Roxbury Weekend

This past weekend I experienced another first. It was my first time going to a Roxbury Camp Meeting in PA. It was a perfect opportunity to go and meet up with Jonathan's PA family, since we haven't seen them in about a year.

I guess I still think of my self as a new believer (relatively speaking). The camp meeting was a new and enjoyable experience for me. It was awesome to be in a room filled with people who actually want to be there. People Who are passionate about the Lord and want to to serve Him. We got to see 3 different speakers while we were there, all where different and inspirational. I even got to go to my first Spanish speaking with English translation service, which was very interesting. My absolute favorite is always the music. It's amazing what 1000 people sound like when they come together and sing. I am normally a bit shy singing out in our home church. But at Roxbury, everyone is singing so loud, that I could sing as loud and as off key as I wanted to and no one could hear me (except for God and maybe Jonathan). Even when Jonathan gets to sing as loud as he wants, can hold a right good tune. I was the most moved when we all sang Days of Elijah. I'm pretty sure there wasn't a single person sitting in there seat.

I am definitely looking forward to our next opportunity to go to Roxbury Camp.

A big thanks goes to Jonathan's Uncle Allen. His generosity was greatly appreciated.

Jonathan's parents standing with his Grandmother, Uncle Titus and Aunt Charlotte, Uncle Allen and his lady friend, Phyllis.

I thought this shot looked kinda futuristic. Jonathan took this one when we were driving through one of the tunnels

A great shot of a beautiful sky with the wind turbines in the background.

Man, I just love PA!!

Moon gazing

After Jonathan and I got home, Jonathan said he wanted to get the telescope out tonight.
This would be the first time that we have used it for more then watching the sheriff when he pulls people over on St Rt 49. LOL!!
It ended up being a great night. We watched the Crescent Moon go from white to yellow. Also, I had no idea that we would actually be able to see the craters on the moon as well as we could. I had myself a bit creeped out thinking I might see something move up there.
I can now hardly wait for the next full moon!! Should be pretty awesome.

Tomato Plant?

We seem to have a mystery plant growing in our garden. I have noticed that smaller versions of this plant have been popping up in our garden. Well, this one popped in just the right place. Just to be curious, I decided to let it grow since it had plenty of room. The bigger it got, the more it started to look like a tomato plant. After looking at the plant today, I am more convinced that this is indeed a tomato plant.

Due to my lack of gardening knowledge, I have felt for the past year and a half like I have been wing'in it. Just sticking seeds and plants in the ground and hoping they would grow.

I now have a new first in my gardening experience. I was at work yesterday when the light bulb went off with my answer to the mystery tomato plant.

It seems that the rotten/yucky Roma tomatoes from last year, that got tossed back into the garden as compost, are now actually starting to grow on there own in my garden. Some of the many weeds that I have been pulling are actually tomato plants. I'm sure most of you seasoned gardeners are aware of this possibility, but it is a total surprise to me. I wasn't even thinking that this could happen when we were throwing last years tomatoes back into the garden.

So now, it seems I have a third kind of tomato growing in my garden this year.

Is anyone going to need some tomatoes this year???

Garden Check

Below are some pictures of this years garden. This year, Jonathan expanded it for me buy 10 feet towards the house. This also means that I am now unable to get the whole garden in one picture when it is ll grown up. This years count is: 1 row of peas (which we are currently battling the barn bunny for) 7 1/2 tows of corn, 2 Big Beef Tomato plants, 1 Joe Petersheim tomato plant (talk to Jonathan's mother on that one) an 1 Green Pepper plant.
a great shot of the peas and the early corn just getting there silks.

Picture of the late corn, tomato plants and the pepper plant. Also my sad attempt of planting marigolds along the perimeter.

A great picture of or peppers. Looks like this could be our first pick of the season!

Maybe I will plan a pepper recipe this weekend!

It's Been 2 Years already!!

This is a very big day for Jonathan and I. It's our 2 year wedding anniversary. It's just another day for most, but to us, it's a very important day.

I can't believe it's been 2 years already!!

Even though I tell my husband I love him every day, today it means so much more. It's hard to believe that two people that have very different back grounds with very different upbringings could be a likely match. Once again, proof that only God would pair up this match to form a great team. He obviously knew what the other needed when he paired us up.

