Happy Owlidays and Malidays and Holidays!

Gobble, gobble, ho, ho!

Well, the holidays are once again upon us. Loads of food, tempting treats, festive lights, halls to deck, carols to sing, stockings to hang, friends and family to love, presents to wrap, and cats to wrangle. Don't be surprised if you find a cat in your stocking this year.



I suppose the first thing to recount (besides the number of calories) would be Thanksgiving. Kellie and I, along with her parents, and our dear dear friends Taco and Tanya, went to my parents for Thanksgiving Day lunch and festivities. So much delicious food was eaten, including a yummy pumpkin cheesecake. We had some great times playing ladderball, shootin', hootin', and kasplootin' on the couch in a turkey daze. That night, we went to the Grove Park Inn to check out the gingerbread houses and decor.



Sometime before Thanksgiving, Kellie decided to get in touch with her non-existent Italian roots and make some PIZZA! Thankfully, this did not end in disaster, and instead ended in my stomach.


Let's see, what else? Oh yes, winter cleaning update. We had a little trouble with the vacuum cleaner a couple weeks ago. It just wasn't getting enough suction and the yellow warning light came on. So, we bought a new bag, and I cleaned up a few things. Still didn't work. Next, I broke down the tube thingie and low and behold, I found a rat!

It wasn't really a rat. It was a BIG clump of cat hair! What in the world?!


Yesterday and today were snowdays, so no school for these two teachers. I've been enjoying my day by reading, going to the gym, and of course, watching the best TV show ever, The Young Riders, about some riders for the Pony Express.

Well, as you may remember, I made a batch of wine some time ago. Turns out, I dropped a kabob stick in it and can't get it out. I was pretty upset. I don't want to say any more about it. Other than that and workin' out at the gym getting ripped, I'm still in the process of genealogical work. Unfortunately, records from Indian Territory, [aka Oklahoma], are pretty hard to come by. I'm getting a few tidbits here and there about ancestors from the Choctaw tribe. Oh, and I put a train around the Christmas tree, but Delilah keeps derailing it. She's the abominable snowcat.

Kellie has been busy sewing some convertible aprons for her nieces. They are craft/cooking aprons that convert into bags to carry things. She might end up making one for herself because the fabric has owls on it, and she is really into owls right now. Along with sewing, she has been going to yoga classes and fretting over what goodies she is going to make for the holidays. Our house looks festive with lights on the outside, a fun tree with a train around it, an almost complete nativity, and the stockings are hung.
On the downside, her computer got a pretty nasty virus that we have been unable to repair/locate, so we had to buy an external hard drive to back up important documents and shut her computer down for a couple of weeks until her bro from Idaho can come to the rescue. Every cloud has a silver lining, though. This one has 2: we are fortunate enough to have two computers and family that can repair these problems free of charge...maybe a Christmas goody or two thrown in there.
We also made some gingerbread houses with Kellie's nieces. More holiday funtimes coming soon!

The A-MAZE-ing Summers know how to SHAKE it up

Fall has fallen. There were green leaves on the trees when we wrote our last blog. However, in an effort to complete our Fall adventures checklist before the last leaves fall from the trees, we have to stay away from the computer. We enjoy the changing of the seasons; we love fall particularly. Consequently, you have to try to hang on to it quickly between summer and winter. There isn't much in between as far as the temperature goes, and the leaves at their peak. There are many musts that make our fall fun list including, eating a lot of apple, pumpkin, and gingerbread goodies; hiking and parkway leaf peepin', Halloween festivities, make wine, fall display, and a corn maze. Nevertheless, the surreptitious Summers managed to sneak a few other surprises in as well.

Hiking has been a pretty low priority to us this year (which we are ashamed of). I think we managed to sneak in one hike around these parts. We went on several out in Yellowstone, but with these beautiful mountains in our back yard at home, there really isn't an excuse as to why we didn't go on more. We made it up to Sam Knob right when the leaves started to turn. The weather was still pretty warm. It was nice. We had both been there, but never together, so that makes it special.

We also made it to the State Fair in Raleigh. It has gotten rave reviews from Matt and Tanya. Sam has been; I never had, so we went to check it out. It pretty much lived up to its hype. There was a lot of fried food, people, and fun things to check out. We ate some yummy falafel, a chicken gyro, roasted corn, and a fried pumpkin pie! The food feature this year were Kool-Aid pickles and Krispe Kreme bacon cheeseburger which are not for the weak (or the healthy and sane). We also didn't ride any rides which are also not for the weak. So I'm pretty much saying we are weak. We did see some fun stuff like an 800 lb. pumpkin, and Sam learned how to grow a pineapple, a project in the works. I did not know that 1. pineapples grow from the ground, and 2. each plant only produces one pineapple. Sam also impressed me with his manly attempt at the Marine challenge of 20 pull-ups. He got 19 and a half! Swoon!

