Ronnie came to visit!

Since we have moved to Arizona, we have not had many visitors. However, Ronnie's work provided a conference for him in Scottsdale, and that meant that we got to visit! We had a great time catching up. I only wish we had more time to spend together, that the random rainstorm didn't come while he was here, and that we could've seen the rest of his cute little family. While I didn't get the camera out for pictures, I did capture this spontaneous fun Ronnie had on the trampoline during a break from his conference and a break in the weather...

Enjoy!

Sunrise

 One of the benefits of getting up super early is seeing a beautiful sky like this one!

Chess

 Kara joined her school's Chess team... she's been going to tournaments. This past Thursday was at the Jr High closest to our house (although it's not the one she attends). I decided to go and watch her play.

She is new to the game of Chess, and like most things she feels a lot more confident than maybe she ought to be. She has a hard time being patient enough to think through her moves, so in tournament play she rushes and has not had much success.

However, this tournament was a little different. It was the first tournament after she had been working with her Russian Chess champion coach, Nikolai. I helped remind her of some of the strategies she was taught by Nikolai. She came away with her first win in a tournament! :) Her smiling face says how excited she was to finally win in a tournament setting!

over 10 years in the making...

 I finally finished Brooke's baby blanket!

I was excited while we were expecting Brooke to know ahead of time that she would be a girl... that meant that I could skip the gender neutral colors that I used for Kara's baby blanket. However, in doing this project, I learned that I like working on projects that are all one piece, even if you have to change colors. This blanket required making 35 octagons, 20 squares, stitching them together, then filling in the gaps and putting on a border. Towards the end of my pregnancy, I was still working and put on bedrest. Having a 2 year old at home didn't help much. I finished the octagons, but put the blanket away to finish another time before I was all the way done.

Fast forward a couple of years... I found the pieces to the blanket, but I had lost the pattern book. I tried searching craft stores and online for it for the next couple of years, but had no luck. At one point I decided I would stitch together the octagons and make up my own pattern from there. I got stuck and frustrated and put it back away.

Two moves later, I found the pattern again! And the pieces! So finally last week I set out to finish this... Brooke was very excited to see me working on it!

And here are the pictures of the finished blanket! I'm going to wash it and then Brooke can enjoy it! One more seriously old project that's finished nagging me!