A husband, a wife, 3 dogs, and a chinchilla

A Year Late but Better than Never

2011-03-10T20:08:00.014-05:00

Get ready for a lot of posts! I'm starting with some knitting I've done over the past few/several months.

These are the Snapdragon Flip-top Mittens designed by Ysolda Teague. I made these for my Aunt Betty for her birthday in January. I started these a couple weeks before Christmas.

And here is a beautiful and delicious cake I made a few weeks ago! It is Esther's Orange-Marmalade Layer Cake from Jan Karon's book Esther's Gift.

You can find the recipe at other online sites but I really enjoyed the book and recommend it if you get a chance to read it. The cake is not difficult to make but it does require some prep work and time to make. It is definitely worth it!

God Bless!

-Emily

Is it Spring yet?

2010-03-13T09:13:00.004-05:00

Hi All!

It's been a long delay since my last post but I'm back and hope to be a more consistent blogger. This week in particular has been a difficult one for myself and my family: my Dad's father passed away Sunday night March 7th. He was a great man, a wonderful grandfather to me and he is greatly missed. I love you Grandad!!!

On a different note, Spring will be here in 7 days!!! Hubby and I are itching to get outside and enjoy the nature around us. We recently began talking about raising chickens. And yesterday we brought home 14 little chicks! They are so cute!!! They are doing great and I am very excited about taking care of them and about the fresh eggs we will be collecting in the future. Right now I'm just enjoying watching and petting these cute fluffy little balls of sunshine!

Happy Saturday!

God Bless!

-Emily

Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival Part 1

2009-05-09T10:14:00.010-04:00

I've been temporarily absent from my blog but now I'm back! We've had so much going on that I just haven't had the time/opportunity to blog. I hope to post more regularly now.

My latest adventure was the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival which was wonderful!!! My mom and I drove up together on Friday. The drive was beautiful!

Mom spotted several rainbows along the way. Look closely and you can see 2 together. The drive to Maryland was quite nice weather-wise but the drive back left something to be desired.

The reason for our trip!!!I'll post more later!

GO TARHEELS!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-04-07T10:06:00.003-04:00

I am so proud to be a Tarheel! Last night we won the NCAA National Championship and it was so great to see such a great basketball team achieve what they had been striving for. Those guys are awesome! Congratulations UNC!!!

Reprieve from Winter

2008-12-27T18:06:00.013-05:00

We got a little taste of Spring weather in the midst of winter and decided to take advantage of it.
We took the boys out to the river a few days ago and had a Great time! Murph loves the water! He's definitely got some Newfie in him. Hutch and Charlie are not quite as comfortable in the water as he is but they are coming around. See the big smile on Murphy's face in the picture below:

This is as deep as Charlie got in the water.

Here Murphy is fetching a stick.

We all left pretty wet and dirty (it was hard to escape the dogs when they shook the water off their coats) but we had a great time.

Christmas!

2008-12-27T17:16:00.014-05:00

Christmas is wonderful! It's my favorite time of year. This is the first year out of the past 3 years that I've been in my hometown for Christmas Eve and Christmas. Christmas Eve was spent with my Dad's side of the family. We had crab legs and orange roughy...yummy! As you can see below Jason is loading the crab leg plate sky high. My aunt (pictured) and I were trying to discourage him from piling them even higher.

Here's the whole bunch of us gathered around for the feast! It was SOOOO GOOD!!!

We also played pool, opened gifts, and sat around and talked. Wish we did this more than once a year!

Mom is trying out her Christmas present. She sank one on the first try!

Jason and I spent Christmas morning at our house and celebrated together, enjoying a relaxing Christmas day. This was the first time we exchanged Christmas gifts since we've been married :-) We decided that we should do the same next year! I had no idea how good he is at picking gifts for me ;-) He picked out a beautiful pattern and the yarn to make it. I cast on immediately. I love it! I'll post a picture once I've gotten a little more done. We ate a late Christmas lunch with my mom's side of the family. It was another delicious meal (pot roast, potatoes and gravy, deviled eggs, etc. followed by rum cake and molasses stack cake). Yum! I didn't get a picture of that spread b/c I was too hungry :-) Trust me, it was good.

Lance and Jason are pictured below (too full to move after eating). This sight struck me as funny (they both have their cell phone/PDA's out).

I think this post has gotten a bit too lengthy so I'll just leave you with a teaser for the next post. It felt like a Spring day today so we took the dogs to the river. We all had a great time! I can't believe how warm it was. I'll post more pictures of our day at the river later.

Graduation!!!

2008-12-13T14:26:00.008-05:00

Jason graduated from BLET on Tuesday evening. It was a fun night and a very nice ceremony/dinner. Jason's mom and dad drove out from Missouri to celebrate with us. We all had a great time and are very proud of Jason!

Carolyn and Mary smiling for the camera.
John and Al talking before the graduation ceremony.

The dogs were in Heaven with all the attention they got!

Here are Mary and Murphy on the couch:
Here are John, Hutch, Charlie and Jason.

Snow Day!

2008-11-21T17:59:00.007-05:00

We had a beautiful snow on Friday. In fact, this is our 3rd snow so far this winter! It's beautiful but not so much fun for driving. It's been extremely cold and windy here too. Last night it was 14 degrees and the windchill was 3 degrees.

Check out the video below!

2008-10-29T20:15:00.006-04:00

The dogs gave me a good scare today. When I went to let them in this morning before work, they were nowhere to be found. None of them came when I called either. I was very worried to say the least! They couldn't have been outside for more than 15 minutes. I called Mom and Dad for backup. Mom was on her way to help me so I got in the car and drove around to hopefully find them. I drove around and then saw a black dog from a distance. The dogs were about a quarter of a mile away at a tree farm. I pulled in and started calling for the dogs. The first one to see me was Charlie and he started sprinting toward me as fast as he could. Murphy and Hutch were right behind him. They all got right in the car just as Mom pulled into the tree farm lot.
We went to a wedding this weekend. One of Jason's Army buddies got married. Here we are afterwards (back at the hotel). We had a good time.

