My Mom's Baking...

Here are the rest of the photos I wanted to post. My mom and I made some beautiful homemade bread last week and it was great fun. I should say my mom made the bread, I watched! She even ground the wheat in their wheat grinder. The bread was so light and fluffy and melted in your mouth. The cinnamon rolls were amazing!

I am in beautiful Ohio now visiting my sister and her husband and my adorable nephew! Looking forward to having our mom join us later this week! :)

Books and Benjamin......

The blessedness of a good book! Since Benjamin has been away I have a lot more time to read! I had several books that I had started but never finished and I finally did! I also read a couple at my mom and dad's house. And then I reread a new favorite. I read it a long time ago. Bel Lamington is the title, the author is D.E. Stevenson. I have mentioned her before. She has to be my very favorite author. Most of her books take place prior to WWII and some during. Usually in London or all around England and Scotland. D.E. Stevenson is the girl version of Charles Dickens. She has a great talent of portraying characters and real life situations. :) I have also been reading a book about my Pastor's wife, Marja Barnett. Very encouraging book to read. She was born in Finland and then because of circumstances with the war was placed into an orphanage in Sweden. Adopted by a kind family and then in her twenties moved to the United States where she was saved and met and married her husband Pastor Tommy Barnett. Her book talks about the difficulties of marriage being a brand new Christian and married to a pastor and learning a new language. I am enjoying it and excited to tell Benjamin about it!

Benjamin is doing really well. He was promoted already! So proud of him! I new he was made for this! :) I was able to talk to him yesterday for about 45 min! He earned the phone call by running the fastest in one of their tests :P We have been corresponding mainly through the mail. It has been very difficult getting used to not talking to him and having to communicate through pen and paper! Something very satisfying though about writing for an hour and being able to express myself to him. I think he is enjoying it! Its funny even though we were with each other constantly before, how much we weren't able to communicate because of the craziness of our schedules. So this experience has been enriching and we have enjoyed it. :) I love receiving a letter from him and tying to capture and picture what he has been doing. I get to see him in a little less then two weeks! Then he will be off to Pensacola for Avionics School. I will be sure to post a picture! :)

~Olechka and I :)

~Our Cupcakes! I had a bunch more pictures to upload, but having such a hard time getting them up! I'll upload them when I get to Ohio :)

This week has been a whirl wind! I cannot believe my visit has almost come to an end. I have been able to visit many friends and catch up. My friend Holly (here is her blog address,) who my sister and I grew up with since we were babies had a little baby girl and I was able to meet her! And delighted in how much she looks like Holly. :) Holly was the sweetest hostess, she spoiled me by feeding me and serving me lovely cups of tea. Their home was so charming and cozy. I still have not been able to meet her husband since every time we see each other he is always hard away at work! :) But we promised to meet through Skype pretty soon!

Last week my mom and I went out and visited my mom's very dear friend Roxy. It was so nice for me to be apart of the fun. Roxy fed us a delicious meal and I am still thinking of it! (The second trimester has started. I have been so hungry lately.) Then I was able to help her start a blog! Here is her blog link, Living From Glory To Glory.

I have been able to spend a lot of time with my parents. We have been talking, sharing, laughing and praying together.

The house here is always abuzz! With the phone ringing off the hook, people stopping by and all the activities my siblings are busy doing. Russell has joined the Navy and will be leaving next year for Boot Camp. Olga has one more year of High School and Eddie will be starting this school year as new homeschooler! :) My older brothers and my sister and I never were involved in the Public School System. After my parents adopted Russ, Olga and Eddie, they went into public school here and we are so thankful that the schools have been so great. Their standards are much higher and most of the teachers are christians including the principal. What a difference from the big city! The middle school is not so good. And so Eddie will be home schooled this year. And maybe even through high school. :) I am enjoying talking about his curriculum with my mom! He is a bright little guy and happens to love history which is one of my favorite subjects.

I am glad I was able to come right before the school season starts. Its nice to enjoy the seasons again. Fall is in the air and I love it! :) My mom and I made some cupcakes the other day for some friends and we did some beautiful Sun Flowers using Gum Paste and little bit of frosting for the middle of the Sun Flower.

I was able to finally finish a couple of books while I have been here. My new favorite, "Mornings on Horseback" by David Mccullough. Its about Theodore Roosevelt and his family. His family were just amazing and wonderful people. I just loved every page! :)

I know this post was pretty long, I jammed a bunch of posts into one! :)

Colorado

~One of the family dogs named Toby Mac

My mom has a beautiful garden growing. Here are some of the things she has growing off the top of my head. Carrots, Chili Peppers, Beets, Scallop Squash, Yellow Squash, Spaghetti Squash, Green Onions, Sunflowers, Sage, Mint, Peas, Lettuce, Bell Peppers, Zucchini, Cucumbers and Egg Plant all growing right now! I only posted a part of the garden! It took me two days to upload these pictures because of the slower internet:) I am visiting everyone's blog, it just takes a little while for me to get all your pages up! Happy August everyone :)

~Grandma's finished necklace

~Me, Rachel and Jessica, my two cousins

~Catching my uncle Dave with his often silly face

~My Grandma and I celebrating her birthday

~Some friends, cousins and my Dad above me

I have been so very blessed to be able to visit and enjoy my wonderful family. It has been a long time since we have been able to see each other. I had so much fun staying with my Grandma and being able to celebrate her birthday while I was there. She was able to make another necklace using the leftover beads from the necklace we had made previously. It looks really pretty on against the skin. We went swimming one day over at my uncles house with my cousins. The temperature had gotten up to 117! So we were very hot and in need of a nice cool pool. Her birthday was last week and my uncle took us out to dinner to a delicious Italian restaurant. My dad was able to be there as well, as he was passing through town and I was able to hitch a ride back to Colorado with him! The Colorado weather is heavenly right now! Afternoon showers and beautiful dark fluffy clouds :) Happily enjoying my parents and siblings before I head on up to Ohio to visit Marie, Jon and little Zane. I have a bunch more photos to post of all the things we have been up to the last couple of days. :) I'll be back soon with more!