When you say nothing at all...

So in the past week I had three people ask me if I was going to start blogging again. It made me realize just how long it had been since I wrote. Don't ask me why I stopped. I don't know. I actually really enjoy writing. I enjoy finding the right words to express myself. Call me a nerd but I find words fascinating. I have in the past, pulled out a dictionary and just started reading. That helped these past three months as I played alot of boggle with my parents.

Not only is it aptly using the language, but I really enjoy painting a picture of my thoughts to share. To give you a glimpse into me. To share some of myself with you. I sometimes find that funny because I really struggle when I have conversations with people. I usually leave the conversation replaying it back in my mind and feeling that I don't express myself well. I think that's why I like writing so much because I can put more thought into exactly what I want to say.

I also think that's why enjoy taking pictures so much. I am able to share what I see. To let you see through my eyes. See what moves me and fills me with awe. What makes me happy and makes me smile. I love capturing a moment to keep forever. The split second of time that is gone so quickly. To have a tangible thing to hold onto to help keep a memory. I often take my camera with me when I go out and force people to have their pictures taken. I can't tell you how grateful I am to have pictures to refresh in my mind a event that meant so much to me.

I once thought about what is my favorite thing to photograph and I don't think I could say it's any one thing. There is so much amazing beauty out there. In the vast and majestic. In the small and minute. The expressiveness of a smile or the eyes. The elegance of body lines. Creatures, cute and furry or sleek and graceful. Things taken for granted and often overlooked. I love it all.

A Hair-raising Experience

Yesterday I got to go with some of my family to the science museum in Cleveland. It was so much fun. I haven't been to a science museum in years. This one had all sorts of displays to play with. I think they were trying to teach you stuff but I just ignored that. My favorite display was the one where they give you a electrical charge that literally makes your hair stand on end. My mom, sister, brother and I went on at the same time but because my hair was shorter it stuck up better. I don't it'd work for a everyday look for me but maybe every once in a while I should do this. What do you think?

Praying for sunny days...

One of the funny things about northeast Ohio is that no matter where you go you can always start up a conversation with people by just mentioning the weather. One of the reasons is we have crazy weather here. One day we can have a incredible day of sunshine and warm weather (relatively speaking) the next it can be horribly cold and gray. Case in point was last week Friday I went out with my sister to keep her company while she went grocery shopping. It was warm enough for me to get away with just wearing a long sleeve shirt and and hoodie. Everyone one else was out in shorts and tees. It was so nice to be out and to not be freezing that I even walked home from my sisters place. Something I haven't done in awhile. The extent of my going out is running from the house to the car and from the car to wherever I'm going. It's been so bad. I haven't wanted to go anywhere. I feel like a bear, big, fluffy and just wanting to stay in the cave and hibernate. Believe me 68 felt great after the temps we have been having around here. Tuesday was 17. Yeah that's 17. Brrrrr, On Saturday the day though not too bad was definitely cooler at 53 which dropped to 43 by the afternoon but rose to 55 again in the evening after the the sun set. Like I said we have crazy weather here. Today is as gray as it comes and rainy. And though it really isn't that cold temperature wise, it's hovering right above freezing so the rain doesn't turn to snow, it almost seems colder because it's wet.

When you have days like we had on Friday around here you have to take advantage of it and take advantage of it we did. Dad pulled out the grill and that night we had steak, yum! To my dad grilling steak is a art form. He goes out and selects the perfect steaks. Nice marbling and thick. Then he seasons it so wonderfully that even now my mouth is watering. He starts with garlic and uno seasoning. Then finishes with parmesan cheese... mmmmm. Accompanied by a baked potato and a nice salad, it doesn't get much better then that. As you can tell it doesn't take much to make me happy.

Yesterday was another day of just spending time with my family. We drove out to Erie PA which is about a hour away from us. You know it's strange how I have no problem driving a hour here to go to somewhere. 30 min away, no prob. An hour, what's that? Nothing. But having to drive a hour in Hawaii is crazy long! I guess it's all relative. Though part of it might be that where we live doesn't have bad traffic on the highways. It's all pretty much clear sailing the whole way. That really helps. So we just kinda cruised all afternoon and ended up at the dollar theater. We watched two movies and even with my large family we got in paying less then what it would cost you to watch it in the regular theater. Who cares that the movies were already out of the other theaters. We hadn't seen them and I throughly enjoyed them. We watched Bedtime Stories which was hilarious and Inkheart which was very good. Both had such interesting plots, very original. It's just funny that they both came out around the same time. Because they are different in their stories lines but yet there are similarities. Such as stories coming to life.

