New hobby!

I love to learn.  Now that I am getting older the days for formal education are over.  Sigh.  Sad.  I'll admit I was one of those kids that couldn't sleep the night before the first day of school.  Are there any other geeks out there? 

Anyway, now that those days are gone hobbies and reading are what I do to keep the learning going.  For my birthday my mom got me an embroidery kit.  I love it!  Before I started on it I wanted to get a little practice in.  Here is what I came up with.

  

All I did was print off a big E from Word and traced it onto a pillow case with pencil.  A personal touch is just what this plain pillow case needed.  I can't wait to do more.  

Strawberry picking memories and carrying on traditions

I had a wonderful childhood with summers being extra special.  Without the burden of homework we had time to really play.  

I grew up in the country with plenty of places to roam and make forts.  Life was easy and fun.  Growing up my Mom made jam every summer.  Berry seasons were a great part of summer time fun.  We would start with strawberries, then blueberries, some raspberries (not usually enough for jam, just eating), and end with blackberries.  Now that I am mostly grown up I want to jam in my home.  We started last year with two strawberry batches and this year we did it again with three batches and some freezing.

Some childhood friends of ours had a family strawberry patch and during one summer we would pick there many of the days during the season for people that didn't want to pick their own berries.  We had tons of fun.  The big soft over rip berries made for great objects to throw at friends. 

Little guy slept the whole time!! My back was pretty sore after but it was worth it.  

A trip to Kansas City

Some dear friends of ours live in Kansas City and it had been way to long since we had seen their faces.  Road trip!  Off we went with Zeke.  We sure learned a ton about traveling with a baby and kind of felt like we hit our stride as parents a little bit on this trip.  

This is actually our first picture all together, pretty sad it took this long to get one. 

We had a great time.

Back in the saddle

Well...I had a baby! Wow. He is amazing...and he takes a lot of my time, which is just fine with me.  However, I have missed sharing on here.  So, time to get back in the saddle. 

(Here's my little man)

 

Do you know that song?  It's in the classic movie "Sleepless in Seattle". "Back in the saddle again, riding the range once more.."  Love the movie.  My gramps also used to sing this song a lot and because of that I sure like this song. 

I wanted to start back by sharing some of my favorites from my photo a day challenge.  I have been partly keeping up with this challenge. I am usually taking a photo a day but most are of my new little guy.  Slowly getting  back to outdoor photos. 

I truly live in an amazing part of the country.  Love summers here. 

Excited to get back here.  Sorry for the absence.