The Chastains in Greeley

2010-04-19T21:43:00.000-07:00

Enjoying the fountain outside. Is there anything better than throwing rocks in water? Erin submits that there is not...
And if we can't throw rocks, we can climb on them. Betty was kind enough to let us come up to her place and scramble around. Here's Erin & I "helping" her up.
Pop and Grady...
Sue brought carrots to entice one of her horses, Bailey, to say hello. Erin threw her carrots to Bailey since those big teeth are a bit intimidating. Grady on the other hand wanted to dive out of my arms onto the horses head and kept trying to grab @ Bailey's nostrils. I think Grady likes horses...
Today we went to the wild animal park. The tram ride around the huge preserve they have is incredible!! Here are some giraffes
Here we are enjoying the ride :0)
Lions lounging...
The park also has a little cool off water splash area. Mine were not the only children running around in just their diapers/underwear (I promise!!). They had a ball and then we put back on dry clothes (potty training mommy's always have extra underwear) and then we went on our way. And YES-we applied lots of sunscreen!!
Giving the Lorakeets some nectar is lots of fun (though I'm glad that one landed on my head and not Erin's-pretty sure that would have completely freaked her out!!)
Enjoying the petting zoo with Grandmother...
We've had a fun-filled trip and will be heading home tomorrow!! Well, Grady's crying so I've got to go get him settled back down (rude awakening for him tomorrow back at home where he'll just have to cry it out!). Maybe I'll get more sleep at home since Grady refuses to accept that there's an hour time difference!

A Full Day at Grandmother's and Pop's

2010-04-18T21:10:00.000-07:00

After church this morning Grady and I had short naps and then Pop inflated the boat and we headed off to the lake...
Here we are launching on our maiden voyage.
When Erin paddled we got to enjoy going in circles for awhile, and while the trip was short lived we managed to pack lots of fun in. This is what Grady got to do while we boated and Grandmother took lots of pictures-we moved so slowly that they kept up with us most of our journey.

After the boating Erin pushed Grady on the swings. This involves pushing him from the front while laughing hysterically then turning and running quickly out of the way to avoid being hit by the swing...
Next, as we unloaded the raft into the hangar Erin finally got to get into the Tigermoth-she's been wanting to since she laid eyes on it yesterday. It was tough to get her out for dinner time!!
Grady and I got in on the fun too!!
This doesn't even get into our zoo trip or any other of our adventures here-just a day in the life at Grandmother and Pop's house!!

Erin's Birthday

2010-02-19T21:31:00.000-08:00

Ignoring how long its been since I've posted I'll just jump right in with Erin's bday photos. A pool party in February is no problem when you have the family fun plex :0)

After all the buildup to the party she takes ages to actually go into the water...
Audrey, Grady & I splash around and manage to entice Erin to join us in the water.
Finally in the water Erin watches Daddy & Grady test the slide first...
She sure warmed up to it, though...
Here's Cecily and Audrey in the life vests (after enjoying a few laps with Natalie in the lazy river), Natalie with Everett and Erin & Blayne.
More splashing friends...Jack (I think--half hidden by the fountain), Hilary, Witt & Will
Needless to say-the pool was lots of fun!! Thanks to my mom for trying to get pics of everyone-its hard to get non-blurry shots of 3 year olds running and splashing all over :0) Then, it was off to pizza hut!! Everett, Jack, Jeb & Will work on their juice boxes while watching Erin open gifts....
Erin managed all 3 candles in one breath (too quickly for my mom to catch it-she was speedy :0)
The party was Tuesday since Blayne had to leave on Wed-her actual bday was Thursday so we made brownies & frosted them for Thursday night. For our parting shot here's Erin enjoying some frosting (she may not look like me-but she gets some things from her Mommy! :0)
Can't believe she's 3. So much fun. Love to you all. Not going to make promises about being better at this blog-its not likely at this point ;0)

Catch Up #1-Vacation & Grady's Baptism

2009-11-07T20:36:00.000-08:00

It's been ages, so here's catch up number one. Get together with my family in Alabama. Here's the girls swinging, Anne, Mae & Erin (don't know why she has that pacifier in her mouth-but I couldn't resist this pic.)
Here's Erin in the canoe-she didn't want to face forward-I was just glad she would get in :0) She's gotten less afraid of things lately-hooray!

Here we are passing "the boys" in the other canoe. Wilson, Bennett & Chris.
I know this one is blurry-but I was reading a Dora book to Anne, Erin & Mae then the boys joined in too. It was one of few still moments with the kiddos. We were usually playing the Wiggles DVD and dancing like crazy!!
Here's Erin & Mae throwing rocks in the water. Ah the simple things...Next for catch up is when our folks both came to town for Grady's baptism. Erin has always loved her MaMa's necklaces and even though she doesn't put them in her mouth anymore-she still loves to play with them.

We were able to go to the session at the pub with my folks on Thursday night where Erin and Grady regularly get to hang out with their substitute local grandparents-Chuck & Cheryl!
Here's Erin and her Daddy playing while waiting on our yummy BBQ at Nordy's.
Here's Me, Grady, Momma & Daddy at the top of the trail on Trail Ridge Road-that view never gets old!!

Here we are putting on Grady's baptism gown. It's the same one Bennett, Wilson, Mae, Erin and Anne wore. Here's the family after the baptism.After church we had a cookout at the Parrish's house. Here's Jean & Fran and my Mom.

Here's Shane, my Dad, Libby, Sarah & Justin.
Eric manned the grill-there were even some Yak burgers in the mix and some elk :0) It's always so amazing for me to look around and see all the people that love on us and our kiddos. To know that these people are a part of our lives and theirs makes me realize how blessed we are.Parting shot with the proud grandparents-It was great fun to have everyone in town!
We'll that catches me up to mid-August. Just the CA trip, TN/GA trip, every day life and Halloween to make up now ;0) Check out David & Red's blog (link on the right) for some fun pics of our time at their place.

A Recent Shot of Grady

2009-09-01T21:00:00.000-07:00

For those of you wondering what he looks like now...
He's in 6-9 month clothes now. He's only 3 1/2 months old!!! It's not so much that he's big (almost 14 pounds), but he's pretty tall. So we have a petite little girl (25th percentile) and a tall boy (75th percentile). I wonder how old they'll be when he passes her? When I left for college David (3 years younger) fit under my chin.... now he's 6 ft. 6 :0) I don't know that Grady's on track to be THAT tall, but I'm pretty sure he'll pass us all.

2009-08-02T21:17:00.000-07:00

Here are pics from my folks visit when Grady was just 1 week old. I'm REALLY behind with posting... and we've been really bad about taking pics this time around, but here's a few pics of life right now. We'll have some up soon of recent family visits (all the folks came out for Grady's baptism). But here the last week of May in captions...
Erin enjoying her xylophone and me enjoying her pigtails :0)
My dad with Grady and my Mom with Erin.
Here's Momma & Erin enjoying the carnival of the animals music and companion book-here they're being the donkeys :0)
Erin & Grady playing - now its not so novel when he holds her hand.
He's so little here.... He's so big now!!
Erin enjoying summer fun loft style... rooftop pool and umbrella.

Grady's First Hike

2009-06-07T17:15:00.001-07:00

The first full week of June is a youth camp that our youth group goes to up at Estes Park every year. I love going up every year to have lots of great times with our youth as a chaperone. I did have the sense to know that I couldn't go for the whole week this time with a new born. But, I did plan to go up for the "free day" to do a hike and take Grady on his first ever. It was only fitting since Erin got her first hike before she was three weeks old. Here's Maddie, Micheal, Otis, Mary, Me w/Grady, Fran and Jerry before we headed up to Gem Lake.
Here we are all ready to go.

I'd done Gem Lake a while back but had forgotten how there's 1100 feet of elevation gain in 1.7 miles. Pretty much kicked my out of shape butt-my legs are still sore! But we survived and had a good time too. Here we are on the way down at an amazing view point along the way. Here's Otis, Fran, Jerry, Michael, Zach, Maddie, Mac, Jordyn, Mary, Jake, Me w/Grady, Leo, Tyler & Dario.
Here's a few more shots of Grady-here he is with eyes open being held by Cheryl.

Nap time on the couch!! :0)He was being such a little sleep rockstar (giving me 3 1/2 to 5 hour stretches of sleep at night) until 3 nights ago. The last 3 nights the best I've gotten is 2 1/2. Doh! Hoping that changes soon. I'm pretty dilirious!

This isn't the best picture of Erin, but I had to post it-she loves doing ballet on my barre. She can get her foot on the barre- next to her head!! Ah, to be young and flexible!
In other exciting news- Jen & Eric just got a new laptop, which means I'm buying Jen's old one-which I am currently using. YEAH! No more going down to the office to use the computer! So, now my only excuses for not updating here are two little people named Erin and Grady :0)

Welcome Grady Wilkes Chastain!

2009-05-20T07:48:00.000-07:00

Grady Wilkes Chastain was born Monday morning, May 18th at 6:32 am, 8 lb. 8 oz, 21 inches. Here's a link to pics on Blayne's facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=78724&id=769868056&l=f9286f0d9d

I'll post more later. We're home now. Delivery was INSANELY fast and intense but we're all doing well. And Erin loves her baby brother (so far ;0).

2009-04-14T20:49:00.000-07:00

Mom (that's Jane from CA) came out to visit for a long weekend to come to a shower the women of the church gave me and to play with Erin. She and Blayne survived a day of skiing the whole day after she arrived late at night. I'd have pics of that but I dropped our small digital camera that had the pics on it at an egg hunt this past weekend and someone decided they'd pick it up and keep it. ARGH! So, the only pics of their ski day are gone unless someone decides to turn it in.

But , of course, Mom took lots of pics when she was here, so here's some choice ones. Since we live in a loft and have no yard we spend lots of time here-at the playground at a park 2 blocks away. Erin loves to swing on that bar (she's only recently gotten brave enough to lift up her feet :0) and then go down the slide.

Erin gets some very awesome bed-head hair. Here it looks sort of like a halo :0)
Helping Daddy make the pancakes... Yummy!
Bouncing on the couch with Mommy.
Playing with blocks with Grandmother is fun! Time for kisses!
Here's Erin and I after church. This is a front view of my belly while carrying Erin-a common sight. She does walk around too-but usually wants to "hold my mommy" after church.
After church on Sunday there was a wonderful shower that Natalie coordinated. Everyone brought really yummy food. I was glad to get the line started. I love food :0)

Since we STILL have not decided on a name Natalie was kind enough to come up with some possibilities that would give him the same initials as his Dad- ABC. How 'bout Argyle Barrach? Um, maybe not.For those of you who have wanted belly pics-Here we are at 33 1/2 weeks. I'm 35 weeks tomorrow and counting down!!!
Darcy didn't want to be left out of this shot :0) We still love you Darcy-that Erin gets all the attention (for now! :0) At least we get out and walk alot with Darcy. And hopefully we'll get some lowkey hiking in the summer. Erin's first hike was before she was 3 weeks so we've got to get "what's his name" out and about too in his first few weeks.

I'd love to hear what's going on it your worlds! Recently 4 of our good friends from Ireland got engaged (2 of the couples unbeknownst to each other on the same night!) - 2 to each other and the other 2 to amazing guys they've met since moving back home. And last fall Pat & Sarah (who also met in Ireland) tied the knot. Lots of celebrating going on right now! And soon we'll celebrate meeting (and hopefully naming ;0) our new little one. All the best to all of you!

Erin's 2nd Bday

2009-03-28T13:57:00.000-07:00

My folks came out for Erin's birthday. Before the party we headed up to the mountains for some fun in the snow. Erin loves to talk about the snow, but her tolerance for being in the snow is still pretty limited. We did get her a snow suit, which helps alot since she at least stays warm, but that doesn't make her feet steady and it doesn't make her like the wind :0)
Here we are doing a very little sledding. She wasn't really enjoying it this day-though yesterday we went and enjoyed the foot of snow we got on Thursday and she actually had fun sledding. It helped that I went really slowly and didn't let any snow spray in her face :0)
Here we are with the Erin sized snowman that we made.
Erin's friends Cecliy and Everett come over and play with us lots. Here's Everett and Erin enjoying Darcy's dog bed.The party was so much fun. I know that there were some adults here, but I hardly spoke to them-it was kids, kids, kids-and lots of fun. All you really need with this age kiddos is a bunch of balloons :0)
And of course, cake is a must.... Here's our sesame street cake that I made. Chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting-yummy! I figure until she has a favorite I'll just make what I love :0) She didn't seem to mind inhaling it. As for the candle blowing out, we should maybe have practiced the idea before-hand. She wasn't really into it...
Finally, she said "Mommy do it!" and I offered to help...

Our dear friend, Sara Heimbecker (she was also our birth coach if you recall) does pre-school music classes that are AMAZING. She brought her box of goodies and the kids sang and played and had a ball! Here we are tapping our sticks behind our backs...
Playing with our scarves to the music...
More tapping our sticks together...
Thanks to Sara for making that 35 minutes fly by with so much fun!
After our friends left we opened a few presents. Thomas the Tank Engine is one of Erin's favorite things in the world. So, we got a Thomas train and track. She just loves that thing!
We were also able to take my parents to one of the first sessions at Patrick's Irish Pub which our friend Greg opened just across the street from our house. That mirror in this next pic used to be in our house-it was our Christmas present to Greg. Looks better in his pub than it did in our living room :0) Blayne leads a session there every Thursday night now. So much fun! And Erin loves to "go to pub!"

Here's Erin helping me play the drum.And here's my Mom and Dad with Erin enjoying the music (and keeping Erin entertained so I could play some drum on my own :0)It was a great visit and I know that only catches me up to over a month ago... We had a wonderful trip down south and saw lots of family. I'll have to get on the ball about getting some pics up from that. Red put some on their blog: http://davidandred.blogspot.com/2009/03/family-time.html Lots of love to you all from snowy CO!

Christmas Part 2

2009-02-21T13:55:00.000-08:00

Christmas in Atmore was so much fun (and almost 2 months ago-sorry!!) Here it is in pictures and captions :0) Erin had lots of fun with her cousins and was thrilled that her MaMa & PaPa (say maw maw and paw paw) have their own playground right there in the backyard!! The temps being in the high 60s and low 70s helped alot with the outdoor fun! Here's Wilson and Erin playing with toys thier Mommys used to play with...

For our "Christmas Dinner" (nevermind the date) Uncle Tommy, Aunt Jerre & cousins Jonathan and Erika came to visit and we got to meet Jonathan's awesome girlfriend (with an awesome name) Erin :0) Here we all are... Red holding Mae, Daddy, Uncle Tommy, Momma, Chris holding Anne, Jonathan, Erin, Erika, Aunt Jerre, Bennet & Wilson in David's Lap, Carol, Me with Erin and Blayne. Whew...that's a mouthfull :0)
New Year's Eve is always fun... we love fireworks. Or at least David and I really love them so we make sure we have some good ones.... Here's Erin enjoying a sparkler.
We buy the big packs of triple mortars for an early fireworks show. It's midnight somewhere over the Atlantic... Then we get the kiddos to bed at a decent hour. Here are the spectators enjoying the show. I think Erin liked it, but even with her ears covered declared "LOUD" every time we shot them off.
Here's the kiddie table. Believe it or not they usually actually would eat... I'm not sure what Bennett's giving Anne-she's in the walker trying to get in on the action. It's fun how close Erin and Mae are in age and how much our two blondies look alike :0)
Here's Erin and I enjoying the swingset...oops I mean "Playground!!!".
Erin and Daddy enjoying it with all the other kiddos.
Chris with his little girls...so sweet!
Aunt Red and the happiest baby ever-the always smiling precious Anne.
Anne enjoying the baby swing.
So, that's a collection from pics from my Mom and from Red. We've got a great new system for organizing pictures, I just have to get Blayne to teach me how to use it!! ;0) Erin just celebrated her 2nd birthday and I am getting lots of requests for pregnant belly pics. I promise that I'll try very hard to get those pics up before we go on our trip the 1st week of March. Lots of love to all of you!

Christmas Part 1

2009-01-09T13:23:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick look at Christmas in pictures. Jane and Roger came to join us for Christmas and we had loads of fun! This is just a sweet pic of Erin reading in her room early in December. She loves to climb into her rocking chair and "read". So cute :0)
On Jane and Roger's first full day here we took Erin to see Santa. She wasn't too sure what to think of him until he gave her a candy cane-then they were very good friends.
This is a sweet shot that Mom (Jane) took at the mall play area. She loves tunnels.
Here's mom and Erin just after the Christmas Eve service. So sweet...Here's Erin with her Grandmother and Pop :0)Here's Erin with her new kitchen. She just loves it!Here's Daddy helping Erin open yet another present... There were quite a few.
Love this shot Mom got of Erin pushing her new wagon full of blocks.

After all that present opening we went to the Farnsworths for brunch. We ate yummy waffles and had lots of fun with friends.I thought this was funny. The horn and concertina... a match made in Heaven?
Somehow I managed to forget to take pictures of our Christmas dinner later that day and of our game night on Christmas night. We had a very full fun day with family and friends. It really was a lovely time with Blayne's folks. Its so much fun now that Erin can really play! After this we headed off to Atmore for time with my family. I'll get pics up from that trip soon. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season! Happy New Year!!

