I found this quote on Heidi Swapp's blog.

I reminds me of my family. In a very good way.

I can think of many ways my parents and grandparents

reused things or recycled them. It seemed nothing went to waste.

And I saw this week how this motto has even passed down to my daughter, Megan.

She wanted to make Halloween costumes for a girl friend and herself.

She asked if I had royal blue fabric(which I didn't) so she used an old set of royal blue

of flannel sheets. She also used an old pattern I had to make two bib overhalls.

Going Green is another way to get through these hard economic times.

And it's a good feeling to 'do it yourself'!!

MONKEY SOCKS!

Sorry, but Ian is getting up-staged by my socks!

I finished these on our trip to Oklahoma! Really

like the yarn, sisu by SandnesGarn. A Eruopean

yarn I bought at the Purple Iris in Marshall, MN.

You can find the pattern here!

Happy Birthday, Ian!!

I didn't want to forget to mention that we celebrated Ian's 26th birthday while we were in Oklahoma!

Thursday evening we gathered at our hotel for a little birthday party for him.

Food, cake and gifts for this (fantastic, amazing, special) young man.

HAVE A GREAT YEAR, IAN!!

(Ian opening the felted slippers I made for him.)

FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!

CONGRATULATIONS, IAN!

MORE FROM OKLAHOMA!!

A little dark but this is all of us that came to celebrate with Ian!

Below is Marcie, Claire and Tim getting a feel for what the pilots feel when going high speeds!

And I have to mention the gas prices!

We put on a total of almost 1500 miles! When we got

to Enid this was the lowest price we saw on the way down. Then by the time we left on Saturday morning the

last fill we got was $2.07. Hope we see those prices around here soon??!!!





I just had to share a few more pictures.

I ended up with over 400

but narrowed them down to 342.

Tim and I are still in awe!!!!

An Evening of Honor!!

Friday evening truly was an evening of honor.

Not only did we honor Ian for all he has accomplished

but we also honored family, friends, traditions and our country!

Ian is a true man of honor.

We could see how his fellow servicemen respect him

and what a great leader and friend he is to them.

Four generations of McLaughlin's! Gma and Gpa Mac,

their son Denny, Denny's children Ian and Claire

and Claire's son Jacob. (It appeared that we

had the oldest and youngest family members at the celebration.)

Vance AFB is only about 4 miles outside of Enid.

Claire and Ian!
A tradition in the Air Force is to break
a pair of 'wings' and to give one half to someone.
Ian gave half of his wings to his sister Claire during
the banquet Friday evening. It was a touching moment
for all of us to share with them. Claire spent four years
in the Air Force as a nurse.







A music/slide video was shown of the 19 members of Ian's class.
And this led into the awards.....

...of which Ian won 3 or 4!!

He received one that is one of the oldest

awards in the Air Force. (Can't remember the name of it.)

Ian(370) and his fellow award winners!!

Lila!!! The bartender at the Officers Club!

She says she has the best job in the world!

Lila help the guys figure out what needed to

be mixed with Jag to have the honor of being

named "370"!!!!

CHEERS!!!

TO IAN AND CLASS 09-01!!!!

BOTTOMS UP!!!!!

And I still need to find out where Ian got the idea to

take his white formal military issue shirt and have

airplane fabric replace the sleeves and back!!

What FUN!! He actually got the fabric at WalMart!!

We helped Ian and his friends celebrate (late into the evening.)

Tim, me, Ian's mother Marcie, and his uncle Gary.

Saturday morning 'goodbye's'!!

Tim's parents and us took off for home about 10:30

for our 12 hour trip home.

This trip to Oklahoma is one I will never forget.

Congratulations, Ian!!

When's the next party?!!!!

370(aka, Ian)

1Lt. Ian D. McLaughlin
Assignment:F-15E
Location:S. Johnson AFB, NC

Ian has been flying T-38's like these...........

Next he will be flying planes like these, AT-38's.

And eventually, F-15E's!!

Nicknames are a given in the military.

Ian's is 370! Has to do with ordering 3 drinks

and going to fast at a certain altitude.

Some of the others were like Ike and Toby.

And it sounds like the nickname will stick.

So this morning was the 'wings' ceremony.

General Stephen Lorenz gave the graduation

address to the 19 members of Class 09-01!!

Ian's mother, Marcie pinned on his wings!

After the ceremony we did a little more

touring! Listening to Ian talk about what

he has been doing made us so proud!

He is still the wonderful young man we

have watched grow up.

What an honor to share this time with him!!

Time to get ready for the 'party' at the officers club....

Just a quick post for my Unity friends!

This is the card I made for Ian!

Made with Unity's kit by AJ, Simply Said and an old Rebecca Sower tag.

Ian's Getting His Wings!

Yesterday Tim and I came down to Enid, Oklahoma with his parents to celebrate our nephew Ian getting his 'wings'. He is stationed at Vance Air Force Base. And he has been assigned to fly F15's. Pretty much a fighter plane. Something like $5o million. All I can say is 'wow'!!

We are so proud of Ian. And we are so glad we could make the trip for him. There are eight of us(plus baby Jacob) here today with a few more family and friends coming to help Ian celebrate.

Today we went on tours of various parts of the base! We ended up skipping a few things because of the wind and temperature. I thought going 690 miles south of Minnesota would be warmer!!! (Not today.)

One tour was of the simulators the pilots use. Tim and Ian's dad took a try at flying.

These are the finished (felted) slippers for Ian. Air Force colors. The grey color is yarn from sheep that Ian's parents raised(years ago) in Minnesota. I thought he would like a touch of home.

Off to bed now! Sounds like we have a long day tomorrow.......

LOTS more pictures to come......

Baby Showers and Family!

It's hard to believe that Randi only has about 6 weeks
to go till her due date! She has had a great pregnancy with just a little morning sickness in the beginning. Now she feels good and is enjoying feeling the baby move and even appreciates some of his ''jabs". I still can't believe I'm going to be a grandma.















On Saturday Randi's Aunts(my sisters) put on baby shower for her. Randi just wanted a small simple get together and then she wanted to play 'group solitaire'. I remember my mom playing solitaire when I was very young. When my sisters and I got older mom taught us how to play. And then we learned to play 'double solitaire' with her and some how we kept adding people. On Saturday we had 6 playing but we have had as many as 8 or 9 playing. It can get pretty wild at times with cards flying. The youngest nieces are now playing. The family
tradition will continue....

Then on Sunday we had the McLaughlin's to our house. We had a very relaxing day. Even a trip across the street to the park. My niece Claire's daughter Hailey(2 yo) even gave her Great Gpa Mac and Nick a ride on the merry-go-round. We are so greatful to have family near enough for day trips to be together.