Remember these? I finally finished Jason's socks. One has been done for quite some time now but it's mate was just completed this week. Now his feet are warm :-) (If you are wondering what that dark spot is, it's apple cider: Jason accidentally dropped the sock in his apple cider mug right after I finished them).

And also I took a little video of Lilo rolling around in her ball. She's such a cutie!

Preparing for winter

2008-10-18T23:23:00.025-04:00

Tonight it's supposed to be cold so we brought most of our plants inside, covered our tomato plants and put our ceramic vases in the basement. Jason mowed the yard (hopefully for the last time this year). We also went to the pumpkin patch and bought some pumpkins. We both love fall weather!The trees have been gorgeous. The colors are so beautiful.

I just got back from Nashville last weekend. It was just a weekend trip (and it was a day of class) but I had a good time. I went with my mom and dad. Dad and I took a course. We also went on a carriage ride and to the Grand Ole Opry. It was a lot of fun packed into a weekend. I hope Jason and I can go to Nashville sometime soon for a nice mini-vacation. I think we could have a lot of fun!
This was my second visit to the Opry. It was the Opry's 83rd birthday the night we went. Below is the group Riders in the Sky with the huge birthday cake. Kenny Rogers and Darryl Worley were also there.

This was pretty cool. Check out all the pumpkins!
Here Mom and Dad are in downtown Nashville.

And below is a really cute gift that the girls at the office got for me for bosses' day! Even though I'm not really the boss (they were very kind to include me). :-) See her earrings and hair bow!

And here she is having a beer. I guess Jason thought she needed one ;-)

This week in Pictures!

2008-09-28T20:09:00.006-04:00

It's been a pretty busy week! I got my hair cut and colored on Saturday (a week ago). I've been wanting a change since most of the time my hair is up in a ponytail. So, I went for a pretty big change!

I also finally finished a pair of socks for my mom. I intended to make them for her for Mother's Day...then her birthday...but it just became a matter of me getting them done at some point :-) Fortunately it was before Christmas! :-) She tried them on for me last week and they fit very nicely! I am very pleased ;-)

How does your garden grow?

2008-09-14T17:08:00.017-04:00

We've made some updates since our last post! Notice anything different about the barn? Even though we got a late start on our mini-garden this year, all the plants are growing beautifully! We've even eaten our first cucumber that we planted.

I just took this photo today. I really like this picture!

These sunflowers are getting ready to bloom too!

Here's our little garden:

Our first cucumber! What a beauty! And tasty too!

Some healthy looking Roma tomatoes!

They're growing fast!

Growing cucumbers!

And here I am in the first sweater I made myself. I just finished it last night!

A Relaxing Weekend

2008-08-10T20:51:00.013-04:00

Do you know how difficult it is to get a picture of a hummingbird? It's tough! This is the best I've been able to get. Jason and I love watching the hummingbirds! They're such awesome little creatures.

I took a few pictures of the view from our house today. It's Beautiful!!! I love seeing this view everyday.

I also took this picture today. Jason put up a couple of American flags and I think they add a lot to the house!This is the shed in the back yard. We planted a little garden around it.

Here's a close-up of our tomatoes.

Earlier this week Jason and Murphy did some work on the bathroom. Check out Jason's beard.Later that day, Charlie helped Jason send some emails. It's a good thing that Jason has so much help around the house! ;-)

Jason and I went to a political dinner last night and I talked Jason into a picture. We don't have a lot of occasions to get dressed up :-)

Moved in and HAPPY!

2008-08-07T22:40:00.004-04:00

It's been quite awhile since we've posted anything but I assure you there's been a good reason! :-) We moved! We're now in the mountains of North Carolina. And life is Good!

This is our new home. This house was built by my great-grandfather on my Dad's side of the family. Jason wasn't able to move in at the same time as me and the animals since he was at his National Guard training and finishing his last weeks of work. So when he finally arrived I wanted to welcome him home (that's why the balloons are there). We've since added more plants and bird feeders so I'll try to add some updated pics soon. One of my favorite past-times is watching the hummingbirds come by to eat and hover around the house.

A few weeks ago I was sitting on the front porch and saw this go by:

You don't see that everyday!

It's great to be in the mountains! We are even growing a little garden. A very little garden! We have a hot pepper plant, a cucumber plant, and 3 tomato plants. We also have some sunflowers that are growing pretty fast (a little piece of Kansas) :-)

I hope to write more soon. I have several topics to blog about so hopefully I'll get back up-to-date soon.

Hutch the Mouser

2008-06-11T19:07:00.006-04:00

A few days ago I was sitting in the living room and heard some noise in the kitchen. I turned around and saw Hutch standing on his hind legs in the pantry. We keep rawhides in there for the dogs and I thought that's what he was after. But he was on the opposite side of the pantry from the bones so I went to see what he was so interested in.

Here's what he was so interested in: At first I thought it was a lizard b/c I just saw a tail but then I realized we had a mouse!
Hutch was determined to catch him! And he did!!! I pulled a chair over (for me to kneel on while I moved some stuff out of the pantry). I pulled things out one by one and Hutch stood there the whole time ready to pounce on the mouse. After I moved 4 items out of the way, the mouse made his escape but didn't even make it out of the pantry. Hutch grabbed him unbelievably fast. I ran to the door, opened it, and told him to go out. Thankfully he took the mouse outside with him. The 3 dogs all took turns prancing around with it outside. Hutch was very proud of himself. I'm proud of him too!!!