I have had a few exciting breakthroughs where school in concerned. We had spirit week, and on one special day, I was able to let my inner nerd shine. I was successful, if you ask me. I also helped my homeroom enter a door decorating contest against drugs. The theme was "Don't let drugs haunt you." Each door had a saying. I have been waiting for an avenue to premier my genius idea: pun on spirits and exorcise. So our slogan was "Lift your spirits with healthy choices...like exorcise" accompanied by a ghost lifting weights. Award winning. My homeroom won ice cream.

Halloween endeavors were not as lofty this year. We did not have a Halloween party which was a bummer, and I am sure left many souls unsettled. We did, however, take part in some pumpkin carving with Mathew and Becca. My current obsession with owls inspired my pumpkin design, and Sam let released his inner wolf man. Mathew did a spooky bat, and Becca did a cat. I guess our theme was creatures of the night, and they turned out just dandy. Ours, unfortunately, didn't last very long, so we didn't get a good picture with them both lit up due to a lack of candles.

We just really dropped the bomb this year with our All Hallows preparedness. But, since we didn't have a party of our own, we did attend one. We didn't spend a lot of time this year coming up with our costumes, but sometimes the simpler the better. What can I say? We are pretty classic and awesome: salt and pepper- homemade costumes. We can definitely shake our money makers.


For the big night, we watched a few spooky Halloween movies, order pizza, made rice crispy treats and awaited trick-or-treaters. A whopping 2!
In other exciting news we went to a fun corn-maze that took us 2.7 miles and 45 minutes to complete. I will be honest, I was beginning to freak out a little bit! Thank goodness we went early enough in the day and there wasn't a chance of it being dark and turning into the haunted corn maze! Yikes! We also trained and completed the 4 miler Power for Pink breast cancer run. We amazed ourselves! We completed this hilly run in 47 minutes. That is the farthest we have ever ran; it was also cold and had a lot of incline. We felt very accomplished.


This weekend we made Sam's wine. We are anxiously awaiting the process to finish so that we can see how it is going to turn out! ::Crosses fingers:: October 28th was our 3 year dating anniversary. Can you believe it? 3 years and we still like each other! We celebrated by making a tasty, hearty meal together and opening a bottle of wine we got when we were just beginning to date. Oh the memories!


In the meantime, we are looking forward to the holidays! Thanksgiving is just around the corner and Christmas is just behind it! We also have a few more things to check off on our fall to do list: pumpkin spice latte, and pumpkin pancakes from Ihop. Anyone want to join?

Until next time- stay warm...exorcise.

Want to Hear a Dirty Joke?

A white horse fell in a mud puddle.

CAUTION: This blog contains dirty pictures.

This blog is the official so long to summer blog. The first official day of fall was this past Thursday, and it is looking like the highs in the extended forecast are only going to be in the 60's (a few low 70's days), and my body is craving nutmeg and pumpkin and all of the heartiness that is fall. There is actually some pumpkin granola in the oven as we speak. But, this isn't a hello fall blog. There is no fall display to show for it. This is a blog to take a look at the accomplishments of the summer and close that chapter. While our summer was fairly busy and pretty short, we managed to pack a lot in.

Books that were read:
Kellie: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Velva Jean Learns to Drive, The Alchemist, A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Old Man and the Sea, I'm Down, Little Bee, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and The Magicians.

Sam:
Confederates in the Attic, Shavetail, One Second After, Brimstone, Let the Great World Spin, The Family Jensen, Blue Star. And these Louis L'amour novels from the Sackett Family series: Sackett Land, To the Far Blue Mountains, The Warrior's Path, Jubal Sackett.

Personal Projects:

Kellie: I tried my hand at sewing again. I found a pretty handy dandy book that has a lot of projects that just take a yard of fabric! And, what a more appropriate project to begin with than a sewing kit? While this project looks fairly small and not particularly difficult, it took me many hours. I learned how to do a lot of new things such as put on buttons and attach a trim. The part I am still having trouble with is guiding the material in a straight line. However, this is an easy fix; I just need to slow down and not be so impatient. The next sewing project I intend to start is an apron. Also, through this project, I learned that my current favorite print is anything with owls. I've also almost completed a mosaic bird bath that was supposed to be ready for my mom on Mother's Day of last year. I pushed it back to her birthday which was Sept, '09, then to Mother's Day of this year...and FINALLY I think it will be finished in the next few days.


