Playing catch-up on a couple of trips this year...

Hi! This is Greg again. We thought we'd post a few pictures from our trips to Portugal (in May) and Washington, D.C. (August).

This is the lighthouse in Leça da Palmeira...

And a delicious bola de Berlim!!!

The beautiful Michelle at the beautiful beach of Espinho...

 And the beautiful Michelle trying to get into the castle at Santa Maria da Feira.

I had an engineering conference in D.C. in August. Michelle came along to visit her family.

Happy travels!

Our Genuine Spinning Wheel (in progress)

Hello! Due to popular request, we're putting up a couple pictures of the progress of our spinning wheel. The smaller thing in the bottom left of this first picture is the flyer, with the bobbin on. 

And here is the wheel, nice and round now, with the axle.

Why are we making a spinning wheel? Well, we just think it's fun. And Michelle got me some "mohair" (that's Angora goat wool) for my birthday to spin into yarn. Someday we'll make a loom too, and maybe raise some goats or sheep or Angora rabbits ourselves (or grow flax). It gives us something creative to do, too, while we're watching a movie.

finished projects and some of our summer adventures

Would you like a tour of our new apartment and a look at some finished projects? Here you go! Greg and I have had a wonderful summer, and have enjoyed the start to the new school year. Greg and I look forward to the crisp days of autumn - which means apples and fall leaves and apple pie for Greg and lots of good memories for both of us. We look forward to doing some canning of apples. We have already had some adventures with canning this year. In July, we canned cherry pie filling.

And, about 2 weeks later, we had just one jar unopened - we make really good pie filling  :)

 I finished backing and tying a quilt top I was given - it made a very pretty quilt, which made for a very happy niece.

I tried my hand at making a baby blanket - this is gender neutral, don't you think?

Greg helped me figure out how to make covers for pillows that are removable and thus washable :) I enjoyed picking the colors and buttons - I really like the way they look on our couch.

I made some seat cushions for our dining room chairs with Greg's help - 

I made some more cushion covers for decorative pillows for our bed as well...

Greg and I finished our dining room chairs! We made a set of four chairs for less than $50.

Greg made a new slat for the back of this rocking chair (which we got for $5 at a yard sale), and then we cleaned it up and doesn't it look nice! We like it a lot.

Greg and I got to visit the John R. Moyle farm on Pioneer Day - he is the stonecutter who walked over 20 miles each way from Alpine to Salt Lake to work on the Salt lake temple, and he did this for over 20 years with a wooden leg he designed himself. He carved "Holiness to the Lord" on the face of the temple - what an amazing man!

And we have hiked Bridal Veil falls this summer - it was really beautiful when we went in mid-July. 

And there is a bit of what we have been up to - I hope you enjoyed it!

Oh and Bytheway...

Some books I have been reading off and on recently and been enjoying are the following:

-A biography about George C. Marshall, written by Mark Stoler.
- "Paradise Beneath her feet" a book about Islamic women and their role in reshaping Islamic society as it changes.
- "Democracy - An American Novel" by Henry Adams. Entertaining and thought provoking - I enjoyed it.

Greg and I have been listening to "Little Women" (which Greg had not read before) on Librivox.org - a great website where you can listen to books online for free. It is a project linked to the Gutenberg project I think.

Greg and I are also reading the "Little House on the Prairie" series together (which is also a new experience for Greg) when we drive in the car - and we really enjoy it. It is fun to share some of my favorite books and childhood favorites with Greg.

This post is really just as a record for myself I think - but also to let you know what we are up to these days...

Updates

Yes! We are still alive, and we are doing well.

What has happened since April 18?