He caught that mouse on Friday and today he caught another one! We got home after being away for a few days and Hutch was staring down the refridgerator. Jason moved the fridge out of the corner and out darted a mouse. Hutch grabbed it in an instant! Jason opend the door and Hutch took the mouse out. We are very proud of our mouser! We had no idea a dog could be fast enough to catch a mouse.

Beach Bums

2008-05-29T20:50:00.010-04:00

Jason and I went to the Outer Banks this week for a little getaway. We stayed at the First Colony Inn in Nags Head. It was a great place to stay and we highly recommend it! It has a bed & breakfast feel but with more privacy than typical B&B's. (This is from our limited experience with B&B's - we've only stayed at one). :-)

Here we are at the Bodie Island Lighthouse.

On the way to the OuterBanks we stopped at the Blackwater Pro Shop in Moyock NC. Notice the shirt :-)

Here we are relaxing at the beach. The difference in Virginia Beach and the Outerbanks is amazing! We had a good portion of the beach all to ourselves. We even had space to fly a kite! See more pictures below.

Once we had enough sun for the day we decided to hit the outlet mall. It turns out Brad Paisley was just there filming a music video with Andy Griffith! We missed him by just a few minutes. We were told he was on his way to Oregon Inlet to film another portion of the video. So, after we finished our shopping we drove over to the Oregon Inlet to see if we could spot Brad. We couldn't get on the beach exactly where he was filming but we did get on about 50 feet away from where they were shooting the video. It was a pretty secluded area as you can see below where Jason is standing. We didn't see Brad but it was still cool to be out on the beach!

In the evening we drove over to Manteo which is a cool place. We walked down to the waterside and saw a couple of ducks. They were very cute! I've been trying to post a video we took of a cute duckling with his momma but haven't had any luck yet. That's the big reason it's taken me so long to post this. I'll keep trying.

Pungo Strawberry Festival

2008-05-24T19:11:00.017-04:00

Welcome to the Strawberry Festival!

Yum! A strawberry taco (a "waffle cone" taco filled with strawberries and whipped cream and topped with chocolate sprinkles).
Have you ever seen a pig race? Make sure you check out the videos below!

Did you know?
While we were at the festival we had to check out the livestock.

Check out this video!

And the winner is...

2008-05-21T16:46:00.011-04:00

LILO!

Nearly a month ago, Jason and I went to see Dockdogs in Virginia Beach as you might remember from a previous post. While we were there I registered to win a "small pet cage" from Care-A-Lot Pet Supply. Actually I registered for 3 different cages. They were all different sizes and had different small pet supplies inside. Yesterday, I received a call from the store telling me I won the 3-tiered cage and all the goodies inside! Today I went to the store to pick it up. This won't replace Lilo's current cage (shown above) but it makes life easier for when we need to transport her to a different location. It's so exciting to win something!

Here's a picture!

And here's a better look at all the goodies inside.

Here, Lilo is trying to con me into giving her another raisin :-)

Jason's Birthday!

2008-05-13T11:16:00.017-04:00

Saturday was Jason's birthday. We decided to go to the beach; it's been awhile since we've been there. We thought it would be a pretty warm day. When we left the house it was 70 degrees but by the time we got to the beach it was 58 degrees! A little chilly, especially with the wind! But we made the most of it. We ended up buying VA BEACH sweaters to keep us warm. That's really the only way we could stand to be outside. Amazingly there were people in the water! I can understand the people surfing in dry suits but the people in swim suits are a little crazy!

We left the beach and drove around for a little while looking for something to do. We drove through the community of Pungo and saw people picking strawberries. So, we decided to pick some fresh strawberries! We actually thought the strawberry festival was going on but found out that it's not until May 24th/25th. It was a lot of fun to pick strawberries and they are delicious!!!

A view of Pungo

Later, we went to the Crab Shack Seafood Restaurant for dinner.

The View of the James River from the Crab Shack.

Another view of the James River (from the Monitor Merrimack Bridge).

View from the James River Bridge.

And now, some pictures of the dogs. These were taken before we went to the mountains and I've been slack on posting :-)

Hutch loves looking out the window! This is one of his favorite spots.

Murphy thinks Charlie makes a great pillow! :-)

I'm a little behind on my posts as you can tell since I'm just now posting about Jason's Birthday (May 10th). I'm trying to make up for it now with lots of blogging. Make sure you check out the previous posts like "Fishing!" I don't want you to miss those great pictures!

Fishing!

2008-05-13T10:11:00.017-04:00

The beautiful New River!

We spent last week in the mountains. The weather was great and the scenery was gorgeous! On Sunday we went out on the river with my (Emily's) mom and dad. We took three rafts and tied 2 together (for those of us who wanted to relax rather than fish). We all fished a little and we all caught fish! We were also pretty much by ourselves out there. We did see this guy out there though :-)

Here's Dad in his kickboat. He was tied to the boat Mom and I were in.

Here's Mom with her big catch.

Here I am with my whopper! :-)

Here's Dad with his catch.

At some point I switched boats and joined Jason. Here he is with his biggest catch of the day.
A picture of Mom and Dad making their way down the river.

Here's Mom rowing down the river. She looks pretty serious! :-)
Here's Jason navigating the river.

Jason's pulling in yet another fish!

A couple more scenic pictures.

Sheldon (Step by Step)

2008-05-11T19:42:00.018-04:00

Meet Sheldon!

He doesn't have eyes yet but they're coming :-)

I thought I would show you a step by step of how Sheldon was made.

I made Sheldon's body/head first and then the legs.

Next, I made the top of his shell.

Then, the bottom of the shell.

Then, I sewed the two together and stuffed the shell.

Next, I knit the shell underbelly.

