Christmas at Home

Christmas Day was spent at our house with Mom, Dale, Sarah, Greg and Delilah. Firstly, we had a great time cooking. We had a hearty breakfast of Dave's apple pancakes, Sarah's delicious breakfast roll, and Mom's homemade hashbrowns- YUM! Then we opened presents! We tried to choose thoughtful and useful gifts this year, and it was great seeing the reactions as they were opened. Among other things, Dave got some new tools he didn't have...an automatic adjustable wrench, some 2 foot long screwdrivers (!) and some clamps he can use to finish up our coffee table. I got a new Bolitho book, a lovely new shadow box, and various girly/bath stuff. And Dave, who is very supportive of my creative tendencies, gave me a very nice painting set- easel and all (I'll put more about that later...). After we all oohed and aahed and played with our new things for a bit, we got out the bongos! We took turns playing until our hands were sore from the clapping...then we put in Dance, Dance Revolution. In this game, you stand on a pad and have to step forward, backward, left or right as the game directs. It gets faster and faster and we got a pretty good workout!! Which was a good thing because then we cooked and ate a big 'ol dinner, including turkey, mashed potatoes, etc. It was a great day, but tiring, and we went to bed early after everyone headed home. 

Pre-Christmas Gathering...

Pictures from the Harriman Family Annual Holiday gathering (Dec 23&24)! Two full days of fun and excitement! Dave and I both participated in the Cribbage Tournament (won by my grandfather) and the Dart Tournament (won by Uncle Gary). Seeing everyone was lots of fun, especially the little ones, Delilah, Marshall and Mackenzie. We all visited and played games and ATE and did our yearly gift exchange. It was fun seeing everyone's reaction to their gifts- and there was a good practical joke in one of them! Though tiring, they were a fun couple of days. 

Still Newlyweds!

Today is our four year Wedding Anniversary! This is a picture from our honeymoon in Bermuda four years ago. We still feel like newlyweds.
These past four years have been the best, and it seems like each year is better than the last. We are thankful to the Lord for bringing us together, and for showering us with His love, that we can in turn share with one another. Praise God for four wonderful years! 

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas...

Last night, we had Mom and Dale and Sarah and Greg and Delilah over to help decorate our Christmas tree. We got kind of a skinny one this year. The lisgths went on nicely and everyone had fun putting on the ornaments.
I even got Dave IN FRONT of the camera once...
Here we all are with the finished product. Doesn't it look Bee-oot-ee-full?? 

The Drink of the Warrior

I'm sure most of you know that I am a Trekkie. I am also currently serving as Chief Recreation Officer for the USS Alaric (Asheville Chapter of Starfleet International Fan Club). Per that title, it fell to me to plan the Alaric Christmas party this year. Above is pictured one of the prizes- a bottle of Klingon Blood Wine!!(OK, so it is actually blueberry pomegranate Italian soda...) But the color of the contents is just perfect and my label turned out great, so I had to show it off. The smaller label on the top is a Klingon saying. It says "Drinking fake ale is better than drinking water." Special thanks to whoever out there created that Klingon Font. -Rachael 

Aunt Wilma

Here is Aunt Wilma when she spoke to the Asheville Alliance Sunday School class about their ministry in Russia. Very interesting.

Thanksgiving

We all gathered in Orlando again this year for Thanksgiving. Thanks to all who made it possible. It was a great time to see everybody and attempt to get caught up. Here are some pictures, Please share you photos with me because I had some camera issues and didn't get as many as I usually do. We had a small birthday party with Grampy Kelly. Here we are singing Amazing Grace together.

Thanksgiving 2006

Uncle Ron and Aunt Wilma

Ron and Wilma visited us on the way down to Florida. They spoke at the Asheville church on Sunday. Here is uncle Ron. I'll have to get Wilma's on here later.

Ooooh, Pretty!

This is one of the paintings Dave brought back from China. Isn't it beautiful? It matches our living room perfectly- the colors are just right. He did a great job!
This is a decorative plate he got. He said they put layer after layer of paint on the plate, and then carve the design into the paint.
And this is a silk robe. Very nice. Surprisingly, it is also very warm. He got to see how they get the silk from the silkworms while he was there. It is amazing that a little bug can make something strong enough to be woven into clothes and such. 

Look! Christmas is Coming!!

