GO WEST, YOUNG MAN! (and old man and women , and children!)!

Little did I know when I used to read these classic Horatio Alger novels to our homeschooled children, that one of them would actually choose to "Go West!" Alger's themes were often about the downtrodden young man that works hard and makes good in the world by striving and showing diligence.

On Monday we spent all day getting ready to follow Kori and Rhiannon and the girls to join JT in Colorado Springs. We vacuumed the air out of plastic bags full of pillows, blankets, and etc. to make more packing room in the vehicles. Both vehicles were filled to the gills!

We borrowed a car top carrier--and it was a good thing! Clint packed all our luggage in there and saved the back of the van for Kori and JT's household items! Plus Kori had her vehicle full as well. Moving across country is not an easy task.

Rhiannon and Kori and the girls left at 3:30 Tuesday morning and we left at 7:30. We finally met in York, Nebraska after a long day of driving--uneventful, thankfully, and stayed there last night!

Thanks for the prayers! We really felt the Lord watching over our traveling. More on the sock evolution and trip progress soon. Blessings, LORI

THE EVOLUTION OF A SOCK AND OTHER FALL PROJECTS

It seems like I've really worked hard this week! Everyday it was one big project after another. We are trying to get alot of little details done in preparation for our big trip out west in just a few days!

This trip came up suddenly and so we are scrambling to prepare in a number of ways. I never thought I'd get my applesauce and spaghetti sauce canned before leaving, but you see it--all done! I didn't do as much this year since we have leftover from other years and with half the family out west, we will use less as family dinners will be less frequent.

I had frozen tomato juice as I got enough tomatoes out of the garden little by little. I got it all out and made up the sauce on Thursday. As soon as it was in the pressure cooker, the apples were underway. Thankfully, Rhi got home early that day and could help and my Mom helped as well. We watched the girls in the afternoon and I was glad we were at the end of the canning project by then!

As well as canning and cleaning up the garden for the fall (digging potatoes, weeding, and tilling), I decided to start on a pair of knitted socks. I have long desired to become the queen of sock knitting. I figured I better get started or I'll never meet that goal! Since we are anticipating a long trip (20 hour drive one way), I thought it was a good time to begin a project. Here you see the first stages of a sock. I use the double-pointed needles because I haven't had time to have the girls in the spinning and weaving guild show me the trendy new toe-up, two-at-a-time, double circular needle system, though I'm anxious to try it. Since I am an old-fashioned girl, this will work just fine until I can learn the new way! I'm pretty pleased with these so far. They have a lacey pattern to them. Despite a few mistakes, I think they are going to be ok. I was trying to watch the pattern and watch Charles Dickens' "Bleak House," at the same time. Probably not a good idea. We are fans of his literature and decided to watch this very lengthy movie before we left for Colorado. I enjoyed it so much.

I will be gone and probably not posting the rest of the sock evolution until I get back. We plan to be gone for two weeks. I'm sure I'll have many beautiful pictures of the Rocky Mountains and our trip to share then. Pray for us if we come to mind. Blessings, LORI