A Good Excuse

2008-11-13T12:34:00.000-08:00

Ok, So I've been really bad about posting lately. But I have a good excuse. I've been feeling really awful because I've been in the first trimester of pregnancy. Now I'm 13 weeks and feeling better. Still tired, but not dizzy or nauseas (unless I see certain foods-but that's another thing). Erin will turn 2 in February and then at the end of May we'll have another little Chastain (hopefully one that will look at least a little like mom). We'll get to find out if its a boy or a girl just before Christmas (assuming baby cooperates, of course). So, that's the news from our little corner of the world. I promise pics and video. Erin is so sweet and fun - even when her mom only wants to lie on the couch :0)

Lots of love from CO!

California Trip

2008-10-09T20:44:00.001-07:00

To celebrate Roger's (Blayne's dad) 70th birthday in style Jane (Blayne's mom) had been planning a surprise party for months. Our presence was to be a big part of that surprise. We'd thrown him off the scent by telling him he had a big present from us-- a trip to the World Soaring Master's with Blayne right after his bday. What Jane didn't plan on was Roger injuring himself and blowing all of her plans to get him out of the house. So, in a desperate move we told him Blayne was coming out to help him get ready for the trip they'd be making soon. So, as Roger picked Blayne up outside the San Diego airport Erin and I hid out inside with my parents (who'd scheduled a cross country vacation to be able to make it to the party). Then we spent the night at Ken and Marcie's (friends of Jane and Roger's). That's where this first shot is from. Erin loved the fountain. The only problem was that if I let her get near it she immediately splashed all over and completely drenched herself. A moment of glory-getting soaking wet here...

The next day it was Blayne's job to get him out of the house all day long so we could clear out the hangar and set it up for the party. Once we got the "all clear" we headed up to help set up. Thanks to a great crew of friends moving planes, setting up tables, decorating and helping to cook food everything came together beautifully!
And this is what surprise looks like! He was completely shocked to see over 100 people in the hangar celebrating his big day!
The dress code was "cowboy casual". Since we have nothing to fit that description Jane bought us both shirts to wear for the party. Here we are sporting our cowboy fashion.

Erin's always cute in gingham-this regular part of her wardrobe (from my mom) fit perfectly for the party. I love this shot of her and her daddy.
After Blayne and I sang a few songs, we had Roger come up and join us for a few songs. Then my folks came up and joined in. It was great fun. This was actually the closing song of the evening. Since I was recruited I got my mom up as well. It was so much fun to have both of our folks together. I'm so thankful they get on so well!
Here's Erin with her excessively proud grandparents. She just loves all of them! As I type this she's looking over my shoulder and saying all their names.

Here's Erin swinging with her "Pop"

Grandmother ventures down the slide with Erin. We had loads of fun at the playground there at Lake Riverside.
We also got to go the San Diego Wild Animal Park as Marcie's guests. We had a ball there. The gorillas were amazing and we actually witnessed feeding time for the lions which was incredible. I just loved the giraffes. And during a show we got to see a cheetah up close. It was a great treat to be there with Marci and her daughter Kim! We also got to meet up there with our Colorado friends, Phil and Relissa who just recently moved to San Diego. They were able to join us at the park and then headed up to Jane and Roger's with us for dinner so they could hang out with Blayne too. Blayne and Roger spent the day getting ready to leave on their trip to the soaring masters the next day. So here's our zoo group: Relissa & Phil in the ears, me holding a squirmy, un-happy Erin next to Marci, and up front that's Kim and Jane.
For those who don't know, Erin is obsessed with the Wiggles. And her favorite song is "Everybody clap, everybody sing...." Here we are singing before bed one night in Mom and Dad's room.

After Blayne and Roger left for their trip we had some wonderfully mellow days enjoying the pool and the lake and the playground before we headed back to Colorado. It was such wonderful trip.

For where this is incoherent, I'm sorry. It's very late (for me) and I thought it would be better to post pictures with some text that hopefully makes a little sense rather than to post nothing at all. I promise to post new video soon of Erin's alphabet and counting obsessions. It's hilarious! All our best to all of you.

Playground!

2008-09-11T20:18:00.001-07:00

We hear the exclamation "Playground!" quite a bit around here. Followed by "up stairs", "down slide"-her itinerary for this oh so desirable destination. So here's two videos of Erin in her idea of paradise...

Here she is "trying" to climb the ladder :0) She usually says, "climb" and "try" while grunting (something she figures must go with trying), but of course I couldn't get her to say it during the video...

More adventures to come soon. Lots of love!

10 years!?!

2008-08-23T12:40:00.000-07:00

Today is our 10th anniversary and we're just back from a wonderful 2 nights away in the mountains. Jen and Eric were kind enough to keep Erin at their house overnight with Jean and Kathy helping out during the work days. Seems like Erin had lots of fun! We were sent several picture texts showing her enjoying splashing in water and playing the kennels at the Parrish's Click here to see Erin's adventures. As for us, we had a nice little hike up to Dream Lake (even though I got stung by something in my face right below my eye-OUCH!). Here's Blayne there.

Mostly we just relaxed in our cabin, enjoyed our hot-tub, ate yummy food and hung out in the mountains. Here we are enjoying a sunset.

I was looking at some of our wedding pics. Surrounded by so many wonderful friends and our family-it was such a sweet time. It seems very natural that we've been together that long-but at the same time, it just doesn't seem possible that it really was that long ago! I can't really be that old, can I?! :0)
Here's the random image for the day-this is the sunset from our building over the roof of the courthouse a few nights ago. They're often beautiful, but this one I just had to get the camera for.

Erin just gave us the best anniversary present ever-she finally took her first steps today! She's 18 months and even though you know its bound to happen, you start to wonder :0) She'd taken a few steps at this point and I finally got out the camera for this one...

Lots of love to you all. Thinking back over the last 10 years is amazing-I love my crazy wonderful husband! And I'm so thankful for all of my dear friends-the ones far away and the ones near.

Workin' on a building...

2008-08-17T20:03:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday morning at 5 am as Jen and I left to hike Flattop Mountain Blayne was up and waiting for the crew of workers to come and start demolition on the facade. Work began and you can see the first 3 days of progress on the gallery at Blayne's Blog He did a slide show for each day-so be sure to check out all three of them (on day 2 there's some great shots of Erin for those who need to see new pics of her ;0) Its fun to see the progress! There's still quite a bit of work to be done, but its so inspiring!

Jen and I really enjoyed our only summit hike this summer. I'd forgotten how glorious it is to be on the trail early. We were at the summit at 9:15am. Here are some shots from our hike.

A friendly marmot (a bit too tame, I'm afraid).

view from the summit of Flattop Mountain.

Here's a random, but favorite shot of Erin from a hike earlier this summer :)

Starting Wednesday night I started having elevated heart rate issues which usually happens when I'm getting too much thyroid medicine-only problem with that theory is that I'm off medicine and have been for months. My doc gave me drugs to slow down my heart, and the jury's out on which makes me feel worse-the problem or the "cure". So, I'll spend tomorrow trying to get an appointment soon (and that's the tricky part) with an endocrinologist here in town. Hopefully I'll be feeling better for our weekend getaway-we'll be celebrating our 10th anniversary this weekend! Off to the mountains for us. Yeah!

In Atmore

2008-07-30T12:17:00.000-07:00

One of these days we'll get the rest of our trip pics from Blayne's computer and I'll get them posted. And we'll get a new card reader since ours has decided to stop working and show other things since our Europe trip. For now I'm just back from Atmore and I have some pics that Red gave me of the kiddos playing and Andy sent me pics of some time with friends. So, here's Erin playing with her cousins in the rain.
Here's Erin enjoying the baby pool at my folks. Most mornings we went to the city pool with kids and while Bennett and Wilson took swimming lessons we'd take the girls in the pool. And then in the afternoon we'd go to the Shirley's (a family from our church) to swim in their pool. When Erin woke up this morning she actually asked for her swimsuit. :0)

Right after church on Sunday we caught a few pics of the girls before nap time. My mom had bought them matching dresses.

We kept the girls smiling by singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" the whole time Red was snapping pictures. Here they are twinkling.

Two of my dearest friends from growing up came over with their families. Here we are singing around the piano. I miss singing with these girls! Its so much fun!

Another Trip Update

2008-05-23T06:54:00.000-07:00

A few more from London and from today. Brooks and Erin LOVED the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain. Very hands on and fun!Daddy likes to wet Erin's hair for crazy hair!! The challenge was keeping her feet on the ground rather than trying to climb in for a proper soaking :0)
Here's Portobello Road where we wondered into wonderful antique shops-we spent the most time in the map shop and in the new goods section at the hand-made leather book shop.
Here we are this morning at a lovely cafe at the foot of the Acropolis. Not a shabby view. Blayne is enjoying his iced freddo (a local coffee delicacy :0) A woman stopped and asked to take a picture of Erin. White haired babies aren't common around here apparently.Erin enjoying the Acropolis.
The Parthenon (undergoing improvements to fix it from the previous improvements)
Another temple on the Acropolis
Erin (pre-nap) at the Theater of Dionysis. The stage of early Greek drama. Very exciting for a former theater geek like me :0)
Tomorrow we're off on "The Flying Dolphin" to tour the island of Hydra. Having such fun with Elli here! We'll have a sitter and are going out tonight! Yeah!

New York, Ireland, London

2008-05-21T09:45:00.000-07:00

Here's a few pics from so far. More to come of course. We're having an AMAZING time!!
Here's Dan and Blayne at Battery Park with the statue of liberty behind.

Here we are in Central Park out for a stroll.

Here's Blayne and Erin in Connemara in front of Kylemore Abbey.
Here we are an on a beautiful day hiking in Connemara National Park.

Here's Sarah Catherine, Brooks, Erin and I on a stroll through Kensington Gardens earlier today.
Lots of love! We're off to Greece tomorrow.

Pics of April California Trip

2008-05-10T21:14:00.000-07:00

This is from a trip weeks ago!! We leave tomorrow for Europe and I've been meaning to post these for AGES....So, here goes. Sorry for the lack of details, but captions are all I got right now ;0)

On our way home from the airport, we were able to stop and see Blayne's second cousin, Logan who was visiting the area from FL. Here we are kickin' it in the food court. (Blayne sporting one of his favorite foods)

That corndog in the pic above is not an ordinary corndog. Oh, no- it's a hot dog on a stick. And so here's Blayne at one of his favorite places on the planet posing with Erin-hoping to share with her his passion for the hand-dipped in batter, fried goodness.

Here's Erin and I playing on the plane at the Lake Riverside playground.

Here's Mom and Erin at the playground with the lake behind. The days were beautiful! Lots of walks around the lake for us! :0)

Since our loft living life leaves us without a yard, I was a little afraid I'd have a girly-girl scared of dirt, but Erin allayed my fears and one of her favorite activites was playing in the rocks (and I tried to keep them out of her mouth).

Two houses over live Sue and Bud. They have a daughter not too far from my age who has a little girl only 5 weeks younger than Erin. (get all that?) Here's Erin and Lily enjoying a wagon ride! :0)

Here's Erin with her mom (me ;0) and Lily with her mom, Becky.

Mom and I took Erin to the zoo while the guys were hard at work in the hanger.

Erin loved the noisy, colorful flamingos and the peacock too!

This sheeps a bit bedraggled looking, but he was friendly enough. Erin enjoyed the petting zoo and going through the monkey section saying "Ah, Ah, Ah" (that's what a monkey says, by the way)

Somehow dad escaped all these pics... but I know we have some with him feeding Erin her first In n Out Burger Fries (glory days). I'll have to find them when we get back. We're gone for three weeks-Ireland, London, Athens, & Germany. (I know, poor us! ;0) All our best to all of you!

Some thoughts on relevance

2008-04-09T20:50:00.000-07:00

My friend Kat mentioned on her blog that she's heard a bit about the word "relevance" coming up more in churches. I had some thoughts that I posted on her blog, but I thought I'd put them here too. I think, for those of you who read this who are Christians its good to think about these things. For those of you who aren't Christians I'd be curious to hear if you think the church is relevant in the culture at all and how it is or isn't. (And don't worry-i'll put pics of Erin up soon and our trip to CA :0) But, here's what I wrote:

we talk about that idea [relevance] here in Greeley a bit. to us it means being important in the life of our community - hoping that if we weren't here people would miss what we do that enriches them (even if they never come inside our building). to be a church that is for more than just protecting and building up it's members and to engage the culture around us is what "relevance" means to us. it doesn't mean caving into relativism.
the Truth is still the Truth. the Gospel can't be compromised, but our comfort can and our preferences can too (and probably should a lot more often than we'd like to think). we are called to be salt and light and i don't think that means just yelling the Truth louder to a culture plugging its ears to us. instead, we should give them a reason to listen. how bout loving them? oh, and loving them right where they are (yes-right in the middle of their mess and brokenness even when they don't see it as such) without demands for them to change to suit our ideas of "good people". that's much more difficult to do and to do it we actually will need what we preach-a great Savior for a great need.

Isle of Palms

2008-03-22T12:47:00.000-07:00

Last week we were vacationing in Isle of Palms (just outside of Charleston, SC). We did go into the city twice, but I forgot my camera both times. So, here's lots of pictures (it was so hard to narrow it down) of what we did most days. Play on the beach, swim in the heated pool and relax with family. Ahhhhh, good times.

On arriving we ordered pizza and then took a walk over to the beach for the sunset. Here's my dad with Erin.

Here's my Mom with Carol and Chris with Mae on his shoulders. Carol's expecting her fourth child this June. It's another girl! Yeah!

Here's Blayne showing Erin the water. It was a bit cold for her taste.

Bennett and Wilson played in the surf every day and had so much fun! Their uncle David would even take them out deeper some days (it's handy to have a 6 foot 6 uncle :0)

Here's Erin in the pool. It was heated and oh, so nice. Until you had to get out of it in the wind. She really liked it (except when uncle David was doing canon-balls)

Here we are taking a stroll on the beach. Erin's not walking yet,but she likes doing this.

Here's Erin "enjoying" her first taste of sand. mmmmmmmm

Aunt Red makes amazing cakes and she lives close to the other kiddos who get to benefit on their birthdays with her delicious confections. Since we were getting together so close to Erin's bday Red was glad to make a yummy belated birthday cake for Erin. It was soooo good.

Erin loves to chew on her MaMa's (say MawMaw) necklace, so she thought that MaMa might like to have a taste too.

Here's Wilson, Bennett, Mae and Erin from beach to outdoor shower to pool to bathtub. Erin doesn't like the water in her face! It's great to be a kid!

David, Blayne and Chris stayed up late one night watching you tube videos. Good times. It's so nice to have nothing to do but just be (and be silly).

Mae and Erin had lots of fun playing together. Here's Blayne reading to the girls.

Aunt Red is super cool and brought bubbles to play with. Here are the boys chasing the bubbles!

Here we all are on the main floor balcony. That's my Mom holding Erin, my brother David, Daddy, Blayne and me, Red (David's wife) holding Wilson, my sister Carol holding Bennett and her husband Chris holding Mae.

Watching NCAA bball right now---can you believe that WVU beat Duke! Crazy!! I love an underdog (unless they're playing a team I'm cheering for ;0) Ok, that was random, but it just happened. I love March Madness. It was a wonderful, relaxing trip and reality has been a bit rough on us coming back. Erin has a double ear infection and this morning she's covered in a rash from the anti-biotic. Good times. I'm tired, but I'm pretty sure I'll survive. I'll try to post again soon. I got to help brew beer for our St. Patrick's Day Party at a local micro-brewery! So fun! More to come on that. Erin's waking up. Love from CO!

Erin turns 1

2008-03-02T20:59:00.001-08:00

It's hard for me to believe that Erin is actually a year old. Crazy how time flies. My folks were here to celebrate with us and before the "big day" we headed to the mountains. Here they are standing for the first time in their lives on a frozen lake. We went around and out on a lake up in Rocky Mtn. National Park. I've missed the mountains this winter.

Here's Erin admiring a tree and playing with the needles. I love to tell her all
about deciduous and evergreen trees, proud nerd that I am :0)

We had a fun get together with a few friends on Sunday afternoon to celebrate Erin's birthday. There were 3 other little girls who Erin plays with that came over too. Here's Audrey and her mom, Amy.

Here's Kathryn with her mom Christine, Jen, Libby and Mel on the couch and that's Alianna and her mom Jordan who's helping Erin "walk".

Here's Erin and I in front of her "cake".

Rather than make a big cake I decided to do cupcakes and just spell her name in them and make one just for her.

At first she just touched the cake and made faces because she couldn't get the stuff off of her hands...

Then she actually licked one of her fingers and and delightfully cried "OOOHHHHH!" Suddenly realizing this stuff was actually quite tasty, she dug in with great gusto.

Here she is before we cleaned her up. Happy with her first sugar high.

It was a fun day, though she had a stomach bug two days before it and again the next day (I have never seen anything more pitiful than a vomiting baby-so sad!). I'm mostly over the sleep deprivation caused by a sick baby. There's other exciting things going on around here, so hopefully I'll get to blog again soon. I had to get these up since its been two weeks. I was having trouble with my iphoto settings, but Blayne saved the day! Lots of love from CO!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-12T14:15:00.001-08:00

I know it's been a while so here's a picture summary. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and are having a great start to the new year! Here's Erin (held by Jen) at Cecliy's birthday party. The cutie on the left is Audrey being held by her dad, Lane.

Here's a snowy day out on the roof - Darcy loves the snow and hopefully Erin can enjoy it next year. :0)

We had a wonderful Christmas around here. Blayne's folks came to visit. On Christmas Eve we went to the candlelight service at the church and then went to the Parrishes for fun and games. Here's Cecily and Eric enjoying some dinner (aka little smokies and chips and dip ;0)

Here's a sweet shot of Jen with Erin. After Erin went down to sleep in a pack and play we played loaded questions-which was hilarious fun.

