was the thing that really stuck out to me. There was a quilt Mary had made, lace Laura had made, Ma's mother of pearl handled pen. Laura's handwritten manuscripts were on display. And there were lots of family pictures, letters, name cards.
This is the home Laura and Almanzo built and lived in. There was furniture Almanzo had made in there, and the desk Laura wrote at. Amazing to be standing in the place where they lived.

The view out their front porch.

Their daughter Rose was an accomplished writer. She bought a property down the road and built them "the rock house" with all the modern amenities like electricity & plumbing. It has pretty amazing views too.

Laura and Almanzo lived in the rock house for 8 years. During that time Rose lived in the farm house and fixed it up with electricity and a bathroom. As soon as Rose moved away, they immediately moved back into the farm house and lived there the rest of their days. It was home to them.

It was a great road trip. Lots of interesting attractions along the way and a great time with Marshall and Jack.

Week 27

2010-07-11T21:54:00.003-05:00

July 5: On my drive back from Tennessee, I stopped in Mansfield, Missouri at Laura Ingalls Wilder's historic home. This is where she wrote all her books. There is a little museum and two houses to tour. It was awesome being where those amazing books were written and seeing so many artifacts from her life.
July 6: Is it just me, or does my juniper bush look a little like Wu Shock?

Wu Shock is Wichita State's mascot. It might be time to trim that bush.

July 7: Janel and Sara helped me shop for the supplies needed for the mission trip. We cleaned Wal-Mart and Hobby Lobby out of candy, paper bags, baggies, beads, face paint and various & sundry other items. It is a huge relief to have that off the to-do list.

July 8: Bear was dressed up to celebrate the 4th of July in style.

July 9: I had the chance to spend the evening with Sharon & David and JT. He is a little scrapped up from an accident with a friend's great dane puppy.

We went to the cruise night at Sonic just down the street from their house to check out 30 or 40 old cars.

And then we went swimming in their neighbor's pool. JT is a fish. He loves the water and swims very well. I couldn't resist a picture of him in his goggles. Too cute!

July 10: I spent the weekend in Kansas City with friends. We left our cameras & phones behind most of the time. Spent most of the day at Worlds of Fun and then went to the Country Club Plaza for an amazing dinner at M&S Grill.

July 11: Spent the morning at Cabela's - Rachel, Lindsay & I model the coonskin caps. Had lunch at Arthur Bryant's before heading home. I had burnt ends and some ribs - KC BBQ, yum!

Week 26

2010-07-07T21:40:00.006-05:00

June 28: I made a California burger, but looks more like a Dagwood sandwich. Sprouts, chicken burger, tomato, avocado, and cucumber on a whole grain bun.
June 29: Sunrise out my kitchen window.

June 30: It doesn't show up well but my index finger was bruised it's entire length. My dog hates a German shephard in our obedience class. He jerked towards the dog while the leash was wrapped around my hand and it hurt!

July 1: I set off on a 5 day road trip today. I made time to take in some quirky attractions along the way. Big Brutus is outside of West Mineral, Kansas. World's Second Largest Electric Shovel.

July 2: I enjoyed my visit with Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Tom.

July 3: I ended up in Tennessee to see two of my nephews. Marshall just turned 4.

And Jack just turned 1.

July 4: Aunt time with my precious boys!

I promise a much longer post about the road trip with many more pictures soon.

Week 25

2010-06-28T11:58:00.003-05:00

June 21: I finally broke out the grill. I need to do that more often. I am enjoying the backyard more.
June 22: The a/c quit for the second time this week. It’s no fun in an 80+ degree house. But luckily it got fixed the next day and so far it’s holding.

June 23: Favorite spot in Sedgwick County Park in summer. I have a set of photos I took of a bridge in Central Park in all four seasons. I believe I will try to do so with this spot.

June 24: Downtown Wichita has some great bronze sculptures scattered throughout. This is just outside the library and next to Century II – where I went for the 2nd summer music show of the season.

June 25: 90 minutes + $28 = all my work clothes for El Salvador which will get donated at the end of the week

June 26: I really like my new sandals. I searched the mall for what I had in mind and found these for $11 at Payless. If you didn't know you get 10% off at Payless with a AAA membership.