And then crocheted a couple of rounds to make leg openings.

Next, the shell and underbelly were attached using an I-cord. This part was a little tricky until I figured out what I was suppose to do and then it was actually pretty fun.

The finished shell!

DockDogs

2008-04-26T21:10:00.026-04:00

Jason and I went to see Dockdogs this weekend. We've seen them on the Outdoor channel and now we've seen them in person! We took all 3 dogs with us out to Virginia Beach for the event. Check out the video below. It's a clip of Country, a dog with one of the longest Big Air jumps ever! Keep watching til the end and wait for the splash.

Here's another jump, different dog.

We took each dog out separately to walk them around and let them partake in the festivities!

We also bought a new toy for the doggies. It's a big hit with all 3! We've never seen Hutch get so excited about a toy.

It's mushy!

It's squishy,It's portable,
It can also be used as a headrest.

And it's just plain fun!

CHEESE!
In this video you can watch the boys in action. Jason and I had a lot of fun just watching them all afternoon.

Murphy is thoroughly enjoying himself!

The dogs were worn out after all the playing.

Pictures!!! Lots and lots of pictures!

2008-04-23T21:51:00.007-04:00

I took some cute pictures of Jason with the big dogs. I even managed to get in the picture below!

Does this look comfortable to you?

Here are Charlie and Hutch sunbathing.
Jason got a new toy! Jason got his birthday present early. He bought a bow which arrived last night.

And now for Sheldon...

Sheldon is a stuffed turtle toy I've been working on. The shell is now stuffed and ready for the next step. You can find the pattern here.

Here's the top of his shell.

Here's the bottom layer of the top shell.

And here's the shell sewn and stuffed.

The Battle of Yorktown

2008-04-17T11:23:00.013-04:00

Jason and I went to Yorktown, VA this past week. We had a great time! We walked through the town, had a great lunch, and toured the battlegrounds. Jason taught me a lot about the way the battles were fought and pointed out a lot of things that I wouldn't have noticed on my own. It was pretty amazing that the trenches and cannons were still there after more than 200 years. Before going back home I twisted Jason's arm to stop in the knitting/yarn store in town. Not really. He usually doesn't mind if I go into knitting stores, as long as it's not a lengthy stay. :-) Just like I tolerate Bass Pro Shops every now and again!

Here we are, in our usual pose, along side of the York River. Yorktown is a lot prettier than I had imagined.
Here is the Carrot Tree Restaurant where we ate lunch. It was delicious! Jason and I both had a crabcake sandwich and we shared a piece of carrot cake which was quite yummy!
The 2 pictures below are British Howitzers that were captured during their surrender.

This is the Moore House. It's the house where the British surrendered to the Americans. It's a beautiful home and in a beautiful location. Apparently it was quite damaged during the Civil War but it has been restored to it's original glory.

This is the view from the Moore House overlooking the York River. Great view, huh!?!

This is the room in the Moore House in which British General Cornwallis' representatives met with General George Washington's representatives to determine the terms of the British surrender.

A nice relaxing weekend!

2008-04-13T16:58:00.019-04:00

We've had a great weekend! Yesterday morning I went to Yarn for Breakfast, a knitting group I joined. It was a lot of fun. They're a great group of people! Then in the afternoon Jason and I went to Pet Palooza. I saw it advertized a few days ago and thought it would be cool to check out. The Neuter Scooter was out front. I just had to get a picture! There were a lot of venders there spanning the spectrum from pet communicators, pooper scooper services, pet sitters and pet supply stores to tooth-whitening and hot tubs. The fun part was seeing all of the animals there. Lots of people brought their pets, mostly dogs but we also saw birds and ferrets. There was also a pet/owner look alike contest that was pretty funny. We didn't bring any of our dogs. We thought about bringing Charlie but imagined him peeing on everything in sight. He likes marking his territory in new places!

Here are the pet/owner look-alike winners. I definitely see the resemblance! :-)

There was a tortoise walking around with a harness on his shell and a donation cup. He could actually move pretty fast! We also saw a Flemish rabbit (huge! as big as Charlie), an angora rabbit, a couple of oppossums, an owl, a chinchilla (not as cut as Lilo), a skunk, a Serval cat, several snakes(yuck), and some parrots. You could pay somewhere between $5 and $10, depending on the animal, to have your picture taken with the animal of your choice.

This is the tortoise. He was moving so fast it was hard to get a good picture of him. No, seriously, he was!!! Jason and I both had to side-step because he was about to run into or over us :-)

This is a Flemish rabbit. This is the biggest rabbit I have ever seen! It's not the best picture but check out this to see what a whopper of a rabbit they can be.

This is an angora rabbit. I bet he is a softy!

These are some other rabbits + guinea pig that were there. Aren't they cute all snuggled up together!!! The guinea pig would stick his head out every now and then to see what was going on but other than that they all just hung close together. They were very friendly!Here's the owl. Didn't pet him :-)

And here are the parrots!

After perusing Pet Palooza, we went to a movie, Street Kings. Jason picked this one :-) I took my knitting along in case I didn't like it. I've never done that before but thought I would bring it this time since I really wasn't looking forward to the movie. After about 20 minutes and a very violent action scene, I decided to try knitting in the dark. I thought it would at least help me relax a little more (bloody, violent movie scenes aren't my thing). When we left the movie, we couldn't wait to see how my knitting had turned out. We walked to the Mexican restaurant after the movie to eat and see just how the sock turned out. We both got a good laugh out of it! :-)Somehow one side turned out just fine. Sorry it's blurry.The other side however....

I've gone ahead and continued knitting despite the mistakes. Jason said he thought I should leave it the way it is and we'll have a little laugh every time he wears them. I thought that sounded like a good idea. :-)

GO JAYHAWKS!!! 2008 National Champs!