Here's Kathy, Jen, Natalie and Cecily - Natalie just had a new baby boy - Everett Reece Mash - he's a cutie! We're anxious to visit more with them, but Erin's had her first ear infection, but more on that later. It is always so wonderful to be with our dear family and friends at the holidays! On Christmas morning thanks to Erin we were up at seven. While we got cinnamon rolls cooking everyone got moving and ready for Erin to open her gifts. While she has now been enjoying her gifts for a while on Christmas morning she was mostly interested in the bags and chewing on the gift tags.

This is her in her stack of gifts (she's not going to spoiled at Christmas at all ;0)

After the gift opening (its a take turns - one at a time deal around here) we went over to the Farnsworths for a waffle brunch. Here's Erin and Blayne playing at their house.

After waffles we gathered round the piano for singing. We sang from silly (I'm gettin' nuthin' for Christmas) to sacred and had a ball.

We had folks over that evening for a big Christmas dinner. Here's Jen, Melody, Blayne, Eric, Chuck and Cheryl.

And here's Cheryl, Amy and Christina. Somehow Kathy and I didn't make the pictures at the dinner table, but we really were there :0)

Here's Mom and Dad enjoying Christmas dinner in the Chastain uniform. We gave them Columbia fleeces a few Christmases ago and they gave them to us this year-so we were all going around the house in matching gear.

After Christmas we headed to Atmore to be with my family. Here's Erin playing with her cousins Mae and Bennett. She had lots of fun sharing with them. So much so that she got sick on our return home and so did they. :0) It was so much fun to have them all together as Erin is getting more mobile. And my sister just found out the little one she's expecting in June is a girl too! So Erin will have a girl cousin 9 months older and 15 months younger. How fun!
Here's Bennett, Chris holding Mae and Wilson at Felix's Fish Camp on the Mobile Bay where we met my Aunt and Uncle for a lovely lunch overlooking the water.

I am terrible at pictures at my parent's house because I know I'll eventually get copies of everyone else's and Red takes LOTS of great pictures-so I really slack off, but here's one more of everyone (except me since I'm taking the picture) at the Fish House. That's Aunt Jerre, Red, Carol holding a camera shy Mae, Daddy, Blayne, Uncle Tommy, Momma holding Erin, David holding Wilson, Bennett and Chris. One big happy silly wild family :)

I hope this finds you all well. I know that was ALOT of pictures. All the best to all of you! Lots of love from us here CO.

Picture Catch Up Time

2007-11-14T21:09:00.000-08:00

So, now that my computer is working I'm going to play a bit of picture catch up... Months ago our friends Sarah and Pat came for a visit. We met them in Ireland (and they met each other there too). Here's 2 shots from their time here-at the Rio (a must for the margaritas and certain silliness) and on the beautiful summit of Lily Mtn. I am so sad to realize that I don't have pics from when Becky came a short time after, so Becky if you have pics send them my way!

After that fun visit I had a wonderful trip to Nashville for a girls weekend. My two best college friends and I got together for such a fun relaxing weekend. Here's Erin meeting Sarah Catherine's little guy, Brooks.

It's funny how few pics I took that weekend. I was just having too much fun and relaxing too much. But here is one of Kat holding Erin (she's getting so big these days!-that's Erin, not Kat :0)

I also chopped off my hair for locks of love this summer. I just had to get a before picture before I took off 11 inches of hair.
I neglected to get a dedicated "after" pic, which I should have done because it never looks as good as it did at the salon :0) but here's one not too long after it was cut at Erin's baptism.

Here's a shot of Erin enjoying her "rainforest jumperoo" not too long after my folks got it for her. She is hilarious jumping in that thing.

Here are more pics from our recent Halloween party...This first one is the best shot I have as Blayne and his mini-me, Erin.

Mark and Liz Schiebe as Fred and Wilma

Chuck and Cheryl as Pocahontas and a cowgirl

Rosemary the ladybug

Here's Borat all the way from Kazakhstan-a word to the wise, don't eat any cheese that he offers you.

Here's a video of Erin's newest trick-waving. So cute! I know, I'm biased, but I love it!
And a parting shot of Erin eating her favorite food-green beans. Her expression here cracks me up.

Well, I warned you-that was ALOT of pictures. Hope you're all well and hope you enjoyed it. Love from Colorado!

Happy Halloween

2007-11-07T14:19:00.000-08:00

I'm a bit late, but here's a few pictures from Halloween. I have more that I'd liketo put up and will hopefully get to soon. To see more pics from our Halloween party check out JenEric's blog link on the right. Here's Erin's first trick-or-treating (aka-getting free candy for Momma and Daddy). Here is David holding Cecily, Lane holding Audrey and Blayne holding Blayne (I mean, Erin dressed as Blayne). It was lots of fun as people handed candy out and admired the little ones. Cecily was the only one actually capable of saying "trick-or-treat.

Here's a close up of Erin as Blayne. We figured she looks so much like him we should just go for it. And Blayne loved getting to dress as himself for her to be his mini-me. We had a party which was fun and I want to get more pics of some fun costumes up. We had Fred & Wilma, Borat, Hester Prynne & Arthur Dimmesdale (of the Scarlet Letter) along with two very cute cheerleaders aged 1 and almost 2.

Here's a pic of David (Mr. Stripey), Natalie (Cheerbear) and Cecily (UNC cheerleader).

I guess big news here is that I'm having sinus surgery on the 29th of this month which hopefully will bring relief to the build up of 12 years of chronic sinus infections. My mom will be coming out to help out with Erin since its a week long recovery and Blayne will be working like mad since it's such a busy time of year for whistle and drum and for the church. Other big news which is much more fun: Erin actually acted like she wanted to eat solid foods today-this is really big and I'm hoping we'll be eating lots more solids (to get more calories in the day) and maybe drop the 4 am feeding? A mom can dream, can't she? :0) Well, that's all for now. Love from CO!

Back from California

2007-10-18T09:43:00.000-07:00

Before I get on to pics from our trip to see Blayne's folks I wanted to share a few more of the pics that Mom gave me from our vacation in GA. This is Uncle Lewis & Aunt Cupie's house. It's the "old home place" where Jane's mom and Cupie grew up-along with 10 other siblings. We were shown such wonderful hospitality!

Here we are round the table where I ate so much food!! Almost everything we ate came from Uncle Lewis' beautiful garden. It was delicious...fried okra, fresh tomatoes, corn and I also ate most of Aunt Cupie's delicious cookies.

Here's Jane, Roger, Blayne and I braving the Ocoee River. Lots of fun! My mom and Carol volunteered to watch Erin for the afternoon while we went on this adventure.

Erin's middle name is Elizabeth, which is from both sides of the family. Here are the two wonderful women that it comes from on Blayne's side-Aunt Cupie's real name is Elizabeth-she prefers Liz and that's Marie Elizabeth Colvin. It's so great to have Erin Elizabeth with two of her namesakes :0)

Now...onto to our trip to California which was last week. Erin and I got in on Friday and Saturday morning was the fly-in at Lake Riverside, where Blayne's folks live on the run-way. Here are Jane and Roger about to go up in the Tiger Moth to participate in the day's games-a balloon burst, a "bomb" drop (that's a toilet paper bomb) and a precision landing contest. Two guys parachuted down into the festivities and there were loads of planes and food and fun.

Blayne came in on Monday and he and his dad went shopping at Fry's-think gi-normous electronics store. They bought matching 24" monitors. Good times for father and son. On Tuesday Jane threw a brunch for us to meet and thank the folks who gave a shower for Erin back in January. We had such a lovely time. They have such dear friends.

Here's Erin enjoying Grandmother and her roses.

Here we are taking a walk around the lake. The birds around the lake are AMAZING! The white pelicans were already in for the winter, grey herons, loads of ducks and geese, red-winged black birds to name a few. I took Erin around the lake almost every day. The weather was so beautiful and clear til the last day when a fog rolled in and lent its own misty beauty.

After our walk around the lake Roger took me up in the Tiger Moth for a sunset cruise. We flew all around the valley as the sun set in the distance over the mountains-it was amazing! Flying in that plane is like being on a motorcycle in the sky!

Here we are returning from our sunset flight. You can see the pink still in the sky.

On Thursday Sue took me horseback riding! Here we are back at Jane and Roger's for pictures :0) Sue co-hosted the shower for Erin along with her new grandbaby who is a month younger than Erin. Her name is Lily and I've seen pictures and she's a cutie! Bailey was kind enough to let me ride him on this day and he cooperated (mostly) with an obviously inexperienced rider on his back.

Hope this finds you all doing well. I have some new video to upload from our video camera, but this will have to do for now. I've got a sinus infection right now (i know, surprise, surprise) but finally went to the doctor, so hopefully I'll get well soon. All the best to all of you!

Couple of Videos

2007-09-17T21:43:00.000-07:00

I'd like to continue a proper update since I've gotten pics from my Mom from the trip, but I'll wait til its not 10:45 at night to put all that together. For now, here's video for "Pop" (that's Blayne's dad, Roger) the first one is his birthday song video. She sounds surprisingly like her Daddy singing in falsetto :0)
As you can see...technical difficulties with this first video...we'll get it sorted after a good nights sleep. night night.

This next one is just a quick video of her playing for those of you lamenting that you can't see her "grow up". This is pretty much what she's doing these days. Here's her playing with a new toy. I'm a sucker for the classics :0)

6 Months Old (I know, I know)

2007-08-29T20:28:00.000-07:00

Ok, so no excuses...But here (FINALLY!!) is an update. It doesn't go all the way back to the last post since I don't have our external hard drive handy...these are from the past couple of months right off the camera. Here goes an overview via captions...

In early June my folks, Blayne's folks, my sister and her kids came out to be here for Erin's baptism. It was loads of fun. Here we all are after church.

The Greeley Stampede was on while everyone was here. We took the kids to the carnival. Here's Carol and Wilson getting off of the Ferris Wheel.

Here's Bennett and I just starting our ride on the Ferris Wheel.

Between family fun I had a wonderful summer with the youth from the church. Here's all the girls at Nymph Lake on our hike up to Emerald Lake with the Youth Group. It was a beautiful day!

In the beginning of August we started a long journey all over the southeast to visit with family. It started with time at Mom's (that's Jane-Blayne's mom)Aunt Cupie & Uncle Lewis'. Somehow I was so busy overeating Aunt Cupie's amazing cooking--fresh from Uncle Lewis' garden and enjoying the beautiful old home (which Jane's mother and Aunt Cupie-2 of 12 siblings-grew up in) that I didn't take a single picture at their house. I'm counting on Mom to give me a disc with her's on it. The pictures start as we went up to Maryville, TN for a family reunion...

Here's cousins Jerry and Marie.

Here's Uncle Lewis-our host-at the family reunion.

Here's Erin playing with the best part of balloons...the part you can easily chew on ;)
Next up on our trip we went to a cabin to be with my fam, and Blayne's folks. We had such a wonderful time!

Here's my Mom giving Erin kisses, which is a favorite past-time of mine as well :0)

Here's Red and Erin. Red broke her foot the day that they headed to the cabin which was so sad! She brought up a beautiful (and delicious) cake for Marie and I for our birthdays. She did get some good snuggle time in with Erin (and Mae too, who was less cooperative ;0)

Here we are on a train ride along the Toccoa River. Bennett & Wilson are VERY into trains and it was a lovely time. Not pictured from our week in the mountains are trips to the river to play with the kids, tubing with Jane, Carol & Bennett and white water rafting with Jane, Roger and Blayne. It was such a fun time!!

Next as Blayne headed home Erin and I headed with my folks to Atmore (my home town). We spent the next four days visiting loads of family all over MS. Again, I was bad about picture taking and will be counting on my mom for the pictures. I saw second cousins and great aunts and uncles that I hadn't seen in years. It was such a joy to visit with them and have them meet Erin. We had the weekend in Atmore when my best friends from High School and their families came over for the day.

Many of you were following Ivee's progress (check the Foley Fam link) and here she is doing REALLY well after radiation. I'm not sure what she thought of Erin...

Here we are-Me, Erin, Diane, Hope and my Mom. The three of us sang together in high school and had lots of fun harmonizing around the piano.

This is for SC who is now across the pond (I prayed for you to find an apt!!). This is a sweet shot of Erin in this super cute dress SC got for her-she wore it to church before we began the last leg of our journey. We headed up to Lookout Mtn to the Clarks (my sister's) for the night then the next day Carol & Momma took me to NAshville for my flight home. But not without seeing a few friendly faces in Nashville...
Steph picked me up and took me to meet Katy (neither of whom are pictured because I've proven I'm bad at that, and babies took priority) and we went to meet little Rhodes Webb. It was fun to visit with Katy, Steph & Sandra and meet the new little one. He is a sweet little guy! It's crazy that Erin was ever that small. She's 16 pounds now. It was wonderful and surreal to sneak in 2 1/2 hours with old friends before my flight. Such visits are always good for the soul.

I'll close with this video of this new thing she's doing that cracks me up...

I feel like this post was CRAZY long... and it still leaves out 2 months of fun things...Pat & Sarah's visit, my trip to Nashville, Becky's visit. But hey, its something, right? Love to you all from Colorado. Hope to do better next time, but hey, don't want to make promises I can't keep :)

12 Weeks Old

2007-05-16T09:36:00.000-07:00

Well, Erin's almost 3 months old now. It's hard to believe. Here's the last month or so in pics and video. Erin took her first plane ride as we headed to Georgia for Blayne's Aunt Joan's funeral.

Here's lots of the family at the best BBQ place in the world, according to Blayne. It was so good to be with everyone and have them meet Erin, but so strange that Joan wasn't there too. She's being deeply missed! Erin's cousins Langdon, Logan and Cameron were lots of help and really enjoyed hanging out with her.

Back in Greeley we celebrated Eric's bday on Cinco de Mayo at a local BBQ place and here's the gang after STUFFING ourselves with lots of ribs, brisket,and chicken. Of course, we still left room for cake and cookies :0)

Erin took her fourth hike this past Friday and her first summit...Mt. Sanitas in Boulder, CO. It was a HOT day and a very sunny trail, but thankfully there was lots of cloud cover.

This is a dark picture, but we had to get a shot of her with her bandanna for the hike. I forgot her sun hat and this was a workable solution from the back of Jen's car (its a petsmart one ;0).

Here's Erin and I on my first Mother's Day. After church we went to a yummy Vietnamese restaurant that we love then I had a wonderful nap followed by a great game of ultimate frisbee. Then I was home for a bit-when this pic was taken-playing with Erin. When I got home from youth group (Sunday's a busy day for us :0) I found my house had been cleaned by Jen and Kathy (maybe Eric and Blayne helped too). Then we went to a new pub in town for dessert. It was a lovely day!

Here's a video taken just a couple of nights ago of Blayne and Erin playing. Turn up your volume, she's talking (well, making noises at least).

I hope you're all doing well. I'm more rested and trying to get caught up. We might get a birth announcement out one of these days. Maybe. No promises :0) The weather is beautiful here and when I have time I try to get out with Darcy and Erin.

Erin and I are off to Nashville this weekend for time with Sarah Catherine and Kat (and SC's little guy, Brooks and the Brooks family). I am so looking forward to it! And right when we get back two Ireland friends are coming to visit. YEAH!! I have a feeling the summer is going to fly... Take care!

Happy Easter!

2007-04-08T20:46:00.000-07:00

Well, Erin is 7 weeks old today. And I'm home with some time and energy and access to Blayne's computer (the rarity of the three of these things coinciding is the reason I haven't been a better blogger lately :0). I'll sum up with pictures and captions a wonderful month of family visits and Easter finery.

My folks were the first to come and visit. Erin was just 10 days old when they arrived. They are quite taken with their 4th grandchild and were such a huge help around the house-taking on little projects that needed to be done and cleaning the house (the dog hair was pretty out of hand, and is again right now I'm afraid).

Here we are at Devil's Backbone on Erin's first hike. Jen and I got her started early. She's almost 3 weeks old here :0)

Just a few days after my folks left, Jane and Roger came to meet their 1st grandchild! Since Blayne's an only child, we'll be the only source for the grandbabies. They are quite smitten and I'm pretty sure they have every intention of spoiling Erin (and any subsequent babies) rotten. We were able to celebrate Jane's birthday while they were here, which was great fun! And since Erin was over 3 weeks old when they got here she was able to finally take a bottle and Jane took the middle of the night feeding for me and for 3 nights straight I got 5 hours of sleep-which was AMAZING!!

Here's a picture that Jane snapped that really captured Erin's smile. She's getting very interactive and is such a sweet girl!

Next up, my sister brought her youngest, Mae, out for a visit and we had great fun all together. We were never close in age to any of our cousins and are very excited to have two girls that are less than a year apart.

Here are the two of them sleeping in the car after our "hike" around Sprague Lake. Carol and I were in Capris and long sleeves with babies in carriers tromping over a snowy trail in Rocky Mountain National Park. It was great fun and it was a beautiful day with sunlit, snowy peaks all around.

Here's one just to prove that Carol did get to hold Erin some of the time.

My brother and his wife, Redonna were next to visit. Here's Red cuddling with a sleeping Erin. She spent as much time as possible holding and snuggling with her newest neice.

Here's David, my brother, and Erin hanging out, just chillin'. We had such a wonderful time together, in spite of the fact that Erin and I were getting well from a respiratory bug that had been going around for the first couple of days they were here.

