But first, I know you are all dying to know how Mike's family reunion went, well the answer is that it was awesome! I had a fantastic time and it was so fun to meet everyone. Mike and I had a blast playing in the pool afterward with his little cousins (6 kids: oldest age 10, youngest age 14 months, each and every one of them amazing, smart and unique). I love those kids!! We had a blast playing with the oldest 4, because the two littlest were with their parents. I loved getting to know these little ones who are going to be my cousins! Of course I love children anyway, I wouldn't be choosing a career in elementary education if I didn't, but these kids were wonderful to hang out and bond with. Do I most likely have an incredibly biased view of my amazing future cousins-in-law? Yes I probably do. Do I care that I am biased? No, no I do not. I think they are awesome and I cannot wait to watch them grow up and for them to be a part of my life!
 |
| Family reunion! Lots of people to meet! |
So the reunion was great, obviously I never reached my goal of finishing my sweater by then (ha! silly Laura) but that's okay because it was was too hot for me to even have needed a sweater anyway. The day after the reunion, I went home and packed my bag and off we went on a nighttime flight to visit my aunt and uncle in Oregon!
My mom and I have been here for a week now, Mike has been here 4 days, and it has been wonderful! I have been doing a lot of reading and relaxing and knitting. We have gone to a nearby lake twice now, once before Mike got here and then once after he did. I was able to sit by the water, soaking up the sun and knitting. At least until my knitting was making me sweat because I had the equivalent of an almost complete winter sweater draped across my legs. BUT I was able to get some pictures of my progress... Now for updates on my progress.
I finished the back of the sweater!! Yay! I LOVE it. It is exactly the length I wanted it to be and I am very pleased with the way it looks. I am working on the first sleeve on my DPN's (ugh) and the progress is coming along, albeit more slowly than if I had just used circulars. But that is just the nature of the beast, I was not about to go out and find two 10.2 circulars just to knit sleeves for one project. So DPN's it is, not that there is anything wrong with them, I am just slower on them. The only thing about the sleeves I am unsure of is because of the decreases in the sleeves, there are issues with keeping the cable pattern because it relies on groupings of 6 stitches and where there is a decrease it disrupts 2 groupings of 6. So right now I am brooding over the pattern trying to figure out what to do. The current sleeves I have are with the cable pattern being worked as possible with stockinette on the parts the cable pattern cannot be worked. So I am asking others who have made the pattern and I will get back to you with the verdict.
I had a lovely time knitting down by the lake.
 |
| Progress! I apologize for the awful lighting, but look pretty sweater and pretty lake! |
 |
| Auntie and Mom sitting by my project draped over a chair |
 |
| Life can't get any better than this |
Mike then flew in and we picked him up at the airport and have been having a great time since! We went on a walk in Lithia Park, which is a beautiful local park and got to see a little deer family! Now this was very exciting to us because we never really see deer, but here where my aunt and uncle live, deer are like pests because they eat everything and they see them all the time. What really got me though was the little baby deer. He still had his little baby spots and he was SO CUTE. Oh wow I love all things tiny, fluffy or baby related. Its bad. But so cute!
 |
| Deer selfie! |
I am so so lucky that I have Mike who puts up with me even though I can be crazy sometimes. We must have spent 15 minutes at least looking at this little guy, every minute or so I would say to him, "Oh look baby, he's walking! How cute!" "Look he's sitting! Aww" or the best one was "I could adopt him and he could graze on the grass outside my apartment so that they won't have to pay for a law mower". Lucky for me my patient man laughed and called me cute instead of throwing me over his shoulder and taking me for a psychiatric evaluation on why tiny fluffy things make me so happy.
We went back for another day at the lake, this time my aunt and uncle ventured off on a hike of their own, and mom, Mike and I stayed by the lake for some relaxing and reading. Or in my case, tanning, relaxing and reading.
 |
| I promise I am not naked!! Just wearing a strapless bikini and I have awful photography skills... |
 |
| Foot rest comes with a foot massage. Am I not the most spoiled girlfriend ever? |
 |
| Reading with the best foot rest |
 |
| See? I do physical activity! |
So far an amazing and relaxing vacation. Why is it that a week in the real world of work and school drags on while vacation time flies by? That is so not fair. I plan to enjoy the rest of this trip and have an amazing time, then I have a week of packing, finishing my quilt, finishing my little DIY's, and getting ready to go back to Flagstaff for 4 months!