I guess now we are no longer considered "The Newlyweds" and now slowly moving into "the old married couple" category.

I know that I have posted this picture above before, but to me, as goofy as it is, it's a great description of our lives. It's a picture of me being out of my element, and still having complete trust in my husband to get us through the ride. And I'm sure that God has something to do with that too.

So, to my husband, I am playing our wedding song on this blog. I know that you were never crazy about this song because you thought it was over played, but to me, it was perfect for our perfect day.

Just when I think I couldn't possibly love you any more then I do, my heart continues to grow with each day. I so look forward to our many more adventures together.

Happy Anniversary Babe.

Weekend in Illinois

This past weekend we headed to Chicago to visit my Aunt Marj. She and her family live in Wayne/St. Charles, Illinois ( a Chicago suburb) and operate an Alpaca farm. They also have an Alpaca farm just down the road and one in Kentucky. They buy, sell, breed and also board Alpacas for others along with there own animals. They often travel and participate in Alpaca shows with there prize animals. Below are some of the great pictures we got before the camera died.
Thanks Aunt Marj for the great weekend!! We look forward to coming back soon!
This is Fanny. The OBVIOUSLY ferocious Great Piraneses dog that guards the animals.

The 2 newest babies on the farm at a few weeks old. As it turned out, they had a new baby born the day after we left. MAN!! only missed it by a day!

random grazing.

This is Casanova. One of there prize studs. I was told he makes beautiful babies, but now he is starting to get old.

The babies chasing each other.

This little guy as you can see, is not the least bit afraid of us. I thought he should be called Buster. He loved our attention, but then wanted to play. This means he became pretty aggressive with us. He eventually was chasing us and trying to kick. But he was pretty darn cute!!

Jonathan giving that attention to Buster. We needed to watch our backs around him. He was liable to come up from behind us and want to "play" at any time.

These animals are absolutely beautiful creatures and relatively tame. As you can see, we can roam there pasture without too much worry. Just wish we could have been there to see the new baby being born. Oh well. Maybe next time.

Hocking Hills Weekend

This past weekend we took Friday off and headed for Hocking Hills for camping and trail riding. We had two more firsts this weekend. It was Jonathan's first time camping and my first time on an ATV trail ride but the first time that we had done both together.
We stayed in a Kamper cabin at the Hocking Hills KOA campground (ok, so maybe it's semi-camping, next time we will use our tent). The campground was great and the view was amazing. It's tucked away in the hills and woods of Hocking Hills. Although it was very scary trying to get up the hill to the campground with our trailer. The scary hill climb was definitely worth it. The facilities were fun and clean and the people that ran the place were great. Husband and wife team Kurt, Lori and there son Tyler ran the place along with a small staff. Kurt was very helpful and provided us lots of information to get us ready for our trail ride.

On Saturday, we hooked up the trailer and headed to Wayne National Forest for our first trail ride. After talking to several people and being advised that we should not go to the Door Run Trail head since it was our first time out, we decided to go to the New Staightsville trail head. New Straightsville trail head was supposedly the easiest trail in the woods, which sounded great to me. For those that know me, you know that I am a complete wuss when it comes to things like this. Needless to say, I was pretty nervous leading up to this day. I felt noxious right before we left.
We headed out on the trail and I was immediately shocked by what I saw and nearly demanded to turn around and go back. I was obviously unaware of what to expect on these trails. EASIEST TRAIL....... MY FOOT!!!!!! If this trail was easy, I'd hate to see the difficult ones!! The trail was a pretty short trail but seemed to take forever. With all of the steep hills (up and down), the purposely manipulated bumps in the road and the constant fear that you are going to fall over the edge, my hands were numb from hanging on so tight. There were other women riding there own ATV's. If I had my own ATV, I don't think I would have gone on the trail. But with Jonathan driving, there wasn't much time to think about it.
It had also rained quite a bit the week before we got there, which meant there was plenty of mud. The actual mud didn't bother me, it was the mud on the steep hills that made things slippery that scared me. You had to be on the gas just right to make it up these hills to keep from spinning the tires and sliding.
After about a half an hour on the trail, we made it back to the trail head. I had just enough time to gather my wits and calm down, then we headed back to the trail again. I have to say, I was much more relaxed and honestly had a good time, the second time out on the trail. I won't say that I am ready for anything more difficult then what we did, but I think I am interested in finding more places to ride. I think we might have gotten a bit over our heads going to Wayne National Forest as beginners and I think that needs to be noted somewhere on there brochures- NOT FOR BEGINNERS!!
We think we found a good place in eastern Ohio to try next. Hopefully they are more suited for our (my) level.
Check out our pics below of our fun weekend.
AHHHHH this is relaxation!!

