popcorn rocks

You might have heard this before, but Maine is pretty darn amazing. I can't tell you all how glad I am that Charlie thought to come to my house and we thought to go to Kristi's and that Kristi was generous enough to say SURE! when we invited ourselves up to Maine.

Everything about MDI is incredible. I could write for hours and use every adjective that I know and I wouldn't even come close to describing it. Still, we all have our favorite things - Charlie, Kristi and I all loved Little Hunter Beach.

I've enjoyed Kristi's blogs and photographs of this place, but being there was all the better. What surprised me the most was the sound of the ocean on the cobblestone beach. It sounded to me like bursts of popcorn popping. I tried to capture it in the video below, but will admit that it is a poor approximation. If you listen closely you will hear some "wahoooos!" off in the distance. That is the sound of Kristi and Chuck delighting in the big waves crashing high atop the rock bound coast of Maine.

Run Libras Run

Josh and I ran the Baltimore 5K on Joshua's 20th Birthday. This photo was taken after the race - we are eating breakfast in a local pub. I am more happy than Josh because I beat him by a good nine minutes. There are numerous reasons why I beat Josh, but they are not important. There are two things that are important to remember. First, I will NEVER beat Josh in a race again and second, I'm not EVER going to let him forget that I did it once.

At the starting line he said, "I do not know how you talked me into this!" at the finish line he said, "I will never do this again!" after I ribbed him about loosing to me over breakfast he said, "You just wait till I get home from boot camp!"

I found the whole experience intoxicating. I finished with a time of 31.43; forty-third out of 95 women in my age group (heck yes I'm in the "masters" age group!). I'm already planning my next run, only this time I'm going to train .... there is no way I'm going to make beating me easy for Josh!

Meet Hannah!

Clay and the abtly named Hanna JOY got all dressed up and had their picture taken in honor of the Watkins Mill homecoming celebration. Hanna is a cheerleader and we've been to the varsity game to watch her cheer ... she is very talented. We like sooooo many things about Hannah! She is sweet, funny, interesting and smart and she brings out the best in Clay (who was, let's face it, already remarkably fabulous!). She is also a good friend to E, who also goes to the same high school as Hannah and Clay. I hope you enjoyed meeting our Hannah!

Acadia: The Movies

They say a picture is worth a thousand words... and they also say, when you have no skill at photography, take a video. Ok, so they don't say that, but, well, who cares what they say anyway. Here's some video from our recent "half the sibs reunion". Please note, no animals (including bike riders) were harmed in the production of this video and you must click the play button twice (on each of the videos) to make them play. Hope you enjoy.

Act One: "The Sister Hunter"
My attempt at art school videography



Act Two: "The Porcubeaver"


Act Three: "The Ride"
Wow! Was this fun!






This was far and away one of the best trips of my life and will forever be a great memory. It was so much fun to reconnect with my sisters. Kristie is living in one of the most stunningly beautiful natural areas in our country and it was great fun to visit her and and enjoy the memory of her time there together. Along with biking, hiking (the great "near death hiking acident" video will be posted later), and exploring we played cards, chatted and ate great food (I had clam chowder every where we went). I've long believed that the best gift you can give is time and happy memories. I hope that someday soon the rest of the sibs (and our sibmates and the parental units) can get together for a similar adventure. Olympic National Park anyone? Love and miss you all!

Charlie

Prologue: "The Beach" I asked a man from the UK to take a photo but forgot to change the settings. I'm always forgetting to do that... and although we don't move much, the waves are fun to watch. Very Short.

Bonus Material: "Cut. Cut. Cut. or Oops! I've got it on filming" Again. I keep forgetting to change the camera/video settings. There are a lot more where these came from, but i'll spare you. The sisters kept ribbing me about it all weekend. I have to have at least ONE flaw, right?

Never too Early to Shop

Mike make sure you read this. I don't want you to mess this up.

Lana seems to be the one to keep track of this. So this is the gift exchange for 2007.

1st pig has 5th pig
2nd pig has 6th pig
3rd pig has 1st pig
4th pig has 2nd pig
5th pig has 3rd pig
6th pig has 4th pig

Broncos Win

Denver beat the mighty Steeler's with a last second field goal. Watch out they might win all the rest and end up in the playoffs.

