The Noehren's

Last weekend was beautiful and we went to Evans Orchard to play and buy our 3 bushels of apples.  This weekend was cold and rainy so we recruited my parents and within record time we had everything cooked, canned and cleaned up!  Our apple peeling, slicing, coring production line.  My mom filled all 24 jars and all I had to do was steam them!  So amazing to have extra hands! Our babies. The real star of the show managed to not get his picture taken.  Brian is the brains and the energy behind this production for the past 14 years...and he is the master applesauce maker.  I am merely a lowly peeler and canner of his fine product.  For the first year ever we have all of our big jars full of our homemade pickles, tomatoes and applesauce...plus a few small jars of salsa.  I guess I'm more domestic than I thought!

Halloween this year was super cold and rainy but these two still had fun!  Grant was a knight and Haley was the greek goddess Athena...in rain boots :)

This year's lab Halloween party was great!  They secretly collaborated on their costumes and dressed up as the "The Things Dr. Noehren Says."  It was pretty funny.  I assured them that these must be sayings just from the lab - because they are new to me! Dressed as "What's your Optometer?"  I guess in lab meeting as they discuss projects and new research he will ask how optimistic they are about different ideas on the optometer scale.   Dressed as "I'm jazzed!" Dressed as "traveling companions."  They said that when he invites them to things he says to bring "your boyfriend, girlfriend, roommate or traveling companion."  Hahaha Dressed as "When you get a jobby job..." ready to go to an interview.  They said he likes to give them advice for when they get their future jobby jobs.    And the grand finale was his student Grant dressed as Dr. Noehren himself.  He was pretty spot on! My lazy...

Last month over fall break, we went on our second backpacking adventure!  We went to a different section of the Red River Gorge and hiked a 5 mile loop - 3 miles the first day and 2 miles out the next day.  It was our longest backpacking hike yet, and everyone did great...myself included.  I am by far the one most likely to fall, and the slowest - hence my family nickname of rear admirable.  Haha!   This was my first time ever packing all 4 packs completely solo, and my first time ever packing a backpack.  Brian worked and we had to leave a day early due to rain, so the duty fell to me.  I googled it and figured it out and got it done.  Yay me!  We found a great camping spot right by the stream.    The next morning we packed up camp right before the rain came.  These fancy dollar ponchos kept most of us and our gear dry.  I did forget one item...Brian's rain coat.  I remembered his pack cover, but ...

Well, now that I have finally updated the blog - I saved the best event of summer for last!  After 40 years of living and raising their family in Morgantown, West Virginia, my parents decided to relocate to Lexington!  It has been nearly a year in the making...almost to the day.  This time last year my parents were kind enough to watch our kids while I tagged along on a work trip with Brian to Vancouver, Canada.  They have always loved Lexington, and have even looked casually at houses in the past while visiting - but never with any serious intention.   So, before I left, I mentioned that they were building some garden style homes nearby and we walked through the model together.  I could tell they really liked it, but never in my wildest dreams did I expect or anticipate that 4 days later, before we had even returned from our trip, they would purchase a lot where their future home would be built!  To say it took me and my sisters by shock was an u...