Here's Erin in her Easter Dress bought for her by my mom. And then we have her posed with her Easter Basket. Notice its filled with her parents favorite candies :0).

Happy Easter to you all. Hope you're all well and enjoyed this picture journey of the last month of our lives. We will update soon with some photos of her with more family. I'm sad to say that Blayne's aunt passed away today and we'll be traveling to GA for the funeral. She was a dear sweet woman who will be so very missed. Keep his family in your prayers. Lots of love from snowy (yes, it snowed today on Easter) Colorado.

A "Good" Nights Sleep

2007-02-26T15:23:00.000-08:00

Well, sleeping has been redefined for me lately. Our little one was trying to take all of her long sleeps during the day and saving the short ones for the night. So, I wake her up in the day now to feed her and last night I got seven hours of sleep (over a 10 hour period, but hey, that's AMAZING!). I actually got one 3 hour strech of sleep. It's been a bit rough. If you know me, you know that I LOVE my sleep. I just remind myself that she won't be little for long and to enjoy it as much as I can (even it's 3 am and she just ate at 2).

We are terrible picture takers, which hasn't changed a whole lot with parenthood. But we're trying. We're just so busy playing with her and laughing at her funny faces to remember to take very many pics. I've been able to get out and about. Even went to play a few holes at the disc golf course the other day since the snow has finally melted enough to not lose lots of discs. This brought Darcy great joy since she can run off leash all over the place out there. She's been a bit neglected (but had been the last months of my pregnancy as well), but seems to be adjusting just fine to Erin.

Here are a few more pics that we have taken.
Hope you're all well and I'm sorry that I haven't had a chance to return all the wonderful phone calls and emails that you've been sending. I will try, but it could be a bit. Love you all lots!

Now, for the birthing details that I promised. If open discussion of female stuff isn't your cup o' tea then this is where you stop reading. Alot of people ask me how long was I in labor and I'm not quite sure what to tell them. I'd been having Braxton Hicks contractions for weeks, so I was determined to not get my hopes up until I was "sure". By Saturday afternoon around 2 or 3 I was pretty sure that the contractions were indeed getting stronger and that I was at least in early first stage labor. Blayne and I went for a walk around the park and Blayne made us some spaghetti for dinner. By around 9 food no longer looked good and I no longer was chatty between contractions, so I was pretty sure we were getting into active labor at that point. Sara (our good friend and Bradley Method birth coach) came over around 10:30 and encouraged us to stay home a bit longer. Once my contractions were regularly 2 1/2 to 3 minutes apart and lasting over a minute we decided to head to the hospital.

We got there just after midnight and they hooked up the monitors (one for the baby's heartbeat & one for the strength of the contractions) and checked my progess. I have never been so disappointed as when she said "you're still 1.5 cm", which is what I'd been at the Dr. 5 days before. I thought, "is this not REAL labor?!", but as we watched the contractions they were hitting 100 (out of 100) on the screen and were lasting a while. So, the labor nurse (Kim, who was AMAZING) checks me out and determines that the baby is posterior and points out to Blayne and Sara where her head is being pushed by all these lovely contractions into my lower back instead of down into the opening of my cervix. So, they let me get in the jacuzzi tub to see if we could get her to turn over.

After 45 minutes in the jacuzzi doing pelvic rocks during my contractions and having Kim, Blayne and Sara take turns applying pressure to my hips to encourage her to turn my water broke. So, they admitted me and she checked me again. Up to 5 cm! Yeah! Things progressed pretty normally up to around 8 cm and then when I hit transition (the part where you're getting to "complete" before pushing where emotionally you are feeling like this will never end, I don't want to do this, can I go home now?) things slowed down and it took a couple of hours for me to get to 10 cm. Kim was encouraging me to continue moving during my contractions which was VERY difficult. During very strong, very frequent contractions I was rotating my pelvis and trying (not very successfully) to relax. They decided I needed the jacuzzi again, so I got back in there. It wasn't long in there that I was able to relax and I felt the STRONG urge to push. So, out of the tub and after trying a few different pushing positions and figuring out how I was supposed to be pushing, I was semi-reclined with Blayne holding one leg and Kim the other, Natalie feeding me ice chips, Sara taking pictures and offering lots of encouragement, and Dr. Abbott helping stretch things out and applying counter pressure as Erin's little head was crowning. I was a very noisy pusher, but after about 1 1/2 hours (with long breaks-- 7-10 minutes-- between contractions) of pushing Erin came into the world.

I was very blessed to have the care that I did and very blessed that I didn't tear. I didn't need one stitch (just lots of ice and Advil :0) It was such hard work, but I am so thankful that I was able to do it unmedicated and without any intervention. So, that's the story. It's kind of long, but it was at least 20 hours in the making. Lots of love to you all!

Video & One more pic

2007-02-20T08:10:00.000-08:00

Here she is in the hospital bassinet at one day old.

Here she is this morning sleeping soundly in her crib.

That's all for now, I'm going to take a nap. I just really wanted to get the video up because it really gives a better sense of what she looks like. Lots of love!

Erin Elizabeth Chastain Makes her Entrance

2007-02-19T19:55:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Feb. 18th at 10:03 a.m. Miss Erin Elizabeth Chastain made her entrance into the world weighing 7 pounds 12 ounces (3.51 kg) and measuring 19.75 inches (50.165 cm) long. We are all doing well and glad to be home from the hospital. I'd hoped to get these images up a bit sooner today, but between napping and having visitors the day has gotten away from me. I have a little video that I wanted to put up, but I need to figure out how to do that first, so maybe tomorrow.

Here's our first "Family Portrait" just a few minutes after she was born.
Here's one of us admiring her cuteness. We sort of expected the scrawny bald alien baby look (since that's what I think I looked like-though my folks might disagree) and here she came with lots of blonde hair and plump cheeks and her daddy's mouth :0)

We were so blessed to have our friend Sara be our birth coach. Here she is proud of her "students" just after the birth. It was so wonderful to have her involved and for her to be present for labor and delivery. She was such an encouragement.

Our friend Natalie is a nursery nurse at our hospital and was wonderful enough to come in when she wasn't scheduled and be our baby nurse! She was there helping us through delivery (she was my ice chip supply) and took care of Erin right after she was born. It was amazing to have a delivery room full of people who cared so much about us!

I promise more details and photos, but just wanted to get something posted since we are so far from so many of you! I will also post more details of the labor and delivery for those who are interested (I'll put up a warning for those who are not). Hope you're all well and I'll put up more stuff soon.

Any Day Now

2007-02-13T13:34:00.000-08:00

Well, as of right now the Chastain baby has not yet made her entrance into the world. I've had lots of emails and phone messages from some of you that have made me feel very loved. Sadly, I have not had the energy to respond to them-but I appreciate them tons! I am still doing the day to day for whistle and drum, finishing getting the nursery ready (the crib just came yesterday) and trying to make sure things are "in order" (whatever the heck that means) for this little one to come into our lives.

I alternate from lots of energy to utter exhaustion with very little warning which I find annoying. At least I have the entertainment of watching my belly contort as this little one tries to get comfy in there. I'm ready for her to make her exit so that I can have my body back (though I know I won't have my life back the same every again, at least I'll be able to bend, twist, run, dance, and play again).

Here's a pictures of my very big belly taken today.
My due date is technically next Tuesday, the 20th, but I've been considered "full term" since the 6th. I have contractions all the time, but they're the practice kind (called Braxton Hicks contractions) that are just getting things ready and they aren't actually labor contractions. I'm looking forward to having a contraction that I can't have a conversation through. :0) I know, that's enough pregnancy talk, but with this belly and impending parenthood, I haven't been able to think about much else.

Here are pics of our nusery which is as ready as its going to be, for now. I want to get some more things on the walls, but its ready for a baby-which is what we're most interested in.

The rocker and dolls are from my childhood. My folks brought them out along with the cradle that my siblings and I (and my sister's three kids) slept in. She'll be sleeping in the crib overnight right by our bed for the first few months. (That way I won't have to go too far for all those nightly feedings :0)

The quilt on the wall was made for us by "Granny" Roberts.

In the window is a trinity knot in stain glass that Jane (Blayne's mom) made for us and we thought looked lovely in the little window.

So, that's the nursery. Hopefully VERY soon we'll be letting you know of our new arrival.

6 weeks to go!

2007-01-10T17:57:00.000-08:00

We are just back from a weekend in St. Louis for our friend Tim's wedding. Tim and I go back to Auburn where we were 2 of 6 folks who spent tons of time together and were like my family my Jr and Sr. years of college. Here's the Auburn folks that made it (and some spouses) with the couple.

Tim's from the Nashville area where he moved back about the same time I did, so he and Blayne got to be friends, too. Blayne would hang out at Tim & Rob's place and crash on their couch when I was out of town in our early years of marriage. It was so much fun to catch up with lots of old friends-from Auburn and from Nasvhille. Several of our friends from Nashville are now living in St. Louis so we were able to have some extra time with them on Sunday. Such fun!

Here's the lovely couple! I've known Tim for about 12 years now and his lovely bride, Emmalee, I just met this past weekend. It's so fun to see him so happy! And I can't wait for them to come visit us and go to the mountains. Emmalee loves the outdoors too. Yeah!

Here's my dear friend Sarah Catherine paving the way in the Mommy club. This is her little guy, Brooks and he is 6 1/2 weeks old here. So our kiddos will be just 3 months apart. Crazy to think that we'll soon be welcoming in person this little being constantly squirming and kicking inside me.

Here are the promised baby belly pictures. These were taken yesterday. After the one in the green shirt I thought, this doesn't really show quite how much its sticking out there, so I put on a more snug top for a better belly view. Hope you enjoy them.

We are gearing up for more snow over the next 3 days and HIGH temperatures that don't leave the single digits. Cold, cold, cold! If you're somewhere with no winter right now, we have plenty if you'd like to come and partake. :0)

The Rest of 2006 in Pictures

2006-12-02T14:16:00.000-08:00

Rather than rambling too much since it's been far to long since I've posted, I figured I'd just say it in pictures and captions. So, here goes the Chastain's life in pictures since September(ish).
We have managed to squeeze in only one real hike since our return and this is it-a favorite of mine, Lily Mountain. The summit has such beautiful views and its only 4 miles round trip. Just right for someone still in their first trimester :0)
In October we were able to visit Blayne's folks in California. Here's Mom and me at a lovely winery (no, I didn't have a glass). Blayne and his dad were working on web stuff, so we took off for a fun day of shopping and dining. We had a wonderful visit, but sadly, didn't take many pictures. Doh!
Jan is the first of our Ireland friends to come and visit (the first of many I do hope-hint, hint). Here he is seated between Kathy & Garrett as they enjoyed one of our favorite Greeley observances-margaritas at the Rio!
We subjected Jan to the craziness of our friends before getting away for a little mountain retreat. Here's Natalie and Blayne still at the Rio being a little silly. Its amazing, in only one sip she's "drunk Natalie" :0) Not really, but sort of.
Next up was the trip to Alabama for Thanksgiving. We celebrated Christmas as well with all of my family-and extended family too! My Aunt, Uncle and cousins came for dinner and Red (my sister in law's) dad and step mom were there too. The next few pics are from then.
Here's Blayne playing with my sisters sons, Bennett & Wilson-they are hilarious and so much fun! They are so full of energy and have such different personalities. We had tons of fun playing at the park and on the oh so cool jeep and most of all just playing in the dirt.
Here's my sister with her youngest-Mae. Isn't she a sweetie!
Here's me and my pregnant belly back on November 24th. I promise to do a more recent one soon :0) I'm sure we'll take a few this coming weekend and now that we have a computer set up to use for our pictures (mine was not handling the thousands of pictures well on it's little 30 gig hard drive-hmmmm, imagine that). I know, you've heard me say I'll be better about blogging, but hopefully time will prove me sincere this time around.
Here's my family! In back, my sister Carol, her husband Chris, my Dad holding little Mae, my Mom, and down front that's Wilson and Bennett on my brother David's lap, David's wife Redonna, and of course, me and then Blayne. It was so good to all be together. It had been a while.

Blayne's folks were able to come here for Christmas. They timed it just right between a blizzard and another winter storm. (more on that later). It was wonderful to have them in town and to celebrate the holiday and enjoy our winter wonderland.
Here's our Christmas dinner table-Kathy, Blayne, Greg, Mom & Dad
Here's the other end of the table-Cheryl, Chuck, Jen, Eric & Melody. I really was there-I'm taking the picture. We stuffed our faces and had a lovely time. Though I didn't get any hashbrown caserole leftovers because this baby isn't giving me much room and I still wasn't hungry enough for dinner leftovers. Doh!
Here we are out in the snow. We've had a interesting winter so far. Back about 6 weeks ago it hit -18 (that's -28 celsius) which was rediculously cold. Then we had a blizzard that dumped 20 inches of snow (that's 50.8 cm) on our little town here and 6 days later we had another 6 inches added to that. Darcy loves playing in the snow (as you can tell in this picture).

After setting off some fireworks in the freezing cold at the Mash's New Year's Party some of us got stuck in the stairwell enjoying our party favors a bit too much :0)
Well, if you've stayed with me this long, "good on ya" (as the Irish say). Or "well done" as Ron Burgundy would have it. Hope you all have a very Happy New Year. We're off this weekend to a wedding, and our baby is due in 7 weeks. Time flies. Love you lots!

Finally

2006-08-15T13:04:00.000-07:00

We've been back for two months and they've been quite full. Right after we returned Blayne turned 31-here he is just before blowing out his candles :0)

Within 3 weeks of our return, we had 2 weddings where dear friends married each other. Derek & Libby kicked things off. Here's the bride and bridesmaid Jen.

Only 2 weeks later Jen and Eric (these are the ones that got engaged in Ireland) got married. Deborah was the matron of honor and Blayne was a groomsmen (who also did all that music-that was pretty funny-now he's on the flute, now the guitar, now he's over here, now he's over there-it actually worked out fine-but Blayne was tired :0). Here's the "formal" shot of the four of us.

Right after the wedding we took off to visit family in the southeast. We flew into Atlanta where we spent some time with David & Red (deb's brother & his wife) and went to the aquarium the next day. Blayne was like a kid in a candy store-he loves that stuff. Deb's friend Nate showed us around behind the scenes again-so stinkin' cool! And we all went to a special treat-Matthew Perryman Jones was playing at Eddie's attic that night-what a great show! Sorry I don't have pics of that. After that we were off to south GA to visit with Laura, Blayne's grandmother. It was clear by the time of our visit that she would not be around much longer. We were blessed to have time with her where she was able to chat with us and we played music for her. We had 3 really good days with her there (and with Blayne's folks and his aunt Joan) and said our last goodbyes to her.

Next we travelled on to Atmore to Deborah's parent's house where Carol (Deb's sister) and her 3 kids were there. Bennett, Wilson and Mae are so much fun to be with. We played and read books and ate alot of seafood. Deborah did alot of sleeping and laying around too. What I haven't mentioned yet is that the day afer Blayne's birthday we found out that we are pregnant. Crazy, huh? We are very excited, but I have not been feeling my best these past couple of months. So, there's that bit of exciting news. We're due Feb. 20th. We're calling it "gessie" short for gestating til we find out the gender.

I also got to spend some time at my sister's house with her family while Blayne came back to CO to get some work done. He came back for his grandmother's funeral and we spent wonderful time with family members we rarely see and were able to celebrate the life of a wonderful woman with loads of other people who knew and loved her.

Once back, it was time for Deborah's bday-here we are with some friends at our place for a laid back celebration.

I started writing this months ago and only today did I finally find the card adapter so I could put the pics in. Sorry it was so long. We had our ultrasound yesterday and the Chastains are having a girl :0) yeah! Take care and I promise to be better about this blogging thing (now that morning sickness is behind me).

5 Days and Counting

2006-06-07T04:01:00.000-07:00

5 days til we're home in Greeley. Exciting, but surreal! It's hard to believe that our nine months here are over. Everyone's getting a bit sentimental around here as we begin to say our farewells. Here's the highlights of the past few weeks...
Me, Sarah, Steph & Lori atop one of the Twelve Bens.

Kylemore Abbey in Connemara-sooo beautiful!

Steph, Lori, Sarah & Me atop Croagh Patrick-where St. Pat reputedly drove the snakes out of Ireland and into the sea. The view was stunning!

Believe it or not this is Ireland-a beach in Connemara. The current sunshine could almost make you forget how bad the weather was for so long. But not quite :0) The sun's been shining ever since here and it really is quite lovely. It's been a busy past few weeks. Steph came to visit and we had an amazing time. As many of our friend's time here is wrapping up, there were 4 parties in a row to attend. I don't think Steph minded though :0). We took hikes, did some sight seeing, shopping, sleeping late, laughing and plenty of silliness with our friends here. I'm so glad she came to hang out with us! We really had a ball (though she might not say the same about the Croagh Patrick hike ;0)

The day that Steph left I came home packed my bag and caught a flight to Salzburg Austria which was AMAZING. I went with two friends from here-Sarah and Becky. We did so much!Here's downtown Salzburg-so charming!

Here's the pegasus fountain, which if you're a Sound of Music fan will look very familiar.

Here's Becky & Sarah displaying our location. While Ireland was having sun, we had some good old Irish weather for our hiking day in the Alps-it was still beautiful in spite of the fact that we only caught a few glimpses of the snow covered peaks through the dense clouds.
Here we are in Erlangen with our friend Max (who was here with us in Ireland-one of the supper club members). He showed us quite a time at the Bergkirchweihe (don't ask me to say it-they call it the berg for short though) it's Germany's 2nd largest beer fest (2nd only to Oktoberfest) and it was quite a party-an 11 day party to be exact. We went for a night and then for the next morning (so we could see the puppet show-it was hilarious!)