June 27: Apparently there’s a big change in acidity at the back corner of the hydrangea flowerbed. This is the only one with blue flowers.

Week 24

2010-06-22T07:04:00.003-05:00

June 14: Fresh rhubarb from the farmers' market was turned into a rhubarb grunt (similar to a cobbler). It was good!
June 15: The holly hocks are really starting to bloom.

June 16: I noticed the cool pattern the candle holder makes on the patio furniture during a late "play ball" session with the dog.

June 17: Item #1 off the Wichita Bucket List - free jazz concert at Bradley Fair. It was a fun evening with the girls.

June 18: Celebrating Amanda, Amanda, and Amanda's June birthdays.

June 19: Item #2 on the bucket list - the Underground Salt Museum in Hutchinson. Hillary and I went 650 feet underground to tour the mine. Very interesting.

June 20: The first daisies of the season!

Week 23

2010-06-14T21:09:00.004-05:00

June 7: We had a El Salvador mission team meeting. I am in charge of the team building exercises. Tonight I split them into two teams and they had to make chocolate chip cookies without a recipe. It was chaos and a lot of fun. One team's cookies turned out well and the other's not so great but not so bad. Thanks to Christina for letting us make a huge mess of her kitchen.
June 8: I've begun basic obedience training class with Diesel. He's a quick learner but we've still got some work to do.

June 9: My hydrangeas keep blooming & look so great. They are amazing to examine up close with each tiny petal.

June 10: Music Theatre of Wichita 2010 season has started. 5 shows over the summer. I love my season ticket seats - front row center of the balcony. Tonight Gayle went with me to see Gypsy.

June 11: Janel and I went to the new Intrust Bank Arena to see...

Lady Antebellum and...

Tim McGraw in concert. It was a great evening of country music.

June 12: I hit a few garage sales today hoping to find some gently used shoes for El Salvador. I scored - 21 pairs of shoes for $21. We are collecting shoes to donate to one church site in a particularly poor area. Kids cannot go to school if they do not have shoes, so we are helping the church provide shoes for a community outreach.

June 13: We had torrential rains with 40+ mph winds tonight. Diesel is usually scared of thunder and lightning but somehow had energy to burn and wanted to be outside playing in the lake of a backyard. He came in a drenched but happy puppy.

Week 22

2010-06-06T12:54:00.005-05:00

May 31: I had a Chick-fil-A peach milkshake before leaving Atlanta. Bits of real peach...divine!
June 1: The hydrangeas are blooming and they are huge! This is about the size of two softballs.

June 2: Ice cream sundaes at biblestudy tonight.

June 3: I won tickets to Mosley Street Melodrama, so Janel & I used them to see...

"High School Melodrama".

June 4: I finally got to eat at Bonefish Grill. A group got together to celebrate Amanda N's birthday. It was a fun evening.

June 5: I finally made it to the farmer's market. I always have to hold myself back from buying too many of the wonderful vegetables.

June 6: I spent some time this weekend working on the yard. I am very pleased with how the plants are growing - which has nothing to do with any talent on my part. Looking at the plants closely, I am amazed at what a wonderful, imaginative Creator we have.

The lavender is starting to bloom.

Some of the hostas are blooming.

The feather grasses are feathering.

Baby black-eyed susans are making an appearance,

Purple bell flowers are ringing,

And my first hollyhock blooms have opened!

After three springs of work, I am excited to see the backyard flowerbeds growing so well & blooming so fervently.

Week 21

2010-06-02T22:10:00.004-05:00

I blame the late post on traveling and on my computer being incredibly uncooperative once I got home.
May 24: Family portrait
May 25: We had an awesome double rainbow this morning. I pulled off onto a side street on my way to work to get a picture of it with my phone. It was a beautiful way to start the day.

May 26: I made fajita chicken for dinner. The limes I bought were total duds - a drop of juice per lime. I had to make a return trip to the store to get this lime juice in order to marinate the chicken.

May 27: The Thursday night life group wrapped up a study on "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan tonight. It was a great study & an awesome book. I am still chewing on a lot of what we discussed.

May 28: Atlanta baby! I flew to Atlanta for a reunion with a group of college friends for the weekend. We hadn't all been together in 5 years. We rented this ridiculous fabulous house in Buckhead. It worked out fantasticly. We had 14 adults and 9 kids running around it's 3 stories. We spent a lot of time hanging out and catching up.

