Happy Memorial Day

Jeff and I attended the Memorial Day ceremony here in our town this morning with his parents. Jeff's dad is retired Air Force and he served two tours in Vietnam. I had a realization as we watched and listened at today's ceremony and that is that I never fully realized the importance of this day until I had someone so close in my family who served in a war for my rights and freedom. More recently we had two of Jeff's cousins serve in Iraq and Afghanistan both were injured during their tours.

Today we honored the 115 Arkansas soldiers who have died in the war for freedom since 2001... and all those before and those in other states. Today I thank you for making those sacrifices for our country.

Looking for testers - FOUND

I finally got around to typing up my snowman pattern I wrote for the snow man I made last Christmas. I made two so I think my numbers are right... but I was hoping I might have 2-3 people willing to test this pattern out for me! I will be offering it for free on my blog once I ensure the numbers are right. So leave me a comment with your email and I will get the pattern to you! It requires an H hook and some WW Yarn! Thanks!


I have a pattern for the hat which I will try to get typed up before I give it to testers... unfortunately, it doesn't look like I wrote down the pattern for the scarf!

I miss my Nephews...

There hasn't been much on the crochet front lately... just some plain granny squares and a couple more bunnies for my Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes. I have also crocheted some boring blue washcloths for those boxes. I wanted to share more about my vacation the first week in May... the one where I got to meet all my nephews for the first time. It was amazing... I have so much love for these little boys. I'll share some of my favorite photos...

This is Xander. He is almost 5 and so cute!

This is Taylor. Soon to be 3, he and Jeff hit it off well playing cars together.

This is Noah, Taylors's little brother. Soon to be 6 months old. He and Jeff also hit it off real well as seen in the picture below... Apparently Noah doesn't sleep in peoples arms too much... but he loved Jeff's!

Sleeping sideways too!

 This is Colton. He is 1 1/2. He is adorable with his red hair and big brown eyes!

And this is Nathaniel. He will be 2 the day after Christmas. I think he took to me more than the others did. My sister says he misses me and asks where I am often. I can't wait to see him again in August when I go up there for my sister's wedding.

Miss Me?

Its been 2 weeks since I have written an entry for my blog. Part of the reason is I was on vacation and out of the state from Sunday, May 1 to Thursday, May 5. I took that trip back home I have been talking about. The trip was wonderful. Other than not eating pizza at my favorite pizza place... I think I did everything I wanted to do!

This was Jeff's first commercial flight... and my first time bringing him home to meet the family. I have been having a hard time explaining the feelings I had as we boarded our first flight in Arkansas... and the feelings I had once we landed in Seattle. It had been 6.5 years since I had set foot in Washington. I can't say that I was nervous... or extremely anxious as I had expected myself to be. I just tell everyone who asks that it felt like I was going home. I have explained to Jeff that Arkansas is my home now, I love it here... the summer heat, spring rains (minus tornadoes, please)... even the "hills" they call mountains here. Washington is the place I spent more than two thirds of my life... its the place that holds my past.

We had arranged for my sister to meet us at the airport and stay in the hotel with us to save $350.00+ on a rental car... and she was crying before she even saw me! I plan to share more of my visit soon... with more pictures than the ones that don't need captions... like the ones below.