September Parties

September was a busy month for us this year.  We celebrated our good friends Becca and Jason's youngest son Ethan's first birthday and I helped host a baby shower for my former co-workers and good friends Mike and Leanda who are expecting their first child in early November.  I'm so thankful for both of these great friends and being able to be a part of celebrating these milestone events in their lives!  Here are the pictures from both parties:

Ethan's First Birthday Party.



Leanda & Mike's Baby Shower.

Know Your Farms Fall 2014 Tour

We've really enjoyed doing the Know Your Farms tour the past few years.  It's offered twice and year in the Spring and Fall and each time different farms participate.  We really enjoy visiting various farms even if they are not the ones that are close to us that we purchase from.  We agree 100% with Joel Salatin who says "Support Your Local Lunatic Farmer!" and that's the shirt I got from Joel's Polyface farm a few years ago.  This time we visited the Good Karma Alpaca Ranch and the Apple Orchard Farm.  Here are our pictures from this fall's tour:



Here are the souvenirs we bought on the farm tour: cards and a felted alpaca ornament from Good Karma and honey from Apple Orchard.

This ornament is SO CUTE!!! 

September Cat Pictures

I am always fascinated by our cats and their little quirks.  They are funny about choosing a "spot" that becomes THEIR spot for awhile and then later it will change to a new spot.

Roxy's new spot recently has been the back of the couch.  She's never sat in this spot before and I don't know what drew her to it, but this has been where she has been hanging out most nights.

At our previous house both cats liked to sit under the church pew on these cushions, but they haven't really done that as much in this house because the church pew is now in the front room and we're usually in the living room and they tend to like to be wherever we are.  But recently Sandy has rediscovered the cushions under the church pew.  Whenever I'm looking for her she's usually curled up sleeping on one of those cushions!

Jessica's Birthday Weekend

My birthday is in September and because I had already taken a few days off work around my birthday we decided to rent a cabin in West Jefferson, NC for the weekend.  We have really come to love West Jefferson - it's a small town, but there are still enough shops and restaurants to keep you busy staying there.  It's also home to one of my favorite places - Ashe Co. Cheese!  And it's pretty close to Boone and Blowing Rock too.  The cabin we rented this time was VERY close to downtown West Jefferson, so that was even better.  We had a great time relaxing and the weather was great - very cool and crisp.  It did rain a little, but not the whole weekend.  Here are our pictures from my birthday weekend in West Jefferson:


Pictures of the cabin we rented.


Hiking in Mount Jefferson State Park.


Various pictures from the trip.


My birthday cake that we enjoyed when we got home. We also ate at Cheesecake Factory before our trip and Nothing But Noodles on my actual birthday - two of my favorite restaurants. It was a great birthday weekend!

September 2014 Garden and Bird Pictures

Our garden was so successful this year!  Here are a few pictures of the garden in September:




We also love watching the birds at the feeders on our deck. Here are a few great bird pictures I was able to get in September: