12 more days!!

Only 12 more days till our vacation to Williamsburg VA! I cannot wait! My life is so crazy that it has gotten to the point that I need a break from life. From school to work. It's about time for a break. We'll be seeing Jamestown, Shirly Plantation and so much more. The thing I am looking forward to the most is the Crystal Concert. There is a gentleman that plays crystal. He has a Glass Armonica, Violin, and several other instrements that he plays. They are entirely crystal though. We saw video clip online of his playing. It's beautiful. The tickets are cheap too! That's even better. I am so ready to go. We leave on the 28th and we're coming home on Betsy's birthday; the 4th. It's gonna be a wonderful week! I can hardly wait.

I've been working with my horse lately. On Sunday afternoon I went out to the barn and rode bareback. That was a little crazy on my part considering what I was doing. I was getting him to walk out the door with out a fight. Then I had him walk to the beginning of the trail without a fight. I accomplished it, but it was interesting because he will circle until he gets to where he wants to go. There was a new rule recently posted at the barn, "No troting in the indoor ring due to too many accidents." Well, Chaver got a little wound up. We kinda broke that rule for a couple seconds. I'm surprised that I didn't even have a hint of the feeling of falling off. I think that my guardian angel was working over time. I loved it though!

Susquehanna River in Halifax
Looking through "The Cheese" at the Lenkerville Elementary School playground. If this was able to be veiwed larger, you'd see myself and Carol reflected in his eyes. So cool!
On a huge rock on Berry Mountain
At the farm.
We had a wonderful time today photographing for about 2 hours. Our victim was Wyatt. We had so much fun! He was getting very tired of all the pictures though. He got 5 warm chocolate chip cookies in return for his services. That's the nice thing about kids his age. You don't have to give them money. Only food! :) These were taken with Carol's digital Canon. I was using a 35mm to take my pictures. They turned out so good. I have never used that camera before. It gave me exactly what I wanted though. Crystal clear too. Works for me!

More Apple Sauce!

Ugh! I think I almost have it coming out my ears! Yesterday we did apple sauce with some of our homeschool friends from the Harrisburg area. We did 2 1/2 bushels of apples. It was a long day. It took us from 1:30 to about 4:30 to get the apples cooked, cut, and mashed, and jarred. The canning took a little longer. It was a fun day though. Afterwards I went to the Gratz fair to help at a stand for the Northern Dauphin Revitalization Program. I worked with Alan Dakey and Bob Klinger. I thought it was rather interesting how when I gave them a hand shake when I walked up, they gave "wet fish" hand shakes. They weren't very strong and so I felt bad because I felt like I almost crushed their hands. So, then when I left, I got firm handshakes. I was rather amused.

Apple Sauce

Wow, I am so impressed. We did a bushel and a half of apples for apple sauce. It only took us about 2 hours. We did it on our patio out back. Some of our homeschool friends are coming on Monday and we're going to do two and a half bushels of apples. Another bushel for us, and a bushel and a half for them. I hope it doesn't rain. If it does we'll be doing it on the front porch. It's nice that it counts for school. When we slice the apples we cut them into eightths or sixteenths. We can count the number of apples we use. There's the math! Home Ec for making the apple sauce, cooking the apples, slicing apples, washing them, grinding them. It's all there. Hooray for homeschooling!

Happy Birthday Millersburg!

