Owen is getting so big! + FO

My nephew, Owen, is getting so big.  I can't get over it!

I had a chance to babysit him in August and he was just adorable!

The dog, Dakota, was on clean up duty of Cheerios.

Owen loves to get kisses from the dog.

Owen had an ear infection so he wasn't feeling well later, but he liked to snuggle and watch baby einsteins.

My sister had some great photos for when he was 11 months in September!

I love this next one, I think he's adorable when he's crying.

There were also some great photos from August for when he was 10 months.

See the blanket? huh huh huh?  :-)  I love that blanket!

I can't believe he's going to be 1 year old in 6 days!  For his birthday, Aunt Sam made him a jacket.

You remember the Owen Hoodie I showed you last WIP Wednesday.  I finished it!

Putting in the zipper was fiddly, but actually not that bad.  I'd do it again.

Details:
Pattern: R&R Hoodie
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in color Autumn Red
Needles:  US 4 - 3.5mm and US 5 - 3.75mm
Time: 2.5 months (I stopped working on it to make Baby Boy Stripes)
Ravelry:  R&R Hoodie for Owen

As soon as I can, I'll post a photo of Owen wearing his hoodie.  My sister actually just sent me a photo of Owen wearing the sweater I made him for his baptism.

He should be able to wear it all winter because it is still a little big on him!

Sam <3



My Boys Toby and Jimmy

I don't think I've told you lately just how cute my puppies are, I mean, seriously, look at them.

They cuddle each other.

Toby has a tendency to sleep upside down.

They are not morning puppies.  They like to sleep in.

Last week, I tried to get a new picture of them for the background on my phone.  It is very hard to get them to both look at me for a photo.

Who knew, that all it took was a whistle?  I will forever keep that in my back pocket!

I just think my pups are so stinking cute!

They snuggle with Dave all the time.  Jimmy has become Daddy's little boy.

We even got a family photo during our engagement photo session (I'll post photos of that later).

It's amazing how they can grab so much of your heart.  Do you have pets that just tug on your heartstrings?

Sam :-D

ETA: fixed last photo

Pirates Game and Gavin DeGraw Concert

At the end of August, my sister and I decided to go to the Pirate game that had a Gavin DeGraw concert afterwards.  We love his music.

Missy is pretty good at taking selfies.  Mine are always crooked.

We got a chance to spend part of the game in a suite (it was really hot out!).  The view from our seats was pretty good for the concert.

We had the option to go on the field, but the last time we did that the sound was really bad because of the speaker placement.  My friend Ashley was on the field and she got a few good photos.

The view from inside PNC Park still amazes me.  The view of the city is spectacular.

Missy and I tried to get some photos of the city at night on our walk back to the car with mediocre success.  A lot of them are blurry.



It is always a good time when Missy and I get to hang out and this night was no exception.

Sam <3

New River Gorge

In the middle of August I went on a girls weekend trip.  We went to New River Gorge in West Virginia.  There were 7 of us and we stayed in this super cute little house that had a hot tub!  There were all kinds of things to do in the area that it was kind of hard to choose what to do!

My sister Missy took a selfie on the 3.5 hour drive.

On the first full day we were there, 3 of us, Missy, Brandy, and I, went on a bike ride.  That sounds simple, but we had a guided tour on mountain biking trails.  I've never been mountain biking before.  Turns out 14 miles of hills CAN be fun!

A lot of these photos were taken during breaks, because we needed a lot of breaks.

Tour guide Joel did not need breaks.

We got to stop at a waterfall.

This next picture shows the New River Gorge Bridge in the background:

Then us, under the bridge:

Many parts of the trail had drop offs...

...which made me realize that there are times where heights make me really nervous.

I'm glad I did that bike ride because I felt so accomplished afterwards.  It was hard and I did it!  I may have a few bruises to show for it.

This was a jam packed day because there's more.  We went zip lining that evening.  We did the Gravity Zip Lines and the longest zip was over 3,000 ft long!  Supposedly we got up to 50mph.  Four of us went zip lining that night, the three above, plus Andria.

Even later that night we all went out to dinner, it was a great pizza place called Pies and Pints.

Then even later that night, some of us relaxed in the hot tub.

The next day we did our other half of our zip lining package.  This one was called TreeTops Canopy Tour.  We zipped around from treetop to treetop and went on a few bridges too.  This one was a blast too!

There was a couple that came with us that we didn't know to round out the group.  Tour guide Jillian on the right loved us girls, we were her favorite! :-)

That night we all went out to dinner again.

I can't say enough how much fun I had on this trip!  It was great!  I would definitely go again.  We didn't stay on the resort, but the Adventures on the Gorge Resort was pretty cool.  We'd consider staying in a cabin there.

I got a tshirt from the shop at the resort.  I figured it was fitting since we did the zip lining tours.  I don't usually like shirts that just say a location across it, plus this shirt is that dryfit materia.

The group of girls I went with are pretty cool too!  Some of them are my soccer teammates and the rest are soccer wives.

Sam <3