Sam:
Well, first off, I've spent a great deal of time keeping a vigilant eye on our drug dealing neighbors. I think my visit to the Police Station paid off. On a somewhat related note: I've enjoyed shooting my new 1858 New Model Army black powder pistol. I actually have an original one (very rusted) that my granddad found in Texas. I've been doing a good bit of genealogy. It all started when I read Confederates in the Attic and I was curious about my ancestors who served in the Civil War. I'm glad to say that, so far, I've just about completed genealogical research on my granddad Summers' side, and that all four of my great great great grandfathers on that side fought for the Confederacy. One was nicknamed "Devil" Tom Summers because he was such a tenacious fighter. If Kellie doesn't throw my computer away, I'll probably start on my grandfather on the Williams side next. It's been pretty interesting, but I guess it's not interesting for everyone. Nevertheless, I think I'll attach a picture of my great great grandfather, John Berry, and his wife Permelia Wigington Berry on their farm, Royalty Farm. I include it because it's how I picture Kellie and my future.

Also, my dad and I patched up the concrete stairs in the back. I asked Kellie if I had done anything else this summer and she shook her head "no". She seemed displeased. Hmmm. Well, yesterday I had to wrangle a feral cat out from our crawl space. It had been in there for at least two days. It got in there when I was painting the door to the crawl space and the stairs. HA! There! I did something else! Tonight I cooked chili. And P.S. I still have mud in my ears. I can feel it every time I burp.
Here is the shelf I made out of a pallet.


Other accomplishments this summer include training for, and completing the USMC Mud Run. Sam and I began training a little over 2 months before the event. This was a very intense feat for me because I have never been a runner and always convinced myself that I just wasn't meant to be good at it. I started off barely being able to run 1/2 mile and slowly built up to 3 miles. This was very challenging for me, mentally more so than physically. I have discovered that running is a very good exercise because it challenges my personality. I enjoy that area of discomfort that occurs slightly outside my comfort zone, and I feel deeply accomplished in end. It is much more fulfilling to do something that is extremely hard for you and be successful than it is to do something that comes fairly easy to you. So, through this training I learned self-discipline and that running is definitely not on my "never" list.

Vacations/Excursions: Idaho/Yellowstone/Teton/Salt Lake Trip, Biltmore House, PA, Navitat, Labor Day weekend Beach Vacay with the WD's minus a few. The beach trip is the only one that has occurred since we last posted. It was a great trip. Sam and I took a Friday off of work for a 4 day weekend! The weekend was totally filled with relaxing beach time, good food (Squiggles ice cream and Britz Doughnuts), and good times. Thanks to Yellow Dog Bread Co. for providing tasty bread!

Anyways, yesterday we traveled down to Columbia, South Carolina to participate in the Mud Run. It was challenging, but fun. I will go out a limb and speak for myself, Sam, Jon, and Christian and say that there is probably not a muscle that we do not feel in our bodies today. All 4.2 miles, 31 obstacles, and countless scrapes and bruises were completely worth it, though. Some obstacles would have been impossible had it not been for team work. On the second obstacle, which was basically a horizontal pole you had to swing your legs up on and pull yourself across, after getting up on the log at the end, I lost my balance. I wound up falling from 5 to 6 feet in the air, landing on my back, and jarring the breath out of me. This was not a good way to start out, but I will say things got better from there. We completed the obstacles, no one wound up going to the hospital, and we can still walk today, so I would say it was a success. I really enjoyed working for something for so long, and seeing my efforts pay off. AND witnessing my husbands manliness as he helped hoist me up over obstacles and carried me on his shoulders. Getting dirty was really fun, too. Although, I am still finding mud in random places, including my ears and nose. We definitely want to do it next year, and we are thinking of trying a 5K this fall.

Before:
After:


Goodbye white wine and ice cream. Hello fall festiveness!

"We're here. Let's do it." part 2

I'll try to make this short on words since there are so many pictures.

Day before yesterday, Kellie, Mark, and I went to Craters of the MoOn National Park. Contrary to popular belief, it was created due to the volcanic activity in these parts, not a meteor.