2008-04-08T19:42:00.017-04:00

What an exciting game!!! The Jayhawks are the National Champions! It was a great game. Jason was/is so happy!!! It's pretty cool they won 20 years after their last one.

Jason and I were watching hopefully even as Kansas was down by 9 points with 2:12 left in the game. The next thing we knew, Kansas cut the lead to 56-60. After Memphis made 2 more free throws and Kansas made 2 free throws and a 2-pointer, the score was 60-62 and there were 44 seconds left in the game. Memphis missed several foul shots but hit 1 leaving 9 seconds in the game. There was still hope! When Mario Chalmers' 3 pointer with 3.4 seconds left in the game tied it up and sent the game into overtime Jason and I were ecstatic!!! Once overtime started, we both felt like it was KU's Championship to win!!! Now Jason is looking to buy all the KU Championship gear he can find :-)

And Now....

I promised you some pictures in my last post but I'm just now getting around to putting them up. Last week my mom and dad visited us and brought along their dogs, Sophie and Keats. We had a great time visiting museums and going out to the river/ocean. Dad brought his rib boat so he and Jason could do some fishing. We went to the Mariner's Museum, the Nauticus, the Virginia Living Museum and the Virginia Beach aquarium.

Here are some otters at the aquarium. They're my favorite! They are so playful and fun to watch. The Virginia Living Museum also has a great otter exhibit.

Here Jason, me and Dad are in front of the Harbor Seals at the aquarium.

We also watched some basketball while they were here. Hutch was sneaky! He climbed up on Mom and Dad's laps when Jason and I weren't watching.

Did I mention we had 5 dogs in the house? I love this picture!

As I mentioned above, Dad brought his rib boat so he and Jason could do some fishing. Somehow they talked me into going for a ride. It was a bit chilly that day and Dad let me borrow his hat. Thanks Dad! Considering how I look in these pictures (especially the first one with glasses and hat and all) I thought about not posting them but Jason is smiling in the first one and I'm proud of myself for actually getting out in the boat and braving my fears so here they are!

GO JAYHAWKS!!!

2008-04-07T20:02:00.008-04:00

Tonight the Kansas Jayhawks play for the NCAA Basketball Championship against Memphis. We're cheering for KU of course! That's Jason's alma mater. KU beat my alma mater, UNC, on Saturday night. Needless to say, we were a house divided that night! :-) We actually didn't even watch it because we didn't want to cause any hard feelings against each other while we were cheering on our respective teams. We each have no problem whatsoever cheering for each other's teams any other time but when they're playing eachother it's tough! I love my Tarheels but I'm also happy to see Kansas doing so well. I want them to win the championship!!!

Tomorrow I'll post some pictures from last week. My mom and dad came to visit us. We had a great time and got some good photos too!

For tonight I'll leave you with some photos from last night of the dogs.

2 Socks on 1 needle!

2008-04-06T21:40:00.008-04:00

I've been having fun knitting today. In previous posts I showed you the sock I knit for Jason. I say "sock" singular because I have yet to finish the second one. I was afraid of this: 2nd sock syndrome. The good news is that I have started the second one. I have about an inch on the leg done :-) It's not much but it's something.
Yesterday I treated myself with a trip to the yarn store. I went to Knit Wits in Virginia Beach. It's a really nice store and the ladies in there were extremely friendly and helpful. I bought a 47" size 1 needle so that I can try my hand at making 2 socks at once. I thought I would try several techniques to see which one I like best and also just so I could learn how each one works. I made Jason's sock (am making his other sock) using 2 circular needles. I also bought a set of size 1 double pointed needles to make another pair using that method.

Below is some sock yarn I bought several months ago before I had ever made a sock. It's Lorna's Laces yarn, color Rainbow. I've been itching to use it!

Here it is after unwinding it.
And here it is on the yarn swift so I can wind it into a ball.

I took a picture after knitting a few rounds to show how there are 2 socks on 1 long needle. I love using this technique!!! It's great! I want to knit all socks like this!!! It's so great seeing 2 socks made at the same time. And I know they are going to be the same size! (I'm not sure Jason's 2nd sock is going to be exactly like the first but I'm hopeful.)

Anyway, as you might remember, Jason's socks are gray. The socks I'm making now are so colorful and cheerful! That fact coupled with making 2 at the same time makes me LOVE knitting them. I think the magic loop technique is one of the coolest ideas ever! I can't wait to knit some more tomorrow!

2008-03-28T21:16:00.008-04:00

I knew Jason was on his way home so I went ahead and opened the door to welcome him home. One by one the dogs went to the door to wait for Jason's arrival.

And finally...Jason's home!!!

Today the dogs were lying down in an unusual configuration and I was able to snap a quick picture. It's not unusual to see Murphy and Hutch snuggled together but I've never seen all 3 of them in a little doggy train. :-) Pretty cute!

Sleep Well!

Go Lady Tarheels!

2008-03-25T11:14:00.005-04:00

Jason and I had a great Easter! We got up early and went to the 8:30 church service in Newport News. We usually go to the 10 am service but UNC played basketball at noon so that didn't give us enough time to get there. The earlier service worked out great though because afterwards we went to the Silver Diner for breakfast and then on to the game in Norfolk.

The night before I made a sign so that ESPN might put us on tv. Unfortunately I don't think we made our television debut :-) But here's the sign! (Sylvia is the coach for the Lady Tarheels)

UNC won against Bucknell on Easter Sunday and then again last night against Georgia. Last night was a late game though. It was supposed to start at 9 but the game before went into overtime so UNC didn't start until 10:10! Even though it was a late night we had a great time!

Hair today, gone tomorrow :-)

2008-03-21T18:14:00.009-04:00

Me and Charlie and my new 'do!