It also happened to be Sheri's birthday (my roommate sophomore year). There was copious amounts of fabulous food over the weekend - all planned & orchestrated by Amy.

May 29: The Georgia Aquarium was today's activity.

There was a touching tank with sting rays and baby sharks.

The penguin exhibit had a part you could crawl through and then pop up in the center of the exhibit.

Jelly fish. I love the aquarium setting on my camera.

A lot of the kids in our group were fascinated by the feeding time in the touching pool.

May 30: The World of Coca-Cola was on the dock today. My Grandpa Marshall used to be a Coca-Cola distributor, so I was looking forward to seeing it.

One of the coolest things in the museum for me were Olympic torches. Coke is a big sponsor of the Olympic games.

Some of the many decorated Coke bottles.

We managed to capture a picture of the adults (minus Chrissy & Steve). Couch: Dan & Amy, me, Sheri & Mark, Standing: Jennifer & Robin, Travis, Elizabeth & Steve, Scott & Terisa. It was a fantastic weekend catching up & hanging out. We decided 5 years is too long to wait to do it again. I'd explain how we all met & who was roommates with who when, but it'd leave you confused. It just reminded me that God is faithful and my college experience was exactly what I needed it to be with some great friends.

Week 20

2010-05-23T21:44:00.003-05:00

May 17: The roses in the neighborhood are blooming with gusto. So many in so many beautiful colors.
May 18: My special neighbor, Una, gave me this gorgeous rose today. She planted her yellow rose bush in memory of her mother who loved yellow roses. It smells fabulous too.

May 19: Diesel thinks running water is a toy. He loves it when I turn the hose on him; he prefers to drink the water as I'm pouring it in his dish than when it's actually in the dish. This morning it was raining when I let him out. He ran to the edge of the patio and was catching the rain falling off the roof in his mouth. Cracked me up, goofy dog.

May 20: Bear is ready for summer.

May 21: Very excited that I will have hydrangea blooms this year!

May 22: It was backyard movie night tonight. I regret to inform you that none of my pictures turned out so great, but here goes. Diesel loved seeing his friends Seth & Jesse. "Sit wittle Diesel. Lick me Diesel." He's happy to oblige Seth's commands.

"Back to the Future" was the feature movie. No threat of rain this year, though it was a little windy. And a good time was had by all.

May 23: Tried out Linkhaus after Pathways tonight - a new bratwurst place. The Italian - smothered in tomatoes, basil, mozerella & balsamic. Yummy.

Week 19

2010-05-17T20:40:00.007-05:00

May 10: Tornado Warning. We had serious weather today. Rotation was spotted about a mile away but luckily nothing came of it. Diesel and I hung out in the basement for awhile with my quickly pulled together stash.

May 11: My summer music theatre season tickets arrived! I love Music Theatre of Wichita and am looking forward to this summer's shows.

May 12: Diesel hanging out in the backyard. Isn't my dog cute?!

May 13: The cottonwood was flying everywhere in the park today and gathered in big clumps beside the trail.

May 15: Amy & Ashlee's birthday party was a lot of fun. The funniest part was 2 yr old Vance meeting Ashlee for the first time. His mind was blown. "You're the wrong Amy!"

May 16: Due to the rain & cold, paint ball was out. So we went to brunch and to see Iron Man 2 for Jen's birthday.

May 17: I made blueberry boy bait for our Pathways game night. It has been much requested since I first made it last year. And yes, "blueberry boy bait" is really the name of the dessert.

Custard, blueberry jammy concoction, meringue

This is what I brought home.

Week 18

2010-05-09T20:04:00.004-05:00

May 3: I have let Diesel start sleeping under my bed again. He has to get down on all fours and belly-crawl under there, but he loves it. I tell him "it's nighty-night time" and he heads into my bedroom and crawls under the bed.
May 4: I met up with a girl at College Hill Park. It was a gorgeous evening.

May 5: I used Laurie's avocado salsa recipe for Alina's birthday party potluck; it was big hit.

May 6: Our walk at Sedgwick County Park on a gorgeous late afternoon.