Here's Becky and I chowing down on brats and drinking amazing beer! Max's fav is Steinbach and since I also like darker yummy brews, that what I had and it was delicious! Yes, that is a one liter mug I'm drinking from. Those German's know how to throw a party! Max was a wonderful host for us, showing us his home town in style.

Our last stop was Dettelbach (this shot is from our host's back yard down to the village) with Becky's friend Emily & her husband Joe. They took us to a wine festival in the next village over-Obereisenheim. This was a much smaller affair-and is more typical we were told. The village folks come out and drink the local wine and eat loads of food while a 2 person band plays. Our hosts even were wearing authentic German garb. It was brilliant!

I started feeling a bit sick-you know the kind of thing that if you just chilled and got extra rest you'd be fine-and of course it was as we came into Germany where the beer and wine festival were unavoidable ;0) So, I'm still sick right now. I have quite an impressive cough and I sound and look pretty rough. I've been going to concerts all week-Blayne's was yesterday and though he wouldn't say he was pleased with it he is very glad to have it over with. The next few days we'll be packing and hanging out with our friends. We're going to miss being here in some ways, in spite of our excitement to be home. It's been a wonderful time. This has been long enough. See many of you soon! And for those of you not it CO, I'm going to try to keep this up once we're home. For the last time-love from Ireland!

One Month to go...

2006-05-13T07:04:00.000-07:00

First of all, exciting news-Mae Sheraton Clark, my new niece was born Tuesday, May 9th at 5:15pm EST. Carol (my sister) and Mae are doing well and are home by now. I can't wait to see them all when we are back in the states. This is of Wilson (one of her older brothers) giving Mae a kiss. Apparently Bennett & Wilson both love giving their baby sister lots of kisses. I'm looking forward to meeting her and showering her with kisses myself :0)

As for things around here Blayne's folks headed off back to the states a couple of days ago. We had a lovely time with them here. Towards the beginning of their time here Blayne had his 20 minute performance which went soooo well. He would say he was pleased with it and I can brag on him and say it was brilliant. I'll try to get some video up of it, but if I knew that if I waited for that I might never blog.

After Blayne's perform- ance we headed off on a weekend tour of West Kerry including the ring of Kerry, Killarney National Park & the Dingle Peninsula. This is Mom and Dad on the top of a Cahergal ring fort with a lovely castle in the background by the sea. And the next shot is of us exploring that castle, Ballycarbery by name, near Cahersiveen. It was such a lovely day and a we had a wonderful time exploring.

That night we lived in luxury at Cahernane Castle Hotel. This is a shot of our hotel and the next shot is mom in the garden there. It was such a gorgeous setting. We had our choice of drawing rooms or the conser- vatory to lounge in if we didn't want to enjoy the stunning view of the grounds (pictured next) and the backdrop of Magilli- cuddy's Reeks (Ireland's highest peaks) wasn't too shabby to look out on. We had a gorgeous breakfast the following morning before heading off in search of sights and a slope.

What I haven't mentioned yet is that Blayne has been wanting to fly everytime we go out to the countryside here. All of the hillsides and cliffs are perfect for RC gliders (if you didn't know he's won 9 national championships at Remote Control gliders back when he was in jr high and high school). So, he got a kit and he and Dad got it put together. Here he is flying it off a hillside on the Dingle Peninsula right next to a prehistoric ring fort with beehive hut dwellings (people lived in those around 1500 B.C.).

On Mom and Dad's last full day here we headed down to Blarney so they could kiss the stone. Mom said that Dad was hoping it would have the opposite effect on her since she alreay seems to have the gift of gab, he said he was afraid it might intensify the situation and that it would be all my fault for bringing them :0). The grounds were espcially beautiful this time of year with everything blooming. So, here's Mom and Dad outside of Blarney Castle.

The morning before Mom and Dad's flight we headed off to the Cliffs of Moher, because you can't come to Ireland and not see them. We got stuck in traffic for a bit because a bus and lorrey (that's local talk for 18 wheeler) got sort of stuck together on the road out to the cliffs. We did make it for a very quick look at the cliffs. Here's Mom, Dad & Blayne at the cliffs.

Things are getting a bit hectic feeling around here. So many things to do and see before we go. One month from today on June 13th we'll be flying back into Denver and be home. It's hard to believe that time has gone so quickly. We'll be going back home to loads of excitment-- 2 weddings of dear friends within a month of each other. So, for a little while longer anyway, love and best wishes from Ireland.

When in Rome....

2006-05-03T03:51:00.000-07:00

It's been about a month since my last blog and it's been a wonderful month! The Mash's came for a visit not long after my last entry and here's Blayne and Cecily on the couch. He was taunting her with food she couldn't have. That's not very nice :0). We had so much fun with little Cecliy (and David and Natalie were pretty cool to have around too). There was a great deal of chilling out and sightseeing and laughing. Cecily stole the show, of course, which is only natural when you're a super cute baby like she is.

We headed off to the Aran Islands and to the Dingle Peninsula and hiked up to the top of a cliff right on the sea with the most stunning views out across to the Atlantic Ocean. As you can see, the day was sunny and beautiful. It was just so much fun and so laid back to hang out with David and Natalie. We got to two sessions-one here in town where Blayne was playing and then one we happened on in Dingle with some amazing musicians. Blayne ended up playing along with them as well while we had lunch.
Here's Cecily ready for any Irish fun that comes her way. Craic (pronounced crack) is an Irish word that means good times, good friends, good fun. Blayne and I gave that to Cecily and so she debuted it here in Ireland for an adoring public. She napped on the Aran Islands, at a 12th century Cistercian Abbey, seaside cliffs, even prehistoric beehive huts. She got around Ireland. I'm sure she'll make her folks bring her back when she's old enough to remember it :0)

The day that the Mash's left us my parents arrived. We kicked around Ireland for a couple of days and went to the Aran Islands and Galway, then we headed off to Rome. I cannot tell you how many times Blayne and I said "When in Rome" to each other, because it was at least 10 times a day. The joys of Anchorman...

How to sum up Rome...? The history of the place is just over- whelming. So many things I've read... history books, Shakes- peare, the Bible came to mind as we walked around the city. You can walk right up to the mausoleum of Augustus Ceasar (the one who decreed the world should be taxed-- sending a certain Joseph and Mary to Bethle- hem), the ruins of the senate where Julius Ceasar was murdered, the coloseum where thousands of animals and people died in sport as entertainment for the masses, the arches of triumph that they would march through on their way to the temple of Saturn (of which the columns still are standing). It was incredible to be in the heart of the Roman Empire to see the ruins of a majestic kingdom that thrived and expanded and controlled most of the known world for centuries. Loads of thoughts more on that... but I'm tired and have more to tell and don't want to get too philosophical right now.

Here's one of the arches that they marched through-this is Constantine's Arch which is between the Roman Forum and just outside the Coloseum. We'd been walking all day all over the place-up the Palantine hill looking out over the ruins of the circus Maximus where the chariot races would have been. I haven't even mentioned our visit to the Vatican-the Sistene Chapel, the museums, and St. Peters (Peter is buried underneath the altar about 2 stories down!!). I could go on and on, but I'll try to contain myself :0)

At the end of Roman trip Blayne headed back to Ireland and Momma & Daddy & I headed off for a quick trip to Scotland. We spent a day in Edinburgh and a day on Loch Lomond. This is on the Bonnie Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond as we walked from our B&B to a lovely lochside restaurant for an AMAZING dinner. It was a whirlwind trip and it was a delight! Now Mom and Dad (as in Blayne's folks) are here and we're just back from a day down at the Rock of Cashel. Blayne's 20 minute lunch time concert is tomorrow, so he's practicing away right now. Can't believe it's less than 6 weeks til we're home. YEAH! Still lots of things to see and enjoy here. Loads of love from Ireland!

Still sleepy

2006-04-09T11:26:00.000-07:00

Well, my whirwind trip in the states started right here at Mellow Mushroom in Marietta with David and Red (my brother and his wife). I was pretty loopy at this point, but the lively conversation back at their house following our pizza feast managed to keep me up 'til midnight (that was 6 am my time-doh!). I only managed to sleep til 7:30 am the next day and after a run in the beautiful Georgia spring, I began my journey to Nashville via Chattanooga. I kept chanting to myself "drive on the right...". In spite of David's concern for his car I managed not to drive on the wrong side of the road (at least when any cars were coming :0)

The next stop on my journey was at Carol and Chris' new house on Lookout Mtn and I got to play with my wonderful nephews who keep getting bigger and bigger. This is Bennett and then Wilson with Carol (my sister). My niece Mae Sheraton should be along any day now. Yeah! My Mom and Dad were there helping with the house and trying to keep Carol from working (something about being pregnant :0). It was so good to see them all, even though it was just for a couple of hours. From there I continued on to the happiest home in Tennessee--the Brooks'.

Everyone who goes to this house feels at home. Here's Mrs. Ginger Brooks cutting the beef tenderloin she grilled for our dinner. I took this to make Blayne jealous. It worked :0) Sarah Catherine's parents home is one of my favorite places to be-sitting on that back porch sipping sweet tea with dear friends... well, it doesn't get much better than that. The wedding I went home for was Rob Reeve and Elizabeth Setty's. Rob, Nate, Tim, Sarah Catherine, Kat and I were sort of like family back at Auburn. For a year and half we ate most dinners together and shared lots of life and laughter. This was the first time the 6 of us had all been together since my wedding (Aug 1998!) and it was "scrumtrulescent" to say the very least. I wasn't even mad, it was AMAZING! (for those not into Will Ferrell, sorry about that)
This is when we took Rob's to do list on Friday morning and left him about 3 things to do on it. It's fun to get to help the groom-much lower key than what the bride has to do. We did manage to have a girls lunch at Panera with Elizabeth that day which was lovely. Here we are, Kat, Elizabeth, me & SC at the rehearsal dinner. I can't say how much of a lovely time that we all had. I even got to sneak away Friday afternoon for a tea with Katy Hutson at Provence and a quick hike at a Warner Park (a piece of my heart will always belong to Nashville, TN *sigh*)

Saturday dawned a georgeous day for a wedding. Everything went off beautifully. Here's the bride and groom in front of the cake-notice the cake topper. Yes, the bride is dragging the groom. We danced and danced and danced some more at the reception. Here's the Auburn crew only 9 years after graduation and still going strong. Nate, Rob, Sarah Catherine, Tim and down front that's me and Kat. Not pictured are all the fun times on the Brooks' back porch, silliness and fun with David (Kat's husband), Rabino (crazy friend of groom) and Rob and SC's families. I'll stop gushing :0)

I have no pictures to post of my time in CO. I was too busy doing stuff. It was so good and strange to be home but not to stay. I got to hang out with so many dear friends and got to go shopping with Jen for a wedding dress. Yahoo! Walks with Darcy dog and so many friends. I had just enough of a taste to make me really miss home again and make me very eager for June 13th to arrive when we'll be heading home for good!

The last little leg of my trip I got to hang out with these three crazy women-Steph, Abby Smith & Abby "squeakers" Meeks who I met when they were in 6th and 7th grade. I guess that makes me old since they're all in college now. We had a super short, but super fun visit on Steph & Nathalie's front porch. Steph will be coming here to visit in May-yeah! Then I headed to Atlanta for the night. I had all day on Wed. before my flight and my brother and I went to the Atlanta aquarium where Nate (pictured above) is a marine biologist in charge of 2 of the freshwater exhibits. We got to see behind the scenes and see where Nate is getting to do a dream job. It was so very fun and surreal to stand at the top of a tank as beluga wales came up to say hi... or to stand at the top of the largest aquarium in the world while a whale shark swims by through a school of golden trevallys. It was amazing. I have rambled WAY too much and if you've read this all you should probably get back to work or whatever you were doing ;0) Love you all lots and farewell from Ireland.

All my bags are packed I'm ready to go...

2006-03-28T15:20:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm leaving on a jet plane in the morning and am very excited to be heading back to the states. I'm very excited but it seems a bit strange that I'll be "home" (Atlanta, Chattanooga, Nashville, & Greeley) so soon. I hadn't planned on going home at all, but when Rob Reeve gets married-well, I have to be there for that. So, you can thank or blame him for my coming back stateside for a whirlwind trip. So looking forward to seeing everyone there! Yeah!

I just had a lovely week with Christina here. Here we are having a pint in Dolans on a Saturday night (that's Charlene next to me). We went back to Dolans on Sunday for more music since on Saturday night the tunes were lovely you just couldn't hear anything. It's a lovely low key place every night of the week then Friday and Saturday you can hardly get into the door. It's a lovely pub. We're actually just home from there. Blayne plays in the Tuesday night session there.

Christina and I headed all over the south of this island and saw some amazing old abbeys-at least 4 of them dating from the 1100s to the 1300s. These two shots are from Jerpoint Abbey in County Killkenny. It is such a beautfiul place and the carving that I have the closeup shot of is on the base of a tomb in the main cathedral ruin. It is so incredible to ponder the history of these places. The church often had buildings on the land dating back as far as 600-pre-viking, pre-norse, pre-acendency. It boogles my mind how much has transpired in human history on this little island.

Had to stick this photo in. When Blayne was in the states I drove my friend Becky and her sister up to county Mayo and Sligo and Donegal. Blayne had the camera with him, so I had to wait for pics from her. This is the sunset over the sea in Westport. It was a stunning evening. Hopefully Blayne and I will get up there at some point. We have a friend who lives on one of the islands in the distance who we're hoping to stay with.

I really should be getting to bed sometime in the near future. There's a long day ahead for me tomorrow. And I have the joy of an extra hour time difference right now since Europe changed their clocks this past Sunday. Then I have the joy of losing that hour AGAIN while in the states. I know, poor, poor me. Enough rambling. See some of you very soon!! To the rest of you, much love from Ireland.

Sneaky, Sneaky

2006-03-22T02:02:00.000-08:00

Well, this is a few days late in coming. Christina is here now and we celebrated her birthday by going to Blarney Castle (she kissed the stone) and Cahir Castle, by having dinner at some of our friends' house and to Kilfenora for a lovely session. We're off tomorrow to the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher.

I have to tell the tale of last weeks visitors. Jen was here for about 10 days and her boyfriend Eric conspired with us to surprise her while she was here. That had been in the works since December. Well, 4 days before Jen arrived I get an email that says he wants to propose as soon as he sees her here and asks for some help on this end. So, I set off on a quest for a castle to be the setting of this romantic moment. I settle on the ruin of Rossmanagher castle in the hills of county Clare only 10 minutes from the airport and fully in the middle of nowhere.

So Jen arrives and we are having a lovely time for 4 days. We talk a good deal about her & Eric and I censor every word out of my mouth so that I don't accidently let on that he's coming or that he has every intention of "committing" to this relationship. So, Tuesday rolls around and Eric's flight is due that afternoon. After a nice hike in the Burren and a scenic day, Jen is exhausted but I drag her to just "one more place... a cool castle ruin" before we "meet Blayne and Lori for dinner". We pull up the road and Jen says "I guess we have to go inside". I'm skipping down the road to the castle and being silly. Jen had NO idea what awaited, which is just glorious because she's so hard to surprise.

I walked inside first and said she should come check this out... it's really pretty... someone lit candles. She walks in and sees some guy in the corner and thinks we're interrupting a proposal and keeps on walking. Eric finally gets her to stop as he talks to her and it slowly dawns on her that its him, not just "some guy". So I take a picture of the sunset outside while Jen is freaking out, crying and saying yes inside. The next few days were spent with many moments where Jen would recall our conversations before he got here and exclaim, "you knew!! and you didn't let on!" She pretended to be mad at me, but I'm pretty sure she'll forgive me.

So, its in the works. JenEric are gonna tie the knot. It's pretty exciting stuff I must say. I'm pretty happy for my friends and glad I could play a part in what is about the most romantic proposal I've ever heard of. Well, I'm off to the doctor now-I've been sick for over a month now, so I'm guessing that I need some meds to get rid of it. I'm going to be home next week and I can't be sick for all that! Looking forward to seeing lots of you very very soon. I'll be in Nashville Thursday night through Sunday morning and then Greeley Sunday to Tuesday. Yipee! Very excited to be back on that side of the pond for a bit.

Worst Blogger EVER

2006-03-11T06:51:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! We are actually still alive here in Ireland. My computer had some major issues, though they are finally sorted! Now my only excuse has been that we've had so many visitors one right after another. I haven't been able to get all of the Europe pics on my computer yet, so I'll hold off on the update from our trip and just give updates from life since we got back.

Well, first off my brother, David and his wife, Red were here for a week in February. We had a lovely time tromping all over the southwest corner of Ireland. Cork, Kinsale, and the Breara, Iveragh and Dingle Peninsulas. All the pictures I took with them I had my camera in some wacky format (I know, how typical can you get?), so i have no pics of their time here. It was fun to have them here just kicking around Limerick too.

Blayne was in Colorado for a week tying up some loose ends with our building there and getting things set up for some big improvements on Whistle and Drum. While he was away I hosted a party at our place for our friend Pat. It was a night of great hilarity. Pat wanted Mexican food, so we did tacos and Dee was kind enough to give me her AMAZING salsa recipe which I made (it was only a shadow of the real thing, but was still pretty good). We had a pinata (which is what's pictured on pat's head and also a wig, of course) and all sorts of silliness before heading out for a night of dancing on the town. These are the folks we're hanging out with lots these days (from left to right, Norah, Pat, Sarah, Ailie, Becky & Adrain from Spain on the top row). Very fun stuff.

