South Dakota!

This year was my dad's parents' 50th anniversary, and what they wanted most was for their 5 kids and their families to come and stay with them in South Dakota. The last time I was there I was 1 1/2, and needless to say I don't really remember anything about it. It was so much fun! My grandmother and I enjoy a lot of the same things, (quilting, scrapbooking, and knitting, of course) so we had a great time together. It was a 22 hour drive to get there, and on the way we were able to go to the Answers in Genesis Creation Museum! I had wanted to go ever since I heard they were building it, but I never thought I'd actually go someday. Here are some pictures.

I'd seen pictures of the entrance, and it was amazing to actually be there!

The Garden of Eden. (It was BEAUTIFUL!)

My brothers.... *sigh* :)

Me, my mom, and the llamas.

Eating from the Tree of Life.

Outside the museum.

While we were staying with my grandparents, and before my aunts, uncles, and cousins got there, we were able to go to the Black Hills! It was an amazing trip. All 7 of us piled into my grandparent's van and drove 5 hours to get there.

On the way we stopped at a rest stop that overlooked the Missouri River.

"Beware Rattlesnakes"

The Badlands! It was absolutely beautiful, especially since there was still some snow left over from a blizzard.

It was kind of surreal, standing next to Mount Rushmore. Here we are with my grandparents.

We got to go to Sylvan Lake. The drive up was a little nerve wracking, but the lake was spectacular, especially with the freshly fallen snow, and it was totally worth it!

Here we are at Sylvan Lake.

We went to Custer State Park, not sure if we'd see any wildlife or not. We saw basically everything! Here are pictures of the buffalo.

We drove right through a herd of antelope!

A few days after we got back to my grandparents's house, the rest of my family got there, just in time for a few inches of snow! We haven't seen snow here since early 2004, and my Texas cousins had never even seen snow before! We had entirely too much fun.

Here we all are. Actually, not all. There were 20 of us total, including three 3 year olds! It was an adventure, but I loved being with all my family.

Here are the 3 year olds, Addison, Abbie, and Seamus.

This is my cousin Courtney. For Thanksgiving we went to my grandparents church and had a big meal in the fellowship hall, along with some extended family.

My brothers and me.

I got full WAY before I was done eating. It was very sad.

Long Overdue Dishcloth Pictures, and the NC State Fair

It seems like lately I've started every post out by saying something along the lines of "Sorry I haven't posted in so long". Now I'm doing it again, and I'm also confessing my tardiness in the area of posting dishcloth pictures. I'm way behind. I've missed the KALs from the beginning of the month, but here are pictures from the last two Mid-Month KALs.

I have a new love, Hakucho's Circle Cloth pattern. The first one you see is the result of my attempts to make one before she posted the pattern. It's not exactly right, but I still like it. The next two I made AFTER she posted the pattern, and I just love them! I already have ideas for more.

Last week we went to the North Carolina State Fair. It's so much fun! There is so much to do. I love looking at all the exhibits. I entered a few things this year, and won a 2nd place ribbon for my ceramic plate! Here we all are in front of the pumpkins. My dad couldn't go, because he had to work.

Feeding a llama in the petting zoo. You have to understand, I really, really, REALLY love llamas!

After riding a big ride which I could never get up the nerve to ride before. Actually I didn't really get up the nerve this year, but my brother talked me into it. I was scared to death, but I loved it! It was so much fun! I'm going again next year.

And the winner is........

Hakucho! Sorry I'm late posting the results. I actually took 720 pictures, and her guess of 500 was the closest. Go ahead and laugh at me for taking so many pictures. I laughed at myself. :)

Texas! (and a little contest)

You may have wondered why I haven't posted in so long. It's not that I haven't been knitting, although I haven't really had that much time to knit in the past few weeks. I've been in Texas! I go every year and visit my Auntie Ann, Uncle Brian, Austin, (she's 7) Brett, (he's 5) and Addison. (she's almost 3) I had so much fun! The time went by far too quickly. We did so many things in two weeks that I never could write about them all. You wouldn't believe how many pictures I took! (This leads to the contest at the end of the post) We made flower fairies, went to the park, went to a pumpkin patch, (That was probably my favorite thing that we did.) and the list goes on! I love my family. Here are just a few of the many pictures I took.


They made me a birthday cake!

Swinging in the backyard.

We did each other's hair. :) Look at Brett's!


After church.


Austin and I painted each other's faces with sidewalk chalk!

Auntie Ann and and me with our new beanie babies. :)
Addison made me a tea party.

Austin got a potholder loom at a yard sale.


Ceramic painting! Probably one of my favorite things to do ever!
At the pumpkin patch.

Our scarecrow.

The kids got to ride the ponies!

Addison

Now, about the contest. See if you can guess how many pictures I took while I was there. The person who guesses the closest will win a pattern from my patterns blog, http://patternsbylindy.blogspot.com/ I'll announce the winner on Wednesday. Have fun!

My 17th birthday party

For my 17th birthday, I had a party at the park near our house. 13 of my friends came, and we had SO much fun! I had never had a big party like that before, but I'm so glad I did. We had to change parks last minute, because we found out that the one we had originally planned on going to was having their 10th anniversary celebration at exactly the same time. It worked out though, because we ended up under a beautiful tree, next to a field, and across from the lake. The weather was beautiful, and it was in the low 70s that afternoon. We played games, talked, and just enjoyed being together. I love my friends! It was such a special day.

Here we are! David and Kendra couldn't come until later on, so they didn't make it for this picture.

We played Ultimate Frisbee. I had never actually played before. I'm not at all athletic, but I managed! It was really fun.

My friend Joelle has more pictures on her blog.

September Mid-Month KAL

This KAL pattern called for red. I don't normally use red, because it bleeds. I thought I would just try orange and see what happened. Now I realize I should have gone for brown, but it still looks cute. :) It's a schoolhouse, and I love it!

In spite of my "summer break", things are starting back up around here. This week is the first week of CYT. We don't know all of the plays yet, but we do know that the Monday 13+ class is doing Reformation of Katherine and the Wednesday Homeschool class (the class I help with) is doing Little Princess. I am SO excited about Reformation! I've never seen it before, but I've read the script, and I think it's going to be amazing! I can't wait get started.

Also, be sure to visit the knitting calendar blog! The calendar is now available to order.

My 17th Birthday

Thursday was my birthday! I had a wonderful day. The morning and afternoon were very relaxing, and for dinner we went to Olive Garden. It was neat the way that came about. The past several years we have gone to IHOP for my birthday, but this year I kind of wanted to go to Olive Garden. I hadn't said anything about it at all, because it's pretty expensive. Then, the day Brandon left, he gave us a gift from his parents. It was an Olive Garden gift card! I love it when God does things like that. The meal was wonderful, probably the best I've ever eaten! Then I came home and opened my presents. :) Probably the thing I got that I had wanted the most was a new Bible. I had wanted one that was smaller and easier to carry around. I also got a new overhead light for my room, some cute shirts, a purse, earings, and lots of sweet cards! Here are a few pictures, because in my life, no event is quite complete without them. :)