Friday, February 1, 2013

Quick post...

Hi! I'm trying out the Blogger app for my iTouch. It's fun that I can post this way, but I think said posts will be a bit more brief--though perhaps more frequent. This particular one will be filled with various randomness...

Let's see...life since I last posted has been great! I'm starting to feel a lot more settled, now that the initial moving-in stuff and all of the Christmas busyness is over. I seem to have more time and have even been able to start practicing violin again; I really enjoy that. It's good to feel the technique coming back, and to have a bit more confidence in demonstrating for my students. Music is such a gift. (Along those lines, Joe got out his bassoon the other day and played while I made dinner. I enjoyed that a lot. Picture below.)

Earlier this month Joe and I went to Nebraska with my siblings. We had such a great and relaxing time; it was really a blessing. Since then we've both been busy with life. God has really blessed Joe with great work right now, and I'm enjoying my teaching, cooking, and keeping up with the house.

Today I've been at my family's place for most of the day, spending time with Kristin and Sarah and working on a scrapbook project. It made me think about getting pictures printed and actually do a wedding scrapbook. :)

Now all the skiers/snowboarders are back and we've had a good time--eating yummy food and playing Scrabble, or more recently just playing with the scrabble pieces. Good times. (Picture below.)

I figured out how to upload pictures to a post, but can't seem to incorporate them into a post and caption them. So you get to take the clues above and make up your own. :)

Anyway...that's a little bit of our life. We're so blessed, and quite happy as well. God is gracious to us.

[first picture: roses from Joe last month]






Thursday, January 3, 2013

Fun with the Siblings

The other night we had my siblings over for games, a puzzle and snacks.  I got a few very random pictures, and some other people got some even more random pictures...enjoy at your own risk.   :D

My sisters worked on our puzzle and we finished it before they left.

Michael was enjoying the spinney function of the office chair; hence the blurriness.  :D

And then he tried to hack my FB.  I caught him before he posted.


He was also quite bemused to find his ice cream in a crock-like dish 
(we don't have a lot of bowls out--small kitchen)

The boys hanging out and eating ice cream

Dutch Blitz!  A long-time favorite for both of our families.

At this point someone else grabbed the camera and the pictures got quite entertaining.  
Here Rebecca discourses upon something--I have no idea what.


And finally, Michael gets some assistance with his scarf before leaving.  
Looks quite professional, don't you think?

That's all the pics I have for now.  Hope your new year is going well!!

Rachel

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Christmastime!

Hello folks!

Hope you had a lovely Christmas!  We certainly did.  Christmas Eve with the Langemanns was quite fun, with Chinese food, animated table discussion, lots of gifts, and various games/puzzle-building/random outbursts of song afterwards as the evening progressed.  We spent Christmas morning by ourselves, took a walk at Standley Lake in the snow that afternoon, and had Christmas dinner with my family--an evening of Lasagna and Italian Christmas soup, lots of laughter, games, gifts, reading of books, and much music.  I figure that someone was playing the piano at least half the time when we weren't all doing something together, and Michael, Rebecca and I read some amazing piano trio music.

Unfortuantely I don't have pictures of Christmas, having forgot my camera both days, but I do have pictures of our Christmas tree and a few decorations.  Joe and I went up to the mountains early in December to cut a tree and we found an absolutely beautiful one.  At least we think so.  :)

 Joe on the property--saw in hand, prepared for tree-hunting.


Here we are, in our cool hats!  Joe's is from Scotland.

Looks like Joe liked this one, but it's not what we ended up with...

Joe with the tree of choice

The tree comes home!  It was exactly the right height; 
we didn't have to trim it or anything.

Finished product (sort of--we kept adding ornaments).  
We went with a red/gold theme, with some fun gifts and handmade stuff thrown in.  
I love it and am not in a hurry to take it down!

We got this ornament for our wedding from some special friends in Scotland.

My little piano...

 This one was a wedding gift from my aunt.

And a special bonus: Joe models the latest and greatest in scarf-wearing techniques.  Reports state that it's quite warm and cozy, though not exactly recommended for situations where one desires to appear normal.  :D  I love my man.

Well, Happy New Year to all of our friends and relations!  We're sorting out our affairs today, after enjoying a great skate up at Evergreen.  There's a random assortment of Mexican food in the crock-pot for dinner (logically, if ingredients more or less fit together, you should be able to just throw them in and have it work, right?  It worked last time I tried it!) and our little place is looking quite cozy in the late afternoon light.  May Jesus fill you with ever more of Himself through the new year!

Blessings,
Rachel