May 7: After 13 years in Wichita, I finally made it to Carriage Crossing Restaurant in Yoder. A friend organized our evening trek there and 20 of us went. Yoder is an Amish community about 45 minutes northwest of here.

It's known for it's amazing down-home cooking. Country-fried steak, mashed potatoes & gravy, and glazed carrots.

And their selection of pies...chocolate peanut butter. I think I ate a week's worth of calories in one meal, but it was delicious.

May 8: I attended a backyard dance party for a friend's birthday...all decked out with disco balls.

May 9: I made some cookies for Diesel to give to Una. She is our special neighbor lady who is a God-send. She comes by every weekday to let him out and play with him after lunch.

Week 17

2010-05-03T20:48:00.005-05:00

April 16: My impatiens are growing!
April 27: I climbed up on and walked around on a large airplane part today in these shoes (a big curved section of fuselage made of composite). The guys who were with me were nervous that I was going to fall, but I didn't. It was fun!

April 28: We had major winds today and this huge branch fell out of my tree along with a lot of smaller ones.

April 28: The snowball bush is blooming and laden with these beautiful blooms.

April 29: My clematis are blooming too! Looks like I'll have a lot of blooms this year.

May 1: Jared & Emily got married!

May 2: Tanya & Chris dedicated Jesse today. I visited their church to be there for it.

One of my favorite smells ever - sheets dried on the line.

Week 16

2010-04-26T21:03:00.005-05:00

April 19: He's being trained on the electric fence and none too happy that he no longer has free reign of the backyard. But I want my flowers to remain un-trampled.
April 20: I couldn't resist all the amazing colors of the coleus available. However, 56 plants was a bit much even though I did find places for all of them.

The giant hosta is unfurling it's leaves and looks so sculptural.

April 21: Wednesdays is our special treat of a walk in the park. This is my favorite spot of trail.

April 22: Nigella strikes again. Blackberry galette. It was a big hit at life group.

April 23: I love my trees, I hate my trees. The wind today blew the thousands upon thousands of helicopter pods out of my two giant maples. They are now littering the driveway and law.

April 24: It was a busy day that started out with a Ronald McDonald House volunteers appreciation brunch at the Museum of World Treasures in Old Town.

The afternoon was spent painting a house along with friends as part of LOVE Wichita - a church based, city-wide service project.

And then I drove to Lawrence to see a show with Mom. From the balcony of the Lied Center, we had a great view of the thunderstorm that was rolling in.

April 25: I love the Flint Hills. The gracefully undulating hills are a vibrant spring green. Anyone who thinks Kansas has boring landscape hasn't driven through the Flint Hills. I love that the path between Wichita and Lawrence runs through them and I get to see their beauty in all seasons.

Week 15

2010-04-18T16:33:00.009-05:00

April 12: El Salvador mission team meeting #2 - team building activity: blind-folded working in teams to find objects. Learning each other's communication style and trust.

April 13: Nigella's "fairy cake" recipe for snack day at work. I had a ton of buttercream frosting left over from the cake I made on Saturday.

April 14: Our women's biblestudy is doing Beth Moore's "The Inheritance" series. So much good stuff to think on. And I love that she uses Chambord Castle as the graphic (I got to visit there last April.)

April 15: I spent an extra 10 minutes browsing the flowers at my local Ace Hardware store. It was all I could do not to buy a ton.

April 16: I make my bed nice & neatly every morning. Every day this week I've come home to this.... There's only one culprit. Apparently my spot on the bed is comfy for Diesel's naps.

April 17: I went back to Ace and blew most of my plant budget for this spring. I tackled the flower bed at the end of the driveway - weeded, dug up bulbs I missed last year, added more hen & chicks, creeping jenny, and dianthus.

Allen came over to help me tackle a project I felt too daunting to take on alone. This...

came from here, the small space between shed & fence. It went much quicker than I expected and now it's safe to walk back there with out vines and wire triping you up. Thanks, Al!

April 18: I planted an entire flat of impatiens in the front door bed.

The New Guinea impatiens brighten the front flower pot. I believe the color was "sonic violet". Quite fitting.

Planted basil and Italian parsley to complement the thyme and oregano in my little herb garden.

And some hot pink and white geraniums to brighten up the patio.