Far too long again

I know. I know. I am working on this blogging thing. I think about it. But sitting down and doing something about it is a work in progress.

So here is what we have been up to lately.

We had out annual cider making fest with friends. It was sad not to have Seth there. And I spent the next three days trying to figure out how I could mail him some of the delicious cider and have it make it to him without going bad. I have yet to figure it out.

The apple crop was not as abundant this year as in past years, mostly because of late season winds and rains that knocked off most of the blossoms on the tree this year. But we were able to get enough apples to each take home a jug of the liquid gold.

Also at the beginning of this month, I was able to go on a little adventure to New Orleans and see Seth while he was on a four day (that really ended up being 5 days!!) leave. I traveled with some friends who also have husbands in the military, Mindy Lewis, Julie Christensen, and Katie Drollinger. We left early on a Saturday morning and arrived in New Orleans that evening, picked up our car rentals and drove to Hattiesburg MS, where we met up with our husbands waiting for us. We then ventured for the next few days to Vicksburg, MS, stopping at the Vicksburg Military National Park. We then drove to New Orleans for a two day stay, but on the way we did stop at the Baton Rouge Temple (didn't get to go, just walked around the grounds) and stopped at a haunted plantation, where we ate a delicious lunch and took a haunted tour of the house........no supernatural sightings....much to our dismay. New Orleans had DELICIOUS food! Our favorites were VooDoo BBQ, where we ate twice it was so good, and the other was Zea's Rotisserie, where we just kept ordering more food. Then it was farewell to the guys and we all headed home.

I think the second was goodbye was harder (for me) than the first. I don't think it helped that, until this trip, in the 11 years that Seth and I have been married, we have never been away just the two of us. Never. It was a great vacation.

So it has been a little more melancholy around here. We recently picked up the life-size cut out of Seth that Sign-O-Rama did for all the families of deploying soldiers, (for free) and Andrew and Calvin keep talking to "him" and kissing and hugging "him." They are taking turns having it in the room. Me? It keeps freaking me out a little. I keep catching it out of the corner of my eye, and makes me jump. We took it over to my parents for Thanksgiving dinner with us, and everyone made sure it was included in the days' events.

We got to all Skype with Seth on Thanksgiving, though it was a poor connection, we all got to get in a "hello" and "be safe."

A year has never sounded so long.