Another Laura Sighting!

My brother-in-law Devin informed me of another website that is using my picture. It's been over 2 years since I took this picture so it's funny it keeps showing up. This time it's for a cell phone service for study abroad students.

Apple Picking at Homestead Farm

*Beware this post may contain a large amount of pictures*

"Apple of Our Eye"

We went apple picking on Saturday at a farm in Maryland. It was nice cool fall weather, perfect for picking produce.

First of all, on the drive up to the farm, there are some gigantic houses. My favorite was a Spanish style house that was called "Casa de Amor." My other favorites were the houses (I should say estates) that resembled Pemberley.

I love the way the red colors of the apples, the green colors of the leaves, and the kids red hair stand out in the pictures. I took our nice camera figuring we could get some great pictures and I felt we did.

This was my very favorite picture. It was Ja's idea to put Caleb in the empty row so he picked Caleb up and put him down then ran into the next row. It only took a second for Caleb to figure out he could run after Ja. I was glad I was able to get one good shot! The colors are great, I didn't do anything to this picture.

We first found the animals. Brigham was actually trying to help Caleb!

Caleb wanted to hold the apple bucket, until he noticed the big open fields and wanted to run. The bucket was abandoned very quickly.

Cute Holly.

Kids enjoying the apples. Notice Caleb has two apples, one in each hand. He ate both, core and

all.

Ja took this picture of two shiny round things.

Greg and Brigham. I love how they both have their head tilted in the same direction and their faces have the same expression. Ja pushing Jacob around.

Ja juggling his apples.

Caleb and I pretending to make apple juice.

We had a great time and I can't wait to go pumpkin picking!

24 Week Picture

I know it's lame to post pictures of my pregnant belly on our blog but I'm sure someone wants to see me grow. Plus, soon I'll be showing pictures of her growing in person so it's only fair my belly gets some credit for the work it's doing. On the left is my 20 week and on the right is my 24 week.

I am now wearing strictly maternity clothes and feel so much more comfortable since I made that decision. My belly is growing and has more curve and definition. I also have lost my belly button. I took the glucose tolerance test today and it wasn't as bad tasting as I expected. A sweet orange drink that went down pretty easily. I'm still getting used to having my blood drawn though. My arm is still a little sore from this morning so I'm beginning to appreciate a good phlebotomist.

R.I.P.

Goodbye California Honda license plate. You were so good to us. Sadly, you have been replaced. Don't worry it wasn't an easy replacement. It took 3 trips to the DMV with much waiting. Still, I'm sad to see you go.

The Civil War Century

While we were in California, Ja was looking through his bicycling magazine at different bicycling events that were happening around the country. He noticed there would be a century bike ride in Maryland. He had been wanting to ride 100 miles for some time and was very excited to find out in would be on September 12th. So we looked it up online and it only cost $25 to ride and it was on a Saturday. He registered right away and was so excited to ride his first century. We looked up the bike route to find out it went through Civil War sites in Maryland and up through parts of Gettysburg, hence the name Civil War Century. This made him even more excited.

Because of moving he didn't get to train as much as he would have liked, but he rode two 50 mile bike rides and would ride on his bike trainer at nights.

On Friday night we drove up to Emmitsburg, MD were our hotel was. He ate a big bowl of oatmeal then it was off to bed. We had to get up early the next morning to drive down to Thurmont, MD to register and start the race. Ja was a little nervous but it didn't really show. I was planning on meeting him at all the rest stops along the 100 miles to see how he was doing. That also meant I got to enjoy the scenery with him too. Luckily there were turn by turn directions for the riders to follow so I picked one up and used my handy dandy iphone to map out where the rest stops were. I didn't follow the bike path because 1) I didn't want to be in the way of the bikers and 2)their route wasn't necessarily the fastest because they were trying to get the miles in.

I met Ja at the first rest stop in Antietam. I felt a little funny because I was the only non-rider aside from the volunteers who were handing out food, water, and gatorade. I had Ja stand by this monument for a picture. I didn't take pictures at any other rest stop because they were at fire stations and weren't as cool looking.

I met Ja at the three other rest stops along the route. He said those rest stops saved him because he would get so hungry in between and it was nice to actually take a rest from pedaling. I really enjoyed meeting him because it was fun to drive through the countryside of Maryland. At the last rest stop on man said to me, "I see you at every rest stop and you don't even look tired!"

Some people may have thought I was weird for following my husband around but I couldn't ride in the race so I still wanted to participate somehow in Ja's first century. I was happy I could be there to support him. Ja said he really appreciated it too.

Here is Ja riding to the finish line. The race ended up being 104 miles because of some detours they had to make. I was so proud of him for finishing. It took him almost 8 hours to finish. Not only was he pedaling for 8 hours he had to sit on the seat for 8 hours!

While riding some of the riders talked and asked how many centuries Ja has done. When he told him this was his first they said, "Wow, you picked a really hard one for your first century!" In total they climbed 7400 feet! Fortunately Ja enjoys riding up hills but it's still a hard ride. The last stretch was mostly downhill but the wind picked up and was blowing against them so you had to pedal to move anywhere.

I am really proud of Ja for doing this 104 mile ride. He said he doesn't feel as empowered as he thought he would, he feels more humbled because there were a lot of older men who passed him and seemed to be having an easy time. There was one older man I saw a lot who had a Spongebob jersey and do-rag who seemed to be just cruising along. At one rest stop I saw him eating beef jerky and drinking a coke. Ja learned that he man rides his bike to work everyday. He looked to be in his later 60's. You can't judge a rider by his age.

Here is the cool shirt Ja got from the ride. It says "The ninth annual Civil War Century 2009, Baltimore Bicycling Club." Ja wants to ride it again next year and improve on his time. I'm so proud of you Ja!

8 Weeks Alone

Ja will be traveling for 8 straight weeks. Luckily he gets to come home on weekends, but I'll be Ja-less during the week. I won't be really alone because there are 5 other people living in the house with me.

However, to help me get over Ja being gone I decided to make a quilt for our little baby. Here is the pattern I found online and it looks fairly simple. I went to JoAnn's on Labor Day and got a great deal on fabric so I'm hoping this won't be an expensive project.

I found the pattern on the Taffy Talk Blog and it's titled Speedy Baby 2 so I'm hoping it is easy. I may take a week to make so I may be making many quilts :)

One question: Should I wash the fabric first since it's for a baby quilt?

Wish me luck! I'll post the final project when it's finished.

Driver's License Picture

I thought about showing my license picture, but now that I've received it there's no way I'm showing it! I look like a criminal! Absolutely worst license picture. I hate the no smiling rule!

It's Official!

I am now a Virginia resident! I have a Virginia drivers license (well now it's just a piece of paper, but in two weeks it will be the real card). Now I can get a library card, register and title our cars, the list goes on. Funny thing about Virginia drivers licenses: you can't smile in your picture. They recently got new licenses and now they have a no smiling policy. Apparently when you smile it changes the features of your face. Yeah, but does smiling really change my face that much that people checking my ID won't recognize me? I can only hope I don't look tired and ridiculous in my picture.

The lady at the DMV who was helping me asked if I was pregnant and told me that she was expecting too. She told me she has an 18 year old daughter so she is starting over again with another child. Then she told me her 18 year old daughter is also expecting next month. Can you say Father of the Bride 2?

In baby news: I can really feel her kick and move around now. It doesn't hurt yet so it's fun (and weird) to feel this little thing inside of me move. Some days she's more active than others, but she moves a lot in there.