My family does something that must drive people nuts when they go to the movies with any of us. And especially the poor theater workers. We like to stay to the very end. We enjoy to watch the credits. One reason is that is some movies will place little things at the very end (Iron Man, X-Men: The Last Stand, etc). Another reason is that we enjoy looking at the names of people who crewed the movie. I have always found names to be fascinating and sometimes extremely funny. The one that took the prize yesterday will probably be a favorite of mine from now on. Are you ready for it, the name was "Fuzzy Goat". I love it! Isn't it great. What a unfortunate name. Poor guy!

Rena found a new friend

I love this pic. This is Jon enjoying a good book at a store in Erie.

Joe

Whatcha listening to Dara?

Daddy (Ray) reading to Judah

I need a hero...

Today I was almost heroic. I tried but unfortunately for me it just wasn't my time. It all started when my oldest sister came over. She was making dinner tonight. She asked if I had heard from my second oldest sister, Dara. Dara had some ingredients the Ange needed. Dara was over at her place with 2 of my other sisters, Melody and Katy. They were spending time over there keeping her company while my brother-in-law is away for the month with the National Guard. My oldest sister said she tried to call them all several times and no one was answering. We thought it was a little weird considering that they had 4 phones over there and no one was answering. Finally after I tried to call them again we decided that someone should go over there. You have to watch out over here in the winter time for carbon monoxide poisoning. It's odorless and most people don't know what is happening to them until it's to late. In most cases it's fatal. Then there was the exhaust smell my sister smelled in the house a couple weeks ago. Also a bad thing. So here I was all amped up, ready to bust down the door if they didn't answer it. Luckily for them and me they answered the door. As it turns out Mel and Katy's phones were dead, Dara left her phone upstairs and the house phone wasn't plugged in or something like that. I'm so glad that I didn't have to break down a door and that all were ok. I was all ready to be Superwoman or Xena. Like I said I was on amped up on a adrenaline high and then nothing. I felt happy but a little let down.

Right now we are watching The Chronicles of Narnia. What a great movie! A couple days ago I started to read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to my youngest brothers. My oldest sister started to read this to them 2 years ago but they were too young to really get into them. But now they are loving it. This series was the first 'real' books that I read. I was probably about 7 or 8. It has been a favorite ever since. It's funny though that now that there is a movie my brothers compare it to the books. We'll read and the boys will say "that's not in the movie!" Now that they are reading the books they will see something that they left out or added in in the movie and they will comment on it. I'm just glad that they are now finding the excitement and thrill of a great book!

Baby it's cold outside...

I sit here in the living room all snuggled up watching it snow once again. It can be so pretty watching it snow, just as long as I'm watching it from here in the warmth. I will admit that the snow and ice can be beautiful. I just don't like the cold that goes with it. Last week some of my siblings were out playing in snow. They had a great time. They played Pie and made snow tunnels and there was a fleeting moment of insanity for me. I actually had a moment of wanting to go join them, I quickly overcame it. Sooner or later I suppose I will have to go out and play. It just no longer appeals to me. Maybe I'm just getting old.

Jon, Katy and Joe playing pie

That's actually been feeling that I've been having alot lately. Though some of that might be the fact that I done things with the teens. They seem so young. I just look at them and think, these are all kids that were in my children's church when I taught. Kids that I have known from the time they were babies. My youngest sister is one of the oldest kids in the youth group for goodness sake! Since I was here I went to Youth Convention with the youth group. Youth Convention is a time for a couple thousand teens from all over Ohio to get together and get fired up for God. It was awesome! I had a blast though I kept thinking that I was surrounded by babies. These kids surely couldn't be old enough. And doesn't that make me the old fogey. It's pitiful.

Emily and Katy

The theme of the Convention