Look! Christmas is Coming! How did November get here so fast? And it's already a third of the way gone. Only 45 days until Christmas. Well, first of all, we'll be traveling for Thanksgiving. We'll be off to Florida on the 21st for nearly a week of family gatherings with Dave's clan. Then, December 2nd is the Alaric Christmas Party (That's my Starfleet group- the brave crew of the USS Alaric). I'm in charge of activities for that and I have some fun things planned. Dec 16th is the Normac Christmas party...that's usually a fancy affair. I've got to find something really nice to wear. Then, Dec 23/24 will be festivities with the Harriman clan here in Asheville. This includes the dart tournament, the cribbage tournament and other various activities. Christmas day will be spent with my Mom and Dale and Sarah and Delilah...and Maggie, Bob and Oliver if they decide to travel. Then, after that, we're off to St.Louis for a week or so to spend some time with the Carlsons and Croteaus. I think that's all we have planned- I'm sure something else will pop up! 

Photo Album

China Trip 2006

Here are a few of the pictures from China.

Why did the american cross the road?

Guo and I wanted to go to the computer store on the other side. Here you see an average blend of people, bicycles, and autos in harmless harmony. I am trying to get some pictures to post...

The Great Wall

This is a short video of part of the great wall. Parts were very steep. The soldiers used to live in the towers along the wall. One of my favorite places of the trip.

Crafty Things

I had a "Craft Night" while Dave was gone. Above are a wrapping paper and a couple Christmas cards I made. We used foam stamps and paint to make our designs.
This is a gift bag I did- I painted in the bow myself.
Here is one of Sarah's wrapping papers and her snowflake gift bag.
Aunt Sandy did these two gift bags and this wrapping paper. I didn't get a picture of Gramma's before she took them home, but they were great too! We all had fun and everything turned out very nice. 

Forbidden City

Dave sent this picture from China. This is him and Gou at the Forbidden City in/near Beijing.
He gets home tomorrow, Hooray!! (Well, technically Saturday because it's midnight-ish, but we'll call it tomorrow.) 

To Infinity and Beyond!

Well, Dave is off traveling again...this time to China. He's scheduled to be gone 11 days! Turns out I'll be plenty busy while he's gone, so maybe it will go by quickly. He should be sitting in the Newark airport right now, awaiting his flight to Beijing. From Beijing he goes to Dalian, which is where he will be working/staying while he's there. From what I understood, he should be able to get some "western" food where he will be, so maybe he won't come back *too* skinny.

Beijing

Tired of Hats Yet?

OK, here's the last 2 I have made as of just now (JUST finished the red furry one...). I probably won't put any more hat pics on after these, even though I plan to make several more. I'm really having fun with these! And the pile of yarn is shrinking!!!
Didn't this one turn out pretty? I think it is my favorite so far. 

And even more hats...

Here are some more hats I've made... modeled by Mary, our Brazilian statue.
This one is going in my Operation Christmas Child box.
This one is for Dave...plain black, with a fold up brim.
This is actually the first one I made, somehow it didn't get its picture in the first batch. 

More hats...

AACK! Picasa is not being my friend! So here are the last 2 pics, which were supposed to be attached to the last blog...oh well...
 
  

Lately

I finally decided to try to use up some of this mountain of yarn I've accumulated. Cold weather is coming, so I thought hats would be practical. They are knitting up pretty quickly- sometimes I can knit 2 in a day!! I got Dave, Sarah and Delilah to model some of my first few...



 

The Windy City

We returned on the 12th from a trip to Chicago. Dave had to go for work to the International Machine & Tool Show (IMTS). It was huge, and there were lots of very cool things there. The coolest thing there I thought, were the machines that cut stone with water. They were cutting out these tiny little motorcycles from a big slab of rock. Very cool.
Chicago is a big ol' city! And yes, it was windy. It rained some while we were there, but not too bad. We ate at a place called the Cheesecake Factory. The food was great and the cheesecake was even better. We did some walking around Michigan Avenue and checked out some stores that I'm sure we will never see in Asheville.
Below is a picture of some of the food we ate the night we went to China Town for dinner. I didn't taste it all (most was pork-related) but the stuff I did try was very good. We tried some steamed bread, which we had never had before and it was quite tasty. We definitely didn't go away hungry. After dinner, we went into a little shop across from the restaurant and I found a very nice wall-hanging for my living room.
Altogether, our trip was a good one, though it wore me out. I slept for 14 hours straight when we got home! I think we'll be home for a while now....until Thanksgiving, when we head for Florida! -Rachael

Baby Oliver

Maggie's baby was due on October 8. She called me at 9am Wednesday morning and said they were on their way to the hospital!! I got a quick shower, jumped in the Jeep, picked up Mom and we zoomed to Greensboro. We got there just after the baby was born!
Maggie was tired, but very happy. The baby came pretty quick and he is healthy and adorable! They named him Oliver Lucian. He was 5lb 8oz and 19 1/2 inches long.
Isn't he cute?
I got to hold him! He's so tiny.