Another beautiful day here in Chesapeake! I got my hair cut today. I've been itching to do something with it but didn't know what to do. So when I went to the salon I told the girl to just take off a few inches and give me some layers around the face. So we talked about it and I agreed to take off 4 inches. I was fine with that because my hair is pretty long and 4 inches really isn't much in comparison. So she cut about 4 inches off while my hair was dry. Then she washed it, usually a very pleasant experience, but this time I felt like she was pulling my hair out. Then, I sat down in the chair for her to brush out the tangles and cut the layers around my face. She said she was going to just straighten it up and cut just a little more. Before I knew it, a 3 inch strand was dropping on my lap. So, I just sat there while she finished doing whatever it was she was going to do. Turns out, she was layering all my hair and not so much around my face. All in all I think she cut 7 inches off.

The good news is that I actually like how it turned out despite it not being what I asked for. I was ready for a change. The real test will be when I try to style it myself. We'll see if I still like it then :-)

The whole thing reminded me of when I was about 12 years old and went to a hairdresser, picture of Kelly McGillis in hand, and requested he cut my hair like hers. (She's the girl from Top Gun). What I ended up with was what I call the 'mushroom' cut. Instead of being just above the shoulders it was cut just below the ears! And because I have thick hair it all just mushroomed out. Thankfully, today went better than that! :-)

Below is how long my hair was not so long ago. This picture makes me miss it!

Lean on Me

2008-03-19T19:30:00.008-04:00

It's been a beautiful day here today! Even now at 7:45 pm, we have the windows open. It's 73 degrees! It's so nice to get some fresh air in the house. The temperature was up to 79 earlier.

There seems to be a theme to the next two pictures. Murphy does make a great pillow! :-)

In the next 2 pictures you can see our new plants. I wish you could smell the hyacinth. It smells sooooo good!

We have to keep an eye on these little plants because the dogs like to pull them out. Even while we were planting them, Charlie came over and pulled one right out of the pot!

MARCH MADNESS!!!

2008-03-18T19:18:00.002-04:00

It's almost that time of the year again! I can't wait! Kansas plays on Thursday and UNC plays on Friday. I love this time of year! I filled out 10 brackets on ESPN.com. Apparently that's the maximum # you can fill out :-)
Also, Jason and I just got tickets to the 1st 2 rounds of the NCAA women's tournament in Norfolk. UNC women are playing on Sunday at noon. Hopefully they'll win and we'll also see them play on Tuesday. I think it's pretty cool that even though we didn't make it to Chapel Hill to see some games, the Tarheels are coming to us! Unfortunately the KU women's team didn't make it to the big dance. If you happen to watch the NCAA women's tournament on tv look for me and Jason. Maybe we'll make a big sign so we'll be easier to find :-) First I'll make sure it's televised!

One Finished Sock!

2008-03-16T00:33:00.011-04:00

Yes!!! One sock down! For my first sock, I'm pretty happy with it. Jason seems happy with it too! Now, he just needs one more to go with it. :-)

And now for some pictures of the family:

Here's Murphy with 2 small tennis balls in his mouth. Have I mentioned he likes to cram as many toys as possible into his mouth?

Here's Hutch relaxing. He loves sleeping in this postion!
And here's Charlie. For some reason he was using this black folder as a pillow. It didn't look comfortable to us either.
And here are Jason and Murphy. It looks like Jason is telling him a secret and Murphy is listening intently.

I wonder if he told him to do this:

A new project and Bee Movie

2008-03-13T20:58:00.005-04:00

Below is the bag I just started working on. It's called the "Floral Felted Bag" designed by Nicky Epstein. It was in the Holiday 2006 issue of Interweave Knits.

This is the yarn I'm using. I really like it. I don't know if you can see all the subtle colors on the computer but there are hues of red and green and yellow.
In other news, Jason and I watched Bee Movie the other day. It's very funny and I highly recommend it!!!

Sneaky!

2008-03-13T11:29:00.010-04:00

If you've been reading the blog you know I'm knitting my first pair of socks (for Jason). This little guy has been quite useful along the way. Isn't it cute!

It's a tape measure!

I had my trusty tape measure beside me as I was knitting this morning because I am getting close to the toe and need to know when to stop knitting the foot. Charlie was also beside me on the couch. Little did I know, he was eyeballing the lamb. I still didn't suspect anything as he nonchalantly got off the couch and walked over to the door, one of his favorite places to lie down. I just happened to look up and saw this:

That's right! He had the sheep by the tail!

This is what happened when I walked over to take it away from him.

Isn't he a sneak!?! He cracks me up!

It's growing!!!

2008-03-12T22:09:00.003-04:00

It's growing! Slowly but surely the sock is progressing. I worked on it quite a bit today. I've still got about an inch and 1/2 before starting the toe. To keep things interesting I started another project last night. It's a felted bag. I'll try to post a picture tomorrow. I don't have that much to show yet so I'll wait until I have a little more done. I planned on knitting more on the bag tonight but the sock has worn me out and I don't think I can stand to knit anymore for the rest of the evening.

Currently the dogs are being quite annoying. They are all fighting over a yellow flashing ball. Murphy is growling, Hutch is whining, and Charlie is just running around trying to get the ball (well, now he is being vocal too!) Hopefully they will calm down at bedtime, which is quickly approaching.

Jason allowed me to take yet another picture of his foot so I can show my progress. Thanks sweetie!

The 3 Amigos

2008-03-11T17:35:00.004-04:00

We've been planning to post a video of the dogs but just now got around to it. Charlie is usually the instigator of the "fights" as you can probably see in the video above. Notice how Hutch goes to Jason when he realizes we're watching them. Charlie, however, goes after Murphy (the camera ran out of memory space after this).