Next Melody came for a week. Here we are in Dublin in a pub listening to some lovely tunes. The publican entertained us with tales of his travels. We went to Guinness, Grafton Street, Trinity College, the Jameson Distillery, St. Stephen's Green, & St. Patrick's cathedral (which you could put about 6 of our st. pats in). We were out and about listening to tunes almost every night. After Dublin we headed south to Killiney and that gate I'm stading in front of is a place that I would probably never have gone except that Melody inspired me to be a geeky fan...yep, that's the gate to Bono's house. We listened to U2 all day long and had such fun. It was brilliant! The next shot is us at the base of Blarney Castle, Mel kissed the Blarney stone, and I'd done that a couple of years ago and figured I already talk enough as it is.

Jen is in town now and she needed to catch up on Darcy's blog (there's a new update-you should check it out), so I had to break the pattern and finally put something down. Sorry I've been such a terrible blogger, I will try to be better, but the guests will just keep coming from now own. I think we have only about 3 weeks here alone in the next 3 months. We're making up for a quiet autumn.

Milan and Venice

2006-02-15T14:39:00.000-08:00

Well, we're back after our long European adventure. The day after we got back David & Red (my brother & his wife) arrived in Ireland. We've been hanging out and tromping about the countryside here in Ireland for the past few days. All that to say, sorry I haven't been better about updating. Rather than try to sum up our whole trip in one blog I thought I'd spread out the pics and info over a few blogs. So, we began our journey in Italy. Milan and Venice were soooo cold, but other than that we had an amazing time. We would walk around for an hour or so, then step into a bar, which in Italy is a cafe, and have pastry and coffee to warm up.

This is the Duomo, the big cathedral in the heart of Milan. The square in front of this building is ginormous and really gives you the space to appreciate the grand scale of the cathedral. This is a side view since the front was covered because of restoration work.

This archway is off of the main square into the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuel, which is basically a really schwank shopping area with stunning marble walkways and frescoed ceiling trim. That's me in the interior in the second shot of it. We were decidedly unfahsionable compared to the Milanese. It is apparent that its one of the fashion centers of the world.

One of our friends here is from Milan and had given us some tips on what to see there. We roamed ancient streets and had an amazing seafood dinner (no, Champ and Dorothy Mantooth was nowhere to be seen) in an area where the navigli (ancient waterways of the city) converge. We ate so much chocolate and pastries its good we were walking everywhere, or we would have each gained 20 pounds instead of just 5 ;0) A highlight that we have no pictures of (because they weren't allowed) was seeing daVinci's Last Supper. It is mesmerizing to study. Across the hallway is another fresco that is brilliant, but it doesn't even begin to compare. We stood transfixed studying the painting. They've done an incredible work of restoration on it, and in spite of its deteriorated condition, its the most amazing work of art I've ever seen in person.

After 2 days in Milan we took the train to Venice, where we walked around and took in the sights (again interrupted by many warm up stops). This is St. Mark's Square and cathedral. We spent quite a bit of time playing with the pigeons. We have dozens of shots of us with the birds (it was hilarious), but I've picked my two favorites to include below. The church is stunning inside and out. We went up onto the balcony for a closer view at the mosaics there. The afternoon light coming in through the cathedral windows, making the golden tiles in the mosiacs sparkle... well, it was breathtaking. Sadly, no pictures were allowed inside the cathedral, but we have the exterior here and one that was taken on the outdoor balcony overlooking the square.

This is the view out of one of our windows in our hotel. We looked out over an old church and square, Campo Santa Maria Formosa. It was an amazing spot to be, 5 minutes from St. Marks and 5 minutes from the Rialto bridge. Venice is the sort of city you just want to spend a few months in wondering around and getting lost in its "streets", finding all sorts of surprises in the winding alleyways as they cross tiny canals. We did take the obligotory gondola ride and, bundled up under a blanket, were able to enjoy the beauty of those tiny canals by boat. It was very cold, but magical none the less.

All in all, Italy was our favorite country. The people are so warm (even as you butcher their language with a conversational Italian guide) and friendly and the food is AMAZING! and the coffee, desserts, seafood... can we just establish that it was a feast for the senses and I'll give up trying to describe it with such inadequate words as I have to offer to represent it. There's more to the Italy story with getting stuck in a snowstorm, but that will be in the next installment. For now, I'm off to bed to rest up for more sight seeing tomorrow--though its pouring rain right now. So then, a very soggy farewell from Ireland for now.

Our New Place

2006-01-11T10:26:00.000-08:00

Well, Brookfield Hall has been a decent place for us to live, but we have decided to move to the city center. At first we kicked around the idea of a country cottage, but none of them had internet and we can't live without it, I'm afraid. So, we thought how nice it would be to just get out and walk around town and got pretty excited about it. So, we started looking last Thursday, signed a lease yesterday morning, and moved yesterday afternoon. We're all settled in now and enjoying the luxury of moving so little stuff. It was wonderful... we got out this morning and did some shopping and walked around town. It's nice to be in the middle of things. We had friends over last night for dinner and then we walked to a session. Here's a look at what we've left behind and what we've gained.

This was our guest room at Brookfield Hall. We had another single bed stacked against the wall for when a couple was coming to visit, but it took up too much room, so it is still stacked aginst the wall. Next is the guest room at our new place. It comes with lovely bedding and curtains, so it has much more of a homey feel than our bright blue and orange scheme (I mean those are AMAZING school colors (war eagle!), but not so much for decorating. So, this is where you'll stay if (when) you come to visit us.

This teeny room is our old bedroom. That bed is 4x6 feet...it's a good thing we like each other. It wasn't the most comfy. And last night in our new place we had a glorious night's rest in our queen size (that's 5 feet wide, thank you very much). I feel like we're on vacation with our own balcony looking out over the courtyard from our bedroom.

These are two shots of the fabulous living, kitchen and dining area at brookfield. When we had 10 friends over for Christmas carolling it was pretty comical. It was very cozy with so many folks. Our new place is much more condusive to entertaining, which we all know is important to me :0)

So, this is the new living/dining/kitchen area. The kitchen is *gasp* actually a separate room. Plenty of room for plenty of people to hang out and watch movies on Blayne's laptop. It's sad, but true. Among our friends Blayne's 15 inch laptop is the best screen we have for movie watching. It's a far cry from home with our rediculously large tv, but we manage to get buy. No point in buying a dvd player that we couldn't even use in the states.

Here's a favorite feature. This is looking off to the left from the balcony in our new place. That's St. John's Cathedral there. At Brookfield our teeny balcony looked out over to scenic concrete block wall. Ah, the memories :0)

All that to say that we are glad to be in our new place, though it's been strange since we are the 2nd people to let an apt there. The internet is supposed to be installed today (we're not getting our hopes up), so its been frustrating not to be in touch with everyone. I'm finishing writing this at an internet cafe a few minutes from our place. It is so very nice to walk out the door and be in town. We leave next Sunday on our European adventure. We'll go to Milan, Venice, Barcelona, Paris, Edinburgh and the Isle of Sky (also in Scotland). I'll try to post while we're on our trip if I can get internet. We are so very excited for the upcoming adventure! Lots and lots of love to you all.

European Adventure Pictures (Finally)

2006-01-02T10:22:00.000-08:00

Well, here are long over pictures of Paris, Mont Blanc and London. Since we didn't have our camera. (or we had it, but the battery was dead and that was the one thing we forgot to bring) My mom was kind enough to have her film put to cd for me. So, here are few highlights of the European trip.

This is a side/back view of the Cathedral de Notre Dame. The next two shots are from the bell tower in the front. It is a spectacular place. Our hotel was an easy walk from here just over the bridge in the Latin Quarter. I'm so looking forward to taking Blayne here later this month! Paris is such an incredible city. The next two shots are of the statues around the bell towers. The gargoyles are magnificent--each different and intricately detailed.

This is me full of "joie de vivre" at the foot of the eiffel tower. Sadly, the night time pictures didn't come out too well. I don't think there's any debate about the fact that it is much more beautiful at night. We spent our first night there going to the top of the eiffel tower and Paris is stunning at night. All of the monuments and building are brightly lit, so the city is like Christmas all the time.

So, this is just up from Chamonix France at the Mere de Glace, the longest glacier in Europe. It's so breathtaking to be in the middle of the alps (no disrespect to the Rockies mind you :0).

I wish these pictures could communicate how incredibly beautiful this place really is. Imagine these sorts of peaks being over 200 degrees of your view, then the other part being out across an incredible valley. In the distance you can see the Matter Horn and you're right at the base of Mont Blanc towering at close to 16,000 feet.

Here are some mountaineers heading down to the basin at the foot of the Aguille Midi getting ready to do who knows what sort of fun. People use the cable car to head off to base camp to summit Mont Blanc or to para glide the 9,000 feet back down into Chamonix. Needless to say, I was so wishing that I was heading off with these adventurers. Just thinking about it now, makes me want to go!!!

This is before Blayne got to London (with our camera, so you've already seen a few London shots). My parents and I geeked out at the Sherlock Holmes museum (WHAT FUN!!!) and also at Shakespeare's Globe Theater (not pictured, sorry). Laugh if you want, but my family loves those Sherlock Holmes on A&E with Jeremey Brett, and we had a ball at the museum.

Here's the Houses of Parlaiment and the belltower which houses the famous big ben. We were wandering around at twilight and it was cold in London that weekend. Ireland is a good 10 degrees warmer because of the Gulf Stream. But we managed to enjoy the sites as bundled up as we could get :0)
This parting shot is back here on the Emerald Ilse. I thought this shot came out very nicely, so I just had to share it. The hills are so beautiful here. We've been able to get out a bit and remember that lately. Blayne should be done with his paper tomorrow. YEAHHH!!! Hope you all have a very Happy New Year! Lots of love from Ireland!

Christmas Fun

2005-12-28T05:28:00.000-08:00

Well, for Christmas Eve we headed down with Patrick and Sarah (two friends from here) to Cork for the night to hang out with Norah (another good UL friend) and friends of hers. So here we are having a fabulous dinner on Christmas Eve. The first picture is our toast. This is Patrick, Blayne, Jeanne, Norah, Brian, and Sarah. I really was actually there, I'm just the one taking all the pictures. I can't tell you how much fun we had. The next shot is Jeanne and Django laughing hysterically, which sums up the whole evening.Our plan was just to head down for the night and head back up to Limerick around 1ish. It became apparent that this plan was going to put a damper on the night and Brian and Jeanne (our hosts) invited us to crash there. So, we settled in for the night and just enjoyed the ride. It was a lively party at the house, then we headed out to a pub to hear a folk musician that Jeanne is friend's with. No pics of that, I'm afraid, but let me just say that all the Irish folks packed into that pub was festive, but strange. I was thinking, is this their Christmas Eve tradition? But, the music was fun and we danced (not Blayne, of course) and laughed and had Guinness. We left the pub and went back to the house for an incredible session, pictured here.
The music was so lively and fun! The folk musician from the pub and a few of his friends stopped over for a few hours and while they mostly kept to the sitting room and we were in the dining room, they came over to our room to exchange a few tunes with us. Musically it was such an incredible night and the wine, music and laughter kept flowing. The music kept on til 4 am when Blayne and I finally decided we were done for the night. Then Patrick and Django kept on playing for another hour or so, just the two of them. So, as we drifted off to sleep we could hear the distant sounds of the flute and fiddle playing trad tunes.
We woke the next day to find that Santa Norah had visited Brian & Jeanne. Santa hadn't expected us to be there, so we had to wait to get home to see what he'd brought us. This pic in front of the fire is of our hosts discovering their stockings by the fire. Sarah and Jeanne are pictured here next in the "early" (almost noon) Christmas morning shot. We were all a bit out of it at this point, sleepy but happy. Norah is displaying here the delicious breakfast she made for us... eggs ole! And we stuffed our faces, and headed home.

Once home, we opened our gifts, took a nap, then got up and took a walk by the river. Patrick came over for Chrismas Dinner and bit later Sarah came over and made a delicious apple pie (pictured here with the tree and the menorah). Sarah's Jewish and since Hanukah started at sundown on Christmas Night she brought her menorah and lit the first candles. Then she sang us Hanukah songs. It was lots of fun. Then we played more tunes... this time Sarah and I swapped some folk songs, so it wasn't all Irish trad tunes. It was a strange Christmas, but it was festive and fun and we were so thankful to have friends to share it with. Hope that you all had a wonderful time with family and friends. Love and miss you!

Christmas Time is Here

2005-12-20T13:41:00.000-08:00

Well, Blayne’s performance is over and now he is hard at work on his ethnography. This is him at his workstation which is occasionally our dining table. He is transcribing 2 hours of conversation and then he’ll be transcribing the music that was played (not just the notes, but every breath and ornament). Then, he’ll write 5,000 words or so to describe all of that and his impressions of Eamon’s playing. As far as his performance, he felt good about it. “Good... not great, but good.” Were his words. I know he’s glad to have it done and sees it as a learning experience. He’s going to get some sound clips ready for me so you can listen to some of it here on the blog. So, this week he’s working hard on his paper in hopes that we can take next week and travel around this lovely country.

Christmastime is here. I’m sitting in the coffee/cheese/rug shop as I write this. There’s not much traffic this time of day in here, but hopefully I’ll be interrupted some (it makes the time go so much more quickly). I’m listening to Christmas carols right now on my laptop and last night went out and rented “It’s a Wonderful Life” (they didn’t have “Holiday Inn” or “White Christmas” or “Christmas in Connecticut”). In other words I’m desperately seeking the Christmas spirit. You can see the photo here of our fabulous decorations :0) We went to a carol service this past Sunday at the main Church of Ireland here in town and it was really nice. I think we may start going there regularly. People in the congregation actually sing-it was a pleasant change :0)

I realize how much Christmas means family and friends to me when I’m so far removed from them. But the time to ponder the advent of Christ is something that I don’t have much of at home where things are so hectic during this season. And now I have the time to do that, so here are my thoughts right now. The world is a mess-poverty, death, war, hate, selfishness, deceit. And that’s the world He chose to come into-to bring us hope, healing and to save us, not only from those things in the world, but from those things in ourselves. There’s a tv special that will be on here about all the natural disasters last year and where that fits with people’s faith. It’s called “Where was God?”. I think it’s a great question and there’s not an easy answer. I’m not sure that I can give an answer except to say that He isn’t removed from it and this is the season that we remember that He actually entered into it. He loved, lost, wept, saw sickness, injustice, and death. He didn’t just observe-He became the object of that injustice and hate and the bitterness that comes from unfulfilled expectations.

So, I will celebrate Christmas far from “home” and many of the earthly blessings that He’s been so kind to give. And hopefully that distance will make me better appreciate not only the people and places that I miss so dearly, but also to grasp even more what the angels proclaimed: “peace on earth and goodwill toward men” and how Christ brings that. Love you and miss you all and wish you a very Merry Christmas.

Caroling Party

2005-12-13T15:09:00.000-08:00

Well, since I'm missing the Christmas traditions at home so much we hosted a wine/ cheese/ caroling party tonight and it was a lovely time! We sang lots of carols (for a brief time Michael switched with Blayne so Blayne was playing the concertina and Mike was on the guitar). So for "O Holy Night" Blayne attempted to play concertina while we all sang it way too high, or was it too low?

This first shot is Michael and Blayne playing.. the last carol we decided to sing turned into an Irish tune and from there we had a sort of session, flutes and bodhrans came out and there was even some step dancing by Becky & Elli. In the second shot that's Norah and Brian on the couch fluting away with Lars and Pernille (our Danish friends) sitting on either side. Norah and Brian will be around for Christmas so we'll probably be celebrating with them. The third shot is Ailie, Becky and Elli. This was after a bit of imromptu dancing by Becky and Elli. Becky is the one who has been teaching us step dancing on Fridays. I learned a new reel this past Friday, but I really need to practice it more :0) The last shot is just another of the festivities tonight.

I'm feeling pretty homesick right now to tell the truth. The people here are very dear, and I'm enjoying being here, but this time of year I'm missing advent traditions, neighborhood caroling, and the people who make home home. It's also going to be tough to not be with family at the holidays. But we'll just make the most of our adventure. Maybe we'll take some beautiful drives over the break. It's been a bit since we've been out together. Blayne sends his apologies for being so bad about writing to you all. He's been very busy and so stressed out about his performance this Friday. He (and I) will be so glad when it's done. If you think of it, pray for his performance- for his nerves- that he'll just be able to enjoy the tunes. Love you all lots and miss you.

Cheese, Coffee & Rugs, Oh My

2005-12-07T02:30:00.000-08:00

It's a very dreary day in Ireland. Getting a slow start this morning (as usual) and getting ready to go to work. That's right, I have a "job". We have been going into town every Saturday for the market and befriended the owner of a lovely cheese shop that happens to serve the best coffee in Ireland (according to Blayne, and we know he's a coffee snob). Blayne has played music with her regular musician on Saturdays and we dropped by last Friday to see if she needed a hand, and she did. So Saturday I worked 8am to 2pm selling cheese in the stall just outside her shop in the market. Do I know anything about cheese? Well, I do now ;0) It is very fun to work the market; so many people meandering from stall to stall getting homade pastries, breads, farm fresh veggies, and of course yummy cheese. The shop owner, Mary, is selling rugs for the holidays so I've agreed to open her shop 3 hours a day during the week (she's usually just open Fri. and Sat.) in the hope of selling more of the rugs. So, there you have it. Blayne and I will also be doing some Christmas music in the shop on this Saturday. We'll take some pics and get them up for you to see what it's like.