Happy Birthday to the 13th Grandpig!

Katie has reached her Double Digit birthday. She is 10 years old now and we love having her in our family! It is hard to believe that she has been with us for 10 years. She is a great kid! We have had quite a run of birthdays in the ward family this month!!!

Charlie & Debby's visit to Mount Desert Island

Charlie and Debby came to visit me this weekend. We had a great time! I talked about it in "The Adventurer" as well. We went on two bike rides, one hike, and ate a lot. Charlie and Debby also took some fun video to look forward to seeing! It was the first time that I had ridden on the carriage roads. John D. Rockefeller built 50+ miles of road on the island that were to be used for horse carriages and foot traffic but never for automobiles. Bikes are allowed on them now (probably the only national park where you can ride a mountain bike!) but cars are still not allowed. Rockefeller built these roads to highlight his favorite spots and vistas on the island and he built bridges which were unique and specially designed for each spot.

This is the pine tree that had to be cut down because it was leaning against the bridge

On top of the Amphitheatre Bridge

Charlie overlooking Otter Creek

The stormy weather made for fantastic crashing waves!! The best that I have seen since I have been here. This is the same beach that I blogged about with the plum pudding rocks.

This was one of the surprises of fall in "The Pine tree State" The leaves from the deciduous tress fall onto the pine trees. The leaves look like they have been carefully placed. I thought that they looked like decorated Christmas trees and Debby called them confetti trees.

The perspective of seeing the fall leaves from a bike on the winding roads was incredible. I think that this picture really captures how beautiful the two bike rides were. That is Charlie up ahead on the road.

The bridge at Eagle Lake

This was taken on Eagle Lake towards the end of the bike ride. It was a beautiful lake that I had not yet seen other than overlooking it from the road.

Sunset from The Beehive. I shared this hike once before on the blog. It was beautiful the first time that I did it but even better once the leaves popped so I took Charlie & Debby up it even though we had just finished a 20+ mile bike ride.

Sunrise on Cadillac Mountain. It was very chilly but the view was very beautiful. The sun rose earlier than it was supposed to so we saw glimpses of the sunrise as we were driving up the mountain.

Shelby's New Locks & Liberty Seeds

Shelby donated her hair to a charity called locks of love. She gave up 18" of hair to them they said with her thick hair they will be able to make 2 to 3 wigs with it. The give the wigs to kids with Cancer. Her new hair cut looks great. The picture show her new hair and her new rope for the school choir.

We came home this weekend to this great rainbow from our deck.

This is Liberty's contribution to the ward canning photos. We dried her one of her sunflowers and she picked out the seeds. Then Lana roasted them in the oven. They taste better than store bought, but that's a lot of work for something the don't sell for very much in the store.

Emma's Cool Casts

Emma's heel cord surgery was yesterday and she was tough and couragous as always. She told the surgeon that she wanted a purple cast and a blue cast. There must have been a creative cast assistant because she came out fashionably striped. Emma was the sweetheart of all the Day Surgery Nurses. They took one look at her chart that showed this as her 5th surgery in 4 years and then saw her sweet, happy smile and fell in love with her! She is doing very well today. She can bear her own weight for short amounts of time but was carried around like a princess today. Emma hasn't complained one time and doesn't like pain medicine so it is hard to tell if it hurts! She is very thankful to her Daddy for being her transportation. Emma got to ride in the golf cart at the soccer field so that made her day! A big thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for the delivery, she keeps it all right by the couch so she can "feel cheered up"!

Here is a link to more pictures!

http://crystal-images.smugmug.com/gallery/3683362#210676714

Brent's New Home

Here are pictures of Uncle Brent's new apartment in Arizona. He is settling in pretty well.

Welcome Brent ... room #211. Note the skier and the biker on the welcome sign.

Notice all the pictures above the air conditioner and his TV is nice and close so he can see and hear it.

His bathroom with the shower reflected in the mirror.

Here's the Starbucks

If he needs help he pushes the button on the pendant that hangs around his neck .

Eating lunch in the dinning room ... the food is pretty good!

David has been to the store to pick up supplies.

Bed with dresser and reading light close at hand