We climbed to the top of a volcano and it looked like this. As you can see, we are some hot lavas.
Caaaareful...caaareful! Kellie descends the hill with the grace of a ballerina. It was steeper than it looks.
"Hey, let's go explore an Indian cave where the Shoshone Indians stayed on their migration routes."
We scampered over rocks, through nooks and craneys. We didn't need a light because every so often there was an opening in the roof. The cave went on and on and on.
It was crazy. But I eventually found the end.

This is Kellie exiting the cave, but she kinda looks like she's been trapped in a hole or something."Man, I'm hungry. Being lost on the moon makes me hungry. I'm so hungry, I could eat a radioactive hamburger. Where can I get one of those?"
"Oh yeah. That's what I'm talking about."
This is what you look like after you eat an atomic hamburger.
The next day, Kellie and I went to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It was freezing on the Teton pass.
A funny story is: Kellie read in the guidebook about a 2 mile hike around Lake Jenny in the Teton National Park. I think to myself, "Two miles? That's nothing. We won't even need water." Well, we take off without food or water, right into the Tetons. We expected to see a big bear at every turn. But only saw a beaver and a marmot. And some oversized gerbil, called a pika. Several hours later, we are like "Man, we are nowhere near even a fourth of the way around this lake." We were heading to Hidden Falls. If you remember, the motto of the trip is "We're here. Let's do it." So despite being without food or water, we trek on. And on and on and on. Finally coming to the waterfalls.
Definitely worth it, but we were bushed. And thirsty.
Ok, we saw the falls. Time to go back right? Wrong. Inspiration Point is only 1/2 a mile up the mountain. No way we can miss that. "We're here. Let's do it." Just don't fall off the mountain.
Made it. And she looks inspired!
Elevation: 7200 ft.
End of the story: We start heading back. Pursued by big ravens who are seeking us out because they know we are hungry, thirsty, tired, and can't make it much farther. We finally make it back to the car. All told, we probably hiked at least 6 miles with no food or water. Then we drove to Jenny Lodge, which is supposed to be the best food of any national park. We arrive at 1:35. What time do they stop serving lunch? 1:30.

Thankfully, we had some peanut butter, bread, and bananas in the car. Like I always like to say, it's good to be prepared. We lived. Lesson learned.

This is a cool old pioneer cabin in the Tetons.
And here are the Tetons. We couldn't stop staring.

We made it back to Jackson Hole. I ate some Huckleberry ice cream, and all was once again right with the world.

"We're here. Let's do it." part 1

If you didn't know, loyal readers, the wife and I are in Idaho visiting Kellie's brother, Mark. Yesterday we went to Yellowstone. It's a really amazing place, with too much to see. I will try to chart our trip, hitting only the major highlights.

Before going to Yellowstone, we took in some of the wind turbines in Idaho Falls. Note the size of the cars at the base.

This was one of the first sites. Some really cool thermal pools. Actually, they were hot. Some reached 140 degrees.

This is what happens to you when you put your head in a geyser.
Of course we saw Old Faithful. It was not too faithful that day because it blew 5 minutes early, which meant we were about 2 minutes too late. We caught it the next go around though. The best part of the show was when some rude dude started setting up his camera tripod right in front of the crowd, who basically threatened to throw him in a geyser if he didn't move. So he moved on down, but those people told him to stop blocking their view and leave. He finally did. He was probably from New York or something.

Here's a picture of Kellie and I smooching in Yellowstone.

So we did happen across a field of 200-300 buffalo. Before we actually saw the field, we got into a traffic jam. So I got out of the car to see what was going on, only to find a buffalo blocking the road. I took this picture....

Then I walked up in front of the white suv. No sooner than I get there, when another buffalo grunts and comes out of the woods to the right! It was crazy! So I hightailed it back to the car.


It was quite possibly the most magical experience of the trip. As you can see.

Mark was so excited, he spent the rest of the day trying to sharpen his imaginary buffalo horns on every tree we passed.
But we were too busy checking out this breathtaking waterfall from in the Canyon. As seen from Artist's Point.
Don't look down!
We spent the night in a cabin in Yellowstone. This morning, we saw this family of grizzly bears just a ways down the road.

Then we saw a black bear cub! Animals galore! We also saw a coyote.
We ended the day at Artists' Paintpots. It was bubbly and hot. Like hot, boiling paint. We were exhausted. We walked a lot. Apparently 1/3 of a mile means 2 miles in Yellowstone lingo. Or else were were exhausted. As you can see from the title, our motto was "We're here, let's do it." Even though we were tired, we pushed ourselves to soak it all in. In fact, I'm so tired I can barely finis...goodnight.