Hope that you're all having a wonderful time preparing for Christmas. Saw pics from the downtown Christmas Party in Greeley. Looked so very fun - wish we could have been there! We're still not exactly sure how we'll be celebrating, but we've got a few things planned. Gotta get going. Just wanted to share the news. Lots of love to you all!

Thanksgiving

2005-12-01T09:06:00.000-08:00

Well, we had a lovely Thanks- giving feast with one other American, 2 Candians, 2 Germans, 1 Scottish and 2 Irish folks-aren't we the diverse group? We ate WAY too much food, and the hashbrown casserole was a hit. I have put the recipe at the end of this post, for those of you who can't handle Christmas without it :0) There was this yummy cranberry salad, with fresh cranberries, apples, orange juice, etc. Only the turkey and casserole were standards for us, but it was still delicious. Oh, and this picture doesn't show the desserts, there were quite a few of those as well. We took a very slow walk after 3rd helpings to make room for dessert.

Blayne was voted to take the carver duties, and here he is doing the honors. The Irish & Germans were very interested in this holiday where we stuff our faces and talk about what we're thankful for. For all of us (the Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving too, but in October, so this was a very belated celebration for them) we agreed that we were thankful to have new friends to celebrate with.

Here is Blayne doing what he does every year. Joanna mentioned that Paul missed this, so I just had to put this picture in. His plate was full of meat and potatoes. We are in the right country for that, at least.

So these are some of our new friends. A couple of these folks are friends of theirs who I don't know as well. In the first shot behind the counter that's Steve (German) & Norah (Canadian) and on the couch with Blayne is Ailie (Scottish). The other shot is Fabian (German) the two Irish friends of Becky's, Becky (USA) and Charlene (Candada). We had several of these folks over last night and introduced them to Dutch Blitz (which they loved) and I made chocolate chip cookies...mmmmmmm. Then we watched anchorman. Ailie said she now has new insight into Blayne. If she only knew. Well, that's the news from this part of the world. So much excitement back in Greeley right now and with the holidays coming up we're missing home a bit. But we are glad to be here and feel very blessed to be where we are right now. Love you all lots!

Hashbrown Casserole
1 large bag of frozen hashbrowns; 1/2 melted butter; 1 Tbsp. salt; 1/2 tsp. of pepper; 1 can cream of chicken soup; 1/2 cup diced onion (I use a food processor because Blayne doesn't like the texture of onions); 1 pt. sour cream; 12 oz. grated extra sharp cheddar cheese-mix all these together in a grease casserole dish (at least 9x13-bigger if you have it)
Top with the following: 1 sleeve ritz crackers crushed mixed with 1/4 c melted butter.
Bake uncovered for 1 hour at 300. Enjoy!

Back from London and to Normal?

2005-11-23T09:36:00.000-08:00

We had lots of fun in London. Here's Big Ben, a still slightly puffy me in front of a bit of the old Roman Wall which is within the walls of the Tower of London. The history at the Tower of London is so interesting, a bit morbid given all the folks who spent their last nights there before losing their heads. That's us and my folks outside the Tower of London. Then, the Tower Bridge as seen from our sunset cruise on the Thames. That was one of the best parts of the trip (Blayne's favorite part)...the commentary was hilarious. You have to love the self-deprecating dry Brit sense of humor. And, finally that's Wesminster Abbey. A church, but more notably a crypt for the Kings & nobles of England. In spite of not feeling that well, and it being bitter cold weather, we managed to have a good time in London. After getting back to Ireland we popped over to Dublin for 2 days. Blayne met with Eamon DeBarra, the subject of his ethnography. That's his big project on a player who he'd like to emulate. He had a great time at Eamon's while we did some shopping on Grafton Street and saw the sights-the book of Kells & Christchurch Cathedral. My parents are on their way home right now and we are getting ready to go to a Thanksgiving dinner with our friend Patrick. We're also celebrating tomorrow evening with some other friends and (if I can find frozen hashbrowns-I've tried 2 stores already) I'm making hashbrown casserole for that. mmmmmmmm. Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Watch some American Football for me since I can't get any here. Lots of Love!

"Out of the Woods" and off to London

2005-11-15T11:21:00.000-08:00

Well, after I was released from the hospital today (after four of the most surreal days of my life) I napped while my parents filled the prescription for my epipen...which hopefully will never have to be used for the rest of my life. (On return to Ireland I have strict instructions to see an allergist and make sure we know what the heck caused that.) We walked, albeit very slowly, to the Wall of the Reformation here in town, walked to the lake front and watched the sun set & the swans fight over the bread people were feeding them. So, our final taste of Geneva was at least pleasant. Sitting here in the hotel tonight getting ready to fly out to London in the morning, it feels like the past days were just a dream. It's good to be feeling human again. So, hopefully NO more of these sorts of adventures. London should be lots of fun and Blayne will be joining us on Thursday evening there which is great because i miss my sweetie. Sorry if that's too mushy or corny for you, but it's true and I've been sick so you have to humor me, or not, whatev. Lots of love to you all! Thanks for your prayers.

My Fabulous Overnight Stay in Geneva Hospital

2005-11-12T10:10:00.000-08:00

Yep, that's right, I just got back to the hotel after a 22 hour stay. Let me e'splain, no, it's too long, let me sum up...
Yesterday morning I woke up itching all over and discovered all along my waist and shoulders & neck & scalp bumps that looked like they might have been bites. Momma & Daddy are saying bedbugs since they just saw this show about a resurgence of them in the states. I'm used to odd physical problems, so i get ready for the day and we head off to Chamonix, a town about 40 miles from here at the foot of Mont Blanc. We took a cable car from Chamonix at 3,400 to an observatory at 12,000 feet looking out over 15,780 foot Mt. Blanc. C'est incroyable! I wanted to follow some of the folks that rode up the tram with their crampons and ice axes or the ones with the para-gliders, jumping off there and going all the way down to Chamonix. So, it was a beautiful morning.

But, as the day progressed I became more uncomfortable and we found a pharmacist who sold us generic zyrtec over the counter. he said i should go see someone about it. The bus ride back was miserable for me and on our return to town we walked right to the hospital where they put me on an iv. at this point all the little bumps had become large masses of welts. They were itching and burning like CRAZY! (this is where I'll start the sum up part). After a drip of anti-histimines the reaction was still spreading so they said they needed to observe me over night and gave me a prednazone. Still not better (though at least able to sleep a little) at 1am so get more anti-histimines in IV, finally get about 4 hours of sleep. Wake up and feel better then over next two hours much worse with trouble breathing. Get new injections in IV finally start feeling better after another pill of something to help with itching this afternoon. Still itching now but not stuck in hospital ward where everyone (nice as they were) is speaking french and no magazines in english. I bet I have some pretty funny misinterpretations about Hollywood Gossip right now :0) What started it? Theories are that its a med I took right after I got here and then took another course of because the symptoms had come back. I was taking the final pill the day I woke up with the reaction. I haven't eaten anything unrecognizable, but really, who knows what caused it. Hopefully, I'll just get all better from here and we can continue enjoying our trip. Leave it to me-the phisiological wreck-to get hospitalized on vacation. Hopefully word will soon be about what a wonderful time we're having with this long behind us. For now, lots of love to you all and pray for me that I'll wake up with no more reaction. Nite Nite.

I love Paris in the Fall

2005-11-10T13:08:00.000-08:00

Ok, I know it's stupid to blog about Paris with no pictures, but I felt the need to let you know that we just got to Geneva from Paris today and we are fine and had an amazing time. Apparently the news there was showing footage of the riots and was made to sound like it was IN Paris. We heard nothing about the riots while there. It was very far out of the heart of Paris. So, we are safe. And now, with all that said, about our time in Paris. What a city. Our top floor room had two balcony windows. My bed looked right out of one. If I sat on the end of the bed I looked out along our Latin Quarter Street at wrought iron balconies covered in flowers. If I sat at the head of the bed I saw the towers, spire & flying buttresses of Notre Dame a few blocks over across the Seine. It was stunning. I've never felt so at peace in a city. It has a beauty, mystery & energy I've never experienced before with history and stunning beauty crammed into every nook and cranny. I wished we'd stayed longer. We're in Geneva now and are off to Mont Blanc tomorrow. This hotel has wireless. Yipee! So, if we're not too crazy busy the next few days I might get a chance to write more. For now, good night dear friends. Or, good afternoon where you are. Love, Deb.

Halloween Scottish style?

2005-11-01T13:37:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry there's no pictures, but I promise I will put them up as soon as Becky sends them to me. It's been a good and full week. We went to Sligo this past weekend for a music festival. We heard less music than we'd hoped. The pubs were so packed that there wasn't even any standing room near the musicians. But we were with Irish people all weekend, which was a hoot. The pubs close around 1:30 am on the weekends, and we thought we were heading home, but no! There are local clubs which somehow get a "late" license. But you will never know about these if you're not a local. You walk up to a door and hit the bell, they look through a camera & if they recognize you, you get buzzed in. So, here we are with 4 locals walking into a surreal world of local gossip, lots of late night drinking and chatting and we were there til 4am. The Irish love to laugh and love to stay up late with friends. On Sunday we drove around the area. Sligo is between the sea & a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains. It's not a shabby view.

On Monday I went with three friends out to the Burren & the Cliffs of Moher then we stopped off a the sea town of Lahinch for a cup of tea. Then for Halloween night we got together with a few friends, carved pumpkins and then Ailey, our Scottish friend led us in three games. We bobbed for apples, pretty normal, that was right after we ate syrup covered donuts hanging from a string and then (without wiping our faces) stuck our faces into flour to fish out 5 peices of candy. It was highly entertaining.

I know this is brief, but my parents are coming tomorrow (YEAH!) so I knew it might be a bit before I will blog again. We'll tour around Ireland a bit over the next couple of days, have a low-key weekend here in Limerick and then head off on our European adventure on Monday. First Paris then on to Geneva, then to Rome and finally to London. I'm looking forward to the time with my parents & the chance to explore such incredible places. Well, for once I have to make an early start. My parents get in at 7:30 am. Ouch! So, I'm calling it a night. Lots of love to you all!

Ancient Civ Lesson

2005-10-23T15:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Blayne & I along with our friend Sarah went out to the Burren which is a very rocky region west of here, not to far from the Cliffs of Moher. This is the Poulnabrone Dolmen. It's a tomb that was built around 4500 BC. It's stinking old! It's amazing to stand there and think of the people who lived there 6500 years ago and built the rock houses over their dead. It really is a strange and moving thing to see in this barren land-evidence of life here from so long ago. That is by far the oldest bit of human history I have ever seen...it's older than the pyramids. Then we went to a concert in Ennis that was one of the most bizarre cultural experiences I've ever had. I don't even know how to describe it, except to say that we were surely the only non-Irish in the crowd and I've never before heard a tall, clean cut fellow who looked like a rugby player pick up a guitar and sing in an Irish sort of choppy gruff pub style voice (but complete with intricate sean nos ornamentation) protest songs with a strong raggae influence. It was an experience that I would need to learn many more words in the English language to attempt to describe.

Well, we have an update on our church hunt. The church we went to this morning, Mallow Street Christian Fellowship is the most promising yet. There were about 80 people crammed into a small hall in downtown Limerick. We don't know yet about how we'll feel about the teaching part because this morning they had a special presentation from the man who owns the local christian bookstore, but in spite of older praise songs being the main music the service was promising. they did have a time where they opened the meeting for people to pray, share scripture, pick songs to sing, so it had a small meeting sort of vibe without being total chaos. We'll go check it out again next Sunday...maybe unless we're in Sligo next weekend. Turns out Halloween is a bank holiday in Ireland so Blayne won't have to do anything on Monday and he already has every Friday free, so we may head up to Sligo and Donegal.

I found out this past Saturday as we sat and chatted with folks at the market that it's easy & pretty cheap to sign up for Irish classes. I don't really expect to learn to speak it, but I'd like to be able to read it and pronounce it properly. All the history books I'm reading I come to a name like Niamh (which is one of the few I know - its pronounced nee-uhv) But there are so many that I don't know how to say and phoenetics don't come close to working in the Irish language, and also it'd be fun to learn to sing some songs in Irish.

We are making lots of friends. Life is just so very different here. We don't always have people over, since we have a car we're always the ones going somewhere, which is fine. Though, I am having some friends over for tea & chocolate chip cookies soon. My fabulous sister sent me 4 big bags of chocolate chips (Rosemary warned me you couldn't get them here and I still couldn't believe it). I made a batch for just Blayne & I and I ate almost 2 dozen cookies in 2 days. So, I've vowed that I'll only make them when I have more help in eating them. I just start craving comforts from home. All the subtle differences begin to add up and you just want to have something familiar. But 20 cookies in 2 days is taking that a bit far. I feel this post is extra rambly. It's a bit late, and my mind is muddled, but I wanted to share a bit. I'm enjoying Ireland very much and missing home very much at the same time. Or more acurately, I'm missing the people who make home home for me. Love you all lots!

An "Early" Night

2005-10-21T17:06:00.000-07:00

This is the Rock of Cashel. A very imposing site atop a hill in the Tipperary country- side. It was the seat of the Kings of Munster for centuries until the early 1100s when the current king decided to donate it to the church. All the ruins you see are different stages of the church in the area. There is a small chapel, a very large cathedral, the castle built for protection after the cathedral, the bishop's quarters & the choisters quarters. It's amazing to imagine what it would have been like to gather for worship on this wind swept hillside in such an imposing edifice. For more cool pics of the rock check out this site:
http://www.all-ireland.com/attractions/r/rock-of-cashel.htm

This is the interior of the chapel which was built in 1169, it's very small, as you can see, and is famous for the romanesque arches and the carved faces in the arches shown in the closeup pic. I went here on Wednesday because my new friend Sarah had the afternoon free and she's leaving back to the states on Monday so we've been trying to see as much countryside as we can.

As far as what I'm doing with myself, the history study continues, but I'm still just reading surveys of large chunks of time in the hope of contextualizing the history that I'm getting to see. I'm trying to educate myself in several things that interest me and there've been some fun strides in that pursuit this past week. On Tuesday night we went to Dolan's (a pub in town where Blayne plays in the Tuesday night session with local musicians) early for the set dancing lessons. It's Irish folk dancing for couples that's sort of like square dancing. It's loads of fun to learn there; the people are so very friendly and it's great for me to be able to put movement to this music that so inspires movement! Another thing along that line is that Becky, another new friend, has taken step dance (that's the riverdance kind of thing) for 3 years and is willing to teach me and a few other folks how to do it. We had our first class today and it was great! I wasn't sure if I was going to find someone willing to teach me for free. We've all just said we'll take turn buying her pints when we all go out together as her payment.

Oh, one other highlight of this week was the Wednesday night session at the pub at Castletroy Park Hotel. This is a session started up by some folks in the program with Blayne, which is fun simply because they're all amazing musicians and they're very friendly and open. This past Wednesday there was a kick-off for a Trad Festival coming up soon and some VIPs in the Irish music world were around. So, part way through the session we see Paddy Maloney (the founder & front man for the Cheiftans) in the pub. He sort of retreated to a corner with his pint and a newspaper at first. Then as the evening progressed he got closer to the action and pulled out his whistle and started to play with the session. He said it's been ages since he'd just been at a session and he was loving it. So, that was really amazing for everyone there to be a part of.

I call this an early night because it's Friday and we were home before 1am. I'm wrapping this up and it's 1:30, so now I think I'll get to bed for an "early" start on the market tomorrow. Since we've never gotten there before 11:30am, early is a very relatvie term. The schedule is wacky, but it suits me just fine. Good night to you all. Lots of love from Ireland to wherever you are!

Our First Month

2005-10-16T09:29:00.000-07:00

So hard to believe we've been here a month already. It's now 7 months & 27 days until we return home. This ruin is along the river walk by the university...there are some old stairs that go up inside, and since I saw some people on the top of it the other day, I'm determined to climb up there some time. It's so crazy how history is just around every corner that the locals hardly take note of it.

This is Lough (say lock) Derg just west of Killaloe. I walked out to the graves of the lienstermen the other day. The sun was shining so I took off in the car after I dropped Blayne off and drove onto some lovely single lane roads with grass in the middle that were off the map and eventually made it to my destination. It was (as you can see) absolutely gorgeous! Then I came home and read about the leinstermen & why they were buried there and such. History is around every corner, but as i mentioned before they don't make all of it very accessible. So, if you want to know more about that just ask me. I will tell you that after reading that history I had strange dreams. Blayne said I woke him up talking in my sleep :0). Those Irish & Vikings were some crazy folks, but I guess not much more so than others around 1000 AD.

I had to take this picture, because I miss my dog so much and I was driving along after my walk to the graves and there on the wall on the side of the road is this cute dog. There are so many small dogs around here. On a recent hike up into the Galtee Mountains from the Glen of Aherlow we met a woman with three sheep dogs. Have I mentioned that I MISS DARCY DOG? :0) Though, Jen I appreciate the updates.