Hooray! Millersburg is 200 years old this year! To celebrate there was a huge 3 hour long parade, a pagent, a fireman's parade, a carnival, a bench auction, and a grand finale of fireworks. It was a full weekend. It was wonderful though. We had several big names come in for the parade including the Budweiser Clydes. My sister and I walked with Lifeline Pregnancy Care Center throwing out candy and handing out pens. I saw many people I know; some I had forgotten about. Pretty sad isn't it. On Saturday after the parade my mother lead the Time Capsule ceremony. The Time Capsule is going to be buried in an unmarked spot behind the gazebo on the square. They are putting many things in it. It's amazing to hear some of the history of the things that happened in the history of Millersburg. Millersburg was just over 50 years old when Abraham Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address. It makes everything seem a whole lot sooner than it seems. I always had the feeling of the Civil War being forever and a day ago, but really it's a whole lot more recent than I realized. The pagent was absolutely beautiful. It went through the whole history of Millersburg including when Daniel Miller first came to the town. He really liked the area and convinced people to settle down with him and his family. He was a minister and school teacher. So he proveded for those needs in the community. Then they gave flashbacks to Nelson's Ice Cream Parlor. Betsy was in that scene. Then the lead charactor played "Johnny Be Good" on his guitar with his band. They did an excelent job. Then they did some modern day scenes. After that, a flashback to the flood of '72. They had an intermission and then the choir got on stage and sang patriotic songs. They had a giant flag to bring out during a couple songs. Betsy, Ben, Mom, Dad, and I helped to bring it out. I got to see, and work with some people I know. It was so much fun. It gave a good workout though because I got to crouch down on one knee for 5 minutes to wave the flag and not be in anyone's line of vision. It was fun though. On Sunday night we did the final performance and that's when everything worked perfectly. The fireworks went off and the explosions worked too. Actually there was one that shook the ground because it was supposed to be like a bomb exploding. Well, it set off a car alarm. It was so funny! During a very solumn part where we were supposed to be reverent, and "Honk, honk, honk, honk..." It was hilarious. They owner came over and shut it off then, but we couldn't help but chuckle at least a little bit. They had a tribute to 9/11/01 and to close we had fireworks. It was really nice. Ben, Dad, and I stayed and helped tear down the sound equipment and wrap up. We got to talking with the guys and learned that they were going to be in the area again on Saturday for the SonicFlood concert along with The Silver Ring Thing. The concert turned out really well. Dad, Ben, and I went and I got to hang out with my co-workers from the Gratz market. The band is from Australia. They talk like them too. One had a better accent than the other, but they were Aussies for sure. All in all, I had alot of fun. We did have rain before hand and so the Silver Ring Thing got rained out, but they still had the concert.
I have some sad news too. Well, sad for my brother. Steve and Ethan Jr. have gone to a watery grave. They took a trip down the Porcelin Express and are Resting In Peace. The poor fish. So we are down to 4 fish; Blanche, George, Tiny, and Samuel Yoder.
Well, I had better go. I plan on going to the barn and riding my newly aquired horse, Chaver. We'll see how it goes today. I need to get him a stronger bit because his mouth is hard as a rock. It's gonna be good though.

Birthday!!!

Tonight was a celebration of Ethan's birthday (Sept. 5) and Grandma Yoder's birthday (Sept. 6). We had a combined cake...something we have not done before...to celebrate the both of them. Mom turned 73 today and Ethan turned 11 yesterday. We sat outside on our patio, and we enjoyed the cool breezes after a very warm day. This morning we went out for breakfast to celebrate mom's birthday. It was a friend, Ann, and my sisters Maggie and Judith plus me. The kids stayed home and did their schoolwork...mean mom that I am! We didn't think mom would see this birthday so we made sure to celebrate it. My dad called me from work today and had me pick up 6 red roses for mom...made tears come to my eyes to think about how special it is to have a dad who still loves his wife...so many people don't know what it's like to have parents that still love each other after 50+ years. We are a blessed family!

Family....

On Sunday, Sept. 2, we had 26 members of our family, in our little house and postage-stamp yard, over for lunch. We had a good time...I think! I don't have pictures of everyone, but here are a few. We are a crazy bunch as you will see. There is no doubt that we have a good time together. With 7 great-grandchildren under the age of 6...there is bound to be a lot of noise!


The "three"! Amy, Abi, and Dawn.

Josh (the boyfriend we met) & Amy

Maggie, Jo, Judith, Me, with our parents. Yes, we are in birth order...we don't seem to be able to do a picture any other way. :)

Silly kids...Jonathan & Dawn goofing off. Dawn loves to wear hats. Can you believe she is a sophomore in college?! Love you, Dawn!

Far left is Jonathan holding his first cousin once removed, Caitlyn. Right is my sister with her grandson, Gideon, and great-neice, Caitlyn.





Jennifer is being cute.

Levi enjoying his dinner.