In the 2nd video, taken last night, Charlie was trying to start something with Hutch but as soon as I started videotaping he played dumb :-)

2008-03-10T21:53:00.007-04:00

Hutch gives me some of the funniest expressions sometimes. I couldn't resist taking his picture while he was looking at me like that today. And doesn't he fold up nice and compact! :-) He and Charlie are currently wrestling on the floor as they do many many times each day.

Below are the newest sock pictures. Jason tried it on this afternoon. I'm happy with how it's going and the way it fits. I enjoy working on it but it gets a little monotonous. I'm thinking of starting a new project to give me a break (maybe something on larger needles). :-)

Socks!!!

2008-03-09T15:09:00.014-04:00

I've been knitting for a few years but until now had never made a sock. I did make Christmas stockings for Jason and myself to hang above the fireplace but that did not require tiny needles and tiny yarn. A couple of months ago (sometime before Christmas) I decided I would make a pair of socks for Jason. I guess it took me awhile to get the courage to tackle them but I finally started his socks. Below is a preview of how it's going. Basically it was really slow to start with (Jason keeps reminding me that he needs 2 socks, not just one) because for 6 1/2 inches you knit 2 purl 2. For you non-knitters out there that just means that it is VERY monotonous! However, as soon as I started the heel things got a lot more fun and moved a lot faster.

Below is a picture of Jason trying the sock on. I'm using 2 circular needles instead of double pointed needles to knit the socks so he can try them on as I knit them to make sure they fit. So far so good! :-)

This is the heel of the sock. I'm really pleased with how it's turning out.

And this is what the sock currently looks like. I've knit the leg,turned the heel and am now working on the gusset. I'm learning a lot about sock anatomy as I go! I'm planning on working on it more today and tonight so hopefully I'll have even more progress to show tomorrow!

Go Heels!!!

2008-03-08T22:33:00.015-05:00

The UNC Tarheels just beat Duke!!! What a game! I enjoyed it thoroughly!!! Go Heels!!!
Kansas also won today. They beat Texas A&M. Basketball season is great! Especially when your team is doing well! :-)

Jason and I went to the NC mountains this past week. We had a great visit and enjoyed a week away from the hustle and bustle of the "big city." Jason had National Guard duty this weekend and so he didn't arrive until late Sunday night.

I've been a bit delayed in posting pics so here's one from Feb. 28th.

The dogs made themselves comfortable while I was taking a shower. They're so spoiled! :-)

We went to the NC mountains this week. I got there on Saturday and Jason came down on Sunday since he had National Guard drill this weekend. The dogs were really happy to see him!

Here are some pictures of our cuddly boys.

Hutch is lying on my lap in the picture on the left. My arm wasn't long enough to get a picture of all of us though.

Murphy and Charlie squished together so they could both lay on the doggie bed.

Charlie is soooooo CUTE!

Here I am with the small dogs, Sophie, Charlie and Keats (on my lap).

Here are Mom and Dad with their respective lap dogs.

Sophie and Charlie get pretty cozy on the couch.

Charlie and Keats were both trying to squeeze on Mom's lap.

Here's Charlie giving me another cute look.

Friday morning we awoke to lots and lots of rain. In fact, rained all 6 1/2 hours of our drive! I know we need the rain but it's not that much fun to drive in.

2008-02-27T21:19:00.005-05:00

Recognize this dog? I took Murphy to Petsmart today and had him shaved. As you can see, his tail is still fluffy though :-) He seems to feel pretty good without all that fur. He already seems to have more energy. A big reason we had him shaved is so there won't be dog hair everywhere.

Tonight Jason and I made chicken enchiladas. They were very good!
Here they are before we baked them:
Here they are after baking:
YUMMY!!!

I saw this on a friend's blog and Jason thought it was so cool that we should put it on ours also. It's pretty funny. That's Jason's # by the way. Mine was only 13 :-)

Spring Cleaning...

2008-02-26T10:23:00.008-05:00

I know it's early for spring cleaning but that's what we're doing. It's time to get rid of some stuff we aren't using, don't wear, won't eat...etc. It's made a big difference already! It's so much nicer to live in an uncluttered, open, organized environment.

Now we just need to figure out a way to get the dogs to wipe their feet at the door before the come inside! It's been rainy around here for a couple of weeks and our back yard is MUDDY! There are huge mud puddles everywhere and, of course, our dogs plow right through it every time they go out. Lately we've resorted to walking them around the house and through the garage rather than letting them trample through the living room, hallway and foyer with dirty little feet.

Tonight we had spaghetti for dinner. The dogs always like hanging out with us in the kitchen. Here they are in one of their favorite formations.

And this is after the camera flashed and I woke them all up :-)

At the YMCA!!!

2008-02-23T21:49:00.007-05:00

I took this picture last night. The boys like to hang out as close to eachother as possible. I like this picture because Murphy looks like he's smiling. The other two, however, look a little grumpy don't they?

Jason and I had an interesting evening tonight. We went to a class at the YMCA. What kind of class you ask? Couples Massage Therapy! It was great! It was from 6:30 - 8:30. There were 8 other couples besides us. Every couple had a massage table. Men wore shorts and women wore 1 piece swimsuits (in case you were wondering). :-)

A certified massage therapist taught the class. She's very good; Jason and I have both been to her before. The men got massages first. Starting with the neck, shoulders, and back area she systematically taught us how to massage each muscle group and then we went and practiced on our husbands. She walked around and helped us with our technique. After an hour, we got to switch and the women got to relax.

Although we weren't sure what to expect, we both really enjoyed the class.

Birthday in Colonial Williamsburg!