We've had so many late nights with so many amazing people. The other day during the market outside a coffee shop Blayne played with a LEGEND in Irish music who's been an instrumental part of the scene since the 1960s. And he played an incredible flute duet in Ennis the other night at Paddy Quinn's Pub. In the program itself there are at least 3 players that are rediculously amazing musicians already. On last Wednesday night we hung out with Christy Lehey (one of the best button accordian players in Ireland) and his roommate Owen (no slouch himself) and they wanted to hear US play "old time" music. It is a surreal life we are living. While I miss home and my dear friends & family VERY MUCH I am able to remind myself that I have an incredible opportunity to take advantage of here in this foreign land.

I've been learning a bit of Irish history. I think that's one way that I'll be spending my time. I joined the city library and checked out some books and I'm researching places online too. The heritage is so rich and its depth in recorded history is vast, not to mention all the prehistoric artifacts and ruins that can be discovered. In short, I'm going to do my best to make the most of my time here by learning enough to bore you all with stories of Irish history-except maybe Libby & Tim since they have a higher tolerance for that sort of thing. :0)

Well, it's late and after a glass of wine with new friends at a local pub I am very tired. I deeply wish I could share this more with all of you. Let me assert (and I really mean this) If you can come and visit us, DO please. Day trips from here only cost gas & we can picnic lunch. You can see so many amazing things within a 2 hour drive from Limerick. And how often do you get an offer of free accommodations in Ireland? Those of you that are planning a visit, we can't wait to see you. And if you're considering....go for it, just let me know when you want to come. Love you all!

Fierce & Beautiful

2005-10-11T08:22:00.000-07:00

Well, Saturday it was sunny, as in mostly sunny. After we went to the market Blayne needed to practice and I was inspired to get out into the countryside. So, I set off to the spectacular Cliffs of Moher (sounds like mower) since the last time we were there is was cloudy, cold & so windy I didn't want to venture far. I wanted to go back and do more exploring.

Since I'm limited to five pictures per post, I tried to pick the ones that told the story best. I hiked along the top of the cliffs to the north of the touristy area where it's walled off and everyone snaps their photos & goes on their way. But there is a well worn path for the more adventurous just past the wall. I walked to the north and saw people out on a large ledge and went there and laid on my belly, scooted to the edge & just peeked my head over. The wind coming up the 650 foot cliff was blasting! This picture is of the water puddled at the cliff top instead of dripping down, it's being blown straight up. And the next picture is one that I took while looking down the cliff edge to the water. The other folks on the cliff with me were hollering as they hung their heads over. I was just grinning...thinking how incredible it would be to rappel down this face on a calm day. It was inspiring and terrifying all at the same time. I was thinking how my mom would be FREAKING out if she saw me :0)

Looking from the top of cliffs, the first light colored layer of stone is the one (you can sort of see it in the near part of the pictures) that I was laying on and looking out over the sea.

I had optimistically brought my journal, but the wind gusts discouraged my using it. It was not a time for peaceful reflection, while the cliffs were beautiful, there were too fierce and dangerous to inspire less than awe and wonder.

So, this is the very windblown me after an hour and a half out on the cliffs. It was a stunning day, and I'm so glad I was able to be out there. Grey days continue to abound, though tomorrow is suppposed to be sunny, and Blayne has the day off. Oh, check out his blog...he's updated it. Right now he's having classes with Kevin Crawford...a ninja flute player. And I just temporarily gave up housecleaning to update my blog. I've been a bit under the weather the past two days, so sorry It's been a bit since I've posted. I do think of you often even as I make new friends here.

One more thing...I've been spending time getting ready for a European trip with my parents. They're coming in November, and other than travelling around Ireland for a bit, I just bought our tickets to go to Paris, Geneva, Rome & London. I'm VERY excited about it. More on that later! Love you all!

A Fine Day

2005-10-06T12:41:00.000-07:00

Here's making up for the pictures that I've not put up. I went to town today. The sun peaked out for a bit today which brightened my spirits. I don't realize how much I miss the sun until it shows up after being obscured by clouds for more than 3 days. This is King John's Castle in downtown Limerick.

This is the start of my walk along the river Shannon. There's so many swans and ducks & and I think I rambled on in a previous post how beautiful it is out there. So, now you can see some for yourself. When the sun in shining on the hills in the distance it's over- whelming how bright GREEN it is. "Verdant meadows, woodlands pleasant" comes to mind from a madrigal I learned in high school.

I'm sitting on the wall of the church ruin here looking out across the graveyard, which amazingly is still in use. There are a couple of recent tombstones and the earliest one that I could read was from the early 1700s. It's ideal for reflection. I've always liked to walk and reflect in graveyards. To think of how precious and brief life is, to read the inscriptions and think of the people who lived, laughed, wept, struggled and loved who are now gone. And to think of what is to come. There was an inscription on a tombstone in a churchyard in Williamsburg, VA that always moved me deeply. I'll see if I can't find it and share it with you.

Well, I'm going to see Pride & Prejudice tonight with three girls that are all masters students at UL. One is in Blayne's program and the others are doing the ethnomusicology masters. I'll let you know how it goes. Though one of the girls only wants to go to make fun of Kiera Knightly, and I want to give it a chance. I just can't imagine that it will hold a candle to the A&E/BBC one. Alright, enough rambling for now. Blayne and I are going for a walk. Lots of Love!

New Friends & A Place for Reflection

2005-10-04T11:35:00.000-07:00

Well, I know it's terrible that I'm not posting pics this time, but I've been too busy doing things to remember the camera. I promise improvement in that department. Well, this Friday night I'm going out to see Pride & Prejudice with Norah (one of Blayne's classmates) and her roomate Sarah (a Master's student in Ethomusicology). They are both very friendly and very fun to talk to. They are of course, much busier than I am, since they have to study. But, hopefully we'll still get to be good friends. It is so very strange that we've been here for two weeks and we've spent alot of time with new people, but we haven't had anyone over to our flat yet. Given that our house has always been central to social events it's so wierd. I'm not sure how I feel about that, except right now it just feels strange. We mostly meet people at pubs for music, oh and on Sunday afternoon after we visited church #2-a local presbyterian and methodist church (more about that in a sec) we went with our friend Mary to Bunratty folk park for the wheat threshing day. It's sort of like Centennial Village in Greeley except MUCH older things, including a 15th century castle, a manor house built in 1805, and other buildings, some of which were relocated to the site for display. It was a delight :0)

As for the church, it really had some lovely parts in the liturgy, some elements presbyterian, some methodist in tradition. we will keep on searching as the Gospel was somewhat lacking in the teaching and there were some rather awkward moments in the music. We'll keep you posted as we continue to search for a church where we'll feel at home.

On my last post I said I was going out for a ramble on the River Shannon, and I found such a wonderful spot. On the north west side of the city you can pull off by the river and walk along for about a half mile to an old church ruin with a grave yard around it. There are cows & sheep grazing nearby, the river is full of geese & swans and the rolling hills in the distance are such a vibrant green when it's a clear day (which it was for the time i was there). I was kicking myself for not bringing the camera, but I will back out there soon for more reflection and journaling time, and I promise I'll take pictures of it.

We're getting ready to head off to a session at Dolan's tonight here in town. Blayne recorded the session there last week and learned all 20 or so tunes on it that he didn't know so that he could play tonight. Have I mentioned that he is going to be a flute ROCK STAR by the time we get back. He is loving things musically here. So, goodnight & God bless. Love you all!

We're official & Great Craic

2005-09-30T13:04:00.000-07:00

We had our appointment with immigration and we're officially legal to stay here til June. It was a pretty painless experience and I'm glad it's done with. I had to print some things out for it at the University and it took me over an hour to do it. Only because I had to go to four different places to get it to work properly. Not sure if I'll get used to those differences in the coming months.

We've been going to sessions pretty much every night. This was taken at Dolan's here in Limerick. It was mostly undergrads from the University playing and they were amazing! Our first night out we met Eanna and Mary, two ladies whose energy astounds me. They go to sessions every night. Eanna because she's a musician who's learning to play the fiddle, and Mary because she loves the music & the people. They gave us a list of sessions to check out every night and we've been with them quite a bit this week.

Last night we went to a session in Kilkisheen (accent on the middle syllable) in the middle of the country and it was something else. I'm not sure I can describe it for you. It was in the old kitchen part of an old pub. the owners, pat & nanci in their 70s and puttering around helping people out. Every one knew every one else and they played and sang-and asked us to play and sing and it was delightful. Pat came in starting about 1:15 a.m. yelling for everyone to go home and half an hour later everyone's still around chatting. Mary told us if we waited around Nanci would serve us tea and sandwiches, but we were pretty beat. We got home around 230 a.m. What a lovely night. I wish I could describe it better for you...just know it was great craic there (say "crack"), which means that the people were friendly and joyous and the music was lively and the feeling of being there was welcoming and warm. Well, we've slept in (for good reason) and are now heading off to the Saturday market in Limerick. Love you all and I'll write more soon.

A little later.... Just got back from the market and it was lovely! Got fresh veggies & yummy pastries and beautiful cheeses. We took two of our pastries to a pub right outside the market and had tea & coffee (I'll let you guess who had which ;0) and a wonderful snack. It's a fine day (that means there's bouts of sun between the clouds & mist) and I'm going to go out for a ramble along the river. Kind of getting into this Irish thing. Good to know there's a warmth here that makes up for the weather. Thinking of so many of you at different moments that I know you'd love to share in and I'd love to share with you. Lots of love!

The end of the Rainbow

2005-09-27T12:38:00.000-07:00

These shots were taken on the campus where the river Shannon goes through. It's beautiful. As I was strolling along taking these shots I was greeted by two dogs that I was glad to see (have I mentioned that I miss Darcy dog?-check out how she's being abused, uh, i mean loved at the cheateu de Libby/Jen/Rosemary at the blog link on the right). I met the dog's (name whisky and brandy) very kind owner, Peig & Tony Loughran and we chatted for quite a while. They live here in Limerick, have kids my age and younger and were so kind and Peig gave me her number. I think I'll call her tomorrow to see if she's into Pride and Prejudice. The movie's out here with Keira Knightly, and as much as the previews offend my sensibilites, i have to see it. If for nothing else, so that Libby & Carol & I can criticize it :0)

This is the session we went to last night in Ennis, just 20 miles up the road. The night before we went to one here in town that was fun. The one in Ennis had some tense moments as session etiquete was apparently unknown to this womand who just began playing her harmonica mid tune (in a very poor attempt to complement the music). The co-leader of the session was clearly irritated and giving her evil looks. It was funny (even I picked up on the what the heck is going on with that lady?). So, that was strange, but some of the tunes were amazing. (sans harmonica) As we drove back last night I saw stars for the first time since we've been here. I didn't realize how much I'd missed them til I saw them. I love the night sky.

I wish this picture could show how vibrant and amazing this rainbow was. We thought about going to catch the leprechaun at the end and cash in on the pot of gold :0) We drove down to see Hammy Hamilton (an amazing flute maker and tune writer-Blayne plays his tunes) and checked out his shop and he was great-so accessible and kind. He lives in the mountains and it was breathtaking, rounding curves in the road and seeing sunlit hilltops backed by rocky "mountains". Such a different sort of beauty than home. Everything is so GREEN. We're getting ready to head out to a session, so I've got to run. Lots of love!

Church Hunting

2005-09-25T11:47:00.000-07:00

Well, the church we went to today was good in that it was a really good sermon and everything said was really Biblical. The sermon was on our need for the Gospel, so it was edifying in that way. The music, wasn't badly done...there actually was a really great trumpet player playing along really tastefully. The song choice was a bit rough for us. Lots of me & Jesus sorts of songs. One was a bit more Christ focused, but that wouldn't have been a big deal for us if there hadn't been these long pauses with the guitar still strumming between songs that people continued to randomly sing and pray and talk and praise and read. I don't doubt that these people were worshiping, and it the midst of this some people decided to share some scripture and that was good, but it was just very strange and when I thought of it as a cultural experience and asked God to make it worshipful even thought it was SO different, I did hear some truth and was encouraged, but we will keep looking for a church to go to. Pretty sure we coudn't do that every week.

So, there's that. Enjoy your church & don't take it for granted! That's today's lesson :0) And St. Pats, WE MISS YOU especially today. I came home and attempted to play some hymns on the guitar to sing along with. I'd gotten much more comfy with the piano lately for hymns and have to get MUCH better on the guitar before it's fun to sing along, and not painful (for my ears and my fingers).

Tomorrow is the lunch with everyone in Blayne's program. He's ready to get started. We're feeling pretty settled, though there are still a few more things to attend to. We are getting ready to head out to a local pub for some trad music tonight at half nine (I'm trying to get used to the local terms for time). Getting ready to enjoy my first pint of Guinness since we've been here. I know some of you are shocked and appaled (as am I a little bit). But I will savor it and think of the many of you I'd like to share a pint with and have a chat. Love you all!

Our First Travel Day!

2005-09-24T14:02:00.000-07:00

(psst...You can click on any picture to see a larger image of it)
Here's a shot out of the window as we drove down to Cork & Kinsale today. It was a beautiful day until it started raining ;0) But that wasn't until around 5 p.m. so the weather held out pretty well for us.

Here we are the edge of the cliffs at the Old Head of Kinsale. The views are stunning there. It made me want to rapel down and climb back up. I'll be signing up with the outdoor society this coming week, so that will cure the climbing bug.

Blayne really wished he had one of his gliders with him today to do some slope soaring. He said the cliffs there were perfect for it. (Surprisingly, he was not inspired to rapel & climb).

That's our little micra on the side of the road there, and me happy to be alive in that moment and at that spot. The very end of the point is a golf course. It's amazing and has a lighthouse and a few castle ruins on the course. We were not allowed on the premises...members and guests only of course. Quite right.

All in all it was a lovely day. We had a seafood dinner in Kinsale (no, Champ was not there with Dorothy Mantooth) and then drove back in the rain. We're going to check out a church tomorrow that Andy Hubbard (a Nashville friend) connected us with through his friends in Dublin. We'll let you know how it goes. Love you all!

Our Micra Machine

2005-09-23T12:12:00.000-07:00

Well, we thought we could get away without a car, but we were wrong. I know, some of you are laughing right now.

On Thursday we went through post-grad orientation with other folks in Blayne's program. It was wonderful to get to meet the people he'll be learning with this year. They are very friendly and fun to be with. Several of them are from around here in Ireland and told us that the best local sessions are out in the countryside and go til 1 or 2 in the morning, and when they heard we didn't have a car they said "that won't do at all".

So, here is our little micra. After lots of help from Matt Chafin (our insurance agent in the states) and quite a few phone calls, and two bus trips to Nenagh (say nina) about 25 miles out from where we live, we have our own Nissian Micra. It's tiny, but (Jen, prepare to be jealous) it gets 52 mpg on the highway (not that there are many of those around here, but it's still rocks-or as the locals say "it's brilliant".

Here's Blayne lounging on one of the two sofas in our apartment. I'm sitting on that sofa now looking through the album that David & Natalie made for us...it's so good to see faces of dear friends and laugh at such fun memories. I'm looking forward to making those sorts of memories here and to hearing how things are going on with all of you. I'm missing home a bit right now, it's Friday night and we're just chilling (wierd, huh?). But our adventures here are only beginning.

So, tomorrow we'll be out for a drive around the countryside. We are very much looking forward to the freedom we'll have with a car! It's been a strange week for us, but good. Good to be together in this adventure. It alternates between really busy and thumb twiddling. I'm looking forward to getting into the rythym of life next week as Blayne begins his program.

Well, I'm cooking dinner and it's just about ready, so I need to run, but love you all lots!

Getting Settled

2005-09-21T13:53:00.000-07:00

Well, we arrived Sunday evening around 6:30 p.m. and finally on Wednesday around 5:30 p.m. we have internet. We are addicts to it and I confess that without a phone on the premises and no internet we have felt very cut off from the world. Some times that feels good (right, Jake?) and sometimes you want to let the people you love know that you are alive. So far, the main culture shock has just been inconvenience. We Americans are so spoiled in this way-I had no idea how much so! You ask a question about when you'll have a phone, when will the internet work, etc and they say, oh i don't know. i guess that I'm going to have to die to some of my obsession with efficiency (that will bring joy to some of you and sorrow to others :0)

Tuesday night we met a neighbor, Jing Lu (NOT Irish :0) who was kind enough to let us use his phone to call the states-a quick call to my mom who called a few others-hopefully most of you worried ones got the word. Being in Jing's apartment led to a discussion of his being a beginner guitar player, to Blayne teaching him a little, to us being invited to his place for delicious Chinese food tonight. 5 neighbors and Blayne & I gathered in their cozy apartment around a table for 4 and ate a Chinese food feast-even some tripe was on the table. We did not expect our cultural experience to extend beyond Ireland. But here in our complex we've met Germans, Spanish, Chinese & of course, Irish.

We've mostly just been getting settled and getting necessities, though we did head into Limerick city yesterday (10 minute bus ride away) and wandered around town into St. Mary's cathedral, built in 1138. It is still surreal that we are in IRELAND!! What the heck? The rolling green hills & the river Shannon are right next to the University. It is beautiful. And our place is simple, small & clean. It's a simple life so far, maybe it will stay that way, but you know me.

Blayne's orientation for his program begins tomorrow, so we'll get the tour of campus, get to sign up for clubs (me too..I've already asked and I can join the outdoor society....I can't let my climbing shoes & harness go unused since I brought them all this way.) It's good to be in touch with the world again. Hope that you're all doing very well. And love you lots!

PS...CHECK OUT BLAYNE'S BLOG (link on the right sidebar) FOR PICS OF THE MOSTLY FINISHED KITCHEN IN THE LOFT!!