Well, we graduated together!
We went to Portugal!
We finished sanding and staining an oak table we got at Deseret Industries!
We went to a symposium where our cousin presented.
We got to have my brother D. stay with us before he went to Texas, which was really fun.
We decided to build our own kitchen chairs instead of buying them, and they are coming along nicely!
We are excited that we are saving a bundle of money by building them - I think that they will be cheaper than buying them at D.I., and better because we have the satisfaction of making them ourselves. Greg is so clever!
We finished our mandolin, and have enjoyed playing it often.
We are excited to go to a Teichert family reunion next week.
We went camping!
We have been enjoying several BBC miniseries - namely "Wives and Daughters" and "Cranford" and "Return to Cranford" - and Greg likes them!
We have been blessed in many ways....
We tried to help rescue a baby duck stuck at the bottom of a storm drain.
We are dog-sitting for some friends.



If you couldn't tell, I don't have all the pictures to go with these developments, but they will come soon! In the meantime, I hope that you are all well (if anyone still reads this blog) and that you are having a great summer!

What have we been doing?

For all my dear family members whom I have not yet personally called or emailed within the past few months to let you know what is going on in our lives, I thought that perhaps this blog post might help!

Greg is wonderful as usual, and is working on his Master's in Mechanical Engineering. He is going to do research during this summer, and may even be finished with his degree by April 2012 - we shall see how research goes :) He is working on some exciting research, developing microneedles that are tiny - think teeny tiny! Greg and I were recently blessed in such a way that we were shocked and amazed to receive it - a blessing where we felt there was almost not room enough to receive it. Greg applied for and received (with the kind help of his awesome professors) a fellowship from the National Science Foundation - and only 2,000 students throughout the whole U.S.A. get these! It is a fellowship that pays for his tuition, and gives a very very very generous stipend in addition to that - for three years! Greg is thus going to go on and do a PhD - so we may be coming east within the next few years! We are sure that we are not going to do his PhD at BYU, but at another school. We are so grateful, and so proud of Greg!

I am finished with school! Since April 1 actually. Since I only had two GEs to finish in order to get my degree, I finished them through independent study. I had to have taken the final exams by April 1st, and thus March 31st found me in the testing center taking my last calculus final EVER. It felt good :) I have since been asked the question, "So, what are you doing now?" Well, Greg and I look forward to the time when our family will grow larger, but as that time has not happened yet, here is a snapshot of some things I am doing:

Window/Container Gardening! I am excited about the onions (yum!), carrots, and cucumbers we are growing. I also am trying to grow wheat sprouts, as I hear that they are really nutritious, and I hope that they are good in sandwiches as a substitute for lettuce.

They are sprouting! I love spring! I love the experiment of planting a seed, and hoping it will grow, and then watering it diligently, and seeing the fruits of labor and faith! I love getting my hands in the earth, and knowing of the potential for good growth there is in soil. 

I have been knitting a little too - Greg gave me this knitting loom for Christmas! I have loved making scarves on it, and am now trying my hand at making a blanket....

I have been reading - and really enjoying this book. It helps me to appreciate the fact that no matter what we think we may know, there is so much more to a person and his or her decisions than what others say about them. Pres. Bush is a man to be admired, in my opinion. Other books that I have enjoyed reading recently include "To Kill a Mockingbird," "Uncle Tom's Cabin," and "The Little House in the Big Woods" Series again :)

Did you know Greg and I are going to Portugal in May? We are! We are excited to spend time there visiting the people that he taught when he served his mission there, as well as tasting pastries, and eating good portuguese bread, and seeing castles, etc.

I have been trying new recipes, and enjoying the time I have to practice my homemaking skills.

Yet, this book was not my favorite - it reduced homemaking to something of a science - and while it would be a useful handbook to have on hand to know how to care for every type of fabric known to mankind, it is not as illuminating as the words of the prophets are when it comes to how to create a home atmosphere that will keep a family safe and strong.

I have been cleaning, vacuuming...

I have been making bread...

