3 year anniversary jaunt...

Yes folks, it has been three years. Can't believe it, but what an amazing three years they have been. It still feels like the wedding was yesterday.
Anyways, To celebrate this weekend we headed down to the mountains of West Virginia for a picnic lunch and some hiking in the Dolly Sods area. The weather held out for us and it was incredibly refreshing to be out of the city.

You'll notice in these pictures that we have a new Honda element!! It's actually not new, but very close (19,000 miles). We got it last weekend from a guy in New Jersey. He kept it in great shape and we are really loving it.

Ready for the trip in the new car!!

Blackbird Knob trail...

I l0ve Dolly Sods...

Great post-hike swim near Seneca Rocks

Camping

We came. We camped. We conquered.

We, along with our friends Jonny and Emily, headed north of the city for some fresh air, campfires and biking. It was g.r.e.a.t!



Phil told us to make sure our faces were in the sun....Jonny and I took that command a little too far...

Garden and such...

The weather has turned! The garden is planted and the seeds are already starting to sprout...how I love this great weather!

A couple of weekends ago my parents came out and my dad brought with him some awesome planter boxes for our front porch. I love them and the petunias in them have taken off! Phil and his dad put in a fence to partition our backyard a bit and we are now one step closer to putting the patio in we've been talking about (and talking about).

With nice weather comes house projects-but we'll take it!

pedal pittsburgh

I love spring.

This year's Pedal Pittsburgh went great. We had great weather (after a bit of a chilly start), and did the very hilly 50 mile course. My dad and I rode for the second year, and we had Dave join us for part of the ride. He did a fantastic job and climbed those Pittsburgh hills like a champ.

Here we are at a rest stop with Ella and Lucy (wrapped in a blanket for warmth).

SoCal.

Wow. We have neglected the blog. Sorry about that. Part of the reason for the neglect is that we took a jaunt to Southern California to spend time with some of our dearest. It was an awesome time and we were so sad to leave.

Highlights you ask? Great time with our friends Chaz, Rebecca and Colby, Joshua Tree, 90's cover band night, Overnight trip down to San Diego (my new favorite place), and the sun.sun.sun!!!



Our initials...I know, so cute. (C;












That is seaweed that Phil find washed up on the shore. Isn't that amazing! There was tons of it!


So perfect...sun and surf...I loved San Diego!




A little crockett in the park...I was terrible.


Some finger twister on our last night...

Phil and I approach our time at the beach very differently...

Shuffle board!



Chaz and Rebecca live in an RV nad we stayed there with them...all of us in one bed. It was tight, but not bad. I'm kidding, Phil and I slept on the couch that turns into a bed. RV's are incredibly underrated.

That's all for now....here's to the coming Spring!

Allie's Big 3-0

The other night we had a great get together at our place for Allie's big 30th birthday. It was a lot of fun to have all of our favorite people at our house all at one time. There were some very tasty treats (including a killer snickers ice cream birthday cake), and it seemed like everyone had a great time. First official party in the "new" house, and hopefully not the last.

A visit....

Our friends Antje and Gerry were in town this weekend for a conference and we were so glad to have them stay with us. We had a fun dinner last night with them up at Dave, Erin and the girls house. Then today it was lunch at our place before Gerry and Antje headed back to Chi-town. To entertain the girls Phil drove them around in a box we had in the dining room. They loved it...






Ella also had a new violin that she was playing for us. Best part:the way she tapped her foot while she "played."

We see you Lucy...

In my spare time...

Sorry the blog has been quiet for a bit. Our last few weeks have been a flourish mostly with preparations for our organizations big conference called Jubilee. There are lots of things that both Phil and I are responsible for over the weekend. It was another great weekend with college students and challenging speakers that spoke about integrating our faith into every area of our lives.

Somehow, in the midst of those weeks leading up to Jubilee I managed squeak out a few new creations. I made the below onesie's out of freezer paper stenciling. It's my new obsession and now I look at everything and think about what I could freezer paper stencil onto it. Google it. It will change your life. The two below were for a friends daughter who just turned one!


I also made some coffee coozies...is that a word...to be used when you head out to your favorite coffee shop and don't want to birn your hands. Pop one of these on...made out of felted sweater sleeves. I sent one of these to my momfor her birthday and she quickly decided that keepingit in her purse and only pulling it out at a coffee shop was not enough so she put it around one of her plant pots. Not my original intention, but why not?

Lastly, who doesn't want a tote...and who wouldn't want a bird on it? I know I would love that!
All this crafting has definitely helped me get through the gray Pittsburgh days of winter. Spring really can't come soon enough...

Steelers Parade!!

I'm sure you all had a chance to see our Steelers completely rock the Superbowl the other night. It was an unbelievable game and I don't know if I've totally recovered yet. It's a fantastic time to be in Pittsburgh and the city is going nuts still.

Today Dave (my brother in law) and I decided to go check out the parade downtown. Thanks to Dave's great knowledge of the city, we were able to find a great parking spot, and were actually pretty close to the whole thing. It was so much fun, and they estimated that 350,000 people were there. Talk about a city that loves it's team.

Anyways, here are some pics:

Dave and I, ready and waiting.

Steeler Nation...

Coach Tomlin with one of his kids

The Defensive Coordinator of the #1 defense in the NFL, Dick LeBeau. (The crowd went wild for him)

Wide Recievers Hines Ward and Nate Washington

Big Ben Roethlisberger, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, and backup QB Charlie Batch (all with video cameras)

The best safety in the NFL, Troy Polamalu.

James Harrison, holding Pittsburgh's 6th Vince Lombardi trophy.

Superbowl MVP Santonio Holmes with the MVP trophy. When he came by the crowd went nuts, and it was really hard to get a picture. But I thought this angle was fun with all the cameras and phones.

Is winter done yet?

We've had quite a bit of weather in Western PA lately. I wish I could see a stat of how many days we've had snow, even if it was just a little. To try and relieve some of our frustration, Allie and I have turned to skiing. In fact, we're going on our second ski session tommorow! It's been really great to have a way to stay active when both of us usually rely on warmer weather activities. Hopefully we'll have some good skiing pics to post soon.

For now, I'll post what I see every day when I check the weather map. (I've added a red dot for those who are geographically challenged)