The mesmerizing view both nights.

This is the view from our camp sight.

This is the first fire we lit when we got there. The fire was hardly burning yet when Jonathan couldn't wait and tore open the marshmallows. Notice the marshmallow is grey and isn't even burned yet from the fire starter we had to use. He didn't care and ate it anyways.

This is the view that the campground is known for. Absolutely beautiful!

I just caught Jonathan with a mouthful of his morning Cheerios buy the fire. (had to make a morning fire to heat our coffee water)

The view while on the trail. I wish I could have bottled the fresh pine air and brought it home with me.

I couldn't pass this picture up. Yes, we are actually smiling.

Other then the birds and bugs, this is the only sign of life we saw while on the trail. Not quite sure what it is but it nearly didn't make this picture when it jumped out in front of Jonathan on trail.

The post ride picture. The perty little Polaris isn't so perty anymore!! It actually didn't look half as bad as some of the other guys coming out of the woods.

What is this a picture of ??

Two people that really need a vacation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunrise

As you can see above, it seems I have given up on my sunsets and have now taken up the sunrise. As I was waving goodbye to Jonathan as he left this morning, noticed the sunrise and ran to get my camera. Now if only I could move those wires, but I kinda like having electricity in my house. And Maybe someday I will fix the date on my camera too.

Memorial weekend activities

Not much really happened for us this weekend. It was rather dull actually. but I did manage to get a lot done around the house.
On Friday, we met up with a few of my high school friends for dinner at a really good Chinese Buffet.
On Saturday, Jonathan and I quickly ran our errands in the morning then hustled back to the house. Jonathan then spent the rest of the day riding with George in his police cruiser in Riverside. When they arrived at the station to clock in, they were informed they may be doing over time. What was supposed to be a 2- 10pm shift ended up being a 2pm- 2am shift. Needless to say, Jonathan was pretty tired in church the next morning. While Jonathan was playing Cops on Saturday, I was at home planting my tomatoes and pepper plants in the garden. I pretty much took it easy around the house most of the day and watched a few movies.
Sunday afternoon Jonathan and I watched the Indy 500 and wished we could be there again. It was definitely an exciting race.
Maybe next year Danica!! 3rd place is definitely and improvement from last year!!

Above is a pic of our garden Things are really starting to come up. We have 5 rows of corn so far with 3 more rows still to plant. We also decided to grow peas this year. I think I planted them a little too late in the season, but we thought we would give it a try. If they don't work this time, we can try again in September. I have 2 Big Beef tomato plants along with 1 Bell Pepper plant. I also took the advice of others to plant Marigold flowers around my veggie plants with hopes of keeping the critters out. WRONG!!! Of the 6 Marigold plants, 3 have magically disappeared......I can only guess as to how that happened. Now I fear the Birds will go after the Pea plants. I think, maybe some chicken wire may be needed this year.

And today, Jonathan worked up north with his dad at his cousins house. While I was on my own again. Luckily, Jonathan's Niece and Nephews came in for the weekend with there mothers family and I got to see them at the Bretherens home while they visited there great grand parents. They get so much bigger every time I see them.

After our visit, I had to head to Dayton to pick up my bridesmaid dress and also managed a quick stroll around the Dayton Mall.

And for dinner tonight, I made BBQ Ribs on the grill for the first time. They looked great on the grill, but I wouldn't say they tasted great. It was a mix of cooking them too long and also being given a bad cut of meat buy the local butcher (no names). Since Jonathan and I aren't the most educated when it comes to picking a cut of meat, we just accepted the first cut they offered us. They said "yeah, it really looks like it has a lot of meat". Wrongo!! It had a very thin layer of meat on top with a very thick layer of fat. I think the butcher saw SUCKER on our foreheads when we walked through the door.

My lesson for the day: Just because you go to a real butcher doesn't mean you are always getting the best cut of meat. Know what you're buying before you buy it.