November 30

Today is Dave's birthday! Hooray! To celebrate, we are going out to eat at Yoshida tonight. Yum! 

Isin't it Pretty?

This is my first-ever "show" cake. Not bad for a beginner, huh? -Rachael

How Pretty...

This is a butterfly we saw on our hike near Mt. Pisgah. 

Stone Mountain

David and Brian went and played Golf at Stone Mountain in Georgia while Lisa, Christy and I went to check out the Ikea store that is now in Atlanta. Very cool store- 15 acres and 3 floors of EVERYTHING you might need to furnish or decorate your house. Wow. -Rachael 

Sunday we went to Chimney Rock Park with my Mom and Dale. It was perfect weather! We must have climbed 500 stairs, and then had to go back down that many too. All our legs were sore the next day. We saw the waterfall, and spots where they filmed parts of the movie, "Last of the Mohicans". We had a nice long hike, and afterwards we went to a new Italian restaurant there by Lake Lure. I don't remember the name of it. The food was good though. I tried the Chicken in Lemon & Butter with Spaghetti- it was very tasty! -Rachael 

Last Thursday we went to the North Carolina Mountain State Fair. We rode the ferris wheel, walked a lot, and ate too much! Friday night, my (Rachael) Aunt Sandy came over and we played Yahtzee. Saturday morning, Dave played raquetball and I played my new computer game. Then in the afternoon it was off to our monthly USS Alaric meeting. Sunday morning, service at Biltmore Baptist Church, then we came home and grilled shish-kabobs! They were VERY tasty! Our Sunday evening class was cancelled, so Dave took his Sunday nap, and I spent more time playing on the computer. (But I did get the dishes done too!) Today, Dave was back at work and it was my job to do the grocery shopping for the week but it wasn't too bad. This evening, Dave is the one playing on the computer on his new Flight Simulator, and I was recording some TV shows onto DVD and knitting. I am currently working on a few projects, but tonight I added quite a few rows to the hooded baby towel that I am working on. Well, that's all for now. -Rachael 

More pictures from our trip to Carowinds. Dave and I rode the Borg Assimilator roller coaster. WOW! It was.....breath-taking! 

Here are Dave and I with a few members of the USS Alaric in front of the Borg Sphere at Carowinds. Left to right: Mike, David M., Nathan, Me and Dave. 

Everybody came up for the Apple Festival. It's great spending time with your family.

Our furniture finally got here! Ain't it pretty?? 

Here is the pair of mittens I just finished. Not bad for my first attempt! -Rachael 

Coming soon to a theatre near you: Harry Potter Saves the Whole Day. Starring Jordan Tyler Croteau as Harry. 

And here is the hat to finish the set! 

Today I made some baby mittens to go with the bootees. 

Here is a picture of the baby bootees I (Rachael) knitted tonight! They didn't take long at all and they are soooooo cute! 

Happy Birthday Lisa!!! 

Our sunflowers are blooming.

Have you ever been mining? We recently went for our first time.

These are some of the flowers in our front yard. The pansies are ones that we planted. The rest came with the house and this being our first Spring here, we've been enjoying the surprise every time another plant starts blooming! 

It's hard to see in this picture, but there are five baby birds in this nest. Two little House Finches built this nest at the top of one of the pillars on our front porch. We suspected there were eggs, because the mama bird sat up there all the time. Then we went on vacation and when we got back, there were these little babies. Now we've been back 2 weeks and all the little babies have grown up and moved out- leaving the empty nest. We had a lot of fun watching them grow.