And I have really enjoyed putting gems that I find as I read up on this wall in front of the desk where I keep my computer. One of my all-time favorite quotes is this: 

"But whatever the era, whatever the times, one thing will never change: Father and mothers, if you have children, they must come first. You must read to your children and you must hug your children and you must love your children. Your success as a family, our success as a society, depends not on what happens in the White House, but on what happens inside your house" (First Lady Barbara Bush - Washington Post, 2 June 1990, pg. 2).

I look forward to the time when I can put this into action. I firmly believe that I can help to change the world by teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that the most important place where I can start to do that is in our home. 

Updates on our lives - Thanksgiving (5 months later...)

Hello to any of you who still occasionally check this blog! I apologize for not updating it sooner! Since you may be wondering if we are still alive and well (or even if you weren't wondering), it is my pleasure to report that we are indeed, both alive and well :)
To prove to you that we have been alive and well in the past, I now pledge to update you on some of the significant happenings for which we have pictures from the past few months. Let's start with Thanksgiving :) As you can see from below, I am excited for the day, and Greg and I started cooking together pretty early for a holiday morning (about 9:00am I think). We were so excited that we would get to spend the day with several of Greg's family members and my sister - what a wonderful family we have! They are so fun to be with! The sad absence of my brother is due to the draw of Disneyland - but hey, who can blame him when he had a chance to go? He had a good Thanksgiving too - that is what matters most :)

Greg likes to take pictures of me for some reason - I did not ask him to take this picture...

This is my cute husband :)

We both seem to like this pose :) This is us having fun with the camera as we make mashed potatoes for potato rolls - arguably the best part of Thanksgiving (after the stuffing...he he:)

Do you know- I did not try to get this floury - but I managed it :) Part of the fun of baking is looking like what you make, isn't it? To this day, I often end up with dough in my hair or flour on my cheek or arms when I make bread. I suppose that I just really like bread, and bread likes me - bread and I very fully agree!

One of Greg's favorite parts of Thanksgiving is mashed potatoes - here he is enjoying the leftover mashed potatoes from those we needed to make the potato rolls - doesn't he look happy with that spoonful of mashed potatoes? Let's get a closeup:

You would think that Greg doesn't need Thanksgiving dinner after these mashed potatoes - one of the things I love about Greg is that he is easy to please - easily content :)

After the cooking was started, our family started to arrive! Here we see two of our nephews and my beautiful sis making apple turkeys - with gumdrops and toothpicks and apples - great table decor, and lots of fun!

Proof of how beautiful and awesome my sister is - look at her smile! Kids adore her wherever she goes, and it's no wonder why - she is awesome!

This is Greg and his brother Kendall as they talk to one of our siblings in another state - I am so grateful for the technology of today that enables us to keep in touch even when we are snowstorms and miles and mountains away from each other! 

 A closeup of an apple turkey :)

The great thing about apple turkeys are that they are so much fun to make! For adults and kids alike - Isaac and Moroni had a good time making them I think...

This is one of my favorite pictures of the holiday - Greg and Kendall look alike, and are very alike in so many good ways - they are both so kind, selfless, patient, and listen so well - and are so fun to be around! Here they are peeling potatoes for the mashed potatoes - proof of how good they are!

This is the one where Kendall smiled so I could get a good picture :) 

This was our feast table - we were so blessed to have such good food, and in such bounty! It must be noted here that  Grandpa Bezzant is one of the main founders of the feast - he let us use his table and dishes etc. for the dinner, and let us use his main level to entertain our family while he was away with other family in California. He is the epitome of generosity I think. Each of our family members contributed to the meal as well - which made it a lighter burden for each of us. Dad Cummings supported our family get-together as well! Thank you Dad!!!

My attempt at a close-up mouthwatering shot of our table goods...not quite ready for Southern Living, eh....

Daniel preparing to sit down....

This was one of the cutest members of our Thanksgiving day meal - Joy!

And all of this cooking, decorating, preparing, talking, laughing, etc. was accompanied by Christmas music, family games such as Quiddler and Blink, lots of good pie, and wonderful family :) We had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!! We hope that you did too!