2008-02-22T12:31:00.010-05:00

Wednesday, February 20th was my (Emily's) 28th Birthday and fortunately Jason had the day off! We went to Colonial Williamsburg for the day. We both decided that we're probably the only couple in their twenties who have annual passes to Colonial Williamsburg rather than Busch Gardens Williamsburg! We really enjoy going up there and it's only an hour from our house. This time we got to see some things we hadn't seen before like the wheelwright, the cooper, the saddle shop, and a great tour of the Peyton Randolph house. We had lunch at Shields Tavern. I wish I had pictures to show but I forgot the phone in the car...oops!

Afterwards, we stopped at a local yarn store, The Knitting Sisters, so I could buy some new knitting needles for a sweater I want to make. Mom and Dad gave me the yarn and the pattern for my birthday. You can see it at www.stitchdiva.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=SDS-031. I also found a beautiful sweater pin there. Jason was very patient while I shopped around a little. Thank you, sweetie! :-)

The cool sweater pin I found.

Next stop was Joe's Crab Shack for dinner but it's right next door to Bass Pro Shops and I couldn't let Jason pass it up after he had been so good to wait for me at the yarn store. Fortunately for me, he didn't spend too much time there :-)

We had a great dinner at Joe's. I had steamed snow crab legs and Jason had a mixture of snow crab legs, dungeness crab, and shrimp. For dessert we picked up some "birthday cake remix" from Coldstone Creamery. It was delicious, as usual!

We got home by 7, just in time to see UNC play NC State. It was a good game! UNC won 84-70.

Dinner and a Movie

2008-02-16T20:44:00.005-05:00

Today was a nice relaxing and fun day. It is Jason's first day off in 7 days. We had french toast for breakfast and ran some errands before coming home to watch our 2 basketball teams play. UNC played at 1 and KU played at 1:45. I'm happy to report that they both won big! Both games were fun to watch.

After the Kansas game we went to see Fool's Gold. We both liked it a lot. The last movie we saw in the theater was The Kingdom and although Jason really enjoyed it, Fool's Gold is more my taste. Then for dinner we ate Mexican food. We both had chicken chimichangas which were quite tasty.

Yesterday I took these 2 pictures of the boys on the couch. They are too funny! I got a closeup of Charlie so you could see his tongue sticking out while he sleeps. He also snores!

Busy Evening

2008-02-15T23:33:00.000-05:00

Not much to post tonight. I met with friends tonight to knit. We had a good time. There were 5 of us and we are all Pisces! I thought that was pretty cool. I got there about 7 and I didn't get home until 10pm. Jason didn't get home much earlier either. So, we've just been hanging out on the couch watching tv and talking about our day. Jason had a good wrestling match with each of the dogs as he does most evenings. I'm not sure who enjoys it more, Jason or the dogs.

I'm happy that the weekend is here. We've got a fairly busy but fun weekend ahead of us. I'll try to post something a little more interesting tomorrow.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T10:33:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day! Love is in the air :-) Yesterday, Jason and I made a quick trip to Walmart and it was full of men buying flowers and candy. We got in line behind a father and young son buying big boxes of candy, flowers, and a teddy bear. It was pretty cute to see.

Jason had been acting "anti-Valentine's Day" but then a few minutes ago the doorbell rang and I got these beautiful flowers! What a nice surprise! Thank you Jason!

Today is also Jason's mom's birthday. Happy Birthday Mary!

In other news, I recently got back in touch with Murphy's foster family. Murphy is our big black Newfoundland/Lab mix dog. I adopted him around February of 2006 (before I met Jason). Murphy was at a Petsmart adoption event with the Neuse River Golden Retriever Rescue http://www.goldenrescuenc.org/

He was a little black furball called Crash at that time. He also had a brother, Auto Pilot.

Below are some pictures of Murph as a pup. What a cutie!!!

We are hoping to set up a time when Murphy and Auto can meet again. Also Murph can visit with the people who took such good care of him before he came into my life. So, that's exciting!

Now, about that chinchilla

2008-02-12T18:26:00.000-05:00

Now you've seen pictures of the dogs or "the boys" as we like to call them. But what about that chinchilla, you ask? Last night I took some pictures of our cute little chinchilla so that I could show her off today. Her name is Lilo. I (Emily) got her as a pet my first year of dental school. At the time I didn't know squat about chinchillas except for the fact that they were pretty cute little critters! I was actually scared of her for awhile; (they have some scary looking teeth). But, anyway she has been a great little pet. She is quite easy to care for and although she's nocturnal she isn't loud and obnoxious while we're sleeping. So how about some pictures! Lilo loves to be scratched under her chin. She just closes her eyes and relaxes.

You can see her house, along with her dust bath and wheel in these pictures. She loves Timothy Hay which is what she's munching on in the picture to the right.

Above, Hutch is enjoying one of his favorite hobbies: watching and whining at Lilo! In fact all 3 dogs enjoy that activity immensely.

This is what Lilo must see when she looks out of her cage:

Surprisingly, she doesn't seem scared of the dogs at all.

Below is a quick video of Lilo in action.

It's a Dog's Life!

2008-02-11T18:57:00.000-05:00

So, I thought I would post some pictures of our 3 dogs to show just how cute they are! I also took a video of them yesterday that I will try to post soon. As I write this Hutch is nudging my hands preventing me from typing. He's such an attention hound :-)

In the picture below, Jason's holding the "little man" as we affectionately call him. Charlie is such a cutie!

And here Murphy and Hutch are lounging around together, as usual!

Welcome to our blog!

2008-02-10T15:43:00.000-05:00

So, I've been enjoying reading other people's blogs and Jason suggested I should start one too! We hope this blog helps us keep in touch with friends and family. So, here it goes! I plan on posting pictures of us and the dogs, my knitting projects, and just whatever else we can think of posting.